Sequel: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. ›
Goodnight, Beautiful.
21.
Rolling over and draping her arm over Daniel, Bristol kissed the exposed, warm skin of the back of his neck. She wrinkled her nose. “Garlic is just oozing from your pores.”
“I know. I should probably take a shower, eh?” Dan gathered Bristol in his arms and kissed the top of her head. Soft sunlight flooded their room through the cream curtains that draped over the window. It was 9:30 AM, way past the time the couple was accustom to sleeping to. A tough and tiring week had finally caught up. “Jeff ordered pizza from Gino’s.”
Flooding memories from the pervious night pooled in Bristol’s mind. She excitedly straddled Dan’s hip as she laced her fingers with his. Daniel grew excited too; it wasn’t too often Bristol agreed to morning sex.
“You will never believe who I saw Danny with at dinner.” When his faced with an unknown answer, she finished. “Gina Lynn. As in the Gina Lynn.”
She had forgotten about what Danny had told her the night he surprised her in the hot tub.
“You’re right. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s slept with half the team.” Danny knew what he was about to say was out of character for him. “Actually, I remember she was hanging around Carcillo when we were on the road just—“
Dan let out his small and infamous laugh, partly because he realized he wasn’t getting laid. “That doesn’t surprise me. She lives around here and none of us knew she was really into hockey players until she left her husband. Gina likes to show up at out hotels unannounced sometimes.”
“She’s a friend of Carter’s; at least that’s what I’ve been told. He’s probably just keeping her around for the sex. Can’t really see those two in any sort of relationship.” Bristol relaxed and sat back on his thighs. “Not to mention, Sylvie would have a heart attack if she knew a porn star was hanging around her boys.”
“Gina’s a bright girl; dumber than a bag of rocks but, most of us think she just plays stupid.”
Curious as to why Dan went to Gina’s defense when he could tell Bristol was getting ready to say something mean about the teams whore. “Have you been lucky enough to have the services of Miss. Lynn?” She asked.
“No…well, yeah,” Dan was tripping over his words. He had to tread very, very lightly. “But, it was before you and I got together. I let her blow me. No way I’d fuck her; too afraid I’d catch some disease.”
Bristol stayed silent. She wasn’t all too sure how to respond. She wanted to be mad, but she couldn’t. They weren’t together when it happened. He was still in his relationship with Brittany. Her spirits did heighten, however, when her nose caught a whiff of the yummy smell floating through the house. It was better than coffee and had always had the power to rise her out of bed as teenager.
Excitedly, Bristol hopped off the bed and pulled a hooded sweatshirt over her arms. “Matt’s making French toast!” Grabbing Dan’s hands and pulling him out of bed, she tossed him a shirt and assured him Matt’s cooking was impossibly better than hers.
Dan couldn’t disagree with his girlfriend. The smells coming from the kitchen were rather intoxicating. After a night of bad pizza and beer, he was looking for something tasteful to fill his belly with. He watched a Bristol fluidly glided into the kitchen. She kissed her brother’s cheeks good morning as Matt placed two more slices of toast on the cook top.
“Good morning, Daniel.” Matt was often too chipper in the morning. His good morning moods sometimes awoke Bristol’s inner green monster when she woke up a bitch. Formal introductions had been made when they arrived home last night. She could tell Daniel had been expecting a juice headed Guido to walk through the front door instantly looking for the TV to catch the score of the preseason baseball games. Instead, Matt had “insulted” Daniel’s favorite sweater before saying hello. Dan appreciated the honesty and threw the sweater away before heading up to bed. He liked Matt.
Accepting the coffee that had that Bristol had made for him, Daniel sipped the hot liquid first. “Morning,”
When breakfast was cooked, the three piled into the small breakfast nook and dug into the large stack of French toast. Besides dinner, the morning’s breakfast would be the only time the three would be in each others presence today. Bristol was headed into Jersey for the first of Cameron’s playoff games, Matt insisted he’d be fine touring Philly himself and Daniel was headed to Voorhees for practice.
