Shut Your Eyes

“Can I buy you a drink?” Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I politely shook my head.

“No thanks.” I had to speak up more than usual, I was quiet enough as it was but inside the pulsating club atmosphere I felt like I needed to yell absolutely everything just to be heard. Right now an attractive brunette with striking blue eyes in front of me obviously wasn’t hearing what I was trying to tell him.

“Oh come on, just one drink. At least tell me your name.” I started glancing around and looking for an exit strategy. If worse came to worst, I could always just abandon the drink I was waiting on and come back later.

“No, I don’t think so.” I said absentmindedly as I inched closer to the bar and tried to see what drink the bartender was working on. Blue eyes didn’t waste a moment inching himself closer to me, almost squishing me between the bar and himself. The unwanted flirting was bad enough, but now I was getting uncomfortable. The feeling of his body pressing against mine was making my skin crawl. His hand was wrapped lazily around my middle, inching dangerously close to my butt.

“There you are, sweetheart!” I glanced over and saw Jordan making his way through the crowd gathered in front of the bar. He wore a toothy grin on his face, but I could tell by his eyes that he wasn’t happy with the man attached to my side.

Once he got within arm’s reach, he used one hand to untangle me from my admirer and the other to pull me into his side. I almost felt bad for the brunette; Jordan towered over him, and he stared up at the blonde giant with a bit of trepidation.

Using a large hand to gesture between me and the brunette, Jordan looked down at me. “Is there something going on here, honey?”

“I was waiting for my drink when he offered to buy me another one. I declined but he’s quite persistent.” Jordan cast his gaze on the man standing in front of us. The gleam in his eyes turned hard, and I saw a muscle in his jaw twitch as he pulled me closer into his side.

“If she doesn’t want a drink, she doesn’t want a drink. If I see you manhandling her again, I’m not going to be happy. A little respect for the fairer sex, asshole.”

The brunette simply nodded. Jordan stared him down for a moment more before narrowing his eyes at him and nodding off in one direction. “Go away.”

He scattered like a cockroach when you turn the lights on, easily disappearing into the crowd of people. Jordan looked back down at me, his toothy grin returning to his face. He then pulled us up to the bar and nudged me. “What were you waiting on?”

“Jack and coke.” Jordan nodded and waved his hand at a short blonde bartender with pretty green eyes and breasts that were falling out of her shirt. She smiled when she saw him and finished the drink she was working on before sidling up to our side of the bar, eyes trained on Jordan’s smiling face.

“Hi Sadie.” He cooed, leaning on top of the bar. I rolled my eyes at his actions, typical Jordan. She grinned and leaned in a bit as well, watching him like a snake watches a rat.

“What can I get for you?” Something in my head told me that her statement carried more than one meaning.

“A beer and a jack and coke.” She nodded and began fixing my drink, handing a frosty beer bottle to Jordan beforehand. He stood up straight and looked down at me with a grin.

“Tell me you love me.”

“Of course I do sweetheart.” He grinned even wider when I dished out the sugary sweet sentiment with as much emphasis as he’d used not five minutes before. The blonde came back just as quickly as she’d gone away and handed me a tall glass full of fizzy liquid complete with a straw.

“Put it on my tab.” Jordan instructed and gave her a wink before pulling me back out of the crowd and leading me upstairs where the boys had reserved a room.

“Max has been looking for you, he said you went to get a drink when you got here and then never came back. He was gonna come look but I was already coming down here so I said I’d find you. You look excellent by the way, very classy.”

I felt my cheeks heat up from his words so I looked down and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “Thanks, Jordan.”

He gave me a bright grin and followed behind me into the room full of hockey players. I spotted Max at once, sitting by Vero and Marc and leaning in to talk into Vero’s ear. Sid sat beside him, and I could see his honey colored eyes rolling from halfway across the room as he listened to whatever Max was going on about.

I shifted from Jordan’s side and walked over to where Max and Sid were sitting, smiling at Sid as he looked up at me. His eyes went wide when he saw what I was wearing, raking up my frame slowly before coming to rest on my own. I gave him a small smile, my cheeks flushing pink under his gaze. “Hi Sid.”

“Hi.” He said slowly and softly as he gave me a million dollar smile, and continued to stare. Max turned and saw me standing there before glancing over at Sid, who was still looking at me. Max looked back at Vero and pointed a thumb in Sidney’s direction.

“You see what you do, Vero? I’m not going to be able to have fun knowing that there are people looking at my sister like that.” Max’s hand flew out and smacked Sid in the back of the head, causing him to break eye contact and look at Max.

“What the hell was that for?”

Max nodded in my direction. “It’s rude to stare.”

Sidney gave him a glare, which I pretended not to notice, and under the dim lights I could have sworn I saw him blush. He looked back up at me and rolled his eyes playfully. Max and Vero continued their spat behind him, both fussing at each other in rapid French. Sidney glanced at them for a second before looking back up at me and cringing. “Do I want to know?”

