Fantasy World

Maci sat up quickly, holding her hands up in front of her. "It was nothing. It was an accident," she insisted.

Corey continued to gape at her. "How was it?" she demanded excitedly.

Maci's hands slowly dropped to her lap. Her eyes flickered away as her cheeks burned more. "We're pretending nothing happened, so I don't know what you're talking about."

Core let out a groan of protest. "Please? I won't say a word!" she promised.

Maci let out a sigh as she looked at her roommate. "I'm not proud of myself for doing that, okay? I'm actually kind of pissed at myself. I didn't want to lose my virginity that way," she mumbled.

Corey's smile slowly faded. "At least it was to someone you can always trust, right? I mean, you guys have grown up around each other so you must know each other pretty well," she offered.

Maci buried her face in her hands. "Steph is going to be so mad when she finds out..."

"She'll leave you alone. It's not really a big deal... I mean, maybe if you guys became fuck buddies or decided to date it would be, but this was just one lapse of judgement, yeah?" Corey gave her a small smile.

The brunette forced one onto her lips before looking back down at the pucks that had dropped onto her bunk. "I should probably start studying for my physics class," she decided out loud.

Corey snorted. "Have fun with that one. I'm headed out to meet up with the girls to go shopping," she said as she stood up and grabbed her purse. "Call me if you need anything. Have fun working out your nerdiness."

Maci laughed a little. "Alright. Bye," she replied. Once she was alone in her room again, she pulled out her books and notebooks. As she set to work on the problems in front of her, she pushed all thoughts of Steven Stamkos and Kyle Graceson aside.

--

Maci pulled open the door to her dorm room door to reveal Kyle. He gave her a small smile. "Hey," he said lightly with a small lift of his hand.

She blinked at him, trying to figure out what to say. "Hi..." She tucked her hands into the front pocket of the sweat shirt she was wearing.

His eyes drifted down to the front of it. "Stephanie get you that?" he asked awkwardly.

She looked down at Steven's sweat shirt before looking back up at him. "Why are you here?" She wanted to smack him with her physics book. She was so frustrated with him. He left her because she didn't want to have sex with him, left her dozens of roses, and was now showing up at her door...

He rubbed the back of his head. "I wanted to apologize for how I acted the other night... I shouldn't have said those things or done those things and I'm really sorry. Is there any chance you'd take me back?" he asked with a hopeful smile.

She almost gaped at him. "You left me because of how I felt about something so important as sleeping with you! And you want me to take you back now?" she demanded. His eyes fell as his smile faded. "Do you know how badly that hurt me?"

He looked up at her again. "I'm sorry-"

"Just... Save it," she muttered. She shook her head and looked away from him. "You know, last time we broke up, I swore if we ever did it again I wouldn't take you back," she reminded him.

He gave her a hurt look. "Come on, that was-"

"I meant it, Kyle," she stated.

He held her gaze for a long moment. "You're really going to let all those years float down the drain because I was being stupid for five minutes?" he questioned.

She rolled her eyes. "You came over here with that idea in your head; it was not only five minutes. And maybe..." She inhaled a deep breath. "Maybe this is better for us, anyways." The words stung her tongue slightly as they were spoken. Nine years. That was all she could think. Nine years.

He let out an agitated scoff. "Whatever, then. Be a bitch," he muttered before stalking off down the hallway.

Maci swallowed the lump in her throat as she closed the door finally. Without thinking, she dialed Stephanie's number. She curled up on her bed next to the books of physics problems and notebooks.

"Hello?" Stephanie answered in her bright and cheery tone.

"Hey," Maci mumbled out.

"Aw, sweetie... How are you doing? Are you okay?" her best friend quickly asked, picking up on the tone of her voice.

Maci covered her mouth as she tried not to let out a sob. "No," she whispered, her voice cracking.

"It's okay to cry, hun," Stephanie told her gently. "You two were together for a long time. It's hard..."

Maci did as her friend told her and let it go. "I hate this, Steph... Why... Why did I ever agree to date him in the first place?" she questioned.

Stephanie let out a small laugh. "Because you wanted a boyfriend and he was the only boy knocking at your window. And by the time high school came around, everyone was too scared to even try to flirt with you," she answered honestly.

Maci let out a little laugh. She pulled the sleeves of Steven's sweat shirt over her hands and curled up further into it. She inhaled the masculine scent. "I wish you were here, Steph."

"I wish I was, too, sweetie. Go see Steven. They should still be in town right now. Just pretend he's a girl and it'll be like I'm there," she instructed teasingly.

Maci felt her stomach tighten at the mention of Steven. "I don't want to bother him again," she mumbled out.

"He doesn't mind it, honestly," Stephanie insisted. She wished so badly that she could be there for her best friend. It wasn't easy knowing that Maci was going through this alone. She didn't feel that it was fair. "He cares about you just as much as I do."

Maci let out a laugh at that. "Right... I am sure he wanted a crying girl over at his house the night before his team leaves for a road trip," she remarked.

Stephanie laughed. "He enjoys your company. I think he secretly likes having the company. I think he gets a little lonely sometimes," she added on softly.

Maci wiped her cheeks with the sleeve of his sweatshirt. "Maybe when he gets back I'll go visit," she mumbled slowly. "I think I just need to sleep it off, you know?"

"Yeah. I'm here if you need me. Call any time," Stephanie told her.

"I will," the brunette responded.

Stephanie was about to say goodbye, but stopped. "Wait, did Steven tell you about his game? Did you see it?" she asked quickly.

"Yeah, the first two periods," she answered truthfully. "Afterwards, Steven gave me the pucks from the goals her scored."

"Aw! Isn't he just the sweetest. I wonder how many girls can say they've had an NHL star score a hat trick for their birthday," Stephanie commented with a laugh.

Maci smiled a little. "Yeah..."