Inevitable

Nazem stared at the ceiling that next morning. He had been lying in bed for almost half an hour, not getting up. He couldn't think of a reason to. The Leafs didn't play for another 48 hours, practice was optional, he thought his friends secretly talked about him as a traitor, the girl he loved was devastated. And on top of that, his Matt hated his guts.

He sighed deeply and rubbed his forehead. He recalled last night's events at JvR's house. The way Matt reacted when he told him that he was in love with his girlfriend, and had been sleeping with her for weeks. The look on Kaitlynn's face when she found out it all began with an advanced game of Truth Or Dare.

Naz opened his eyes again when he heard his phone ring. He glanced at the caller ID and immediately put the phone to his ear.

"Hey."

"Hey buddy." Tyler said. "How are you feeling?"

He shook his head silently. "I feel like complete shit. Why are you calling me? Aren't you against me as well?"

Although, Tyler had held Matt back as much as he could from possibly killing Naz last night. He was still on Matt's bad side after he found out that Tyler knew about everything and did not tell him.

"No." Bozie replied. "No way. I can only imagine what you're going through. And I had your back from the beginning. Don't think that I'll leave you on your own now."

Nazem felt a hint of hopefulness brush through him for the tiniest amount of time.

"Me and Phil both. Don't ever doubt it." he added.

"Thank you." he exhaled.

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know.. What should I do?"

"You have to talk to him. There's no way it can be avoided. Also, I'm kinda outside your place and it would help if you opened the door." he chuckled lightly at the end.

He finally got up and walked up to the front door. He opened it to see Tyler with a weak smile and his phone to his ear.

"Morning, stalker." Naz joked, getting his first laugh of the day which quickly faded.

Tyler walked in and closed the door behind him, following him to the living room. They sat down and continued talking.

"What do I even say, though? He'll never forgive me." he said. "Neither will Kaitlynn..."

"What?" Boz questioned his quiet phrase.

"Nothing."

"You still want her?"

He sighed and nodded slowly.

"Well.. shit."

"What happened after I left last night?" Naz asked, referring to after Claire and Kate exited James' house with disappointed looks.

"Not much.. Claire called JV later. They're okay. Um.. still no word from Matt. Jake called me though. He wanted to know the story on our side as well.. but I don't think he's with us on this one."

"I don't blame him. Gards knows better than to get involved." he looked at his empty hands on his lap.

"You're ruining yourself." Boz stated, staring at his friend with tired eyes and stained pajamas. "Let's go."

"Where?"

"MCC."

"No.. what if Matt is there?" he looked at him.

"As I said, you can't avoid him forever. C'mon, shoot some pucks at the net and let off all the steam." he patted his shoulder, standing up.

He sighed and got up. He quickly changed into sweats and a Maple Leafs hoodie and followed Tyler to his car that was parked beside his.

He buckled in the seat-belt in the passenger seat as Tyler put the phone to his ear. "Phil, you up? Yeah, I left and went to Nazzy's. We're going to the optional skate, you coming? ..Get up you lazy kid." he laughed, talking to his roommate. "Come. We'll meet you there."

He then hung up and began driving out. They arrived at MasterCard Centre and walked in together. When they entered the locker room, Phil was there sitting on the bench by his locker stall chatting with Dion and JvR.

They briefly talked with Reims, Lilesy, Jay, Colton and Cody who were also there. Normally there wouldn't be this many players at optional practice, but since the team hadn't played in a few days, they wanted to break in and stay in shape.

"What's up guys?" Kess nodded towards them as he changed into his practice jersey. "How are you bud?"

He shrugged like it was nothing. "Terrible."

Phil patted his back sympathetically, and then the boys continued getting ready. Randy walked into the room and looked around and clasped his hands. "Aright, when you're ready, go stretch and do a few laps. A few other boys will be a bit late because of traffic but they will be here soon and then we'll begin with some new drills."

Naz, JvR, Tyler and Phil all exchanged looks with each other. Then, everyone started heading out onto the ice and began skating around. James caught up beside him and tapped his leg with his stick.

"Hey man." he said.

"Hey." Nazem replied. "Have you heard from him?"

"No. He's still pretty...." he paused and glanced at Nazem's hurt expression as he looked down at the ice below them. He decided not to talk about how pissed off Matt was, and instead, made it a little bit easier. "He'll get over it. It'll pass."

