He Shoots, She Scores

It’s now Valentine’s day and much to Carrie’s disapproval her and Lacey are headed dress shopping. Carrie walks into the bridal shop to find Lacey already sitting on the chairs in the foyer
“You’re early for something… what’s wrong?”
“Tyler and I got in a fight, so he went home last night”
“Well that’s probably a good thing seeing as I don’t think you can sleep here”
“No, home as in he flew to Canada! I’m pretty sure we almost broke up last night, I threw my phone across my room at him. I don’t even remember what we were fighting about, but I cracked my iphone screen, and all he did was give me a kiss on the forehead and say he was going to visit his parents today” Carrie raised an eyebrow at Lacey as the door to the shop opened again Nate walking inside, “What’s he doing here”
“Well I told him you had a dress appointment today, and he whined about it. So I told him to come make the plea to you” Carrie motioned to Nate who put on his best pout before speaking
“But Lacey, it’s Valentine’s day!”
“I do not care” Lacey says pointedly and gets up walking towards the back where her mom, and sister were sitting. The bridal consultant came over a few minutes later with a smile and a ton of scripted questions
“So who is Lacey?” she asks brightly and Lacey raises her hand “Ok and who do you have with you today?”
“Well I have my mom, my sister, my best friend and my best friends’ husband.”
“Ok who is the maid of honor?”
“Both of them, I could not do that I could not choose so it’s both of them and I really like the idea of mint and silver and the idea of them wearing 2 different dresses.”
“And for you? Any ideas on your wedding gown”
“Well I don’t want anything fitted, I feel like my hips are too wide and I don’t want people looking at that all day. What I’ve always dreamed of is a dress that ya know poofs out a little bit but not too much but I also don’t want it to look like I’m being swallowed by my dress… Basically if I see it I’ll know”
The consultant nods and decides to start with Carrie and Hannah’s dresses since Lacey had a better idea for their dresses. After 3 Carrie was frustrated
“I cannot wear silver, I look like a fun house mirror I am too short for this shiny of a material, and Hannah looks like a weird waterfall in silver can we just give up on this color?” Lacey nods her facial expression looking like she could smell a rotten potato from another room
“I kinda like it” Nate says with a mischievous smile
“Don’t you even think about it Nate, this dress and the other 3 were terrible! The longer you extend this dress parade the less time we have for whatever your surprise is”
“On Valentine’s day? I don’t want to know” Lacey says walking in the other room to pick out more dresses with Hannah close behind yelling
“And Carrie don’t get pregnant!”
“I’m going to have Lacey accidentally run over her, the whole shop just heard that” Carrie mumbles and Lacey’s mom and Nate only laugh. After finally picking a simple mint dress that stopped above the knee Hannah and Carrie took their seats now waiting for Lacey to try on dresses
She came out first in a dress with spaghetti straps, sequins across the top and a feather looking bottom. Everyone instantly scrunched their noses in distaste for the dress as Lacey faced the mirror
“I feel like a toothpick in a cotton ball”
“You look like it too” Her mom chimes in and Lacey shakes her head at the consultant and heads back into the room putting on another dress.
It was another hour and a half and 8 dresses later before Lacey came out of the dressing room in her jeans and sweater
“Oo I like that one” Nate says with a joking smile and Lacey just ignores him
“I am done for the day, I can’t do this anymore I have to come back some other time”
They all got up and headed for the door. Lacey, Carrie and Hannah stopped at the desk making another appointment for Lacey while Lacey’s mom and Nate went to get the cars. The three walked outside a few minutes later and were heading to their cars
“Bye Lace, bye Hannah. Lace let me know if you talk to Tyler I’d hate for your Valentine’s day to suck”
“Bye Carrie, don’t get pregnant” Hannah yells getting into the car
“Why does she do that to me!?”
“Cause you are easily embarrassed, and it makes it funny when you turn the color of a tomato. Also I will let you know what happens with Tyler, I have to go let Max out later apparently that’s all I’m good for”
“Stop it no you are not” Carrie turns to the car and opens the back door pulling out a large bowl from the back seat “I almost forgot, I made soup, see now you can’t have a bad Valentine’s day I got you a present. If you’re fiancé won’t be your Valentine I will”
“Hey!” Nate yells from the front seat of the car
“You don’t count Nate”
“Love you too babe”
“Thanks Carrie, I’m probably going to eat this in the car” Lacey says eying the still warm bowl in her hands
“I figured that’s why there is a spoon with it”

With Carrie
Nate pulls up in front of the house and jumps out of the car making his way around it quickly to open the door before Carrie can
“Awe, thanks” she says as he extends his hand to help her out of the car.
