Ready to Love Again

Ryan rolled his eyes as the brunette made her way down the aisle of the plane. The large Michael Kors purse hanging from her arm as she texted on her iPhone with her right hand, while a drink from Starbucks occupied her left hand as she walked by. The bag hit him in the shoulder but the girl kept walking, the slightest apology never leaving her mouth.

Ryan fastened his seatbelt and closed his eyes as the plane took off. It was a cold winter day in Pennsylvania as the nightmare that was the NHL lockout came to a close. Ryan had been visiting friends and former teammates in Erie before he returned to Denver to hopefully work out a contract that would keep him in an Avalanche uniform. The fans in the Mile High City wanted him back, management was bipolar with their decision and Ryan hoped he could figure out a long term deal.

It has been nice playing alongside of his brother every night, but he missed the thrill of the NHL crowd. Ryan hated coming back to Pennsylvania, it brought back too many memories that he didn’t want to relive. When Cal had been claimed by Pittsburgh, Ryan silently prayed that the stint would be brief and he’d never have to visit his brother in the city unless it was for an away game. Being in the keystone state brought back too many memories that he didn’t want to relive.

Ryan had met a girl named Alyssa when he was 17 at a party thrown by one of his older teammates and they had been together ever since. It had been almost a year since Ryan had lost her. Her family had come to visit his family in Ontario and Ryan’s cousin had thrown a party. Alyssa stayed home with her parents that night at Ryan’s house that he had just purchased with his brother.

Ryan had been drank too much and Cal was out with his flavor of the week, so Ryan called Alyssa to come pick him up. That conversation still haunted him to this day.

Ryan heard her voice in his head as she said, “I’ll be there in 10 minutes. I love you.” The call had been too short and the last time he had ever heard her voice.

FLASHBACK
Ryan couldn’t remember how long he waited but Alyssa never showed up. He thought that she had fallen asleep, so Ryan called Cal who was more than happy to pick him up because he needed an excuse to leave his date and never see her again.

“Where’s Alyssa,” Cal asked as Ryan shut the door.

“I called her, but she must have fallen asleep.”

Cal pulled out from in front of the house and headed back towards their house. Ryan tried calling Alyssa once more but she still didn’t answer. They were almost to their house when Ryan’s phone rang.

“Hello.”

“This is Officer David Harper from the Clinton PD, is this Mr. O’Reilly?”

“Yes, it is,” Ryan replied looking over at Cal who shrugged his shoulders.

“Son, do you know a girl by the name of Alyssa Jacklitch,” the man asked.

Ryan’s face paled and Cal pulled over to the side of the road. “Yes sir, she’s my girlfriend.”

“I hate to inform you of this but Miss Jacklitch is at Clinton Public Hospital. She was broadsided by a drunk driver and is in very critical condition. I don’t know how else to say this, but you need to get here as soon as you can.”

“I’m on my way,” Ryan said ending the call.

“What’s wrong,” Cal asked.

“Alyssa was hit by a drunk driver and is at CPH in the ICU. She’s very critical and they don’t know if she’s going to make it or not.”

“Holy shit,” Cal said putting the car in drive and speeding down the street. “We’ll get there, she’s going to be ok, just keep telling yourself that.”

Ryan leaned his head back against the seat and said a silent prayer that his brother would be right. As soon as Cal pulled up in front of the hospital, Ryan got out of the car and ran inside. The cop was waiting for him near the door and directed him to the seventh floor. Alyssa’s dad was hugging her mom who was crying. “Where is she,” Ryan asked. “Where’s Alyssa?”

“She’s gone,” James Jacklitch whispered and Ryan felt the ground fall from beneath him as he slid down the wall.

“What? No, she can’t be,” Ryan cried as he put his head in his hands. Cal saw Ryan as he came around the corner and he sat down next to his brother and hugged him as he cried.

Ryan snapped out of his thoughts when the flight attendant asked him if he wanted a drink. He politely declined and put the sunglasses over his eyes so no one noticed the tears that were threatening to fall.

When the plane landed, Ryan grabbed his carryon bag and headed towards the baggage claim. He was reaching for his bag but someone grabbed it before he could. “Excuse me,” he said sliding his sunglasses over his hair and onto his head. “That’s my bag.”

“Um…no, it’s not,” the brunette from the plane replied. “It’s mine.”

“Can you read,” Ryan snapped. “The luggage has a Blue Jays tag and my name on it.”

The girl read the tag, “I don’t see asshole on it,” she fired back. “…so it must not be yours.”

She grabbed the next bag and Ryan leaned over to read the tag, “That’s funny, but I don’t believe this one is yours either considering the tag doesn’t say, ‘Stuck up bitch.’”

“Fuck you," she spat. "You don't even know me."

