Serendipity

For Haley, the rest of Get Away Day had gone off without a single hitch. Everyone was willing to do their part to make this day go by as smoothly as possible because everyone was itching to leave as soon as possible. But because everyone was cooperating that just made Haley’s job that much easier and she could enjoy the rest of her day without hearing from her boss. So after all the reporters had cleared out of the locker room, Haley made her way up to the Sales and Marketing Department to visit Madison and Allie.

Tip toeing her way around the cubicle filled room; Haley could hear the constant clicking of fingers on keyboards, which caused her to wonder if these people ever truly stopped working. It seemed like they always had to come up with some new scheme to draw more people to come to games. The more people that came to games the more publicity the team would receive, the more publicity the team received the harder Haley had to work. But all in all, every department worked for the betterment of the organization and if the organization was doing well then Haley didn’t have to worry about her job security.

After she had finally made her way back to where Madison’s cubicle, Haley smiled when she saw her brunette friend passed out in front of her computer. Madison hadn’t made it back to the apartment the previous night and Haley had figured that the workaholic had decided to pull one more all nighter crunching numbers for the team’s new marketing scheme for the next season. Shaking her head, Haley quietly walked away and went in search of the coffee pot so that she could leave Madison a nice cup of jo on her desk. After a good five minutes of searching, she finally stumbled upon the blasted machine. But to her displeasure there was someone else who had just picked up the pot and was filling his mug.

“Josh.” Haley acknowledged, spitefully when he nodded his head in her direction.

“Haley, fancy seeing you here. What did being the team’s whore finally get boring for you.” Josh teased with his own icy tone when Haley stepped up to make a cup for Madison.

Josh and Haley had hired into the Chicago Blackhawks organization around the same time and as fellow new employees they had forged a somewhat of a friendship. Josh had actually started out in media relations just like Haley did but when he saw that Haley was getting assigned bigger and better projects he tried to sabotage her by saying that she using her job to hook up with several of the players on the team. Unfortunately for him, his plan had backfired and he got transferred to Sales and Marketing because he had continued to harass Haley when he had failed to get her fired.

“It must be nice to have your own harem of whores up here.” Haley snickered back at him, knowing that he couldn’t deny it. Madison had been keeping tabs on Josh for Haley so that she could be warned just in case Josh decided that he was going to go after Haley’s job again.

Josh glared down at her but didn’t say another word. She knew that she had hit a soft spot with him by calling him out on his womanizing ways, but she didn’t have a single problem with offending the sandy haired man. It wasn’t like she had to deal with him on an everyday basis like she had for three years. But Josh was also raised with enough class to stay professional in the work place and not harass Madison or Allie now that he worked with them. In fact, he didn’t have a problem with either of Haley’s friends. He had tried to ask both of them out on several occasions but they had and always would shut him down because he had tried to get their friend fired. Haley was glad that she had friends who wouldn’t try to stab her in the back with that jerk. She acknowledged that it was extremely tempting to go out on a date with Josh. His GQ looks and ladies’ man personality had all the women flocking to him. Haley had even got out with him once but that was when she was still naïve to the fact that he had been trying to get her fired.

After filling the Styrofoam to go cup with the hot, brown liquid, Haley added some sugar and creamer because she knew that Madison preferred to have her coffee extremely sweet. In fact, Maddy liked her coffee so sweet that it almost made Haley sick to her stomach to even attempt to drink it. No, Haley didn’t like her coffee black but she couldn’t stand that much sweet.

Turning on her heel, Haley made her way back to Madison’s desk to find that her friend was still counting sheep. A soft smile broke its way onto Haley’s features while she shook her head at her exhausted friend. That girl definitely needed a vacation; she worked way too hard to not deserve some rest and relaxation. She also knew that Madison always over extended herself when it came to her job. Sure, she was the least paid between the three friends but that didn’t mean that she had to kill herself to make up for it.

Setting the coffee down on the desk beside Madison, Haley decided not to wake her sleeping friend so she left her a note to remind her of their plans to go out that night and that she and Allie needed to decide where they were going to go. But instead of placing the post-it note on the desk next to the coffee like a normal person would do, Haley decided to press the note to Madison’s forehead as a reminder not to sleep on the job. Carefully, Haley tiptoed back out of Madison’s cubicle, as to not wake her before she went off in search of Allie. Pausing, Haley smacked her forehead in annoyance at her own forgetfulness. Allie didn’t have to work today because management wouldn’t be in their offices today so all their secretaries would have the day off and knowing Allie, she was most likely still asleep. But Allie’s lucky break made Haley’s job a lot easier, she could just leave now that she knew that Madison was probably still going to be busy for the rest of the day.

