Whatever It Takes

“Just get the wine glasses dear,” Cynthia told her daughter as they put the final touches to the dinning room table for their lunch.

“Sure thing,” Arianna agreed as she walked through the doorway towards the kitchen. Patrick followed quickly behind her, slipping his hand around her waist once they were out of sight from her mom. He leaned over her shoulder and laid a soft kiss against her cheek.

“I’ve waited all day to do that,” he told her lightly as he rested his face against the side of hers. She closed her eyes for a second; momentarily getting lost in how good it felt to be with me. Images suddenly flooded her mind of Patrick with other girls, snapping her back to reality.

She moved easily out of his grasp and went to the cabinet that held the glasses. As she reached up to take them down she could feel his gaze stare at her back intently.

“Ok, what’s wrong?” he asked in a soft voice, although it was filled with curiosity and a slight edge.

“Nothing. Why would you say that?” she lied as she continued to take down the glasses as slowly as possible so she wouldn’t have to face him.

“You’ve been acting weird all day. I can just tell something is off with you,” he told her, a slight irritation lingering in his voice.

Arianna turned around to face him, her hands filled with two wine glasses. She mentally told herself to not look at him in the eyes or else she would give herself away.

“It’s nothing. I’m just a little shaken from your surprise visit…I wasn’t really ready to have you meet my parents yet or under these circumstances,” she said as she walked forward and handed him the two glasses to hold. So I’m half lying, she thought, that’s not as bad as a full lie.

As she turned back to the counter to grab the remaining three she could sense some hesitation in him, almost as if he didn’t fully believe her. The touch of a cool hand on the slight skin exposed on her lower back startled her as she turned around quickly.

She was face to face with Patrick, their mouths and noses only inches apart. “That’s all?” he asked her seriously, his eyes trying to pry into hers to find the truth.

All she could manage to do was nod, her brain racing with different thoughts. How easy it would be right now to just tell him off. Let him know she knew all about his shady past that he had kept a secret from her. Make him feel as horrible as she felt at this very moment. Every inch of her body wanted to scream and kick and demand he leave her the hell alone.

But she could never do that to him; especially not before a game. She cared about him too much to ever jeopardize his career. She also loved the other guys and didn’t want them to suffer because Patrick wasn’t focused on the game or playing up to his potential.

“Ok,” Patrick said finally, snapping her back down to earth. He began to walk back towards the door when he stopped and turned around to face her again.

“Should I be more scared of your dad or your brothers?” he asked innocently, his eyes filled with concern and nerves.

She couldn’t help but chuckle at his comment. Damn him for being so irresistible to her. He knew how to get her every time.

“Definitely my brothers,” she said softly as a small smile appeared on her face, half of which was forced. Patrick nodded in response and took out threw the doorway, leaving Arianna alone in the kitchen to gather her thoughts.

***

They sat around the dining room table each one deeply engrossed in their plate in front of them. Arianna prayed that things would go smoothly as she glanced at the bodies in front of her.

“So Patrick, are you close to your family?” Arianna’s mom asked as she took a forkful of her salad.

“Yeah I am actually,” he responded, “its pretty hard having to live so far away from them sometimes. I have three younger sisters and we were always close so I still keep in contact with them and my parents daily”.

“That’s really sweet,” she said as she glanced at her two sons. “I’d like to think that these boys would do the same if they ever moved far away”. She gave them a knowing look, “I’ve always tried to instill in them that family is everything”.

“You know we would mom,” James said as he rolled his eyes slightly. “And chances are none of us are moving anywhere far anytime soon so don’t worry”.

“Yeah, and you know how close we are to Ari,” Mike continued, “we have to stay around to keep an eye on her.” As he went to take a sip of wine from his glass he made a point to stare at Patrick quickly.

“No need to keep an eye on me,” Arianna said as she tried to not show she was getting irritated with her brothers. “You could just be normal and trust me”.

“It’s not you we don’t trust, it’s everyone else,” Mike told her simply as he put his glass down. “You know we’d rip off anyone’s head who ever did anything to hurt you…”

He glanced back at Patrick, his eyes narrowing in on his. Patrick shifted nervously in his seat as he reached quickly for his glass. The table was silent until Arianna’s mother cleared her throat, quickly catching on the tension in the air.

“No need to get violent Mike,” Cynthia said in a cool tone as she shot her son a look to stop with his threats. Mike’s smirk disappeared as he went to eating and shifting the food around his plate.

“So Patrick, did you go to school?” Arianna’s father asked casually as he cut through his almost raw steak. He glanced up momentarily to stare at Patrick, his dark eyes revealing no emotion.