"I am glad that I don't, because I've been here for five minutes and you've done nothing but get on my nerves."

"Go to hell, douche bag."

"I'm pretty sure I was already there when you hit me with that big ass designer purse of yours.”

The brunette scoffed and turned on her heel away from Ryan and walked out of the airport. Ryan shook his head and laughed quietly to himself. To say his day was off to a fantastic start was an understatement. He got in his car and drove to his apartment that he had moved into right before the lockout. It was part of his fresh start in his first steps to moving on after Alyssa. He knew she’d always be in his heart but he knew he’d feel better if he moved on.

Ryan’s phone rang as he loaded his clothes into the washer, “Hello,” he said holding his phone between his shoulder and his cheek.

“What’s up, bro?”

“Jamie, what do you want?”

“Welcome back to Denver too, asshole.”

“I had a rough day, I got into an argument with some bitch at the airport and I really just want to go take a nap.”

“Want to come over for dinner? My cousin just got in from visiting Tye in Pittsburgh and she’s living with me and is making dinner, I’d figured I’d call you.”

“A home cooked meal sounds good. I’ll be over at seven. It’ll leave me time to take a nap and get a shower. Want me to bring anything?”

“Bring some beer over,”

“Alright, I’ll see you later.”

Ryan walked upstairs and laid down in bed, it felt good after to be home after so long. He had missed Denver and he hoped he would stay there. The Flames had offered him a contract and the Avalanche had the option to match it or he’d be playing in Canada. He liked Calgary when he had visited but Denver were where all of his friends and his memories were.

Ryan looked at the picture on his nightstand of him and Alyssa and sighed before picking the frame up and putting it in the drawer. Ryan fell into a deep sleep and woke up when his alarm went off. He felt good and well rested, something he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Ryan finished his clothes and took a shower before he headed to Jamie’s. Jamie had spoke highly of his cousin and Ryan was excited to meet her. Ryan stopped at the beer distributor and bought two cases of beer and went to Jamie’s. Ryan knocked on the door and saw a flash of brown hair as the girl whipped around to yell at Jamie who was eating out of the pot in the kitchen.

“Hi, you must be Ryan,” she said turning around but stopped when she saw it was him.

“Holy shit,” Ryan said as soon as the brunette from the airport stood in the doorway.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Ryan, my man what’s up,” Jamie said as Ryan and the brunette stood glaring at each other.

“Hey, Ginner,” Ryan said shaking his hand with his free hand since Jamie had taken a case of beer.

“Wait a second, you two know each other,” the girl asked.

“Corinne, this is my teammate Ryan O’Reilly,” Jamie replied.

“Who the hell is he?”

“You’re always the charmer, eh?”

“Fuck off ass hat,” Corinne snapped.

“Am I missing something here,” Jamie asked.

“This is the bitch from the plane that I was telling you about.”

“Oh shit, this oughta be good.”

Ryan stepped into the house and Corinne slammed the door, “Sure, come in make yourself at home. I have to go find my vial of arsenic.”

“Is my cousin seriously the girl from the airport,” Jamie asked as they sat down on the couch.

“Unfortunately,” Ryan said as Corinne came out of the kitchen announcing that dinner was ready.

“It smells really good,” Ryan whispered to Jamie as they sat down to eat.

Corinne joined them at the table and Ryan felt uncomfortable as soon as she had sat down. Jamie tried to keep the mood light by making small talk but no matter what Ryan felt uncomfortable. Ryan reached for the last breadstick but Corinne saw and tried to take it. Ryan immediately grabbed it and Corinne reached for her form and went to poke his hand with it.

“You’re fucking crazy,” he said taking a bite of it.

“Seriously, a fork, really Corinne?”

“So Corinne, what’s it like leeching from your cousin?”

“What’s it like being a hockey player that no one wants on their team?”

“You’re a bitch.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“You don’t know anything about me either, yet you are sitting here making assumptions.”

“So Corinne, how was your flight?”

“My flight was fine until some asshole at the baggage claim accused me of stealing his bag.”

“Well if you’d learn how to read, we wouldn’t have had that problem.”

“Do you treat all women the way you treat me? I could tell you right now with that attitude that you’ll never get a girlfriend.”

“ENOUGH,” Jamie snapped. “Corinne stop.”

Corinne smiled at her cousin and Ryan immediately knew why he felt uncomfortable, she resembled Alyssa. She wasn’t a dead on lookalike but her smile was the same. Ryan looked at his watch and stood up from the table, “Thanks for dinner but I have to go,” he said walking away from the table.

“Aw! Is it past your bedtime,” Corinne asked and Jamie kicked her under the table. Ryan shook his head and got into his car. He needed to stay away from Corinne before he said something he regretted. She was toxic and he had only hoped that his time in Denver would be better than it was today.