They walk up to the door Nate unlocking and then holding the front door open for Carrie as she walks in
“Is this part of your surprise?” she asks and Nate only smiles pushing her up the stairs
Making their way into their bedroom Nate stops in front of her bathroom door opening that for her as well
“On the back of the door is an outfit I had Lacey help me pick out, on the bed is shoes, in the shower is your favorite apple body wash and on the sink is your new Taylor Swift Wonderstruck Enchanted perfume. Get ready I’ll meet you downstairs”
“You bought me that Taylor perfume how sweet, and an outfit? Hold up Lacey helped you, and managed to keep it a secret?”
“That’s not your surprise” he says kissing her “Get ready” he says quietly and backs out of the room
Carrie smiles as she closes the door and sees the simple black skirt not to frilly or girly, the white blouse and red sweater to go over it hanging on the door, definitely something Lacey would pick out for her and fancy enough to go out in without the tomboy in Carrie feeling uncomfortable. She gets in the shower inhaling deeply the scent of her favorite body wash. Getting out she blow dries and straightens her hair wanting to do something different she plugs in her curling iron and takes large chunks of hair putting soft curls in her short hair.
After doing her makeup she gets dressed quickly, sprays her new perfume on and exits the bathroom to find a shoe box sitting on the bed. She opens the box to see white wedge heels she makes a mental note to yell at Lacey later for the heels but slides them on anyway loving the look and feel of them, the one girly thing Carrie did well was shoe shop and she could tell these would easily become one of her favorites.
She walks down the stairs thankful it isn’t snowing so she won’t have to change out of her shoes to leave the house. At the bottom of the stairs Nate is bent down tying his dress shoe he stands to see Carrie on the stairs and smiles
“You look beautiful”
“Thank you, you don’t look half bad yourself”
He takes her hand with a smile and leads her towards the dining room where she smells her favorite Yankee Candle Sweet Strawberry burning. Entering the room she sees the center of the table lined with the red candles sitting on top of a plain white table cloth and 2 plates sitting on either side. The soft light emitted from the candles made the dining room glow and Carrie took a deep breath enjoying the smell. They sit down and eat in silence, Carrie smiles when she catches Nate look sadly at his empty ring finger, when he looks up she changes her expression
“Still can’t find it huh?” she asks and Nate shakes his head
“It’s been 2 weeks, I’m about to take the drain in the basement apart to see if it made it all the way down there” Shaking his head he clears the dinner plates from the table and comes back a few minutes later with 2 glasses of wine and a plate of fresh fruit
“Mm my favorite kind of desert, fresh fruit and alcohol” she takes a sip of her wine and bites into a strawberry “Mm ice wine too”
Nate clears off the table completely after they finish the bottle of wine and puts the lids on the line of candles. He starts a fire in the living room fireplace and takes off his suit jacket and tie before joining Carrie who was lazily reclined on the couch her shoes on the floor next to it.
“Thank you Nate, everything was beautiful”
“You’re welcome I love you”
“I love you too” she kisses him and pulls back with a smile “I got you something too” she reaches behind her grabbing the small bag off the table and hands it to him scooting down on the couch more to lean her head on his shoulder, he pulls out the first item a small Valentines cliché box of chocolates, and smiles.
“Now before you pull out what’s next, let me explain it. You always say every time you go on a road trip that you miss seeing me, so this gift is so you always will see me”
He pulls out of the bag a hockey puck with the sabres logo on it and raises and eyebrow at her and she motions for him to flip it over, on the back, a custom picture of the two of them from over the summer, someone at a picnic had caught the two of them laughing hysterically at something and snapped the picture, it had become one of Nate’s favorites and he smiled seeing it now
“This puck will never hit the ice” he says and reaches in the bag again pulling out a small box he looks at Carrie in confusion and she nods as he opens in “You found it? Why didn’t you tell me?” he says looking at his wedding band he lost 2 weeks prior sitting in the box before him
“I didn’t find it, you never lost it”
Nate looks at her confused before studying the ring and notices on the inside an inscription “She shoots, she scores. Now put it back on” he laughs and kisses her sliding the ring back on his finger
“She shoots she scores?”
