Just Bent

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Hadley, happy birthday to you!” Hadley blushed a deep red as everyone at the table watched while she blew out the ‘22’ candles on her cake.

“What did you wish for?” Brayden asked, leaning into her side.

“If I tell you, it won’t come true!” She laughed, looking up at him. Hadley was a vision at her party that Luke and Brayden had orchestrated at an upscale Philly restaurant. The white linen steakhouse had been closed for the evening just for their private party and they had even gone out to several different bakeries to find just the right red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.

Dressed to the nines, Hadley wore a nude and black color blocked Herve Leger bandage dress that hugged her tightly from shoulder to mid-thigh. Her hair was parted down the middle in soft, shiny waves and the look topped off with bright red lips and matching red heels.

“Happy birthday Hads.” Brayden grinned, dropping a kiss down on top of her head. Hadley always loved the way the Schenn brothers made her feel, like their little sister.

Hadley had been in Philadelphia for five months and while she was no closer to figuring out what she was doing with her life, she couldn’t have been more thankful for the friends she had found in the Philadelphia Flyers.

Leaving the table for just a moment, she escaped to the bathroom for a moment to empty her bladder and reapply her lipstick. She approached Claude by the bar sliding her hand across his back. He turned and gave her one of his knee-weakening grins.

“Happy birthday, beautiful.” He smiled, handing her a drink as he kissed her cheek, just by the corner of her mouth. It was no secret among their group of friends that the two had an extreme amount of chemistry between each other, but neither had acted on it.

“Thank you, Mr. Giroux.” She smiled, taking a sip of the French 75. “This has been such a wonderful night.” She leaned her back against the sleek dark wood bar. “I can’t thank you guys enough for all of this.” She gestured to the room full of people that were there to celebrate her. He pulled an ivory envelope out of the breast pocket of his sport coat, handing it to her.

“Happy birthday.” He smiled. She looked up at him through her false lashes, magnifying her bright eyes in the dim lighting of the restaurant as she slid her polished nail into the envelope to open it carefully. Her eyes scanned over the gift certificate and he watched as her pursed lips formed a perfect little ‘o’.

“Claude, this is too much.” She said, looking up at him again. It was a $350 dollar gift certificate to the nicest spa and salon in Philly. He had gone a few weeks earlier and asked how much the nicest package cost, grabbing a certificate for that much.

“You deserve it, especially putting up with all of them.” He nodded his head back towards the group. “Enjoy it.” He smiled, kissing her cheek again as his hand rest on her lower back, almost covering it’s entirety with his wide palm.

“Thank you.” She blushed a deep red. Just as she was going to pull away, Brayden appeared in front of her with his phone.

“Smile for the camera, birthday girl.” He insisted, raising up the iPhone. Claude pulled her tight against his body again and anyone in the room could see that they made a beautiful couple. When Brayden stepped away, revealing the party in front of them again, the waiters were just coming around with the trays of food as the heavy glass and wooden door of the restaurant opened again. Hadley was just about to take her seat as she turned to greet the newcomer, but her words fell short of her mouth.

She didn’t even noticed that Luke had disappeared from the party for more than a few moments, but his guest when he entered again was less than welcome.

“Danny?” She asked, watching as her younger brother, entered the restaurant. The door opened again, revealing another member of her family. Her step stuttered when she walked towards Danny, eyes locked on with Tanner as he gave her soft smile.

“Haddie.” He smiled his megawatt smile that she hadn’t seen in person for years.

“Tan.” She replied, feeling her heart thumping in her hears and the lump growing at the back of her throat. “What are you doing here?” She asked, conflicted as to whether or not she should hug Danny or just stand back and watch.

“Hads?” Claude asked. It was obvious to most of the patrons that there was something going on between the three siblings in the restaurant.

“Haddie, you look great.” Danny smiled, trying to break the tension as he wrapped his arms around his sister in a big hug.

“Thanks Danny.” She smiled. It was crazy to her that now her little brother was over a foot taller than her.

“How did you find me?” She asked in Tanner's direction, awkwardly twisting her hands behind her back. She knew Danny knew where she lived, but she didn't want Tanner knowing.

“Luke called me a few weeks ago about the party.” Danny smiled.

“And then he called me.” Tanner spoke up. Hadley looked to her older brother.

“Claude, you should introduce Danny around.” Hadley looked up at Claude.

“Sure, hey bro, I’m Claude.” He stuck out his hand to Hadley’s little brother, leading him over to the table.

“You, outside.” She jabbed a hand towards the door of the restaurant. There was no mistaking the three Messina kids as siblings, sharing the same dark hair, green eyes and dusting of freckles across the bridge of their noses. Tanner had a big physical presence, having played college football for five years, but she grabbed the crook of his elbow and all but dragged him out of the restaurant. “Why are you here?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest in the crisp March air.

“I was invited, Haddie.” Tanner defended himself.

“Don’t call me that.” She put her hand up.

“Haddie, when is all of this going to stop?” Tanner sighed. “When are you going to get over all of this?” He asked. Hadley’s cheeks turned a bright red and she truly believed her knees were going to give out from underneath her.