The brother and sister would meet up for lunch at Geno’s for steak sandwiches before heading over to Kris’s for a small team get together. It had always been his duty to try his best to relax the minds of his teammates before a big game. Bristol was in charge of bringing the Wii and games.
Matt’s cooking was just as good as Bristol remembered it to be. She became slightly jealous when Daniel took two seconds out of stuffing his face to as her brother if he wanted to move in with them. Not only could the man cook, but he also cleaned up the kitchen after word.
Once she was done showering and finding clean cloths to wear, Bristol sat on the couch next to Matt while she tied her Converse. Dan had already left for practice. “Are you sure you’re going to be fine? I feel bad leaving you here but, I promised Cam—,”
He held up his index finger to silence her. Matt had had enough of his sisters blabbering for one day already. Bristol was almost as bad as Adrienne…and that woman could talk. “What am I? Two? I’ll be fine. I can manage finding the Rocky steps myself. Last time I checked I am four years older than you.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry.” Slapping her hands on her thighs, Bristol leaned over and kissed his cheek goodbye. Her senses were telling her she’d find him in the same position on the couch when she returned. There was a marathon of Say Yes to the Dress on and the man loved critiquing other woman’s choices of dress. It once again reminded Bristol why she would never bring him along when it was time to pick out her dress…again, hopefully.
Bristol dropped a few hundred dollars on the table beside the door to cover his cab fair and any souvenirs he wanted to buy. She felt bad for leaving him and wanted to make it up. So, Bristol thought she’d pay for his day of fun.
“Bye,” Matt called out as Bristol stepped outside. “Behave!”
---
Opening the heavy door to the ice arena, Bristol caught a sudden chill as a cool breeze wisped at her skin. It was too warm out to be wearing a sweatshirt and for the time being she’d have to deal with the cold air. She knew Danny wouldn’t be there; practice during the playoffs was mandatory in order to play; Mr. Playoff surely felt bad about missing his son’s game but, there’d be more to come.
Bristol spotted Sylvie easily in the crowd. She excused her way up the bleachers and down the isle as she took the open seat next to the former Mrs. Briere. “How’s he doing?” Setting her bag by her feet, Bristol scanned the bench looking for the youngest Briere.
He was getting ready to hit the ice for his shift. They were almost finished with the first and Bristol wished she would have left Philly earlier than she had. Traffic was a bitch and it would be the same trying to get back there.
“Not too bad, he was slightly upset Danny wasn’t here.” Sylvie tapped her fingers against her Starbucks cup and glanced over to Bristol. It wasn’t often that they spent time together like this. Their meetings were often brief. “Playoff season is hectic. The guys are rarely home and when they are their moods vary based on whether or not they won games. Last season Danny was a monster after losing games 1 and 2. They boys stayed with me that weekend.”
Bristol cocked an eyebrow. She was having a hard time believing Danny could be in such a bad mood, his boys didn’t want to be around him. “Really?”
Sylvie chuckled, sensing Bristol’s disbelief. “Yeah, believe it or not, Daniel can be worse than a woman on her worst day of PMS.”
---
Most of the men could barley feel their legs as they skated to the bench. Water bottles were passed around and some of the guys were regretting their choices of breakfast. One of those men happened to be Daniel Carcillo. His heart pounded quick in his chest as his muscles relaxed from the intense skating drills they had just finished. He could still hear his coaches whistle blowing in his mind and was thankful practice was over. Daniel could take no more suicides for the day, and if Peter had kept them on the ice for five minutes longer, he’d be ready to commit suicide.
“How are your legs?” Briere passed the water bottle off to Carcillo, who squirted his face.
“I don’t know. I’ll let you know when I can feel ‘em.”
It was hard for Daniel to look Briere straight in the eye without wanting to bust out in a giant smile and pat him on the back. Out of all the guys on the team, he took Danny as the last one to hook up with Gina. No one would have guessed there was mutual interest between the two. But then again, Daniel thought, if they’re just fucking, there didn’t need to be any deep interest, just physical attraction. And, who wasn’t attracted to Gina?
