He Shoots, She Scores

Carrie and Lacey sat quietly on the couch as they watched the final last seconds tick away on the clock, this was the Sabres last chance to make it to the playoffs and tension in Lacey’s living room was high with the Flyers up 2-1. Even though it had been a month since Nate and Tyler had broken up with them for Carrie and Lacey watching every game was like a new wound, but as much as they wanted to walk away and ignore the game their inner fan kept pulling them back.
They were both sitting on Lacey’s bed a little while later before she spoke
“What do you think Tyler’s doing?” she asked and Carrie looked up from her book
“Right now, probably getting yelled at by Lindy, or at home wallowing in pity of not making it to the playoffs” Lacey nodded “What do you think Nate’s doing?”
“Well seeing as they are on the same team if Tyler is getting yelled at then so is Nate. But if they aren’t getting yelled at then I’m going to venture he’s doing the same thing as Tyler and wallowing as well. Carrie, why do we care?”
“Cause we love them” she answered not even looking up from her book this time
“Do you think Derek even feels remotely bad?”
“No, I think if they aren’t still in the locker room then Derek right now is most likely at some bar hitting on every girl that will give him the time of day, and chances are he’s pretty sure he’s gonna get laid”
“Well just tell me how you really feel” Lacey said sarcastically and Carrie laughed.
They watched a movie for a little while before they both fell asleep. It didn’t feel like long before Lacey could hear her phone ringing she didn’t even bother to look at the caller ID she just hit the send button
“Hello?” she said groggily into the phone
“Hey Lacey I’m sorry to wake you up”
“Tyler?”
“Yeah, um how are you?”
“I’m asleep” Lacey looked to her left wishing for once Carrie wasn’t such a heavy sleeper and would wake up to hear what was going on
“Like I said sorry I woke you up its just. I don’t Lacey I’ve been thinking about us and well I miss you and um” his voice trailed and Lacey looked at her phone quizzically wondering why he was rambling so much
“Tyler are you drunk?”
“I’ve had a couple uh… yeah maybe a little”
“Tyler go sleep it off” She hung her phone up and rolled back over to fall back to sleep.
With the end of regular season hockey and Carrie going back to work it had been a couple of weeks since the 2 girls had gotten to hang out, so they planned a day to go see a movie. Over the couple of weeks Lacey had been getting random calls from Tyler most of the time she would let it go to voicemail and when he would call it was either really late at night and she could tell he was overly tired or she could tell he had been drinking. As they were exiting the movie theatre Lacey could see two missed calls on her phone both from Tyler
“Carrie I’m getting so sick of this. I don’t even think he cares about what he’s doing to me with this”
“A drunk mans words portray a sober mans thoughts”
“Philosopher Carrie, interpretation please?”
“Well if he keeps calling you when he’s half asleep or drunk he obviously really misses you and is sorry but can’t bring himself to tell you. At least he misses you I accidentally text Nate the other day instead of my cousin Nick want to know what he wrote back?” Lacey nodded “I don’t know who this is but I’m not related to you delete my number. He deleted my number!”
“I think I would rather Tyler delete my number, honestly I don’t know if I want him to miss me”
“At least you really get rid of him, my parents said no to canceling the wedding they even told me I have 4 months to resolve this before I have to move back in with Nate”
“You have got to be kidding me! How do they expect you to go back there?” As Carrie was about to answer Lacey’s phone rang, something she was expecting it was Saturday and it was after 1am “Its Tyler, Hello” Lacey put the phone on speaker as they got into Carrie’s car
“Hey Lacey, how are you?”
“Hi Tyler, I’m ok I suppose what do you want?”
“Well ya know I’ve just been sitting here with max thinking”
“About”
“Oh ya know everything, I’ve been thinking about that Philly game where we went wrong with that and I’m pretty sure max is thinking about the bone he hid under the bed yesterday”
Lacey looked at Carrie and rolled her eyes, if they were together she would love this conversation but right now he was just rambling and opening a wound that wasn’t even healed yet