“Probably not.” I laughed and sat down on the couch next to him. Absentmindedly, I picked at the flowy material that hung over the bottom of the dress. We sat in a comfortable silence, just watching everyone else interact.

After a minute or two, Sidney leaned in next to my ear and whispered. “You look really beautiful tonight.”

A small grin spread onto my face, and I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. I cut my eyes in his direction and stared at him from up under my lashes before murmuring a soft “Thank you.”

“Tu es un con.” (You are an idiot.) Vero ended her and Max’s argument with a quick verbal lashing before standing up, setting her purse down into her seat and grabbing me by the hand.

“Come dance with me Maggie, I want to show you off.” She sent Max a pointed look before dragging me off in the direction of the stairs and the crowded dance floor down below. Kris and Geno passed us on the way over, with Kris letting out a low, slow whistle.

“Don’t you ladies look lovely this evening?” Kris commented while Geno nodded behind him, a smile on his face.

Vero and I smiled at them and gave a collective “Thank you, boys” before continuing on downstairs to ring in the new year.

Kris POV

By the time Geno and I arrived at the club, everyone else was already there. I have a bad habit of being ‘late’, but in my opinion, if you’re there before midnight you aren’t late to New Year’s Eve. The Pens room was bursting with people. As usual though, I could spot Max out of everyone else with his bright colored dress shirt on. We always teased him about his wardrobe looking like a craft box – almost everything he owned was covered in obnoxious patterns, or made of shiny material and dyed bright colors.

He jogged up to me and pointed to the stairs with a frustrated look on his face. “Pretty girls in short dresses? One of them happens to be my sister.”

Geno lazily pointed in the direction we just came from. “Went that way.”

Max gave us a quick thanks before rushing off downstairs. I rolled my eyes. Max was far too overprotective of Maggie, but I guess with the dress she was wearing it was understandable. If I had a sister, I’m not sure I’d want other people seeing that much of her legs either.

Through a break in the crowd, I saw Sid and Marc sitting on a couch by the wall. We made our way over there in time to hear Marc break into his usual fit of laughter as Sid turned about a million shades of red and rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably.

“What’d you say to him?” I asked with a snarky grin on my face.

Marc pointed in the direction that Vero and Maggie had just walked. “If he was enjoying the view.”

Sid rolled his eyes, but I could tell he was trying not to grin. Out of nowhere, Jordan stuck his head into our little group and smiled. “Of course he was enjoying the view, have you seen her legs?”

Sid’s head spun so fast I thought it was going to pop off. He was no longer embarrassed, but he did look mad. “You better shut your fuckin’ mouth, Jordan.”

Marc laughed even harder, eyebrows raised in amusement as Geno and I looked at each other in shock. Sid rarely dropped the f-bomb off the ice, and when he did you could bet your ass he was pissed. Jordon, on the other hand, looked surprised that Sid actually said something. “Chill out, I’m just kidding.”

“You have to admit, Sid, she looks really nice tonight.” I pointed out quietly, not wanting to anger him any more than Jordan already had.

Sid looked at me with an unamused expression before giving me a sarcastic “I hadn’t noticed.”

Geno fell down onto the couch next to Sid and bumped him with his shoulder. “Just ask her out.”

Sid ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “It’s not that easy, Geno.”

“What’s not easy about it?” Marc asked, all jest gone from his voice. Sid waved a large hand in the direction Maggie and Vero had just walked off in.

“Because….she’s….her!” He huffed out in frustration. I hadn’t seen Sid this exasperated in a while. It was strange – Sid was usually the fearless leader of our group. He was solid, physically and emotionally, and I’d never seen him this out of sorts over a girl.

“I don’t know how the hell she does it, one minute I’m a perfectly functioning human being and the next I can’t form sentences correctly! I think about her all the time, even when I know I shouldn’t.” Sid’s hands waved around as he talked - another clear sign as to how frustrated he was.

He looked up at us with wide eyes and furrowed eyebrows. “She scares the shit out of me.”

Geno stared at him for a minute before shaking his head sadly. “You got it bad.”

Sid rolled his eyes and took a long swig of his beer. “Don’t I know it.”

Vero and I danced and danced and danced until I could barely feel my feet. We danced with each other and with the boys, who made sure to keep anyone not within our little group far away from Vero and I, especially Max, who’d tried to convince me to come back upstairs away from men’s eyes. After we declined his requests numerous times, Max started to loosen up and enjoy himself. Of course, the numerous alcoholic beverages he’d ingested during the night helped his relaxing enormously. After Max spotted a leggy blonde sitting at the bar, he abandoned Vero and I with the other boys and excused himself for ‘a drink’.

“Maggie,” He started his sentence and looked off longingly in the direction of the bar. I laughed and smiled a bit when I realized he was, in a way, asking for permission to leave me alone.

I kissed him on the cheek and nudged him towards her. “Go ahead.”

