Picking Up the Pieces

We just laid there for a long time, holding each other tightly. Every once in a while, one of us would kiss the other gently, and my heart thudded happily. Alice toyed with my hair, and I ran my thumb against her hip. Her eyes had regained their usual sparkle, which made me proud, because that sparkle had died out when Sid walked out on her. It wasn’t until her phone began to ring that she moved.

“No don’t go,” I muttered, but she kissed my forehead and slipped out of the bedroom, racing past the living room to avoid being caught naked in front of the window. I sighed heavily and pulled on my boxers again, and by the time Alice returned she was wearing incredibly short black shorts and a loose fitting Devils tee-shirt. She raised her eyebrows at me, and then curled up against me. I wrapped my arm around her and she rested her head on my chest.

^^^^^^

Marc’s heart was beating heavily, and I smiled softly, knowing that he was as happy to have me so close. It was strange, how easy it seemed to fall into Marc’s arms once I knew that things with Sidney were beyond repair. In a way, I was afraid of making him my rebound, but I didn’t want to think about that at the moment. Instead, I wanted to think about how perfectly his arm fit around me, and how nice it felt to finally have someone to lean on once more. I looked up at him and his big, puppy-like brown eyes were crinkled at the corners with a smile. I scooted up a little bit and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. He returned it, and then brushed my bangs out of my face.

“You know you’re gorgeous, right?” he whispered, and I blushed furiously. I couldn’t respond, so I just ducked my head down so that my bangs would fall back into my face. He immediately swept them out of my face once more and kissed me firmly. The kiss wasn’t hot, but it wasn’t chaste either. It was the kind of kiss that made your heart melt, and your knees go weak. I leaned even more heavily against his chest and his hands came up to cradle my face. We shared a lot of kisses, and each one was fuller of emotion than the last one. I was terrified that I was falling into things with Marc way too fast, but at the same time, I didn’t care. I had been careful in my past relationships, and they had fallen apart. It was time to throw careful out the window and enjoy things as much as possible.

>>>November 29th, One Month Later<<<

When I woke up and walked into the living room, Alice wasn’t occupying her usual seat on the couch, curled up with a cup of coffee and a book. Instead, I heard retching coming from the bathroom and I immediately felt worry flutter up into my chest. I knocked on the door lightly, and then when I didn’t receive an answer, I opened the door. Alice was kneeling in front of the toilet, her long hair falling into her face as she heaved again. I quickly pulled her hair away from her face and bit my lip nervously. Alice was never one to get sick, so this was freaking me out a bit. Once she stopped throwing up, she sat back. She was pale, shaking, and sweaty, and I immediately reached over to the counter and grabbed the glass that was sitting on it. I filled it with water and handed it to her. She gargled and then spit the water into the toilet before flushing it.

“Are you okay?” I asked as she leaned back against my chest and took a few deep breaths.

“I feel like shit. I have for the past few days. I’ve been throwing up every morning, but this is the first time you’ve caught me,” she muttered.

“Caught you?” I asked.

“I hate when people see me throwing up,” she said quietly. I frowned, and kissed her cheek before standing up.

“I’m going to call the doctor. It sounds like you have the flu,” I said before leaving the bathroom. The doctor was more than willing to see Alice, and told me to bring her in that afternoon. I walked back into the bathroom, where Alice was still sitting on the floor. She was milk white, and I prayed silently that she wouldn’t be sick for long.

“I’m taking you to the doctor at one thirty,” I said, and Alice shook her head.

“Don’t you have practice today at three?” she asked quietly.

“I’ll just explain to coach what’s happening. You’re in no shape to drive there yourself Alice,” I said firmly. Alice simply shrugged and leaned against the wall. Dark circles were beginning to form under her eyes, and I frowned. She was absolutely exhausted.

Alice reluctantly went to the doctor after arguing for almost an hour that she felt better. I wasn’t going to let her ignore the fact that there was obviously something wrong, and she finally gave in after I threatened to call Johan. Alice and the other goal tender had become quite close over the past few months, and it was actually pretty nice. Moose treated her as if she was his daughter, although at twenty three she was almost too old to be his kid. I sat in the waiting room, anxiously bouncing my legs up and down and trying to find something to get my mind off of my sick girlfriend. Well, half girlfriend. We had avoided the commitment conversation, although neither of us was seeing anyone on the side. I had my reservations about being in a serious relationship after the Vero meltdown, and Alice was still fresh out of a shattered engagement, so it wasn’t really something we were looking for at the moment. We lived together, slept together, ate together, had sex together, comforted each other, and did almost everything else together, but we weren’t together together. It was frustrating in the sense that we were both too afraid to do anything about it, but we weren’t pushing the issue. So instead, I was sitting in the doctor’s office with my sick half girlfriend, waiting for the doctor to tell me she has the flu.