“Tyler, I can’t keep doing this. It hurts to talk to you, you only call me when you’re bored can’t sleep or when you are drunk and you are just making this so much harder on me, you broke up with me Tyler, you accused me of cheating on you with a married man and then you broke up with me. Yet, now you keep calling me telling me you miss me when you’re drunk and just rambling about life and I can’t do this! It hurts to hear your voice when I know in the morning your opinion is going to be different please stop calling me”
Lacey hung up her phone quietly looking at Carrie
“You okay?”
“God no that was like breaking up with him all over again” she mumbles putting her head in her hands
“So now what do we do?”
“We take our aggression out on some video games and mini sticks, I will beat you at both Mario Kart and mini sticks”
“In your dreams Lacey”
The girls headed back to Carrie’s and played video games for a little while before getting tired and heading up to Carrie’s room falling asleep. Waking up early the next morning Carrie heard someone outside of her room opening the door she was face to face with none other than Nate Gerbe.
“What are you doing here?” she asked confusion evident in her face
“Your parents called me. Said we needed to talk about our little “fight” I take it you didn’t tell them the whole story”
“No because a) it’s not true and b) its none of their business”
“Well they have made it their problem. Try to look a little less” he looked her over quickly “Well you know look more awake at least”
He walked away down the stairs and Carrie rolled her eyes, she walked into the bathroom brushed her hair and teeth and walked back into her room
“Lacey wake up”
“Go away! You always wake up early learn how to sleep in!”
“Lacey, come on Nate’s here” Lacey groaned rolling away from Carrie trying to stay asleep a little longer “Lacey Elizabeth! Nathan Gerbe, my fiancé/ex is at my house wake up before I carry you downstairs” Lacey rolled over back towards Carrie looking at her quizzically
“What is he doing here?”
“We’re about to find out”
Lacey sighed sitting up “Can I at least pee first?”
“Make it quick”
“Are you gonna change, you’re wearing his shirt” Carrie looked down at the Boston College Hockey shirt and shook her head
“Screw it, he already saw me”
Lacey went to the bathroom and then the 2 girls headed down the stairs and sat at the table
“Carrie honey we need to resolve this fight” her mother says
“There’s nothing to resolve”
“Sweetheart, you guys can’t just walk away from each other just because of a small misunderstanding”
“Mom, you cannot even begin to understand this”
“Mrs. Anderson disagreement is not the word for this”
“Well a wedding needs to be planned regardless” Her dad chimes in
“Why? We have a year”
Carries parents look at her like she’s crazy her dad speaking first “You do not have a year”
“Yeah we do dad, July 14th 2013? That’s over a year its only April”
“Carrie your wedding is July 14th 2012, you have about 4 months”
“WHAT??” Carrie, Nate, and Lacey all chorus
“Did you both read that wrong?” her mom asks
“Apparently we did” Nate says quietly
“Daddy, I can’t do this”
“You don’t have a choice” her mom says
“Do you not get it? I can’t marry him!”
“And why’s that?” her dad asks
Carrie looks between Lacey and Nate and then her parents sighing heavily and putting her head down on the table “Forget it”
Lacey looked at Carrie and then at Nate her frustration growing with him “He accused her of sleeping with Derek Roy! And you are really going to make her marry him? You’re going to put her through that why?”
“Oh come off it Lacey, the evidence against her is startling!”
“Yeah because text messages are more reliable than 2 people that have never lied to you?” Lacey stood up over Carrie who still had not picked her head up and Nate stood to match her
“You can’t add text messages to a conversation Lacey, there’s not an app for that!”
“And you can’t change contact information? You can’t change someone’s name and make them look guilty? Is your iPhone broke?”
“ENOUGH!” Mr. Anderson yells over Lacey and Nate’s screaming they both sat down silently waiting for him to finish speaking “Nathan, you and I are going to have a little talk. Carolyn and Lacey you’re going go with mom and pick out dresses, this planning gets started today do I make myself clear?”
Carrie lifted her head from the table “Yes sir” she chorus’s with the other two at the table and stands pulling Lacey from her staring fight with Nate up the stairs to get dressed.

