Remember Me

"Hey Marc, what can I do for ya?" Pascal immediately asked, welcoming his pal into his home.

"Actually, I was wanting to talk to Aly?" It came out as a question, unsure of whether this was stepping over some sort of line. Pascal just looked at him curiously, as though he were evaluating him as he stood there in front of him.

"Okay... she's in the living room." he finally said, motioning the way towards the room and Marc thanked his teammate before walking out of sight. Walking into the room, he saw the opened gifts sitting around the tree still, leftover from earlier that morning, and two people sitting on the couch on the other side of the room from Aly. The blonde, who was sitting on a couch reading a novel that was a real book - not like one of those teen gossip books, or magazines, looked up to see him and shot him a smile.

"Hey," he watched her pat the spot next to her on the couch and he obliged, taking a seat. He noted what the book she had been reading was - <i>The Great Gastby</i>. Maybe he really didn't know her as well as he had thought when he made all of those stupid predictions about her. "What're you doing here?"

"Thought I'd take you up on that invitation?" he reminded her with a smile.

"Got lonely, huh?" she smirked. "Perhaps you should've gone grocery shopping to stock up on real food instead."

He chuckled, "Actually, I did come here for a reason. Jordan's having a party on New Year's... and I was wondering, y'know," she was watching him so intently, and it was making him nervous. He felt like he was thirteen again, and asking out a girl for the first time. "I mean, if you weren't doing anything... care to join me?"

She smiled, but it wasn't the kind of smile that told him he was about to get a positive answer, or that gave him hope of getting what he wanted. "I'm not allowed." she told him, laughing moments later at how ridiculous that sounded coming from a twenty year-old. Wasn't eighteen supposed to be the mark of becoming an adult, and being allowed to make your own decisions? "I mean, I totally would, don't take that the wrong way... I just... can't."

He nodded his head, "That's fine. I forgot," he forced a chuckle out from deep in his throat. Marc wondered if his parents would find it odd for him to want to hang around them instead.

"But hey, have fun for me too, eh?" she smirked, and he nodded his head with a grin.

"Will do."

"I'm sure it'll be better than spending an entire evening with your parents," she rolled her eyes to the side, getting him to look over to where a middle-aged man was talking away on his cell phone, and a well-dressed, almost over-dressed he thought, woman was looking bored and not very entertained. She seemed annoyed at her husband, and he guessed it was because he was much more interested in the conversation on his cell, than in his own wife on Christmas. On the day that was supposed to be reserved for family and loved ones. "Which is what my uncle has decided to punish me with." Marc looked back at her, seeing the lack of excitement and laughing to himself at the sight.

"Does that mean you're not gonna be at the game that night?" For some reason, he was disappointed at the idea of her not being there. For most of the games since she had been in Pittsburgh, he had always seen her after the games hanging around and waiting for her uncle. There were times he had seen her watching over Duper's little ones, and it was like there was this whole new person taking care of them. Someone who actually enjoyed being alive.

Alyssa shrugged, "I'm hoping to get to go." She wanted to. God, did she want to. If that was her one escape for the night, then she'd do anything to get it. She'd even promise to change Lola's diapers if it came right down to it. Spending an entire night, without hockey, with her parents was not sounding very appealing. "I think Carol's working on convincing my mom. My dad will go as long as he can still get reception in the place." she laughed, but it wasn't so much a laugh saying she enjoyed the joke. It was more bitter than that. Almost to show how pathetic it was.

"My uncle's watching us, you know that, right?" Alyssa told him quietly, with an entertained smile playing on her lips. His eyes tried to subtly look up, and he spotted his teammate hovering over near the doorframe from the kitchen. He laughed, very sure of the fact that he could expect some sort of warning from Pascal in the next few days.

"Well, on that note, I should probably get going. I've gotta get ready for the game." he grinned, "If you end up going, I'll see you later. Otherwise, happy new year and I'll see you next year."

Alyssa returned the smile, and the sentiment. "Happy new year."

"See you Dupes," Marc waved to her uncle, and Alyssa watched Pascal react after being caught standing there. She laughed, turning around and watching Marc-Andre leave the living room. Aly found herself wishing she could go to that party with him.



"Nothing," Alyssa repeated herself, answering the constant question about what Marc-Andre was doing stopping by the house earlier that day. "He was inviting me to a party, but don't worry, I told him I was 'grounded.'" Aly rolled he eyes, making sure her aunt saw her opinion on the topic. She had never experienced being 'grounded' before, and definitely was not a fan. How was being stuck in the house, supposed to teach her a lesson? Back home, she probably would have just snuck out of the house - probably why her parents had never cared enough to do it. But here in Pittsburgh, she spent most of her time inside anyway, so it wasn't that big of a deal.

Carol-Lyne laughed at her niece's overdramatic actions, leaning back in her seat in the Dupuis' box seats. "My point is do you like him?"