"When? We're in a playoff spot which means this is going to be a complete shit show if he's going to ignore us."

"Just..trust me. You guys will be friends again. All of us will be."

Just then, Nazem glanced behind the bench as Jake, Grabo and Matt took to the ice. He watched as Matt skated around without noticing that he was there. But when Randy blew the whistle and told everyone to meet at center ice, he saw him and rolled his eyes.

"M'kay. Boys." Carlyle began. "Lilesy and Franny, do the usual backward snake bites for a while. Jake and Dion, practice sharp passes at the blue line. Jay and Colton, it's up to you to make it harder. Reims, do what you do best, and stop 'em."

"Phil, Bozie, Matt, Nazzy, JV. Practice around the pylons at the other end. Scott and I will come over there in a bit and see how it's going. Then, we'll all switch in about fifteen minutes." he blew the whistle, and everyone went to their places.

Nazem gulped and pulled his jersey sleeves up but they just fell again. There were five pylons in two rows; one row on the left side of the net, and one on the right. Matt and Mikhail went on the left side, meanwhile Tyler, Nazem, JvR went on the right. Phil decided to cautiously join Grabo and Fratts, since he was arguably the least hated one out of them at the moment.

Matt and Nazem were standing at the front of their rows. Matt glanced over at him and then began skating around the orange pylons with the puck, and took a wrist shot to the top right hand corner of the net. Then he went to the back of the second line, and Naz went up and the puck slipped out of his reach and hit the boards instead. He skated back to the end of the first line and they continued switching lines every time they shot.

When Grabo began the drill, Phil tapped Nazem's knee pad. "I hate seeing you guys like this."

He sighed forward. "It sucks."

"Keep your head up." he said nicely before it was his turn again.

He hit the net this time and returned to his beginning line, as Matt returned to his. After Tyler and Jake went, Naz glanced at Matt. Miscommunication led both of them to go at the same time and shoot at once. That wouldn't have been a problem if their bodies didn't collide in the process of getting to the front dead center of the net.

Naz almost slipped but kept his balance, whereas Matt fell backward and landed on his back. He glared up at him as he stood back up on his skates.

"I'm sorr--"

"You just can't let someone have something first, can you?" Matt interrupted.

He put a hand on his chest forcefully and pushed him back. Naz almost fell again but then put his arms out in anger. He thought Matt was taking it too far. It was clearly an accident but he knew that Fratts had different reasoning for the contact.

"Grow up." Naz scrunched his eyebrows.

"Says you!"

"Guys..." Tyler skated towards them and tugged on the back of Nazem's jersey.

"You're so fucking immature, Kadri." he said to him, ignoring Grabo who had one arm wrapped around his chest trying to stop them from causing a scene.

"I said I was sorry!" he responded. "What else can I do!?"

"Sorry isn't going to cut it." he spat.

"Shut up! Both of you!" Bozie whispered loudly, glancing back at the other end where Randy and Scott were busy with the defensemen. Along with the main team doctors Jordan and Mia, and equipment manager Brian who were focused on files sitting on the bench.

Naz bent down to pick up his stick but accidentally grabbed Matt's without realizing, until he got pointed out.

"Oh what a surprise. You can't have your own, you just always need something that belongs to someone else, eh?" he faked a smart laugh.

Nazem then looked down and mentally cursed himself for making the situation even worse. "It was a fucking mistake."

"Just like fucking my girlfriend over and over again?" he shot back.

"Fucking let it go!" Nazem's voice got louder, as he slammed the stick down on the hard ice. They both ignored Grabo and Boz who were holding them back slightly with JvR and Phil nearby.

"You wouldn't! You'd hold it against me everyday. For the rest of my life." he retorted.

"Fuck off!"

"Gettin' a little angry there? Now you know how it fucking feels!" Matt skated closer to him and dragged Grabo along with him who couldn't stop his gliding skates.

"C'mon," Matt shoved Naz again. "Stand up for yourself. Man up. Fight me." He continued pushing him.

Nazem was fuming and he took deep breaths to try and control himself. But he completely lost it when Matt said, "Just picture Kaitlynn here. Yeah, you'd do anything to impress that slut. You'd betray everyone, wouldn't you?"