Twenty minutes later, Haley arrived at the apartment with a 6 inch meatball sub for lunch. Stopping by the refrigerator, Haley grabbed a bottle of black cherry flavored Mike’s Hard Lemonade before taking her lunch out to the living room to watch last segment of the Dan Patrick show for the day. Opening the bottle, she allowed the cold, refreshing taste and warm feel of the alcohol relax her body. It wasn’t every day she could start drinking this early.

“Alcohol? Already? Geez, Hal, it’s not even noon yet.” Allie groaned from the entrance to the back hallway. Shaking her head, Haley took another sip of the fruity drink before looking up at her friend, who looked like she had just rolled out of bed.

“It’s almost 7 O’clock in Paris, Al and besides I’m just taking Tom Brady’s advice to start drinking early.”

Allie rolled her eyes at Haley before making her way to the kitchen and then returning with a bottle of her own. Smiling, Haley shook her head at her almost platinum blonde, Barbie like friend.

“What?” Allie asked, after taking a sip of her own bottle as she sat down in the recliner on the other side of the room. Finally, taking a bite of her sub, Haley sent Allie a pointed look,

“Hypocrite.”

Allie could only shrug at Haley’s statement before saying, “Well, if you can’t beat ’em join ‘em. Besides do you really want to be drinking alone?”

Haley considered Allie’s point. Sure, Allie wasn’t one to condone drinking excessively if ever. She claimed that alcohol made people fat and that she didn’t want to have to work out to maintain her figure. However, if she were the only one who wasn’t drinking she would join in just to fit in with the group. That meant Allie was the group’s sober driver most nights when they would go out. They usually took turns but Allie was almost always the most sober despite whose turn it actually was.

The two roommates continued to drink and in Haley’s case eat in silence as they flipped through the channels to see if there was anything decent on to watch. There wasn’t anything really worth watching on at the moment and they had figured that would be the case because even if they both normally would still be working most days at this time, they still had a pretty good handle on what was on and when.

“Wait! Go back!” Allie commanded as Haley by passed ESPN 2 causing the redhead to flinch and hold her ears despite being on the couch 3 feet away from her.

“What?” Haley questioned as she skipped back to the channel to see that ESPN was doing some story on Tim Tebow working out with the Jets. Then she realized why her friend was so urgent for her to change the channel back to the story. It was because Tebow was shirtless in the pictures they had displayed of him on the screen. “OH MY GOD.”

“I know.” Allie agreed with a dreamy sigh.
“He’s today’s Adonis. Look at those pecks!” Haley gapped as she felt herself being slightly turned on just be the picture of the handsome quarterback.

“Bet he has bigger boobs than you, Hal.” Allie teased, taking the opportunity to make fun of her roommate’s lack of chest size.

“Fuck off, at least I’m not plastic.” Haley shot right back at Allie, calling her friend out on having had her boobs done back when she was high school for some big beauty pageant that she had competed in and eventually won. Haley’s parents would have never spent that kind of money on her. It wasn’t like they had ever wanted anything to do with her after her younger sister had been born. They would let, no probably encourage Rebecca to get enhancive surgery as if to justify their point that Haley was ugly.

Haley didn’t let her parents bother her anymore; in fact the last time she had spoken to them was at over Christmas when she had gone to her grandparents for the holiday. When her parents and younger siblings came over for dinner. Even then, there wasn’t anything that had been said that hadn’t already been said countless times before so she just simply ignored them during their visit. They still hadn’t come down to Chicago to see her new apartment and to see how successful she had become. They were always at figure skating meets with her younger sister and talking about how successful she was to notice Haley. But it had always been that way so Haley wouldn’t expect anything less from them.

Pushing those thoughts away, Haley decided to focus on enjoying her last night out with her friends before the offseason would officially begin. Patrick and Madison would probably go balls to the walls tonight just because that was how they were about going out and tonight; Haley would probably join them just for the hell of it. She hadn’t gotten shitfaced since the Chicago Blackhawks’ post New Years party when Kaner and Duncan Keith had force fed her jello shots since she had refused to kiss either of them when the ball dropped. She just hoped she would make it back home alive like she had that night.

Madison finally came home around 7 o’clock that evening. She looked tired and in desperate need of a shower. Haley and Allie didn’t dare say anything to her because they knew she was in one of her moods and would be until she had freshened herself up. Madison was always moody when she hadn’t taken her daily morning shower before going to work and had a tendency to bite people’s heads off for saying the wrong thing.

It took Madison another two hours to emerge from the bathroom, dressed for clubbing, looking as fresh as a newborn prostitute. Yep, that just confirmed what Haley had already assumed; Madison was out to get hammered tonight and possibly even laid. But that girl deserved to let loose and have a good time after all the hard work she had put into the new marketing scheme over the past few weeks. In fact, she probably needed to let her hair down or she was going to go stir crazy from being so up tight all the time.