"Who?" Alyssa tried to play stupid, but it didn't seem to do much for Carol, who read straight through it.

"You know who I'm talking about," she narrowed her eyes, and Aly could feel her cheeks flush at even the attention on the subject. "You do!" Her aunt clapped, giggling like a school girl while Alyssa tried to just get her to stop. This was just plain embarrassing.

"Third period's starting," Alyssa breathed a sigh of relief, pointing towards the ice which was now being refilled by the players. The Penguins were beating Minnesota by one, and the game had been a tail race since the Wild had scored their first goal.

"Way to change the subject." she overheard her aunt say, still giggling over her so-called revelation. (One that Alyssa would never admit aloud. To anyone.) As the buzzer called the intermission to an end, and the players readied themselves for the face-off to begin the third period, Alyssa tried to focus her attention on the play at hand, but just like the previous two periods, found her eyes wandering over to the Penguins' zone - right to the net, where #29 stood his ground. What are you doing? she'd tell herself to refocus her eyes back on the game - back on the puck. But somehow, she always wound right back on Marc-Andre Fleury.



Marc-Andre had been sitting on a recliner in Staalsy's apartment for the past hour and a half, twirling the bottle of beer in his hand he hadn't even taken a real sip from yet, and watching everyone around him get ready to celebrate the new year. Despite the Pens' 4-3 loss, that wasn't the only thing on his mind. Sure, he replayed the shootout loss in his mind continuously, and yes, he wasn't quite in the partying mood, but he couldn't help himself from wondering what that petite blonde Alyssa was up to. He wondered if she was bored out of her mind like he was, or if she had found something to entertain herself with for the night back at the Dupuis house.

"You just gonna sit there for the rest of the night, Flower?" he shot a look towards Sidney, not moving his head though as his eyes just went back to the bottle of beer in his hands. The Penguins captain gave him a pat on the back, as though to tell him the loss wasn't any of his fault, and he shouldn't be so bummed out about it tonight. Marc had a hard time with losing - especially when it was because of a shootout, when he was supposed to shine during those times. He was supposed to pull through for his team. It was a test. He had failed tonight, and Marc hated failing, almost just as much as he hated the Flyers.

All around him, his teammates were enjoying themselves. They were having no trouble forgetting the loss, as they downed as many beers as possible, and chatted up the women that filled the apartment. Most of the single guys were there, as Jordan's girlfriend had left to head home for the new year, and he had invited a new set of good looking women to drool over him. Marc didn't quite understand that theory, but he never questioned his teammate. It was his life, and his choices. If he wanted to screw over his girlfriend, then there wouldn't be stopping the stubborn son of a bitch. Though, he was pretty sure Heather was flirting with guys back in Thunder Bay, herself.

"Yo Marc, meet Jillian." Max smirked, introducing him to a pretty little brunette. "Jillian, meet Marc. He's our goaltender." Great, Marc was introducing him to a girl that didn't know anything about hockey, wasn't he?

"Nice to meet you," he forced a polite smile, and they shook hands in an uncomfortable fashion. Max gave him the 'what the hell are you doing, just charm her and lead her to a bedroom' look that he usually did, whenever he tried to hook him up with someone. But he didn't feel like playing along with Max's little ideas. The guy was a great guy, don't get him wrong, but he had a different idea of what romance was. And Marc's mind wasn't stuck on this brunette now sitting beside him speaking on some story about her friend dragging her to the party.

"You and me both," he sighed, still flashing his brilliant smile at her as to not give off the wrong impression.



"Okay, I'm going downstairs to introduce Lola to the beautiful world of Audrey Hepburn." Alyssa announced to the parents in the kitchen after having a late dessert. "Call me if anything interesting actually happens around here." Her aunt passed Lola to her, and she carried her carefully down to the rec room in the basement of the home. Grabbing the selector, she pressed the play button and the DVD player started up her favorite movie: Breakfast At Tiffany's.

Lola had fallen asleep just half an hour into the film, and instead of letting her sleep in her arms, Aly decided it was best to put her to bed. She paused the film, and headed up the three flights of stairs to the level with most of the bedrooms of the home. "Night," she whispered to her baby cousin, kissing her on her forehead and heading back down the stairs to finish off her movie.

There was a knock on the door just as she was walking down the large staircase that led into the front entrance of the home. "I'll get it!" Heading up to the front door, she pulled the door open and was surprised to see the tall, dark boy standing on the front steps.

"Party wasn't that great," he shrugged, answering her questioning eyes and holding out a grocery bag in front of him. "I brought junk food."

Alyssa laughed, stepping aside and holding the door open further. "Well, since you brought food." Marc smiled, stepping into the house as the blonde took the bag of food from him.

"Popcorn, chips... oo, peanut butter cups!" She looked back at him, and he was still smiling brightly. He had a really great smile, she found herself thinking. "I'm watching a movie."

"Perfect."

