Hurts Like Heaven

“Are you okay with this?”

Gabe looks at Maddie apprehensively, but she didn’t even notice his worried gaze. Her eyes were fixed on the older man and woman sitting across from them at the dinner table. Maddie had learned that the woman was her dad’s girlfriend and they had been dating for quite a while now. She didn’t know why she was hurting so badly over this discovery. Of course she didn’t expect her dad to stay single forever; he must get lonely all the time now that she’s going to college and off in her own little world. Maddie just wished her dad would have told her sooner, rather than having this awkward meeting on Thanksgiving. She didn’t even know anything about this woman, other than her name being Karissa. She was definitely pretty though, with her long, blonde hair and blue eyes. She looked a little younger than Maddie’s dad, but that didn’t really matter.

Maddie scoffs, “Even if I’m not, what am I supposed to do about it?”

Gabriel presses his mouth into a straight line, clearly finding the entire situation unreasonable. How could any father keep something so significant from their child? They had been dating for over half a year and he had finally decided to tell Maddie about their relationship in front of all these relatives who seemingly already knew. It seemed like such a cowardly thing to do and Gabriel quickly decided that he didn’t really like Maddie’s dad. Gabriel wasn’t blind; he had seen the recurrent condemnatory stares her dad threw his way. It was apparent that he didn’t like his daughter hanging out with a hockey player.

Everyone chattered blissfully, complimenting each other on the successful dinner and thanking Maddie for bringing the pies and ice cream. She had dragged Gabriel to Costco the previous day and had spent nearly $100 on desserts alone, claiming that you can never have too much pie on Thanksgiving.

“So how’s school going, Maddie?”

She glanced at her father for a fleeting moment and looked back down at her hands on her lap, “It’s good. I finally got a job to help pay for classes and textbooks.”

Of course he was asking about school.

“That’s good that you’re focusing on work and school, the last thing you need is any distractions.” His eyes flicker towards Gabriel for a second, but he pretends not to notice. His parents had raised Gabriel to be a well-mannered young man and he knew it would be exceptionally discourteous to roll his eyes at this man.

One of Maddie’s cousins, Steven, coughs and swiftly changes the topic, “So how do you like Colorado so far, Gabe?”

“Oh it’s great,” He grins contentedly, “The scenery is very beautiful and the people are very nice.”

“Where are you from?” Karissa asks inquiringly.

“Stockholm,” He blushes when he sees the confusion on Steven’s face, “It’s in Sweden.”

The 14 year old smiles sheepishly, “How come you don’t have an accent?”

Gabriel shrugs, “I paid attention in English since I knew I was going to eventually move to the States or Canada for hockey, figured I might as well know the language that everyone is going to be speaking so I’m not totally confused.”

Maddie glanced around the dinner table, noticing the yearning look on a few of her female relative’s faces. They seemed entirely enthralled with whatever Gabriel had to say and Maddie wondered if he knew what he was doing to these women. Despite his confidence and charismatic personality, Gabriel Landeskog was an extremely humble and sometimes inhibited individual. Sometimes he would say something that might make him sound egotistical, but Maddie knew better than that. He was always joking around and making smartass comments, but he really is a sweetheart and people usually seem to have a hard time believing that. Everyone continued to talk, though it was mostly Steven asking questions about Hockey and Sweden. Gabriel didn’t seem to mind answering his questions; he actually seemed to enjoy talking about his career and the country he grew up in.

“So Karissa, have you decided where you’re going to have the wedding yet?” Maddie’s grandma asked, taking no notice of the heavy silence that fell upon the entire room. A few people glanced at Maddie uncomfortably, while others looked away from the shocked and hurt expression on her face. She finally noticed the diamond ring on her finger; the engagement ring.

“We haven’t decided yet.” She murmured delicately, realizing that Maddie had no clue about any of this, “Why didn’t you tell Maddie, Johnny?”