He gave me his famous grin and kissed me on the cheek quickly before disappearing into a crowd of people. I turned back around and found Vero dancing with Marc. Tapping her quickly on the shoulder, I motioned towards the bathrooms and mouthed that I would be right back. She smiled and nodded, still caught up in the pulsating music.

The crowd had gotten much thicker since we’d arrived. I pushed through the sea of people carefully, trying to avoid the couples that were getting quite – friendly- on the dance floor. Just another reason why I preferred to stay home from clubs. I would have been perfectly content spending New Year’s Eve on the couch watching the ball drop instead of wading through a mosh pit of STD’s.

I hadn’t seen much of Sid, Kris, or Geno during the night. They’d opted to stay safe in the closed off room full of other Pens instead of risking their safety from hungry puck-bunnies down on the dance floor. A part of me was starting to think that they’d had the right idea.

The music was too loud, the room was too crowded, and when I’d looked back at where I’d come from, I’d completely lost sight of Vero and Marc. A ball of nervousness began to build in my stomach as I finally emerged from the crowd and shuffled through a hallway towards the black door in the corner that I’d seen two girls come out of a moment before.

The wait seemed to take forever, with an endless stream of girls in brightly colored club-wear lined up against the dark tiled walls of the bathroom, all waiting for a friend, or for their turn in line. Once I finally made my way through, most of the girls had left to go find their friends before the ball dropped. I checked my cell phone for the time. 11:45 I still had just enough time to find my way back to Vero or one of the boys before the countdown began.

I pushed open the heavy bathroom door and walked into the dimly lit hallway, my heels clicking softly against the tile as I moved.

Something in my wrist audibly popped as someone forcefully pulled me back against their body. “I thought it was you in that restaurant.”

My blood ran cold as Holt’s sickly sweet Southern drawl floated through the air in the empty hallway. His breath hit against my ear, warm and tainted with the smell of alcohol. He spun me around so I was facing him, and held my arm tight in-between us, his other arm gripped violently onto my hip.

“Let me go.” My whisper was soft and faraway, even to my own ears. I felt like I was going to throw up, and the only thing keeping me standing on two feet was the vice grip Holt had on my body.

He leaned in close and gave me a teasing smirk. “Now, I know for a fact that Gavin wouldn’t let you walk around dressed in this little number.”

Holt skimmed a cold finger across the neckline of my dress, leaving goose-bumps on my skin. “So I’m assuming he doesn’t know you’re here. Is that really how well I know you?”

I shifted my head as far to the side as I could, trying to pry myself away from him. My eyes were clenched shut as if I would open them in a moment to find out it was all just another bad dream. Wet, hot trails of tears streamed down my face and dripped onto my collarbone, but I didn't dare let out a sound.

My heart was pounding against my chest. Holt had me trapped between his body and the cold wall, his fingers gripping my wrist tighter with every tiny move I made. Suddenly his weight was ripped off of me, and I was pulled back against someone’s chest.

A quick glance showed Kris slamming Holt back against the wall, fistfuls of his shirt balled up in Kris’s hands. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

I’d never heard Kris yell before. The very sound of it was intimidating, even as someone he wasn’t angry with. I looked up and saw Geno’s large brown eyes staring down at me in concern. He’d wrapped both arms around me, pulling me tightly next to his body. “You alright?”

I didn’t get a chance to respond before the very obvious sounds of bone hitting bone echoed through the small hallway. Kris was still yelling, and I briefly glanced back to catch a glimpse of the large defenseman bashing Holt’s face in. At that moment, all I wanted to do was go home.

“I want to leave.” I whispered against Geno’s chest. He nodded and shifted me behind him before going up behind Kris and prying him off of Holt.

“Enough.” He muttered firmly to Kris, holding his shoulder back before he could throw another punch.

Kris took in a sharp breath and released Holt’s collar from his grasp. “You keep your fucking hands off her, asshole, or I’ll kill you and make it look like a damn accident.”

I still stood behind Geno, holding on to the back of his shirt like a small child. Kris came over to me and grasped me lightly by the upper arms, checking me over for any serious damage.

“Are you alright?” He asked, his voice still angry. I nodded timidly and he pulled me into a hug.

“I just want to go home.” I whispered. Kris wrapped a protective arm around my shoulders and began guiding me out of the hallway with Geno following closely behind.

“Come back here you little bitch.” Holt grabbed onto my wrist as we walked away, and before I could turn around Geno had him pinned face first to the wall with an arm twisted painfully behind his back.

“Hands off means don’t fucking touch her.” He pressed a large arm to the back of Holt’s neck to keep him still.

Geno got unbelievably close to his face and began whispered venomous words through clenched teeth. “Touch her again and I rip your fucking spine out, I swear to God.”

Geno released him and threw him down to the floor before watching him for a second to make sure Holt didn’t get back up. He then turned around and nodded towards the exit. “Let’s go.”

Kris ushered me towards the exit, saying we were going to the ER to get my wrist looked at. I nodded numbly. As we passed the bar I caught a glimpse of the clock that hung above the display of bottles.

Another new year wasted.