If Only You Could Love Me

It wasn't hard to find the apartment, as it turned out. Maybe because it was in the middle of the night and the vast sidewalk was empty with the exception of Tyler Seguin jumping from one foot to the other trying to keep some body heat in the cold weather. It was probably below freezing, when I thought about it.

"Hey, new hostess girl", He grinned at me, still drunk, but he seemed happy enough, "Sorry, I can't seem to remember your name."

"The name is Andy", I smiled and reached for his phone that was in my pocket.

"Isn't that a boys name?", Tyler asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

I shrugged, "It's better than Andromeda, which my mother thought was a good idea to name me."

He nodded in understanding, as would anyone. Andromeda is quite a... handful, so to speak. It always irritated my mother that I would use Andy instead. To her it was supposed to be some big blessing to be named after such a beautiful constellation. I'd keep reminding her that the constellation itself was named after a Greek princess that was almost eaten alive by a sea monster on the orders of Poseidon.

"Come on, let's go inside", Tyler said after grabbing the phone from my hand.

Ugh. I was tired and wanted to go home. But this was Tyler Seguin standing in front of me. Granted the name really didn't mean much to me, but I knew that it should. The guy earned more than my father each year, and that was saying something seeing as he had always been the image of someone rich in my eyes.

"Only for a few minutes, it's so late", I agreed after a moment of silence. I would have regretted it if I didn't go.

The apartment was large, and riddled with people I recognized from earlier, as well as a few I had never seen before. At least my clothes somehow matched that of the select girls in there. I'd pulled off the sweatpants along with my coat, so I was wearing the damned spandex shorts and the sheer camisole. Never had I felt so self-conscious about the fact that my bra was visible through the fabric. Nevermind that it was the outfit I was supposed to have worn that night, so they would have seen it anyway.

"This is Andy, Andy this is everyone", Tyler nodded from me to them.

The guys were welcoming, as were the girls. Although there was as always some sort of well concealed suspicion with the women of the room. I think that's just something that comes automatically. Plus, I'd heard of the phenomenen puck sluts, which was horrifying in itself. Women who threw themselves at hockey players just because they were hockey players and earned a lot of money. I could never do that. It seemed absurd, but then again it was exactly the same as being a groupie to a musician. Not that I found that rather appealing either.

"I can't believe I never met you while I played in Europe", I sat next to Tyler on one of the couches. I'd just told him that I was from Biel-Bienne. Astonished was one way to describe him. Cute was another.

"I met Patrick Kane once", I repeated what I had told Maisie earlier that same night, "My cousin Jean plays for EHC Biel."

Tyler nodded, recognizing the name, "I take it you never hung around him much? Seeing as I never ran into you."

I laughed and took a sip of my drink, "Even if I had hung around my cousin, the American hockey players were like fucking real life unicorns. All mythical and stuff, but you had never seen one in real life."

"Did you just call me an unicorn?"

He didn't look offended, as there was a very badly concealed smile on his face. I shrugged my shoulders, I wasn't sure what else to call him but that. After all I had lived in Biel-Bienne for most of my life, and during the months that Patrick Kane and Tyler had played for the hockey team, I had only ever seen one of them once. And that had been when Patrick went to dinner with my cousin. Plus Biel-Bienne had gone crazy over them, well the gossip mill anyway. It was all my mom talked about for a month straight before she calmed down. And my mom wasn't exactly a proper ice hockey fan either.

"Maybe", I let out a chuckle, drinking some more from my glass.

I glanced at the big clock hanging on the wall to my left, and saw that it was already past four in the morning. In the midst of being offered alcohol, my energy had perked up. But it was getting time to head home or I'd never wake up the next morning.

"I should go", I told Tyler, and stood up from the couch, "But thank you for inviting me. It was fun."

He jumped up, "I'll call you a cab."

Tyler called the cab company from his now retrieved phone as I slipped into the sweat pants and my coat again. Although it was fairly warm in the apartment, it was still warm and cozy getting to slip into my more... covering clothes again.

"Bye!", I stuck my head inside the living room again and waved a bit to the hockey players, "It was nice meeting you."

I got an array of goodbyes my way, and then headed back to the front door where I saw that Tyler had put on his shoes and coat. He'd covered his head of hair with a beanie adorned with the Boston Bruins logo. Of course.

"It's okay if I share your cab, right? I need to be heading home anyway."

I shrugged, it was fine by me.

"Are we heading the same direction though?", I asked.

"Fuck if I know", He grinned, "But it's okay. I'll pay anyway."

We small talked in the elevator during the ride down. He told me about an upcoming game against a team he didn't like, the Habs. Never heard of them, but I nodded and smiled. I'd ought to go on Google and learn something about American ice hockey.

"Did you think that you'd be sharing a cab with a Boston Bruin earlier this night?", Tyler asked me with another of those stupid grins of his later when we were in the cab.

I shook my head with a small chuckle, "Not at all. But my life lately is going along the rhymes of just winging it anyway, so. Two months ago I wasn't even living in the United States."

"You and me both", He replied with a wink, and I rolled my eyes.