“I-It completely slipped my mind.” He stammered, looking at his daughter with wide eyes. She frowned and stared down at her chipped nail polish; she could feel her face get warm. Murmurs started to fill the room as everyone tried to change the subject, but Maddie could only think about how her dad was going to marry this stranger. She didn’t know anything about this woman other than her name, and now she’s going to be a part of this broken family? How could her dad not tell her about this? She felt her eyes burn with tears and she promised herself she wouldn’t cry in front of everyone, particularly her own father. She had been raised by her dad the majority of her life, a tough man who taught Maddie that crying makes you look susceptible and pathetic. It was kind of funny how her dad had gotten irritated at her when she told him that she was bringing Gabe to Thanksgiving dinner, yet he had forgotten to tell Maddie that he was engaged to a woman she’s never even met.

“I’m happy for you two.” Maddie mumbled and hastily stood up, ignoring her dad’s calls as she exited the room. She stepped out into the crisp air that Colorado had to offer this time of year. It was wintry and overcast, but it was tolerable, Maddie decided as she sat down on the top step of the porch. Yelling could be heard from inside the house and Maddie hoped that her dad wasn’t taking his anger out on Gabriel. The last thing she wanted was to lose Gabriel, especially now that all of the shit was starting to hit the fan. She heard the front door creak as it opened and then brusquely closed. Gabriel sat down next to Maddie and took in the pained expression on her pretty face. He wasn’t sure if she was going to just explode with rage, or burst into tears. Either option would have been completely rational given the circumstances.

“Do you want to come home with me?” He offered softly, “We can watch another movie or the football game if you want.”

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and nodded, fearing her voice would splinter if she spoke. Gabriel stood up and grabbed her hand, pulling her up from the step and watching as she smoothed out the skirt of the appealing floral dress she was wearing. They left without saying goodbye to anyone and Gabriel felt a little bad since he had been getting along properly with some of her relatives, but he knew they had to leave before Maddie had a breakdown or something. The car ride was absolutely quiet and he tried ineffectively to think of someway to eradicate the silence. He could see that she was no longer angry, but more troubled and baffled than anything.

“I’m sorry.” She said quietly, staring out the window aimlessly.

He frowned, “For what?”

“Ruining Thanksgiving for you.”

“You didn’t ruin it,” He reassured her, “I got to spend it with you and had some awesome food. It was fun until all that drama happened.”

She pursed her lips together, “Thank you for coming with me. I know my family can be a little… overwhelming at times.”

He shrugs, “It’s no big deal, your cousins are all really cool anyways. Is Steven an athlete?”

Gabe notices how her eyes seem to light up and it’s noticeable that she and Steven are more like brother and sister than cousins. From the moment they had walked into the house, Steven and Maddie were already arguing and making fun of each other. It reminded Gabriel of him and his twin sister and for a minute he felt a little homesick. It was difficult being away from his family for such long periods of time, particularly when he was in another country.

“He’s a goalie for his school’s hockey team,” She answers with a proud smile, “He’s been skating for as long as I can remember.”

“Maybe I can get you and him tickets to one of our games one day.”

Her honey coloured eyes expand, “Oh Gabe, you don’t have to do that for us.”

He smiles, “I know I don’t have to, but I want to. I like it when you come to my games; the least I can do is get another ticket so you’re not all alone. Besides, he seems like a really cool kid even though he’s a little quiet.”

Maddie grins at his generosity, “I know it would mean a lot to Steven, he’s been going through a tough time with school lately.”

Gabriel nods, not really knowing what she meant by that. He wondered if Steven was being bullied or just struggling with classes, but he decided not to ask about it. School had never really been difficult for Gabriel and he had never really gotten bullied too unpleasantly. There were times where he got picked on for being withdrawn, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle. Gabriel wondered if Maddie ever got bullied; it wouldn’t surprise him if she did. If she has always been this timorous and quiet, she was bound to get picked on at least one point in her life. People with the same kind of personality as Maddie are the ones who get taken advantage of the most and Gabriel hoped that she hadn’t been hurt too badly in high school and middle school.

He hated the thought of her in pain.

“Thanks again for letting me do my work here.”