Naz released himself away from Tyler and dropped his gloves. Matt faked a laugh and dropped his as well and immediately began punching at his helmet. Naz held him by one shoulder and repeatedly punched him, missing a few shots, and then making up for it again.

"Stop!" Phil yelled, trying to fit in between them.

But Matt pushed Kess away and they tackled each other to the ice. Matt was on top of Naz, hitting him and making his already cut lip bleed again. Naz tore out of his grip and punched him in the face, possibly leaving a bruise above his eye.

The whistle blew noisily. "HEY!" Randy screamed, his face turning a deep shade of red and was almost blowing steam out of his ears. All the players at far end began coming towards the other end.

Dion took fast strides up to the scene as well and forcefully pulled Matt off of Nazem. Orr stood in front of him and he froze.

The captain yelled, "You are fucking teammates! What the fuck!?"

Tyler held Naz back as well when he stood up on his skates. He had dripping blood from his mouth onto his red practice jersey. Their helmets were off on the ground along with their mitts and sticks. Both of their hands and knuckles were aching in pain.

"ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING ME!?" Randy shouted at the top of his lungs, approaching them.

Mia and Jordan also took to the ice and skated towards them. Mia, who was also Colton's girlfriend, put on her plastic baby blue gloves and quickly held Nazem's face up to look at his newly bleeding nose and lip.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" Carlyle was still furious. "I have never ever had this happen before! You're soooooooo lucky, soooo damn lucky, that the media isn't here today!"

Nazem felt his face boiling from embarrassment. Randy told his doctors, "Get them out of here. Practice is over. What a joke."

The senior doctor, Jordan, walked Matt to the dressing room. Mia also waited until Fratts was away from them, so that she could walk Nazem to the team's medical room.

Naz took a seat on one of the blue beds and touched his lip. "Ah, fuck."

"Don't look down," she told him and he did as she said. She put another tissue to his nose and he held it there.

"For what it counts, Mia.. he started it." he sighed hopelessly. He knew her personally, since she sometimes went out with the team to the bar after wins. She became a good friend of the team over the year.

She shook her head as she took out a round pad and dabbed it into some alcohol. "You're going to get in a lot of trouble, Nazzy. Regardless."

He flinched as it stung against his lip momentarily. She took out a new bandage and put the soft fabric on the cut on his chin. Then, she gave him another tissue for his nose bleed.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?" she asked him, grabbing a clipboard from one of the tables and sitting on the bed beside him.

"My knuckles hurt like hell. And my left elbow hurts a bit. But it'll be okay, I think I just scraped it." he said.

She tugged his jersey sleeve and looked at it. A very thin piece of his skin had scraped off. "Yeah. It's not bleeding, but I'll get you something so you don't put any pressure on it."

"Thanks."

"Naz.. If you don't mind me asking, how did this happen?"

He closed his eyes. "I slept with his girlfriend before I knew she was his.. and then.. I did it again. And then I had to pretend her sister was my real girlfriend but then she happened to be the fucking love of JV's life and then it was just a complete shit show when Matt found out who she was and.. fuck me."

She sighed. "Let's get you fixed up."

-

Randy caught up with him in the hallway. "Naz."

He felt his headache grow as he turned around. "Coach, I--"

"I spoke to Matt as well, and now you're going to get the same treatment. I don't care who started it. I don't care why whoever cheated and whoever betrayed one another and whoever did what. I don't. You can't act like that. You literally cannot pull that shit off under my watch." he put his finger up and raised his eyebrows.

"You're right.. I'm sorry." he sighed.

"One, you're teammates. Two, you'll both get fined when Dave finds out. I have to tell him or I'll lose my job. But most importantly, this is unacceptable because you're representing this organization which does not have this type of history. For as long as you're wearing blue and white, you will play with your heart and treat each other the same as you should treat family." he added. "I'm not fucking coaching a bunch Habs or something. None of this shit again, alright?"

"Yes, coach."

"Also, you're both scratched next game." he cleared his throat. Nazem looked up and cursed under his breath. "We're keeping this away from the media. As of the game versus Philly, you're ill and Matt is day-to-day with a type of injury that I haven't made up yet. Got it?"

He scratched his neck. "Got it."

Nazem walked down the hall with an enormous headache. He hated the fact that this cost him a game. He didn't care about a few thousand that he'd lose--he just didn't want to miss a game of hockey. Especially with the team in a playoff spot in the shortened season. But he didn't blame him. He inhaled and exhaled deeply before entering the locker room.