“Yeah, it seems appropriate for being married to a hockey player”
“I love it, and I love you”
“I love you too. Happy Valentine’s Day Nate”
“Happy Valentine’s Day Carrie”

With Lacey
Lacey makes her way to Tyler’s house agitated about not finding a dress, and the fight she had with Tyler the night prior weighing on her mind as well. Pulling into his driveway she checks her phone to see still no texts or missed calls from him. She shakes her head and digs out her keys before getting out of the car.
She reaches the door and unlocks it swinging it open and turning on the hall light. She kicks off her boots and notices a line of vases filled with Forget Me Not’s her favorite flower down the hallway, with a confused smile she follows the trail which ends abruptly in the living room, she looks around and sees no sign of Tyler or Max.
She checks her phone again still seeing no text messages and makes sure the one she sent earlier saying they needed to talk and shouldn’t leave a fight unresolved had sent. As she was about to call him she heard the floor squeak behind her and she turns to see Tyler dressed in goalie pads helmet and all standing before her
“Okay let’s talk” he says and she bursts out laughing
“I love you” she says between giggles and through the goalie mask she sees him smile
“I love you too”
“You stayed” she says quietly as he removes the rest of the padding and he looks at her confused “Last time we fought you just kind of ran away and we ended up breaking up, but this time you stayed”
“Of course I did, I love you and I can’t wait to marry you. I’m not going anywhere this time. Now I was going to make us dinner, however I feel like that gets done too often so why don’t you go home and get dressed up and I will take you out for dinner, that is if you still want to be my Valentine today”
“No I don’t want to be your Valentine today, I want to be your Valentine everyday”
“I think that can be arranged” he says and kisses her slowly “Go home and get dressed” he says swatting her butt with the goalie stick
“Hey! Watch it mister!”
“Then start walking so I can”
“You are a pervert!” she says jokingly walking away from him backwards
“You’re going to fall, walk normally”
“No you’ll stare at my ass!”
“Can’t we share it?”
“Who are you!?” she says with a laugh “You never act like this”
“Not out loud”
“So you always look at my ass?”
“Even when we were broken up”
“But I have no ass, it’s all bone”
“It’s like boobs, small or not it’s still an ass”
“And on that note, I think I will go home and get dressed. Where are we going?”
“Shimshacks”
“Oh that’s my way, just follow me home driving back and forth is dumb”
“It’s also your favorite”
Lacey only smiles and heads out the door. She gets into her car quietly and debates texting Carrie to let her know everything is ok between her and Tyler but refrains to let her friend enjoy the time with her husband.
After dinner the 2 head to a movie and when Lacey goes to get back into Tyler’s truck sitting on the seat is a small teddy bear holding a single rose. She smiles at him and grabs the bear off the seat sliding into the truck. As they get back to her house and Tyler helps her unload the many vases of flowers into her house and up the stairs to her room she notices for the first time each has a note on them and a small chunk of lyrics to a song. It takes a minute for her to realize the lyrics are from Kiss Me by Ed Sheeran
“Tyler, the lyrics?”
“I feel like I owe that song, or that man a lot without that song I wouldn’t have you” Lacey blushes and kisses him softly
“Oh I almost forgot your present!” Lacey turns in her room to find the box wrapped in deep red paper with a white bow on top
Tyler takes the box and pulls the bow off sticking it to Lacey’s head
“You’re my present” he says and kisses her nose
“Oh just open the dang box”
Tyler opens the box carefully to reveal a g shock watch and he looks at her in surprise
“Thank you babe I’ve been eying one of these for months”
“That’s why I got it. Happy Valentine’s day I love you”
“I love this watch”
“You ass” she says playfully hitting his arm
“Oh right I love you too” he says with a smile kissing her “I should probably go home you have school tomorrow and I have practice in the morning.”
“Ok drive safe and text me when you get home”
Tyler nods in acknowledgment as he heads down the stairs. She hears her front door close and changes for bed falling asleep quickly.