Haley and Allie then went back to their rooms to start getting ready for the night. They both needed to look their best if Madison had decided she was going to be a ten tonight. Haley really didn’t need much help and Allie didn’t need any help to be a prefect ten when she was a nine and a half on even her worst days.

Allie had come out in a tight fitting, hot pink party dress that hugged her curves in all the right places. She donned a pair of silver platform heels that made her look like a supermodel or some sort of goddess when she walked out into the living room. As soon as she walked in the club there would be plenty of guys offering to buy her drinks that there would be almost no need for her to bring money. The guys would be practically eating from the palm of her hand in hopes to have a chance in bed with her.

Madison was wearing her little black dress, which was a strapless number that clung so tightly to her body it looked like it had been painted on her. She was wearing Tweedy yellow heels to through in a bright splash of color on her rather seductive and dark outfit. The girl who had been slaving the day away in front of her computer was long forgotten as an animal had been unchanged was ready to party. Everyone would need to watch out because when Madison came to party she went hard.

Haley came out in her favorite teal cocktail dress. Everything about the dress was prefect for her, like it had been made for Haley Redding to wear. The rousing through out the dress caught the eye while the color of the dress made her ivory skin glow like the moon. It was tight but left some room for a man’s imagination to want to investigate further. But unlike her friends, she opted out of wearing towering heels for a pair of silver sequenced flats because she was in the mood to bust a groove out on the dance floor. Unlike her friends, she wasn’t looking to get laid. She had no desire to hook up with someone whose name she wouldn’t remember the next day. That lifestyle just didn’t appeal to her. She just wanted to go out, have some drinks and have a good time with her friends before they left.

“PARTY’S HERE!!!” Kaner announced as he left himself into the girls’ apartment causing all three of them to squeal and jump on him in their normal greeting. Now they were finally ready to go out after waiting for this all day.

Patrick then pulled himself away from the girls and headed into the kitchen to grab the bottle of peach CÎROC from the top shelf along with the three clean shot glasses that the girls kept out at all times.

“Patrick, if we are going to go to the Sound Bar tonight then there’s no time for any pregame.” Haley pointed out; folding her arms over her chest when she saw that he had grabbed her bottle of peach CÎROC and that didn’t sit any better with her since he was aiming to use her alcohol.

“No fears just cheers! Thought we’d start the night out the right way with a round of shots before we headed out.” Patrick informed her as he began pouring shots for the girls, well that was until Madison stole the bottle from him.

“To a seven day weekend!” She exclaimed before she slammed the bottle to her lips and tilted it back. Allie, Patrick, and Haley clunked their glasses together in agreement before they tossed back their own shots.

Afterwards, Haley snatched her bottle of CÎROC from Madison before she had the chance to down the whole thing. There was no way Haley was about to allow someone else to drink an entire bottle of her alcohol when she had only had a shot of it so far. When she returned to the group, everyone was ready to hit the town. Even Allie was surprisingly ready to go out and party. Shaking her, she ushered them out of the apartment before shutting the door on the day and heading out into the night.

The Sound Bar was one of the best nightclubs in Chicago. But because it was one of the best in town, it was one of the most difficult to get into. It was also one of the most expensive places to go. However, thanks to Patrick’s status and the fact that Haley knew one of the promoters for the club, the quartet would be able to get in quickly and would probably be able to score a few free drinks. For Haley, Allie, and Madison they got a taste of what life was like as a celebrity whenever they would go out with Patrick because the city adored their athletes. For Patrick, he got the benefit of having three hot girls hang out with him and they would help bring in a few booty calls in exchange.

Once they arrived at the bar, Patrick showed the bouncer his ID and they were let right in. The club had already started revving up for the night as people were starting to go out onto the dance floor. For a moment, the group just stood there unsure of what to do as they took in their surroundings and the atmosphere of the club. For Madison and Allie, it was their first time to come to this place but Haley and Kaner had come here with the team a few times after games. It wasn’t their favorite place but it was one of the more enjoyable clubs to go to. Eventually, Patrick and Madison headed over to the bar to order drinks while Haley and Allie went to grab a table for the group.

“So what kind of music do they play here?” Allie inquired over all the noise around them.

“Oh, mostly mixed stuff but R&B, Hip Hop, and techno, too.” Haley informed her blonde, goddess like friend as she leaned back into the booth as they waited for Patrick and Madison to return with their drinks.

“R&B? Well, if they are going to play R&B, they better play some Usher and Beyoncé cause anything else is a disgrace to the genre.” Allie commented, playfully despite the context of her statement. But she was right on that regard, Usher and Beyoncé were great R&B artists but they also made great tracks that were popular at clubs like this one. Just talking about them made Haley wish that the DJ would play a song from either artist next just so she could get out on the dance floor and start to have a good time, “Let’s hope they play something by them then.”

