The Sake of the Show

Corey had received the urgent text with the bizarre request to make an appearance at Blair’s apartment, with a blueberry bagel coated in blueberry cream cheese. It had been her first attempt at communicating with him since he’d last seen her, which had been in his car while she drunkenly pressed her lips against his. He found this whole breach of silence strange, seeing as Blair did not like blueberries, but he obliged nonetheless and found himself strolling up to her door with the requested items. It was, after all, an excuse to see her.

After one brief knock, the door swung open revealing a bright-eyed Patrick Kane. “Hey, bud! Come on in.”

Something about him, Patrick Kane, sitting in Blair’s house inviting guests as if he lived there as well, made Corey’s skin crawl. Corey wasn’t naive to the way Patrick and Blair interacted, and he could still remember Patrick’s slurred remarks from the first day he’d met her. He, much like any other single man, noted that she was indeed beautiful and that didn’t sit well with him. The scenario of Blair ending up tucked underneath Patrick’s arm was too much for him to bear.

“What are you doing here?” Corey spat, forgetting to watch his tongue as he dangled the bag away from Patrick’s grasp. The short blonde smirked, his expression all too smug as he followed Corey deeper into the apartment.

“Blair invited me over.” Patrick simpered. “We had omelets for breakfast.”

“Shouldn’t you be across the pond?” Corey asked, leaving out the part where he wished that his ticket back from Switzerland would’ve gotten lost. Or perhaps, his flight would’ve gotten postponed indefinitely.

“Don’t sound too excited to see me,” Pat rolled his eyes. “Thanksgiving is in like, two days. Am I not allowed to come home for the holidays? I am American, you know.”

“Are you always this annoying? Isn’t your home in Buffalo?” Corey groaned, pushing past the obstacle and maneuvering his way into the kitchen. He ignored the yapping behind him as he focused on his delivery. He was confronted by the sound of two women laughing, and when he rounded the corner he saw Blair and what appeared to be an older, carbon copy of Blair. The unidentified copy turned to look at him, a jack-o-lantern grin on her face as she zoned in on the bag in his hands hungrily.

“Oh thank god!” She exclaimed, her accent so thick Corey wasn’t sure if she’d spoken in English. “I’m bloody starving, and little Tierra is just about eating my insides!”

“Anna!” Blair scolded incredulously, her eyes wide before she gazed at Corey. She paused for a moment, her expression changing to something unidentifiable before she recovered. “I’m sorry, Corey. My sister isn’t used to be socialized.”

“Oi, I beg your pardon!” The older blonde growled, taking the bagel eagerly and quickly buttering it with cream cheese. “That’s no way to talk about a pregnant woman.”

“Carrying another human doesn’t excuse acting like a neanderthal.” Blair murmured, quietly enough that her sister didn’t hear. “Anyway, Corey, this is Anna. Anna, this is-”

“Corey, the boyfriend I’ve heard all about!” Anna grinned, cutting off Blair as she licked her fingers. “It’s great to finally meet you. I’m Blair’s older sister.”

After her brief introduction, she fell into a chatter about her dramatic flying experience that morning. Patrick joined them in the kitchen, sitting down beside her and grabbing an apple from the centerpiece. He juggled it between two hands, a look of false interest on his face as he listened to Anna’s dialect. Corey took this opportunity to approach Blair, something he knew would not go unnoticed by his younger, smaller teammate.

“Hey,” he muttered quietly, placing his hands on her shoulders as he always did. He smirked to himself when he got the usual reaction; a light shiver overtook her for a moment before she shot him her familiar, unreadable expression. Her eyes sparkled for a brief second as she grinned at him. “So I’m your boyfriend to your sister, too? If you wanted to make things real between us, all you had to do was ask.”

“Oh stop,” she rolled her eyes, nudging her hip against his. “Patrick came with me to pick her up from the airport, so I haven’t had the chance to really get her alone. It’s not like Anna and I are the secret-exchanging type of sisters anyway.”


Corey was conflicted with her answer; she hadn’t looked at his joke-slash-suggestion with disgust, but she certainly made no indication that she’d even heard what he said. With a quick examination of the results, he took the exchange as an overall win. However, as he watched Blair look over at Patrick again, he couldn’t help but feel something settling in his stomach that felt an awful lot like despair.