Gabriel lifted his head and stared at Maddie who was sitting on the other side of his leather couch. She had nervously asked if she could come over to do her homework since her Wi-Fi wasn’t working at her apartment, to which Gabriel instantly said yes. It was such an easy task of getting lonely on days like this and he welcomed any form of company to take his mind off of everything. He had almost forgotten Maddie was in his condo until she spoke up. She hadn’t really said anything in the few hours she had been there, worried that she was bothering Gabriel with her presence in the first place. Instead, she worked meticulously on her calculus homework while she listened to her iPod on shuffle.

“It’s no problem; I like it when you’re here,” Gabe answered idiotically. He was continuously feeling tongue-tied whenever he was around her and a part of him was worried that he would slip up and say something reckless in front of the beautiful college girl. She merely smiled at him, her pretty white teeth on full display and momentarily stunning Gabriel. He turned back towards the stove top and flipped the grilled cheese sandwich that was starting to burn.

‘I’ll have that one.’ Gabe decided, not wanting to give Maddie overcooked food. He glanced at her again, noticing how pretty she looked today. Of course he liked seeing her in that floral dress she wore a week ago on Thanksgiving, but there was so something beautiful about seeing her in such a natural state. She wore a maroon Denver Uni. hoodie and some dark wash skinny jeans along with a pair of those UGG moccasins, protecting her feet from the chilly weather. Her hair fell around her face and past her breasts in soft curls and Gabriel resisted the urge to reach out and touch the dark brown locks.

“Here you go,” Gabriel said a few minutes later, setting a plate down on the coffee table in front of her. She closed her laptop immediately and set it on the table, exchanging her notes and homework for the delicious food instead.

“Thank you,” She said again, blushing when she realized that’s the second time she has thanked Gabriel within a span of 5 minutes.

“You’re welcome,” He answered and plopped down on the couch next to her, “I figured you were hungry anyways.”

She nodded vigorously and gazed at the TV as she chewed the sandwich. Boston was playing against Montreal, one of her favourite rivalries despite the fact that she didn’t really care for either team. Though she had grown up as an Avalanche fan, she always loved watching two rivals play against each other. It always seemed more intense that way, especially when some of the players had animosity directed towards the opposing team. She crossed her legs and blushed when her knee rested on top of Gabriel’s thigh, but he didn’t seem to care. He made her nervous sometimes, especially now that she has confronted him about their “relationship”, or lack thereof. It was difficult not to fall for someone like Gabriel. Between his personality and his looks, it seemed as though he was the whole package, but she knew he didn’t like her the same way she liked him. The grilled cheese suddenly tasted bland in her mouth, and she reluctantly swallowed it. Why was she having such a hard time accepting the fact that she and Gabriel are just friends?

“Did you know about Matt and Sara?”

Maddie frowns and her eyebrows furrow, “What about them?”

“I guess they’re a thing now?”

“I doubt it,” She mumbles, “They’re probably just sleeping together.”

Gabriel’s curiosity intensifies at this observation, “Matt isn’t that kind of guy and I can tell he really likes Sara.”

“Sara isn’t really the relationship type of girl; she doesn’t stay with someone for a long time.”

“Isn’t that kind of leading Matt on though?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time she’s done it,” Maddie mutters, rolling her eyes. Sara is her friend and everything, but Maddie hated how she just disregarded men’s feelings. She had been hurt by someone in that past and she constantly used that as an excuse for sleeping around with numerous men, which Maddie thought was kind of irrational. Why hurt others when you have already experienced that type of pain?

“Oh,” He says uneasily, “You two are really different.”

Maddie shrugs, “I guess. She’s really the only friend I had that was willing to take me in after I decided to move out of the dorms.”

“Could have just moved in with me,” Gabriel smirks, jokingly nudging her leg.

“Yeah right,” Maddie snorts, “Rent is probably way more than I can afford, especially with a condo this nice.”

“Would have let you stay here for free, as long as you kept all of your tampons away from my stuff.”

“How considerate of you,” She mutters, leaning forward to set her empty plate back on the table. Gabriel watched as she covered her mouth and yawned, clearly exhausted from school and work. It almost made him feel gluttonous, being able to earn money doing what he loves while Maddie had to actually work to make a living. He couldn’t even imagine the immense pressure she was going through, just trying to pay for an education for a career that she might not even enjoy 20 years down the road. Maddie leaned into Gabriel’s side and rested her head on his shoulder, trying to battle her heavy eyelids from closing. He glanced down and stared at her face as her eyes closed, Gabriel thought for sure she had fallen asleep until she spoke up again.