With Nate

Nate got up from the table and followed Mr. Anderson out of the house and to his truck quietly getting in the passenger side as they took off
“Mr. Anderson, I’m sorry about the whole Carrie” Nate starts and Carrie’s dad shakes his head
“I don’t want to hear about it, I mean I do, but not here not now we are going to get suits and then we will talk” Nate nodded and went quiet again.
The entire ride was uncomfortable for Nate he could tell his future father in law was beyond pissed and he wasn’t entirely sure if it was Carrie or him that Mr. Anderson was so mad at. They walked into the shop quietly meeting with the sales clerk at the desk
“Hi how can I help you?”
“We need suits for a wedding, this is the groom, I’m the father of the bride and I’m assuming a best man will be called in soon?”
“Yeah I’ll call Tyler Ennis he should be able to be here in about 20 minutes or so”
“Ok well father of the bride if you would step back here with me, will let the groom call the best man while we start on your suit. Will there be any other family members like fathers or brothers of the groom coming in?”
“No they are getting their suits done at home”
“Alright then, right this way”
Nate stepped off to the side calling Tyler who got there in seemingly no time and they all went through measurements getting everything ready for their suits to be made.
“Ok so what color are we looking at for the ties?” the clerk asks and Nate looks at Mr. Anderson
“Hold on I will call my daughter”

With Carrie

The girls and Carrie’s mom entered the dress boutique giving the woman at the counter their name they were ushered to the back
“Ok so we have about 8 dresses for you today, 4 wedding gowns and then 4 different brides maids gowns.”
Carrie got up from her spot walking into the dressing room and Lacey went into a different one. The 2 stepped out in their first dresses for Carrie it was a pure white gown with a full ball gown bottom which swallowed her 5’5” frame and Lacey turned the corner in a purple floor length dress with a disgusted look on her face
“Purple is not your color”
“No you’re right it’s not” her mom says
“Carrie you look like a marshmallow”
“Yeah girls this is not a good combination at all” Mrs. Anderson says and the girls turn going back to their dressing rooms.
They change into their second dresses Lacey this time wearing a short black dress, and Carrie in an off white dress with lace along the bottom. They walk out of the dressing rooms and face each other shaking their heads
“No” they say at the same time and turn back for the dressing rooms. Coming out of the dressing room first Carrie was in a ivory one shoulder floor length gown with a little bit of beading across it. Lacey stepped out in a chartreuse t-length dress with a ¾ length cropped sleeve.
“God I think this dress was for comic relief”
“But Lacey I think you look pretty”
“Screw you! I do like yours though”
“Yeah it’s not bad but I don’t know it just doesn’t feel like a wedding gown, probably a good thing”
Lacey nodded and with sighs the girls retreated to their dressing rooms once again. Lacey was done first this time coming out in a pale orange floor length satin gown with spaghetti straps and a small white ribbon belt.
“Lacey honey that dress is beautiful” Carrie’s mom says and Lacey nods in agreement. Carrie comes out a minute later in a white strapless gown it had a slight ball gown feel to it but not to large of a poof, the top part had light beading across it and in matching with the bridesmaids gown had a pale orange ribbon belt.
“Lacey that dress is perfect for you” Carrie says and Lacey turns to face her friend
“I could say the same about that one on you but I don’t think perfect does that dress justice! Nate will be pinning for you!”
“Not sure if I want that or not anymore”
Lacey looked at her quizzically before Carrie’s mom interrupted them
“Girls you both look spectacular! I think we’ve found the dresses”
Carrie’s phone starts ringing from her purse and recognizing the ringtone as her father’s she reaches for her phone quickly
“Hi dad”
“Carrie we need a color for the ties”
“Pale orange”
“Ok see you later sweetie”
“Bye”
The seamstress comes out and pins the dresses for alterations. They make one more stop for the day to choose invitations before taking a break for the night.
Over the next few weeks Carrie and Nate are forced to go to food tastings for the caterer and the cake, with Lacey and Tyler in tow. They then begin sorting through the guest list, not having to worry about a venue because Carrie’s parents already took care of that. Before the invitations were mailed Nate had to head to Finland for the Worlds games leaving Carrie, Lacey and Mr. and Mrs. Anderson to send the invitations, set up a seating chart and do everything else until he got back.