If by some slim chance Blair got knocked around as a child and found Pat to be desirable, he wasn’t sure he would be able to refrain from jumping off the proverbial cliff. He could probably handle her dismissing their little “arrangement” for someone like Kruger, or maybe even Adam Burish. However, a possibility of Blair and Patrick-

Corey spent over five minutes stewing in his negative thoughts. When he snapped back to attention, Blair was looking at him with an amused smile as she shook her head softly.

"Hey, it was nice meeting you Corey! I'm not sure if you'll still be here when I wake up, but I need a nap. Hope to see you again." Anna called out as she grinned at him, gazing down at her belly lovingly before leaving the kitchen with a knowing look. Corey bid farewell to her, also noting that a Patrick was missing.

“I thought I lost you for good,” she teased him. "You didn't even hear Patrick say bye. He's headed to the rink."

“Oh, okay. Well, I guess I’ll head out too then.” Corey mumbled, sensing that Blair felt a little uncomfortable in his presence. At his words she frowned, her hand shooting out to grab his wrist. He stopped in his tracks, glancing at his hand before he assessed her expression. For the first time, Blair looked nervous and rattled.

“Cor, can I talk to you?” She asked softly. Corey swallowed, nodding dumbly at her as she fiddled with the plastic knife that had come along with the bagels. “Are we okay?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t we be?” Corey raised an eyebrow. Her hand was still on his wrist, the tips of her fingers digging into the warm spot where his pulse began to race. He wanted to break into a sweat at the sight of her, fearing that she could peer into his mind and hear his thoughts.

“I just feel like...” Blair trailed off, her eyes never leaving his face as she fought to find words. “I get the feeling you’ve been avoiding me. We’ve gone over this before, I know, but it just seems like you never want to be around-”

“I haven’t been avoiding you. I’m sure you’ve been too occupied with Patrick and all.” Corey instantly wanted to kick himself the moment he spoke. That jealous animal that had been rearing its horns had finally made an appearance in the form of word vomit. He sounded like an idiot, and now he felt like an embarrassment as she continued to frown deeply.

“Occupied with Patrick? Corey, that’s ridiculous.” She finally blinked, looking taken aback. “I don’t get what you’re trying to say. Pat’s my friend, it’s not-”

“I know, I know.” He finally snatched his arm back from her grasp. “I don’t know why I said it. Just forget it, okay B?”

Blair scoffed, rolling her eyes as she shifted onto her right hip. “Just forget it? Corey, I don’t know why you’re so closed off to me all the time. I don’t get it. I’m trying so hard here.”

She paused for a moment, and Corey felt his entire world shaking as her lower lip began to protrude. “I just feel like you don’t like me.”

Corey wanted to laugh at how ridiculous that statement was, but figured now would not be the ideal time.

She continued, “I’m sorry, okay? This whole thing was a mistake. You’ve been acting weird toward me ever since we started this stupid game. It’s done. Why are we trying to fool them? It’s just a joke. We’re just friends. And I’m sorry I crossed that boundary the other night, I never intended to make this awkward between us. I made a huge mistake.”

Corey felt like he’d gotten punched in the gut, or watched his mortal enemy lift the Stanley Cup. Either way, he was sure he’d welcome both of those options over hearing what Blair had just said. He didn’t even really know what else to say. “Blair, I haven’t been setting out to act weird so I don’t know-”

“I just don’t want to hear it.” She snapped, sniffing as her eyes glazed over with tears.

Corey Crawford wanted to vomit.

“Just leave, please? I just... I think I need a nap too. I’m sorry I’m being like this right now. I just... I can’t lose you as a friend.” Blair trailed off, staring at her toes, which were painted Corey’s favorite shade of red. Not that the coincidence mattered, anyway.

He had just been broken up with. Or, to be more technical and correct, Blair had properly friend-zoned him. He felt this was a defining moment that summed up his life to this exact point perfectly.

“I-” Corey closed his lips, at a clear loss for words. “Okay Blair.”

He could’ve sworn he heard her sniffling as he stepped out of her apartment, but he didn’t have the heart to turn around. Instead, he sulked all the way to his car until he was behind the driver’s seat. There he sat, for well over twenty minutes, unable to comprehend the strange feeling that he felt in his chest.

God, what he wouldn’t do to be able to strangle Patrick Kane.