4 Days Later With Nate
Nate was pacing the length of the hallway while waiting for Carrie to finish getting ready for the game, it was her birthday and he had the entire day planned out. He started out with breakfast in bed which went off without a hitch, they then went to her parents house to see her sister, brother in law and parents who wished her a happy birthday and gave her presents a mix of crazy colored socks, books and amazon gift cards for her kindle.
While Nate went to practice Carrie and Lacey went out to lunch where she once again received more socks and books and a picture frame with a picture of the two of them in it, across the bottom a was a saying paying homage to their friendship. By the time they got back home it was almost time to head to the game so Carrie went upstairs to change leaving Nate completely alone to think about her present for the first time today.
“Nate, earth to Nate” Carrie says waving her hand in front of his face as he snaps back to reality “Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah, oh here’s yours and Lacey’s tickets for tonight. I know you, Lacey, Jason and Thomas’s wives don’t exactly get along all that well and it’s your birthday I want you to enjoy the game”
“Any game you play in I enjoy handsome”
“You are a terrible liar my dear wife I’ve heard you yell at the TV and have seen you watch 3 hockey games in one day”
“Listen you may only be playing 48 this season, but I intend to see 82”
Nate laughs and kisses her gently “What ever you want birthday girl”
“I want to get going so you aren’t late”
“Ok, ok 21 is bossy on you”
She gives him a smile and grabs her purse and coat before heading out the door to the car and to the game
With Carrie
The girls were sitting all alone in the suite the arena had long since emptied out after yet another disappointing Sabres loss. Lacey was picking at the side of her diamond trying to pull something out from underneath it
“What are you doing?”
“I see a red hair under my diamond”
“My hair is auburn”
“It’s still under my diamond”
“Oh come on there is no way you still have pieces of my hair under your diamond that was almost a month ago when you got it stuck in my hair”
“What do you see here?” Lacey says holding her finger out to her friend
“I see noth…. A red hair”
“Your hair’s auburn” Lacey says mockingly
“Oh shut up”
The girls go silent and Lacey gets up walking to the back part of the box seats eating part of the snacks left from earlier. The time passes slowly as the girls sit and wait
“Is it just me or are they taking longer today? Maybe it’s because they told us to stay here, I don’t understand why we couldn’t go downstairs we always go downstairs”
Carrie didn’t even bother turning around to look at Lacey though she was quiet she knew her friend was probably nodding in agreement with her. A few more minutes passed before Carrie let out an irritated sigh, it had been almost an hour since the game ended and she was ready to go home
“That’s it I’m calling Nate I want to go home”
From behind her she heard a voice that was not Lacey’s
“I can take you home”
Carrie spun around quickly to see a sheepish looking Nate standing behind her
“That statement sounds awfully familiar, almost like I heard it the same time last year”
“And in the same exact place”
“That’s really why you changed our seats isn’t it?”
“Happy birthday Carrie” he says dropping to one knee
Carrie’s jaw drops and she just shakes her head as Nate opens the small box revealing a simple yet elegant diamond engagement ring “But we’re married already”
“So? This is what I should have done for your birthday last year”
“No it isn’t, you didn’t have to do this for my birthday ever” Carrie says trying to stop herself from crying
“Too bad, now act like we aren’t married for a second”
“How not married are we? Is this like an act like we are dating type of thing or can I look for other hot guys around here…. Dang everyone’s gone”
“Baby be serious”
“Sorry, you’re making me nervous”
“Carolyn Michelle Gerbe”
“We aren’t married, remember”
“Carolyn Michelle Anderson, will you do me the honor of marrying me, on July 14th of last year” Carrie smiled at him and nodded he slid the ring on her finger and kissed her slowly
“I have loved every minute of being married to you”
“Good cause there’s a lot more minutes coming up baby”
“Sap”
“You don’t even know the half of it, read the inscription”
Carrie steps back from him slides the engagement ring off and reads the inside “I wanna call you mine want to hold your hand forever”
“Now if you would so kindly give me your wedding band I can get the other half done”
“Other half?”
“And never let you forget it, I want to make you feel wanted”
Carrie smiles at him with watery eyes she see’s Lacey and Tyler out of the corner of her eye as she slides her wedding band off handing it to Nate and slides the engagement ring back on
“I swear you are perfect”
“Only for you”