With Carrie

“Hey Lace, I’m sorry you are paired up with Tyler for all this”
“Not as sorry as I am that you have to marry Nate”
The girls were sorting through flower arrangements with only 6 weeks left before the wedding. They were there for about an hour before choosing a simple orange arrangement for Carrie’s bouquet and an off white for Lacey’s.
“It’s so awkward every time we have to do something together, we hardly talk and I swear every single time I look at my phone even if it’s to check the time he lets out the most condescending snort and I just wanna clock him!”
“You wanna talk awkward? I’m pretty sure Tyler checked me out at the last cake testing, I was so grossed out and flattered at the same time”
Carrie laughed at her face and Lacey joined too
“I miss my Nate, I don’t even know the guy I have to marry”
“I miss Tyler too, not the one that gets drunk and calls me, I miss the one that teaches me how to cook and think hockey is the only sport in existence”
“We better get out of here we need to go for our final dress fitting. I’m kind of sick of being in a wedding dress already, that’s probably a bad thing”
“Ya think?”
The girls thank the florist before leaving and heading to the dress shop to meet Carrie’s mom

With Nate

Nate and Tyler walked into the shop for their final suit fittings meeting Mr. Anderson at the door
“Morning boys”
“Morning sir” they chorus walking into the back to put their suits on
Mr. Anderson was done first his suit being perfectly tailored, Nate was done second only minor changes needing to be made to his, Tyler’s on the other hand was going to take a lot of work somehow one pant leg ended up way too short while the other was too long and the seamstress was starting over.
“Nathan, I think it’s about time we have a little talk”
“About?”
“My daughter”
“I was scared you were going to say that”
“You know Nate, you probably don’t remember the first time you met Carrie do you?”
“Sir? I met her in February, I remember pretty well I pretty much swallowed my whole foot that day”
“That’s not the first time you met her. I’d have to say you were maybe 2 months shy of 5 and Carrie was gosh 5 ½ months old I guess. Anyway, I went to college with your dad and I almost dated your mom before I met my wife, but that’s not where this arranged marriage came from. It was our class reunion and I was talking with your parents and they were telling us about their youngest, a boy who at 4 was more obsessed with hockey than he was food. Your mother was sure you’d grow up and marry the game and never meet a girl, Carrie was only 3 months old but that girl refused every doll and every girly thing you could try to give her! And my wife joked she would be too much like one of the guys to ever find one, I swear women are all on the same wavelength when they are close to each other because before that reunion was over they had an entire arranged marriage planned between the 2 of you”
“Mr. Anderson why are you telling me this now?”
“Cause I think you need to know it, I promise I have a point” Nate went quiet waiting for him to continue “Anyway they were so set on it they got the lawyers in motion before we ever got to head back to New York, a couple months later we had to all sign the papers so since Carrie’s sisters were teens when she was a baby and your parents had 6 kids to worry about we decided to travel to Michigan, and we brought Carrie, now your mom or Mrs. Anderson would tell you here about how sweet little you was with baby Carrie, your mom told you some day she would be your wife and that was how you introduced her to the rest of your siblings, right then and there I got nervous here was my little girl couldn’t even talk yet and somehow she already captured your heart and I swear I seen her grow up and she didn’t need me cause she had you. We decided you guys could find out about the marriage on your 20th birthdays, so you’ve known about this for a while but when you came to Buffalo I broke the rules, I took Carrie to see you at Dwyer Arena and from 50 feet away my 17 year old fell in love with the tiniest guy on the ice and she could barely see him” Mr. Anderson laughed causing Nate to laugh too “I decided then that on her 18th birthday I would let you see who you were marrying, which was when I brought you that picture and I’m pretty sure I watched the older version of you transform back into 5 year old Nate talking about his wife to his brothers and sisters”
Nate smiled at his father in law even though all Nate remembered from this story was his life and what happened from age 20 until now in regards to the marriage he could see Mr. Anderson reminiscing and he was enjoying seeing a different side to him, he noticed Carrie got her story telling from her dad paying great attention to all the details.
“Nathan my point with this is simple, you fell in love with this girl as a baby, she fell in love with you at 17 she used to joke when her friends told her to get a boyfriend that her standards were “Nate Gerbe and anything less was not acceptable”, the girl you’ve accused of sleeping with Derek Roy, I know her better than that and if she says she didn’t do it then she didn’t. You can’t tell me part of you doesn’t already know that, you knew at 5 you loved her, so now at 24 you know she didn’t cheat on you”
With that Mr. Anderson got up from next to Nate and headed out as Tyler exited the dressing room.

