Love Me Tender

“Hey Maddie! What are you doing here?” I asked my spastic co-worker.
“We’re getting fresh meat today.” she said,wiggling her eyebrows, I rolled my eyes. “I overheard Shero talking out all the details. Two new pairs of legs.”
Now I was a bit intrigued, “Really? Where from?”
“Ummm Dallas!” she said, happily clapping her hands. Right when the words left her mouth, my guard went up and the once playful atmosphere felt toxic and suffocating. My brain started to hightail into overdrive.
“Whoa Raychel, you okay?” Maddie questioned, concerned, “It looks like your gonna be sick!”
I shook my head, “I’m fine, I just need some air, I’ll be right back.” I rushed out of the building.
I should tell myself that I’m overreacting. I should be telling myself that Matt Niskanen is not one of the two players to become a Pittsburgh Penguin.
I haven’t said two words to him since the bonfire years ago, It’s like we were never best friends, it kills me everyday. I wasn’t ready to face him, I’m not good with confrontation, obviously.
I finally calmed down enough to go back inside, but not before passing Goligoski. He had his bag and a solemn look on his face.
“Alex?” I said puzzled, he looked at me with sad eyes, it killed me. I soon realized.
“NO!” I exclaimed, “not you.” he just nodded and didn’t say a word. I grabbed him into a tight hug. Gogo instantly became my best friend within a week of being here, and now he was leaving. He showed me around Pittsburgh and help me find a place of my own. He’s been like a brother to me and now he’s being torn away from me and I wasn’t okay with that. I wanted to run into Shero’s office and rip him a new one, but I knew I couldn’t. That may seem a but too unprofessional.
“I just came up to say goodbye.” Alex said quietly, his voice didn’t sound like him, it was weak and low, like a shy child on his first day at a new school. I hugged him again, not wanting to let go.
“Oh Alex. Why did it have to be you.” I asked to no one in particular. I felt his shoulders shrug. We finally let go of each other and he kissed my cheek and then cupped it. The pain still apparent in his eyes. Meanwhile I was trying to hold back the tears starting to form in mine.
“I’ll text you when I land. Goodbye Raychel.” He said slowly. All I could do was nod, because I didn’t trust my voice.
His kissed my forehead, uncupped his hand reluctantly, and for a minute I thought he was going to say something else, but he quickly turned and left down the hallway. I swallowed the lump in my throat and went into my office. I put my head on my desk. I just lost my best friend…again. It hurt just as much as the first time, if not more. I let a few tears of frustration fall before I pulled myself back together. There were two knocks on my door before Maddie popped her head in, she looked at me sympathetically.
“Oh honey, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know” I waved her off.
“It’s fine Maddie, it’s not like your the one who decides. I’ll be fine.” I reassured, she still looked hesitant.
“Well…Sam wants us to head down to the press conference…I could go alone.”
“No, I’ll go. What’s done is done, I have to move on.” I said. Grabbing my materials. Maddie stilled eyed me suspiciously, I tried to be as convincing as I could.
I spent the down time we had before the conference mentally preparing for the words about to come out of the GM’s mouth.
He walked in and I forgot how to breathe. Every set their recorders on the table and found there seats.
“Thank you all for coming. As most of you have already heard and/or seen, I’ve made a trade.” he paused, I was tense, moving uneasy in my chair, Maddie kept sending me questionable looks. I was praying under my breath that he wasn’t coming here.
“I have traded Alex Goligoski to the Dallas Stars in exchange for forward…”
I exhaled a little, we have a forward.
“James Neal…and”
and? What no. no and. What are you doing Shero.
“Defensmen…”
shit shit shit shit.
“Matt Niskenan.”
my world stopped, time froze, I wanted to do nothing but go run and hide. He’s coming here, he’s actually coming here. To Pittsburgh, i’m going to have to face him. My insides felt like they were going to explode and I needed to get away.
“Hey Maddie?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not really feeling well…I think I’m going to take the rest of the day off.” I said as convincingly as I could, she looked at me skeptical, but nodded.
I started to get up and attempted to sneak out but Sam caught me.
“RAYCHEL! COME HERE!” he called me over, I sighed and plastered on a smile. “I need you to help me. We have to write a story of the new guys, can you grab some background info on them and report back to me in an hour or so?”
“Uh…yeah sure Sam.” I replied unwillingly. I turned and sulked back to my office. Shero announced that they would be arriving sometime around two o’clock. I wished that the hours between now and then went by slow.
Really. Really. Slow.
Would he even recognize me? Who I recognize him? It’s been three years, who knows. All I know now is that its 1:45 and I could really use that rock to crawl under right now.
“Raych, Sam wants us to meet him in his office. Do you have everything?” Maddie announced.
I slowly nodded, trying to take in steady breaths and control my heartbeat.
Why was I acting like this? I was an absolute wreck. Maybe because I’m facing him for the first time. Maybe its because my best friend was traded in order to see him again. Or maybe it’s my lack of sleep and the fact that I haven’t eaten anything today. Who the fuck knows.
Sam greeted us and told us what was to happen. We were to write a “Get-to-know-the-new-guys” type of article for the Penguins website. But here’s the awesome part: We have to interview them. Well ain’t I just the luckiest girl in the city of Pittsburgh. I was internally screaming my lungs out. We walked outside where we were meeting my impending doom, I mean the boys.
“Okay, what is your deal, Raychel?” Maddie asked when we were finally alone. Yikes. I knew this was coming sooner or later. I sighed, how much should I tell her? Its not like I didn’t trust here, I just didn’t want her to make things more awkward when Matt was with us.
“Can I just tell you that Matt & I have history and leave it at that?” I squeaked. Her eyes popped wide right out of her head.
“Seriously?!?! And you’re brining this up now! RAYCHEL! This is hu-”
“Stop. I see them coming!” I quickly shushed her, she thankfully agreed, but the look she gave me was a look of ‘we’re not done talking about this’
oh but how I wished we were.
I saw James before I saw Matt, but when I saw him trailing behind, I knew that three years makes a huge difference. He had a goatee and short spiky hair. He looked bad and sexy and ten times different then he did our UM-D days. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
“Close your mouth, Raych, before you drool” Maddie teased beside me. I snapped out of my little trance to realize what was about to happen.
I wiped my sweaty palms onto my pants and prepared myself for a reunion I never thought would happen