Rose Garden

Knees bouncing, Andrea sat in a conference room with Taylor and her agent by her side. Today was the day where they would know if Big Notes Records wanted to extend her record deal. On the surface, Andrea was crossing her fingers that they would. But for real, concealed by her shoes, she was crossing her toes that they wouldn’t.

In the almost two months since Andrea had sat at her sister’s grave saying goodbye, she’d made no progress on anything. And it wasn’t just her sanity that was suffering either. Her music wasn’t as easy to make anymore, all her songs sounding too depressing or whiny to show to anyone other than Taylor. Hell, even Del Zotto had noticed a change in her and that was saying something, as he was always aloof towards his girlfriend’s best friend.

As the clock ticked by and they waited for the meeting to start, Andrea caught Taylor looking at her out of the corner of her eye. She was trying to be discreet about, casually ‘checking’ her phone, but to no avail.

Doing her own spy work, Andrea leaned down to reach into her purse. As she sat back up, she caught sight of her friend’s phone screen. Across the top, in clear letters, was a name that made Andrea’s heart stop.

Tyler.

Why was Taylor texting him? Hell, why did she still have his number?

“Andrea, love,” Marty, the CEO of Big Notes Records, boomed. “How are you?”

Andrea didn’t bother answering as he was already talking to someone else. Soon enough, another executive was talking about statistics and sales, forcing Andrea to stifle a yawn. It was going to be a long afternoon. Both fortunately and unfortunately, Andrea’s mind wandered. And of course, it eventually stopped on Tyler.

What was he up to? Over the course of 1440 hours, 23 minutes, and 12 seconds (but who was counting?), Andrea and Tyler had not spoken once and it was killing her.

At least once a day since returning to New York, Andrea’s fingers would linger over the numbers or letters on her phone, taunting her. Should she reach out to him? No, not until she was ready. That’s what she had told herself weeks ago, assuming she would sort things out eventually. But of course, she hadn’t.

Was Tyler as confused as her? Probably not, he’d made the decision, after all. But did he at least think of her? He hadn’t tweeted anything about her lately. Or wait, had he?

Andrea’s mind wandered to a quote Tyler had tweeted a few days before. It was from a Drake song, of course, an artist Andrea and he had bonded over.

‘@tylerseguin92- “Dang. I wanna see you & hug you & make you smile & make you laugh & just lie on the couch next to you & then just fall asleep beside you. It’d be nice.”’

Was that her? She hoped it was because if Andrea was being honest with herself, she wanted all that with Tyler too. She wanted the late nights spent laughing and early mornings spent sleeping and everything in between. She wanted him to tell her that she had made it, that she was famous. Andrea wanted to be there when he got to lift the Cup for the second time and to comfort him when he loses. There were so many things that she was missing about him and so many more that she didn’t know she was missing.

“Andy,” Taylor’s voice jerked Andrea out of her reverie with a well-directed elbow to the ribcage.

“Yes?” Andrea sat up, looking around.

“What do you say?” Marty steepled his fingers together as he sat back. “Do you want to re-sign with us here at Big Notes?”

Andrea looked to her agent, Theresa, who was nodding vigorously. ‘It’s what’s best.’, she had said.

Deciding that her opinion didn’t matter, Andrea turned to Taylor, who sat observing her friend.

“Do what you think is right,” Taylor said quietly, squeezing Andrea’s hand. “I’ll be here for you.”

And all of a sudden, Andrea knew Tyler was right. No one else’s thoughts or opinions mattered now. It was Andrea’s decision to make and whether she chose ‘yes’ or ‘no’, she had to be happy with it.

“No.”

“Wonderful!” Marty had obviously been expecting a different answer. “We’ve got the papers right-what did you say?”

“No, I’m not going to re-sign with you,” Andrea kept a straight face, even though she was screaming inside. “I’m no longer a part of Big Notes Recording.”

“And why not?” Marty asked.

“I’ve got a few things I need to figure,” she turned to Taylor. “How fast can I be on a flight to Boston?”

A grin spread across Taylor’s face as she enveloped her friend in a hug. “Checked this morning. A plane leaves for Boston in 2 hours and you’ve got a first class seat.”

“H-how’d you know?” Andrea couldn’t believe Taylor. One day she’s freaking out over not having a job and the next she’s helping her boss run away.

“I know you, babe,” Taylor forced Andrea’s purse into her hands. “They get in from an away game soon. Maybe you’ll catch him at the airport. Go!”

“Andrea! Andrea!” Theresa’s frantic voice carried down the hall as her client all but sprinted out of the building. “What are you doing?”

“Following her heart,” Taylor said simply. “And it’s about fucking time.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Landing in Boston with the Bruins, Tyler just wanted sleep. They’d lost in overtime against the Capitals with Tyler missing the shoot-out goal. Definitely not his finest hour on the ice. Or maybe even after. He had tweeted a Drake quote that was so painfully obvious that if Andrea didn’t pick up on it, he would be offended.

They ambled through the airport, doing their best to keep a low profile. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to meet fans today; it was just that they didn’t want to see the disappointed faces that would certainly accompany them. Going into the game, everyone assumed it would be an easy win.

Lugging his bags along with his weary body, Tyler could feel sleep creeping up on him. No one had slept well the night before and the plane ride had been filled with turbulence. So it didn’t surprise him when he heard a familiar voice call his name. When he actually did sleep, she frequented his dreams and his thoughts when he was awake.

But he heard it again and again.

“I think you’d better turn around, man,” Marchy said, glancing over his shoulder as they stepped outside into the still warm fall air.

“Huh?” Tyler stopped and followed his teammates gaze.

Jogging through the airport lobby was a tall figure in a blue dress, heels, and carrying a large purse. Long hair streamed back behind her and people’s eyes stared in awe as the singer waved down the hockey player.

“Andrea,” her name rolled off his tongue like he was just-suffocating man gasping for air. It was a relief, a joy.

In a just a few seconds, Andrea’s body crashed against his and she tugged his neck down towards her, now crashing their lips together.

If noise surrounded them, they didn’t notice. No one else mattered, it was just them. His arms went around her waist instinctively as her arms locked around his neck. Tyler leaned forward into the kiss, making Andrea’s back bend.

Breaking apart, they found that people were indeed making noise. Tyler’s teammates applauded and even some fans too. Others snapped pictures or took videos, surely to end up on the internet later. But that was someone else’s problem to deal with. Right now, only they mattered.

“Dinner,” Andrea breathed out. “Tonight. Now. Just soon.”

“Now,” Tyler nodded. “Now is good.”

And just like they had started in Biel, Andrea and Tyler started again in a Rose Garden, this time in Boston.