With Carrie

They were down to 3 weeks left before the wedding, Carrie, her mom Tina, Lacey, and her mom Laura were getting everything ready for the bridal shower. Today Carrie was going to be meeting Nate’s mom and his sisters and sister in laws for the first time and to say she was nervous was an understatement, she was petrified of what her future mother-in-law and sister-in-laws would think of her
“Mom, do you think his family is going to hate me as much as he does?”
“Carrie he doesn’t hate you, that boy will figure out he is wrong way before he ever says I do”
Carrie shook her head at her mom as Lacey and her mom walked into the kitchen. “Maybe you think that will happen but I know better. Unless you want to share something you know that may change my mind like why I have to marry Nathan Gerbe?”
“I knew you were going to ask that eventually. Well we all might as well sit down this isn’t a short story, I’ll try to make it one though. Basically your dad and Joe Gerbe went to college together and we met them at a class reunion and his mom Terrie was talking about how obsessed with hockey their youngest was, it was so funny she was worried then that he would end up being married to the game and never find a girl. And you were just a few months old at the time and oh my goodness you were such a tom boy even then I mean like seriously throw an absolute fit if I put you in a dress or a headband, never wanted a doll or anything, so I was worried you’d end up being one of the boys and never date. And your dad would explain it as a harebrained idea by two worry wart mothers, but either way we talked about an arranged marriage. Then after all the boring legal crap we had to have some papers signed by both us and Nate’s parents. So since your sisters were teens already and they had 5 other kids besides Nate to take care of we took you to Michigan with us and left your sisters with grandma. Nate was so tiny just shy of turning 5 when we went down there but oh my goodness that kid instantly fell in love with you, of course you were pretty quiet then” they all laughed before her mom continued. “Well Terrie told Nate that someday he was going to marry you, and then it was on he was so protective the entire rest of the day he introduced you to every single person that walked through the door as his wife and when his brothers started playing hockey in the house he threw a fit worried they were going to hit you with the ball. Gosh everyone in the state knew then that the two of you were perfect for each other. That’s it, that’s all there is because the rest you know”
“Oh wow, that’s probably the sweetest story ever. I don’t think anyone could write something that cute” Lacey says with a smile
“Well I think with that being said Nate will figure out that not only did you not sleep with Derek Roy, but that you weren’t even talking to him” Mrs. Carlson says
“You didn’t sleep with him right?”
“Mom! Are you kidding me?”
“Mrs. Anderson she has a restraining order against him that should answer your question”
“Good for you Carrie! From what Lacey told me he deserves more than a restraining order” her mom says
It wasn’t long before guests started showing up and when the night was done Carrie was surprised to say that not only did Nate’s mom and sister’s and sister in laws like her but they agreed that Nate was being irrational and figured he would get it together at some point. After they got everything cleaned up for the night Lacey and her mom headed home and Carrie and her parents went to bed. Laying there tired and wide awake at the same time Carrie’s mind kept wandering to Nate, and she couldn’t help but be confused, on one hand she wanted Nate to figure out the truth and ask for her forgiveness and everything go back to being great, and on the other hand she was unsure if she could ever forgive him for the things he accused her of. It didn’t really matter anymore though in 3 weeks she was marrying him like it or not, and also like it or not Derek was going to be there because Nate insisted on inviting him, she let out a frustrated sigh slowly falling asleep this was going to be a disaster.