“How was your date last night?” Dan took a seat at his cubby and started unlacing his skates. His feet were beginning to cramp and he couldn’t get them off fast enough.
Briere didn’t look up at Dan; he knew it had been Bristol who let him in on the details of last night’s events. He just wondered how much detail Bristol had gone into. “It was good. Bristol and her brother were there too so, we just got a table together.”
It was an off day where Daniel wasn’t in the mood to embarrass his elder teammate and decided against bringing Gina up in their conversation. “That’s what Bristol had said. Her brother is quite the character, eh?”
“Yeah, I can see where she gets her sense of humor from.” Danny laughed.
---
After Cameron’s game, Bristol hung around for a few minutes to get her chance to congratulate him on his win. Caelan and Carson hung around her too, not wanting anything to do with the adult conversation their mother was engaged in. Bristol didn’t blame them. Their moods had seemed different to Bristol; she couldn’t put her finger on it but they weren’t happy-go-lucky as they usually were.
“You two okay?” She asked. Their faces were long and the two brothers just shrugged. “It’s okay to tell me, my lips are sealed.”
Caelan nudged his brother as if the two had been working on what they were going to say to her. The usually shy Caelan urged his brother to be the one to spill. “It’s the new girl dad’s been hanging around with.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Bristol often times liked hearing gossip from kids. They were ones who told you like it was and didn’t sugar coat things.
Carson shrugged his shoulders. “We don’t like Gina. For the past week she’s been over after you leave and she’s trying way too hard to get us to like her. We all know dad doesn’t like her. Claude told us so.”
“Really?” Bristol crossed her arms over her chest and glanced at the back of Sylvie’s head. “Why do you say that?”
The boys looked at one another, as if unsure whether they should continue. Their explanation was part of a conversation they had overhead Danny and Claude having. If Danny was to find out what they told Bristol, they knew he would be none too pleased with them.
Taking a deep breath, Caelan blew the dark locks from his eyes. “He doesn’t like her because he wants to date you.” His cheeks flushed as he searched his brain for the next words to say. Bristol was unsure and too stunned to know if she wanted to hear the rest. Carson sensed his brother’s hesitation and finished for him.
“And, we want you to date him, too.”
“I know. I should probably take a shower, eh?” Dan gathered Bristol in his arms and kissed the top of her head. Soft sunlight flooded their room through the cream curtains that draped over the window. It was 9:30 AM, way past the time the couple was accustom to sleeping to. A tough and tiring week had finally caught up. “Jeff ordered pizza from Gino’s.”
Flooding memories from the pervious night pooled in Bristol’s mind. She excitedly straddled Dan’s hip as she laced her fingers with his. Daniel grew excited too; it wasn’t too often Bristol agreed to morning sex.
“You will never believe who I saw Danny with at dinner.” When his faced with an unknown answer, she finished. “Gina Lynn. As in the Gina Lynn.”
She had forgotten about what Danny had told her the night he surprised her in the hot tub.
“You’re right. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s slept with half the team.” Danny knew what he was about to say was out of character for him. “Actually, I remember she was hanging around Carcillo when we were on the road just—“
Dan let out his small and infamous laugh, partly because he realized he wasn’t getting laid. “That doesn’t surprise me. She lives around here and none of us knew she was really into hockey players until she left her husband. Gina likes to show up at out hotels unannounced sometimes.”
“She’s a friend of Carter’s; at least that’s what I’ve been told. He’s probably just keeping her around for the sex. Can’t really see those two in any sort of relationship.” Bristol relaxed and sat back on his thighs. “Not to mention, Sylvie would have a heart attack if she knew a porn star was hanging around her boys.”
“Gina’s a bright girl; dumber than a bag of rocks but, most of us think she just plays stupid.”
Curious as to why Dan went to Gina’s defense when he could tell Bristol was getting ready to say something mean about the teams whore. “Have you been lucky enough to have the services of Miss. Lynn?” She asked.
“No…well, yeah,” Dan was tripping over his words. He had to tread very, very lightly. “But, it was before you and I got together. I let her blow me. No way I’d fuck her; too afraid I’d catch some disease.”