Patrick swallowed hard, shifting in his chair nervously as he cleared his throat. “Well I never finished university…” he began as Arianna’s father eyebrows furrowed together in disappointment.

“Don’t get me wrong, I think school is extremely important and everyone should pursue it. But for me it wasn’t really an option since my hockey career took off quickly” he finished as he tried to give the older man a confident smile.

“I think an education is the most important thing. And that’s something I hope I’ve instilled in all my children,” he responded to Patrick as he glanced at all three of his children.

“I think that’s a great thing to enforce in them. I mean, I respect Arianna so much for pursuing law and working so hard in school. It’s one of the things I love about her,” Patrick said smoothly, suddenly looking alarmed as he realized he said the L word.

Arianna choked slightly on her food as she heard the sentence leave his mouth. Did he just say there was something he loved about her? Did that mean he loved her? Her brain began to race with thoughts, everything suddenly blurring together before she could process it.

Calm down, she told herself as she glanced around the table. Each of her family members was giving curious glances to Patrick, who sat motionless and was giving a weak smile. The only one who seemed entertained by the comment was her mother, who had a knowing grin on her face.

He cannot be saying these things when I’m so mad at him, her thoughts continued. She had played with the idea of loving him back in Chicago, where she had been certain that her emotions had reached that point. However things were different now. She had seen those pictures; he wasn’t who he said he was.

“That’s very sweet that you’re so supportive of her school work,” Cynthia commented as she smiled warmly to Patrick. He breathed a sigh of relief through his warm smile that he directed towards her.

“So what are your plans tonight? Don’t you have a game?” James asked rudely as he finished up the remaining pieces of food on his plate.

“Actually yes I do…should be a great game. I love playing in Toronto. You guys have some great fans here,” Patrick said politely, trying to score some brownie points amongst the men.

“Dad that reminds me, you got the tickets I asked you for right? The ones for me and Marissa for tonight’s game?” Arianna said as she turned to look at her father. Being the president for one of the largest financial advising firms had many benefits, one of which was season tickets to the Maple Leafs. They had two seats about 4 rows behind the visitors’ bench, which in her opinion were the best seats in the house.

She had asked her father from a month ago for tickets to tonight’s game. Even though she was incredibly pissed off with Patrick she would still go and be supportive, even if it killed her.

“Oh about that, I only have one ticket for you,” he replied nonchalantly as he took a sip of wine. Arianna dropped her fork against her plate while giving her father an incredulous look.

“What? Why?” she asked him, confused and angry at his response. If there was only one ticket available, what happened to the other one?

“Samuel asked for it. We both didn’t realize that our children had asked us from a while ago to go and see the same game. So we just decided to split them. This way you get to go and so does he,” he responded, his eyes suddenly cloudy. “This won’t be a problem will it? I thought everythi-”

“It’s fine,” Arianna said quickly as she cut him off. Deep inside though she felt her stomach flop. Samuel was her father’s partner at work, his best friend who had helped him start up the firm. Only problem was she knew his son too well…

***

“You sure you’re okay?” Patrick asked one last time as he turned and looked at her. “Yes Pat, I’m fine,” she lied to as she forced a smile, “Now go and get ready for your game, you’re going to be late”.

He gave a sweet smile, his eyes lingering on her hers before he moved in smoothly for a soft kiss. She felt her body tremble as their lips touched, her knees feeling weak as they parted. Ugh, how she hated that he still had this affect on her.

“Good luck tonight,” she said as she watched him get out of car and head towards the hotel doors.

“I forgot to ask you, will you be okay sitting with this guy Samuel’s kid tonight? I can try and find you a seat somewhere else if you want,” Patrick offered as he turned back around quickly to look at her.

“No it’s ok…I know his son, so it’s not a problem. He’s never bothered me before so it’ll be good,” she said as she felt her throat go dry. “Thanks for the offer though,” she said sweetly as she smiled.

“No problem, see you later baby,” Patrick responded as he winked at her and made his way through the large doors.

Arianna sighed and leaned against the cool leather interior seat. As she put her car into drive, her mind scrambled with ways that she could make this work. Maybe Patrick wouldn’t ask to be introduced to Samuel’s son.

Suddenly her cell phone rang and she glanced down to see it was a text message. Fuck my life, she thought as she opened it up.

-Hey! Long time no talk, but I hear we’re going to the game together tonight. Want me to pick you up or do we meet up there? – David-

Yup, things were definitely going to get worse.