I woke up on Sunday morning feeling like a truck had run me over. Never in my life had I imagined that being a club hostess could be an actually tiring job. But Saturday had been even more excruciating than Friday had been. It was fun, but the hours were not what I was used to at all. And even so, I couldn't shake my habit of waking up at eight in the morning, even if I hadn't gotten to bed until just after three, five hours earlier.

"Good morning", I muttered still half asleep to Jen where she was sitting in my kitchen reading something on her iPad. I could smell coffee, thank god.

Jen had slept on my couch the previous night after going out on her own with some college friends. My apartment was much more convenient than her parents' house in Chestnut Hill. I would have suggested she just move in with me, but I really didn't have room for that. Unless she wanted to sleep on my couch and not get an actual bed.

"Thanks for making coffee", I grabbed a cup from above the sink and filled it to the brim before sitting down next to her at the tiny kitchen table.

"No problem", Jen looked up from the screen, "Are we still going to go for a run later?"

I nodded, "Yeah, let me just wake up first. Did you eat yet?"

She shook her head. "I'll toast some waffles and we can go out for actual food after a run", I mumbled and went to the fridge to grab some frozen waffles.

"Did you see that you're on a hockey players instagram?", Jen asked as I handed her a waffle a little while later, "Well, sorta anyway. I can see you in the picture anyway."

I raised my eyebrows. I'd told Jen immediately about what'd happened on Friday as soon as I talked with her on Saturday afternoon. She'd been as excited as someone who's a hockey fan could be. One who'd only ever met hockey players during meet and greets. I promised her that I'd bring her up to the VIP booths at Sea sometime if I got the okay to continue working there. Johnny hadn't called me yet, but it was still early. He'd said before the club opened the night before that he would call on Sunday to let me know.

"Nice picture", I scoffed.

I looked at the screen. I could see myself clearly in the background handing the hockey player gang at Sea some drinks. If I'd been religious I would have agreed with Maisie, the higher the hair, the closer to Jesus, because my hair was big. Wow.

We ate mostly in silence, and then went and got changed into runner's gear. I'd loved running ever since getting into cross country running during high school. I'd been apart of the team at my New England boarding school, and just hadn't quit running since then. Jen hadn't been much of a runner when I'd met her first in Biel-Bienne, but she soon caught the running bug as well, and we'd run together nearly every day during the six months she lived in Switzerland.

"Ready?", I questioned as I came out from the bathroom after brushing my teeth.

Jen was just lacing up her running shoes, "Yeah, let's go."

We looped around much of downtown Boston, running along the water, and through what Jen told me was the Back Bay area, before making our way back toward my apartment through the Boston Common park.

I was minding my own business looking at the people that had culminated in the park due to the lovely weather when I heard someone calling my name.

"Andy!", I nearly tripped on my own feet right there and then, "Hostess girl!"

We slowed down, and when I turned around to see who was calling my name... there he was again. Tyler Seguin. Was this a guy who had an uncanny way of showing up absolutely everywhere, or what?

"Hey Tyler", I waved my hand a bit at him.

He wasn't alone. I recognized Brad Marchand. There was one more guy with them, a pale blonde guy who was taller than both Tyler and Brad. I didn't recognize him though. He looked young though, younger than Tyler even.

"I didn't know you're a runner", He didn't even seem to be breathing heavily, while my lungs felt like they were about to collapse. Then again he was trained for hockey, so he probably weren't out of breath very often.

"Cross country in high school", I shrugged, "This is my friend, Jen."

"Hey", She squeaked more nervous than I'd ever seen her before, "Big fan."

"It's nice to meet you, Jen", Tyler smiled, "I'm Tyler. This is Brad, and Dougie."

So that was the name of the mysterious hockey player. Well, assumed hockey player anyway. The lot of them wore matching Bruins beanies, so I was jumping to conclusions.

"Nice goals yesterday", Jen commented and nodded to both Tyler and Brad.

Brad smirked, "Thanks, Jen. It's nice to meet you."

Tyler gave him a look, and rolled his eyes. Reading from the tone of Brad's voice, and what I'd seen of him during Friday, I had a suspicion that he was a womanizer. Or maybe just over confident with the ladies. I wasn't sure it would work with Jen though, as she was looking awfully smitten with the Dougie person. Actually she looked like she was about to explode because she was so excited. She was complementing him on an assist last night, and he just looked happy to be getting some attention.

"Anyway", Tyler tore his eyes away from Brad, "Are you guys going to the game tonight?"

I shrugged, "I don't think so."

Jen shook her head with a small defeated frown on her face as she looked away from Dougie.

"I'm in school and tickets are expensive so I can't go to games that often", She grimaced. I had no idea what tickets went for, but I'd trust Jen's judgment, "I went to the game against the Rangers last month though."

Brad made a face, as if remembering something bad about that specific game.

"You sure?", I'd guessed Tyler looked disappointed, if I'd known him better.

"I know it might be hard to believe, but we don't earn the same salary as you guys", I laughed, getting a smile and a chuckle out of the three of them.

"We could probably get you tickets if you'd like", Brad grinned and winked at Jen. Oh come on.

Tyler's face lit up, "Yeah, we totally could."

"I'm not sure", I hesitated, but was rewarded with an elbow in the side from Jen, "I mean, we'd be delighted to."

"It's a date then."

No, Brad, it's not.