“You left us with him.” She shook her head. “You knew what was happening and you left us.” She all but shouted. “You saw your opportunity to get away and you took it, but I was fourteen and someone had to watch Danny.” She pointed back to the restaurant. “If you wanted to be my brother, you should have started a long time ago.” She turned to enter the restaurant again. “If you come back in here, there are too many men who will be happy to remove you.” She closed the door behind her.

She took her seat at the dinner table between Danny and Claude. Claude watched on as she whispered into Danny’s ear. Her brother turned to face her, giving her a soft squeeze as she rest her head on his shoulder.

“Had, you’re shaking.” Claude whispered, putting a hand on her knee. “What’s the matter?” He asked. She turned her head to face him for a moment.

“It’s okay, I took care of it.” She whispered. “For now.”

- - -

Danny was fast asleep on Hadley’s bed when she slipped out of the apartment the next night just after one in the morning. She hadn’t heard a word from Tanner yet, but she knew it was coming. Dressed in her comfiest yoga pants and her trusty Pitt sweatshirt, she took the stairs down to her care before driving the ten minutes to Claude’s place. His guest parking spots were empty and after a few more minutes she was at his door. She avoided the door bell, not wanting to wake Brayden and knocked a few times on the industrial looking front door.

“Had.” Claude smiled sleepily, opening the door. She slipped inside, setting her purse on the hardwood floor and stepping out of her Nikes. Claude took her hand, her feet whisper quiet in her socks as he lead her back to his charcoal grey bedroom. She climbed up onto his bed, curling up in his white comforter as he entered behind her, handing her a bottle of apple juice.

“Thank you.” She whispered, “you don’t have morning practice, right?” She asked.

“Nothing till Wednesday.” He confirmed that they had the whole day off tomorrow.

“Sorry if this is inconvenient, I just really needed to get out of my apartment.” She gave him a small smile.

“How’s Danny? You should call Luke, he feels like shit.” Claude added, crawling into his bed beside her. They both leaned against his headboard, his feet knocking into hers as he pulled up his comforter.

“I will when Danny leaves, I don’t want him to feel awkward.” She scooted over closer to Claude.

“You got me worried, Had.” Claude frowned. “I don’t like seeing you on edge like this.” Hadley sighed, taking a drink of her apple juice before leaning back against the headrest.

“Tanner had always been… my hero.” She knew right away she was going to get away from this talk without tears. “Our mom died when Danny was born and he… took care of us. He made lunches, taught us how to ride a bike, how to tie our shoes, everything.” She listed off.

“Your Dad wasn’t around?” Claude asked.

“Our dad was an alcoholic,” she tucked her knees into her chest like she always did when she felt uncomfortable. “An abusive alcoholic.” She added, not seeing the way Claude’s eye grew large before they softened, watching the woman in front of him revert back to a teenage girl.

“He didn’t start getting physical until I was in high school, just before Tanner was recruited for college.” She explained, holding tightly onto her toes. “Tanner had been offered a full ride to play football at Pitt, he could have been around, he could have… saved us.” She whispered. “I was scared that if we said anything, they were going to split us up and we’d never see Danny, he was only ten.” She added. “So then I became the protector.”

Claude couldn’t understand how she did it.

“So I stayed, and took care of Danny, and made sure my Dad never choked on his own vomit. I applied to Pitt and got in. I took on sixty grand in debt so Danny could live with me off campus. I took him to school every day as a freshman, I cooked, I cleaned, I still stopped home periodically to make sure my Dad was alive and functioning because Tanner declined his scholarship to Pitt and went to school in California.”

Claude’s ears burned bright red.

“I made sure that he never hit Danny.” She whispered. “For four years. Tanner took his first opportunity out and never looked back, not for either of us.” She finished.

“What does Danny think?” Claude asked.

“Danny didn’t understand much, he was too young. He liked living with me while I was in college, so it wasn’t like he wanted to go back home. I moved out here when he went to school. He has really great friends there that watch him and he’s playing baseball for Wake Forest and they take good care of him.” She finished. “I don’t want his opinion of Tanner to change, he still idolizes him.” She mumbled, taking another drink of her juice. “It’s hot in here, right? It’s hot in here.” She all but leapt out of bed and opened the doors to the small balcony off of Claude’s bedroom, not big enough for even a patio chair. It was only moments before Claude appeared beside her, gripping the railing of the patio in his hands until his knuckles were white.

“You didn’t deserve that.” He looked over at her as she stared off into the city. “No one deserves that. I’m sorry you had to go through it.” He watched the city lights reflect in her eyes, swimming with tears that had yet to fall. “C’mere.” He managed to unwrap his fingers from the wrought iron, surprised there weren’t indentations in the black metal from his hands. He held her as she cried softly into his chest. “I’m never going to let anyone hurt you again.”

“Don’t make promises, you can’t keep, Claude.” She looked up at him, fresh faced as he held her tightly.

“I mean it.”