"But be warned, it's Audrey Hepburn - for some reason, boys don't like that." she overheard him laughing behind her, and took that as an acceptance for the movie. "I'll meet you downstairs?" he nodded and Alyssa disappeared in the opposite direction, heading down the hallway towards the kitchen.

"Who was that?" Her father asked as soon as she walked inside, and part of her wanted to make some snooty remark about him actually noticing something about his surroundings for once, but instead she bit her tongue.

"Marc." Aly couldn't help the small smile as she saw her uncle shift uncomfortably on his bar stool out of the corner of her eye. "We're gonna watch a movie downstairs. Just came in to get some drinks." The blonde stuck her head into the fridge to find something to drink.

"No alcohol," Pascal reminded her, and she laughed quietly at him.

"Yeah, yeah."



"You can't lie about eating all of the Reese's!" Alyssa accused the boy sitting beside her on the couch. The movie was more than halfway over, but Aly was much more interested in what had happened to all the good treats they had been sharing.

"I'm not! I just had a few!" he laughed, trying to defend himself.

"Yeah," she snorted. "Try a few hundred. Jeez, you suck at sharing." Alyssa tried to pretend to be angry at him, but if she was being completely honest, all he had to do was flash that smile of his and she'd have to let him off the hook.

"Have the sour patch kids," he offered her his version of a white flag, and she glared him down for a good few seconds before taking the surrender.

"You're lucky I love these, too."

Marc watched as Alyssa popped the bag open, and threw some into her mouth. The girl, who refused to eat fast food, certainly didn't have anything against junk food. She had already gone through an entire bag of BBQ chips, and helped him finish the popcorn he had brought over. He wondered if she just had a great metabolism, or she worked out to keep the figure that she had. And he certainly could not deny he had noticed her body.

The off-the-shoulder long-sleeved sweater thing she had on was swooping low the way she was sitting cross-legged on the couch, and every so often he could easily see her bra underneath. He felt horrible for looking, but he was a guy, and he accepted that excuse to make him feel better about it. She had on those leggings that looked like jeans, but weren't. Those things had always confused the hell out of him. It was like grapples - grapes and apples. Just choose one, and stick to it. Though, these pants were more liked by Marc, as they fit her almost perfectly. He'd much rather see her in jeggings, than buy a grapple. What are you talking about? he shook the thoughts away, continuing to watch Alyssa. She was much more interesting than this movie, anyway. The way her lip twitched during some rain scene, and the way her lips curled upwards and parted right before she was about to laugh at a funny part. Every so often, he'd get caught staring when she'd turn to check up on how he was feeling about the film. But maybe he had gotten caught a little too many times, because this time she was popping a handful of popcorn into her mouth, but stopped when she glanced over at him.

"What?" she asked, feeling her cheeks flush a little. Alyssa hadn't noticed him watching her, but she had been much too into the movie she had already seen at least a hundred times, to really have seen him looking.

"Nothing." he shook his head, but Alyssa didn't accept the answer. "You really like this movie, eh?"

"I love it almost as much as you love your peanut butter cups," she smirked, looking quite proud of her comparison. Aly glanced back at the entertainment center set-up on the wall, and noticed the clock: 11:57pm. "It's almost the new year."

"Three minutes. Make your resolutions now!" Marc chuckled.

"I made mine earlier." She was making it seem as though she wanted him to ask, so he did.

"Which are...?"

"One is to not throw up in your bathroom anymore," she cracked as she ate another sour patch kid from the bag beside them.

"Well, I will support that one." he nodded his head, grinning.

"So, tell me one of yours."

"Uhh... I told my parents that I wouldn't eat so much takeout but that was just to make them feel better... I really don't see that happening."

Aly laughed that addicting laugh Marc was thinking, at this point, could solve depression around the world. "I'll support that one." The duo shook hands on their resolutions, but Marc knew the minute he'd get home he'd order a pizza of some sort and devour it. Fast food was just too good for his own good. Even when he was told not to eat it - especially as a professional athlete - he had to sneak it every so often. He would just work extra hard in practice the next day, or run it off at the gym.

"Get your butts up here, you two. It's almost midnight!" Carol-Lyn exclaimed from upstairs, and Alyssa looked at Marc to check whether he wanted to or not. He shrugged, figuring they should - even if he'd end up getting some sort of look from Pascal again. He still hadn't been pulled aside about showing up on Christmas to his house to invite Aly out that night, but he knew it would be coming now. God, the guys would never let him out of that one.



"Happy New Year!" Alyssa mocked her aunt's enthusiasm, throwing her hands in the air sarcastically and blowing on the blow-horn outside while Kody and Mae ran up and down the street banging pots and pans. Marc watched, every so often debating whether or not just doing what he had the urge to do all night would end well. He was either an idiot, or the smoothest guy ever as he grabbed Aly just in time for her to pull the horn away from her lips and instead, he placed his own on hers.

"Happy New Year," Marc breathed out once they pulled away. Please don't slap me.