Bristol stayed silent. She wasn’t all too sure how to respond. She wanted to be mad, but she couldn’t. They weren’t together when it happened. He was still in his relationship with Brittany. Her spirits did heighten, however, when her nose caught a whiff of the yummy smell floating through the house. It was better than coffee and had always had the power to rise her out of bed as teenager.
Excitedly, Bristol hopped off the bed and pulled a hooded sweatshirt over her arms. “Matt’s making French toast!” Grabbing Dan’s hands and pulling him out of bed, she tossed him a shirt and assured him Matt’s cooking was impossibly better than hers.
Dan couldn’t disagree with his girlfriend. The smells coming from the kitchen were rather intoxicating. After a night of bad pizza and beer, he was looking for something tasteful to fill his belly with. He watched a Bristol fluidly glided into the kitchen. She kissed her brother’s cheeks good morning as Matt placed two more slices of toast on the cook top.
“Good morning, Daniel.” Matt was often too chipper in the morning. His good morning moods sometimes awoke Bristol’s inner green monster when she woke up a bitch. Formal introductions had been made when they arrived home last night. She could tell Daniel had been expecting a juice headed Guido to walk through the front door instantly looking for the TV to catch the score of the preseason baseball games. Instead, Matt had “insulted” Daniel’s favorite sweater before saying hello. Dan appreciated the honesty and threw the sweater away before heading up to bed. He liked Matt.
Accepting the coffee that had that Bristol had made for him, Daniel sipped the hot liquid first. “Morning,”
When breakfast was cooked, the three piled into the small breakfast nook and dug into the large stack of French toast. Besides dinner, the morning’s breakfast would be the only time the three would be in each others presence today. Bristol was headed into Jersey for the first of Cameron’s playoff games, Matt insisted he’d be fine touring Philly himself and Daniel was headed to Voorhees for practice.
The brother and sister would meet up for lunch at Geno’s for steak sandwiches before heading over to Kris’s for a small team get together. It had always been his duty to try his best to relax the minds of his teammates before a big game. Bristol was in charge of bringing the Wii and games.
Matt’s cooking was just as good as Bristol remembered it to be. She became slightly jealous when Daniel took two seconds out of stuffing his face to as her brother if he wanted to move in with them. Not only could the man cook, but he also cleaned up the kitchen after word.
Once she was done showering and finding clean cloths to wear, Bristol sat on the couch next to Matt while she tied her Converse. Dan had already left for practice. “Are you sure you’re going to be fine? I feel bad leaving you here but, I promised Cam—,”
He held up his index finger to silence her. Matt had had enough of his sisters blabbering for one day already. Bristol was almost as bad as Adrienne…and that woman could talk. “What am I? Two? I’ll be fine. I can manage finding the Rocky steps myself. Last time I checked I am four years older than you.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry.” Slapping her hands on her thighs, Bristol leaned over and kissed his cheek goodbye. Her senses were telling her she’d find him in the same position on the couch when she returned. There was a marathon of Say Yes to the Dress on and the man loved critiquing other woman’s choices of dress. It once again reminded Bristol why she would never bring him along when it was time to pick out her dress…again, hopefully.
Bristol dropped a few hundred dollars on the table beside the door to cover his cab fair and any souvenirs he wanted to buy. She felt bad for leaving him and wanted to make it up. So, Bristol thought she’d pay for his day of fun.
“Bye,” Matt called out as Bristol stepped outside. “Behave!”
---
Opening the heavy door to the ice arena, Bristol caught a sudden chill as a cool breeze wisped at her skin. It was too warm out to be wearing a sweatshirt and for the time being she’d have to deal with the cold air. She knew Danny wouldn’t be there; practice during the playoffs was mandatory in order to play; Mr. Playoff surely felt bad about missing his son’s game but, there’d be more to come.
Bristol spotted Sylvie easily in the crowd. She excused her way up the bleachers and down the isle as she took the open seat next to the former Mrs. Briere. “How’s he doing?” Setting her bag by her feet, Bristol scanned the bench looking for the youngest Briere.