The boys were almost already changed. He felt all eyes on him as he walked to his stall and began taking his protective gear off. His nose had stopped bleeding, his bottom lip was numb, and a bandaid on his chin. No one said anything. The room was dead silent. Naz quickly changed into his hoodie and sweats, feeling more comfortable. He sat down on the bench and tied up his running shoes. Matt rolled his eyes at his ex-bestfriend.

"Oh, hey," he pulled out a bottle of hair gel. Liles, Grabo and Jay had headed to the shower room and he was going to join as well. "You want to borrow some too, Naz? Because obviously you don't want your own."

He knew what he meant by that. He shook his head and continued tying his shoes.

"Cut it out." Dion said firmly.

"Boys. You're teammates. Treat each other with some respect." Reims spoke, looking at both of them for the same amount of time.

"Kadri has no idea what respect is." Fratts added.

"Quiet." Colton ordered, and Reims shook his head and left to go to hit the showers

"I'm fucking done trying to care." Nazem said, and leaving the room. Matt swallowed and looked down.

He went down the hall and out the back doors. He waited for Tyler to come out as well, and when he did, they both got into his car and drove out of the parking lot.

"Naz.."

"These last few months have been so hard." he tugged on his short hair angrily, facing the window. "It just isn't getting any better. Only worse. I fucking love her. And I lost her. I lost everyone. I can never be with her because everyone will jump me. Fuck."

Tyler stayed quiet as he continued ranting. He just listened. It was the only smart thing to do. He dropped Nazem off at his place and gave him a side hug and patted his back.

"I'll see you soon, alright?" he asked him.

Nazem nodded slowly and opened the car door. "Bye."

Bozie drove out and went down the road again. He headed a different direction as he remembered the route to a certain someone's house from many days back when he picked Nazem up. When he arrived to the apartment building, he hesitated before ringing the doorbell. He didn't know if it was a good idea but he pressed it anyway.

The door opened and Kaitlynn leaned against the doorframe, hopelessly. She sighed and closed her eyes, opening them again to the nightmare that just would not end for her either.

"What do you want, Tyler?" she asked quietly.

"You need to forgive him, Kate." he said boldly, with his hands in his pockets and baseball cap on backwards.

She rolled her eyes. "Totally. I'll get on that." She stood back and began closing the door.

"Wait." he put his foot between the door and the frame.

She looked at him through the wide enough crack. "Why should I?"

He sighed. "I know Naz fucked up. Trust me, he knows it too. He's punishing himself for it."

She opened the door a little wider and folded her arms across her chest. She didn't know why she bothered listening, but his words began to tug at her heart.

He continued, "You're the first girl I've ever seen him go to extreme measures for. Give him some time. I know things suck right now." he sighed. "I know they do.. Things really fucking suck. But don't lose sight of how hard he tried to keep you happy. He put his friendships on the line for you, and, after today's practice.. he put his next game on the line."

Kate swallowed and looked down at their feet. "All because of a dare, Tyler."

He exhaled, annoyed from hearing that again. "It went wrong. We had no idea you were with Matt. But he didn't stay with you because of the dare. That ended after that one night."

"I'm at fault too. I knew I had a boyfriend and I still slept with him." she blurted out.

Tyler bit his bottom lip. "Everyone was wasted as hell. No one was wasted after, though. Shit, this is the cheesiest thing I'll ever say but.. You both were wild before you met each other and it shows how different and stable you are with someone you need and love."

She avoided eye contact with him and tried to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. She had a sleepless night. Nazem hadn't called her, obviously, but she still cried. She desperately needed his attention. But it was basically illegal in Matt's books for them to continue their relationship.

"I want them to restore their friendship." she wiped the tears off her cheek.

"They will. It will all be okay. Just give it time. Don't give up on him, alright?" he raised an eyebrow at her kindly. "That's all I wanted to say."

With that, he walked away. She closed the door and sighed.

Kate didn't know if she'd take his advice to heart and consider waiting. She thought 'Bros before hoes' would probably be Nazem's choice after he and Matt made up--if they made up. But despite the hard effort by Tyler, she believed it was best to stay out of it. She believed it was best to move on with her life and never get in a mess like this again. At least I learned something.. It was a mistake and I need to let go.