“He lied to me,” She whispered dejectedly.

“Who?”

“My dad… I finally talked to him last night.”

Gabriel felt her tremble when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, “What did he say?”

“He said that he didn’t think I would care about him proposing to her, that I was too busy with school.”

Her voice is laced with sorrow and it tears Gabriel apart, “What else did he say?”

“H-He said that it was time for me to move on and forget about my mom… that she’s never coming back.”

“Jesus, what kind of father says something like that?”

His question seems to distress Maddie further and he feels confused when tears start escaping from the corners of her eyes. It seemed as though she was starting to act more vulnerable around the hockey player, opening up and actually crying in front of him. Perhaps it was because Maddie knew that Gabriel wouldn’t judge her.

“It’s okay,” Gabriel said gently, pulling her onto his lap sideways. She rested her head against his neck and Gabriel could feel her wet eyelashes fluttering against his skin. She didn’t cry hard or anything, just a few tears here and there, but he continued to hold her against him in a comforting way. Maddie decided that it felt really nice to be in his warm arms, especially since she wasn’t used to the unfamiliar contact and being held. His musky scent was soothing and his affection overwhelmed Maddie in the most pleasuring way. She could feel his large hand running up and down her back leisurely, trying to alleviate the pain and make the tears go away.

“I don’t like it when you cry,” He murmurs when she pulls away a few minutes later, blushing when Gabriel’s thumb skimmed across the skin under her eyes. She gazed at his face softly and let Gabriel continue to wipe the tears away. He noticed the way she bit her bottom lip and peered up at him through her long eyelashes. Her eyes seemed to be a brighter shade of gold and Gabriel found himself getting lost staring into those beautiful eyes. His hand lowered slightly, moving against her soft cheek before his thumb slid across her lower lip. She sat up straighter so they were both eye level, though Gabriel found it increasingly difficult to look into those expressive eyes.

He just wanted to kiss her right then and there.

Her wide eyes stared up at him longingly, and Gabriel knew she felt it too. It was a hard sensation to ignore, that strong, magnetic pull to one another. She lowered her gaze down to his lips and blushed when his tongue jutted out and slid across his upper lip, her fingertips lightly dug into his shoulders. Gabriel moved his hand to the back of her head, frivolously tangling his fingers throughout the soft tresses and bringing her closer to him until their foreheads were touching. Those honey eyes closed and Gabriel felt his eyelids flutter as she pressed her hand against his stubbly cheek. Before he could comprehend what he was doing, Gabriel moved his head to the side and pressed a kiss to the centre of her palm, noticing how warm she was.

‘Don't do this again, Maddie.’ She reminded herself as she reluctantly pulled away from him.

“I need to go, I have work in half an hour,” Maddie stammered, scrambling off of his lap and gathering her laptop and notebook before stuffing it into her knapsack. His baby blue eyes were broad and he seemed exceedingly shocked by the sudden deficiency of the pretty girl on his lap. He liked being able to hold her so close and hoped that he hadn’t scared her off. Maddie’s cheeks were a bright scarlet and she was completely flustered as she slung the straps of her bag over her shoulders.

“Maddie,” Gabriel called before she could exit the condo, “Do you maybe want to go out on Friday and go ice skating or something?”

She smiled diffidently at him and nodded, “That sounds like fun. I get off of work at 6 though.”

“That’s perfect; I’ll pick you up at 7?” He asked apprehensively.

She nodded again, “I’ll see you then.”

“Bye Maddie.”

“Bye Gabe, see you later,” She grinned and quietly left without another word.

Gabriel collapsed back onto the couch with a loud sigh, relieved that she had agreed to the date. He never really had problems asking other women out, but something about Maddie just made him anxious. It certainly wasn’t her bashful and introverted personality, though he did love that about her. She just seemed so innocent and timid and Gabriel didn’t want to destroy that. His past relationships had failed because he didn’t take it slow and he had just rushed into everything, but Gabriel didn’t want that to happen again. He wanted to take Maddie out on dates and just have a normal, secure relationship.