He was getting ready to hit the ice for his shift. They were almost finished with the first and Bristol wished she would have left Philly earlier than she had. Traffic was a bitch and it would be the same trying to get back there.
“Not too bad, he was slightly upset Danny wasn’t here.” Sylvie tapped her fingers against her Starbucks cup and glanced over to Bristol. It wasn’t often that they spent time together like this. Their meetings were often brief. “Playoff season is hectic. The guys are rarely home and when they are their moods vary based on whether or not they won games. Last season Danny was a monster after losing games 1 and 2. They boys stayed with me that weekend.”
Bristol cocked an eyebrow. She was having a hard time believing Danny could be in such a bad mood, his boys didn’t want to be around him. “Really?”
Sylvie chuckled, sensing Bristol’s disbelief. “Yeah, believe it or not, Daniel can be worse than a woman on her worst day of PMS.”
---
Most of the men could barley feel their legs as they skated to the bench. Water bottles were passed around and some of the guys were regretting their choices of breakfast. One of those men happened to be Daniel Carcillo. His heart pounded quick in his chest as his muscles relaxed from the intense skating drills they had just finished. He could still hear his coaches whistle blowing in his mind and was thankful practice was over. Daniel could take no more suicides for the day, and if Peter had kept them on the ice for five minutes longer, he’d be ready to commit suicide.
“How are your legs?” Briere passed the water bottle off to Carcillo, who squirted his face.
“I don’t know. I’ll let you know when I can feel ‘em.”
It was hard for Daniel to look Briere straight in the eye without wanting to bust out in a giant smile and pat him on the back. Out of all the guys on the team, he took Danny as the last one to hook up with Gina. No one would have guessed there was mutual interest between the two. But then again, Daniel thought, if they’re just fucking, there didn’t need to be any deep interest, just physical attraction. And, who wasn’t attracted to Gina?
“How was your date last night?” Dan took a seat at his cubby and started unlacing his skates. His feet were beginning to cramp and he couldn’t get them off fast enough.
Briere didn’t look up at Dan; he knew it had been Bristol who let him in on the details of last night’s events. He just wondered how much detail Bristol had gone into. “It was good. Bristol and her brother were there too so, we just got a table together.”
It was an off day where Daniel wasn’t in the mood to embarrass his elder teammate and decided against bringing Gina up in their conversation. “That’s what Bristol had said. Her brother is quite the character, eh?”
“Yeah, I can see where she gets her sense of humor from.” Danny laughed.
---
After Cameron’s game, Bristol hung around for a few minutes to get her chance to congratulate him on his win. Caelan and Carson hung around her too, not wanting anything to do with the adult conversation their mother was engaged in. Bristol didn’t blame them. Their moods had seemed different to Bristol; she couldn’t put her finger on it but they weren’t happy-go-lucky as they usually were.
“You two okay?” She asked. Their faces were long and the two brothers just shrugged. “It’s okay to tell me, my lips are sealed.”
Caelan nudged his brother as if the two had been working on what they were going to say to her. The usually shy Caelan urged his brother to be the one to spill. “It’s the new girl dad’s been hanging around with.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Bristol often times liked hearing gossip from kids. They were ones who told you like it was and didn’t sugar coat things.
Carson shrugged his shoulders. “We don’t like Gina. For the past week she’s been over after you leave and she’s trying way too hard to get us to like her. We all know dad doesn’t like her. Claude told us so.”
“Really?” Bristol crossed her arms over her chest and glanced at the back of Sylvie’s head. “Why do you say that?”
The boys looked at one another, as if unsure whether they should continue. Their explanation was part of a conversation they had overhead Danny and Claude having. If Danny was to find out what they told Bristol, they knew he would be none too pleased with them.
Taking a deep breath, Caelan blew the dark locks from his eyes. “He doesn’t like her because he wants to date you.” His cheeks flushed as he searched his brain for the next words to say. Bristol was unsure and too stunned to know if she wanted to hear the rest. Carson sensed his brother’s hesitation and finished for him.
“And, we want you to date him, too.”