“Don’t you know a DJ here or something? Go tell him to play LIL FREAK” Allie commanded, clearly not having remembered how Haley had connections within the club.

Sighing, Haley rolled her eyes at the dumb blonde sitting next to her. But she really wasn’t surprised that Allie hadn’t remembered because Allie only heard what she wanted to hear and that was all. “I don’t know a DJ, I know a promoter. That’s why I had to help Patrick get us in.”

“Oh because Patrick’s merit isn’t good enough for all four of us?” Allie inquired, snidely as if she felt that Haley was implying that she was better than her. Which clearly wasn’t the case, she was just attempting to clear connections up with her.

Shaking her head, Haley chose not to take part in whatever game Allie was getting at. She didn’t want to spend the night fighting with one of her best friends, especially when she would be leaving the next day and they wouldn’t see each other until fall. Four months was a long time to leave a bitter taste in someone’s mouth. It could tear a rift in their friendship and despite how jealous Haley was of Allie at times she would never want them to not be friends.

Thankfully, Patrick and Madison arrived with their drinks just in time to clear the ice that had been building up between the pair. Madison handed Allie her Screwdrivers while Patrick passed Haley the Havana Cooler she had requested. Madison had retrieved a Tequila Sunrise while Patrick had himself a Jägerbomb. Of course, these were just first official drinks of the night and there were going to be the only fancy cocktails as the night progressed. After this, the group would most likely have a round of shots and then another because they were fastest and most effective way to get drunk. However, it didn’t take long for the group to start feeling a little tipsy and before they knew it they were all out on the dance floor cutting a rug.

It was good for all of them to let loose and have some carefree fun for a change. Haley had managed to successfully convince a girl that she needed to dance with Patrick. But she was always able to do that whenever they would go out together. It was kind of her job to be his winger when they weren’t with the guys. But there were times that they had been with the guys and she had proved to be better than they were at getting girls to come over.

As for her current state, Haley was nursing one hell of a buzz from her cocktail and then the three rounds of shots she had consumed. It had been exactly what the doctor had ordered to help her relax and enjoy the night with her friends. A few guys had tried to take advantage of this by trying to get her to grind with them but not nearly like they flocked towards Allie and Madison. Those two probably wouldn’t have been able to beat them off with a loaded shotgun if they wanted to but her two friends were about twice as intoxicated as she was at the moment so they weren’t going to protest any sort of contact with the opposite gender.

Just when she had finally gotten into the music, Haley’s iPhone began to vibrate in her bra, causing her to jerk and twitch having forgot that the cellular device was there. She struggled to pull it out without exposing her boobs for the club to see but when she finally had managed to free the phone she saw that her grandmother had repeatedly been trying contact her. Normally, her grandmother would have only called once and left a voicemail but to leave six missed calls something had to be wrong. Glancing at her friends, she could tell that they wouldn’t miss her for the brief five minutes it would take for her to call her grandmother back. So Haley slipped away towards the women’s bathroom so that the music wouldn’t interfere too much with hear grandmother’s hearing.

“Haley, is that you dear?” Her grandmother’s weary voice answered on the other end. To Haley, it sounded as if she had been crying over something, but knowing her grandmother it could be anything.

“Yeah, grandma, it’s me.” Haley smiled even if she knew her grandmother couldn’t see it, “I saw that you’d called.”

She could hear her grandmother’s breath grow shallow on the other end before she delivered the worst news she had ever heard in her life, “Deary, I-I don’t k-know h-how ta tell you this but your grandfather… H-he’s gone.”

Haley sobered up, immediately as her heart dropped to her feet and tears welled up in her eyes as she asked in disbelief, “What?”

“Doctors claim he had a stroke when he went down for his nap today. They couldn’t save him.” Her grandmother informed her. The strong, determined woman who had raised her now sounded so broken and frail.

Immediately, Haley realized that her grandmother would be alone tending to those gigantic horses of hers. What if she fell and hurt herself or one of the horses accidently hurt her. Haley knew her heart wouldn’t be able to take it if she lost both her grandparents so suddenly. She didn’t even get to say goodbye to her grandpa. But then Haley knew exactly what she needed to do,

“Grandma, don’t worry. I’ll be at your house by tomorrow. I’ll help you with everything.”

“Alright, dear, I’ll see you then.” The older woman informed her sounding as if a weight had been lifted off her chest.

With that Haley hung up and phone, exited the bathroom and made a b-line for the exit. There was no time for her to let her friends know what was going on. She’d leave a note or text them later. Right now, all she knew that she needed to do was get packed and get to her grandparent’s farm as quickly as possible.