He wanted to be able to call Maddie his.

“I don’t know about this,” Maddie said unsteadily, watching Gabriel as he tied the laces on her ice skates.

His lips quirked up into a smirk, “You can blame Steven for never teaching you how to skate.”

She pouted and gazed toward the empty ice rink, wondering why he had such easy access to the arena. Do all of the guys on the team just come here whenever they feel like it? She squeaked when he tugged on the laces roughly and he had to remind her that the skates need to fit snugly so she doesn’t roll her ankle. He speedily finished tying the laces before working on his much nicer hockey skates. Maddie had already owned a pair of ice skates that Steven had bought for her on her last birthday, promising he would teach her how to ice skate someday. She wondered if he would be mad once he found out that Gabriel had beaten him to it.

“Ready?” He grinned and held onto her hand as she stood up and nodded, noticeably frightened about stepping onto the slippery surface. She removed her hand from his and looped her arm around the crook of his elbow before they stepped out onto the ice. It definitely wasn’t as bad as Maddie thought it was going to be, but she wondered how hockey players could skate so fast and fight when she could barely move forward.

“See, it’s not so bad.” Gabriel murmured and pressed a kiss to Maddie’s forehead as he moved in front of her, taking both of her hands in his. He skated backwards effortlessly and pulled Maddie along leisurely, not seeming to mind the slow pace in the slightest bit. There were a few times where she stumbled and he would have to hold tightly onto her waist to keep her upright, but she didn’t seem to get disheartened at all. Gabriel noticed that she was a pretty fast learner and it didn’t take her long to get used to the ice at all. He moved back to her side and grabbed her cold hand again, grinning when she blushed.

“I thought you would have fallen by now,” He laughed.

“I’m not completely hopeless,” She pushes him good-naturedly and giggles softly. The couple started to playfully push each other around, Gabriel clearly being careful so he wouldn’t push to hard and make her fall down onto the hard surface. His fingertips skimmed across her stomach and she instantly started giggling as Gabriel tickled her unremittingly. He wrapped one arm around her torso while his other hand snuck underneath her shirt and continued to tickle the bare skin of her flat abdomen. He immediately noticed how her cheeks turned into a bright, rosy colour and how pretty she was when she was laughing this hard. Her skate must have gotten caught on Gabriel’s because he slipped and fell backwards, still clinging onto a breathless Maddie.

“Are you alright?” Her eyes were wide as she peered down at Gabriel. She slid her hand to the back of his head, making sure that he didn’t hit his head on the ice.

“I’m fine,” He chuckled, “Trust me; I’ve had worse injuries than a pretty woman falling down on top of me.”

Those pretty pink lips tugged into a tiny smile as she moved off of him and knelt next to his body. He easily got up from the ice and helped Maddie up as well, snickering when her feet nearly slid out from underneath her again. He watched her as she brushed off the ice from her dark skinny jeans and readjusted the beanie that was starting to fall off of her head. She stood up straight and almost fell when Gabriel grabbed her hand and pulled her forward. He wrapped both of his arms around her waist and held her close to him, looking into those stunning eyes again. Gabriel felt her small hands slide up his arms and around his neck.

He leaned down, wanting to kiss those lips already.

Instead, she reached up and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Gabriel’s lips, lingering there for a few seconds before pulling away and gazing at his staggered appearance. The shock soon wore off into an expression of amusement and he couldn’t stop the dorky smile that spread across his face.

“What?” He smirked, “You don’t actually kiss on the first date?”

“Sometimes,” She teases, “Not cute Swedish boys though.”

“You think I’m cute?” He asks, dragging out the last syllable.

“Hm, I guess you’re okay. Out of ten, you would be a seven… on a good day.”

“Madelyn,” He pretends to be hurt by her statement, “Such high standards.”

She smiles and shrugs it off, trying to ignore the memories of her and Travis when they were still together.

“Have to protect myself somehow.”