All the Faint Lights

Chapter Twenty One
“So where did Tanger take you last night?” Trisha asked as we sat at the table and ate breakfast together.

“He took me out to dinner and then we went back to the arena and he tried to teach me how to ice skate,” I giggled and Trisha squealed and clapped her hands.

“He’s a quiet one, but he’s so nice.”

“He was really nice,” I smiled brightly.

“So who are you going to choose?” Trisha asked and I looked at her shocked.

“Choose?”

“Come on Linny, you can’t string all four of them along,” she said and I shook my head.

“I’m not stringing anyone along, I’m not going out with any of them,” I said and Trisha looked at me shocked.

“What- Why?”

“Because, I don’t like being fought over, I’m not someone’s prize!” I growled and Trisha sighed.

“I would have picked you to be a Neal fan,” she said and I groaned.

“I was,” I muttered, looking at the table and feeling her eyes on me, “And then I figured out he was an asshole who can talked to any other woman except me.”

“Linny, come on, give him a break, he really likes you.”

“And I liked him, the keep word being ‘liked’,” I said as I stood up and brought my bowl towards the sink and rinsed it out.

I heard the front door opened and heard my sister start to talk to someone. I sighed and then walked into the other room only to smile brightly when I saw my brothers sitting at the table.

“Hey strangers!” I said as I walked over towards them and kissed their cheek before sitting in-between them.

“Hey, haven’t seen you at the studio in a while,” Gordon said and I rolled my eyes.

“Been having a hard time getting in with your new toy there,” I said and Gordon rolled his eyes while Asher laughed.

“You don’t have to worry about her anymore, Lin, Gordon kicked her to the curb,” Asher said and I looked at him, “Usin’ him for a chance at fame.”

“Really? And how was she any different from the others?!” I teased.

“She was nicer,” Asher said and Gordon growled and glared at Asher, “All right, all right, I’m sorry.”

“Whatever.”

-James-
I walked into the locker room this morning to see a group of the guys talking to Kris, they were laughing about something.

“What’s going on?” I asked and Max looked at me.

“Mon ami, Tanger took Linny out last night,” Max said and I looked at him surprised and then towards Kris who was sitting in front of his locker, his face was red, head low, but a smirk clear as day on his face.

I growled and then walked over towards my locker, throwing my bag on the bench and going through my practice gear.

“Everything all right, Nealer?” I heard and turned to see Sidney looking at me.

“Fine,” I muttered and then heard Sidney sigh and saw him sit next to my bag and look at me.

“You’re upset about Linny,” he said, more of a statement than a question, I didn’t respond to him, just continued to unpack and then started to get the gear on, “Nealer, we told you before, learn to-“
“Talk to her or someone else will,” I repeated his words and Sidney sighed, “Yeah, I know, I remember, guess I didn’t learn.”

“Nealer, don’t take it out on us that you couldn’t get the girl,” Jordan said from his locker and I snapped up and glared at him.

“You of all people so not be talking righting now,” I snapped and Sidney stood up and looked at me.

“You’re bringing your personal problems to the ice,” Sidney stated, “Don’t. This is your problem, not ours, we tried to help you, it didn’t work. She’s obviously not into you, so let her go.”

“Mon ami,” I heard Kris call and I looked at him, “She did like you, you know,” I looked at him confused on how he would know that, “We were talking about you last night, she said that she liked you.”

I sighed and then shook my head, “Liked being the key word there, Tanger.”

-Caroline-
“…You crossed the line too many times, I’m gonna put you in your place. You play with dynamite, don’t be surprised when I blow up in your face, oh my, oh my, huh. Mama always told me that I should play nice, but she didn’t know you when she gave me that advice. I’m through with you, you’re one bridge I’d like to burn. Bottle up the ashes, smash the urn, I’m through with you, la dee da…”

Asher and Gordon finally got me to record the song that I had written ‘Done’, I was actually excited to record it and was happy to be back in the studio. My brothers, RJ and Jake were standing in front of the window watching as I sang into the microphone.

When I finished the song I walked out of the box and smiled brightly towards everyone. Jake hugged me and told me that I did a great job and I felt Asher’s hand on my back.

“There’s a little competition in two month at the Madison Square Garden, there’s people from all over the country coming for this event,” RJ said and then handed me the flyer and I smirked at it, “Do you-“

“Sign me up,” I said, not even hesitating for a second.

“That’s my girl,” Jake laughed.

“You need to have five songs, four rounds and then the finals, that’s if you make it past each round,” RJ said and I smirked.

“I’m taking it all.”

“Oooo, she’s gettin’ cocky!” Gordon laughed, “You’ll have to try and beat Asher and I too.”

“You’re doing it?” I asked and my brothers smirked.

“Hell yeah!”

“Nothing like a little family competition,” I smirked and then pounded fists with my brothers, “It’s on like donkey kong.”

-Sidney-
After practice I walked towards the elevators and went to the top floor, I needed to see Trisha and talked to her about this whole mess. It was starting to affect James on the ice and as Captain, I couldn’t let that happen, I would not let that happen.

I knocked on Trisha’s door and opened it, she was on the phone, but waved me to sit in a chair in front of her desk. I sighed and then closed the door and sat down.

“All right, Mario, I’ll make sure that everything’s perfect,” she said and then rolled her eyes and I smirked, “Yup, I’ll make sure that the boys are dressed nicely and ready to go.”

There was a charity even tomorrow night and Mario was freaking out over it. Trisha sighed as she hung up the phone and then groaned as she laid her head down on her desk. I chuckled and then watched as she picked her head up, “Rough morning?”

“It’s always a rough morning when you have a charity even going on,” she said and I smirked, “What can I do for you, Mr. Crosby?”

“I need to talk to you about Linny,” I said and Trisha looked at me confused, “She needs to stop playing games and figure out what she’s doing with the boys.”

“She’s not playing games, Sid,” Trisha defended and I backed off a little, not wanting to make my girlfriend angry, “To be honest, I talked to her about it this morning; she doesn’t want any of them.”

“Well she sure as hell has a hard time showing it,” I said and Trisha sighed, “Tanger and Geno are practically saying that they’re in love, pretty sure Staalsy wants to propose to get into her pants, because Linny said she wanted to wait until she was married and Nealer is ready to kill every player that looks at her- His own teammates included.”

Trisha sighed and then ran her fingers through her hair, “What a mess.”

“That’s an understatement,” I said and then stood up and walked around the desk, sitting in front of Trisha, “Trish, I need help here; Nealer’s not playing like his unusual self because he’s too hung up on your sister. I’d like the other guys to be happy here, but- Your sister needs to talk to him because I need James back.”

“All right, I’ll see what I can do,” she said and I nodded my head.

“I don’t care if we have to lock them in a room together-“

“Because that worked out so well last time,” she started and I rolled my eyes, “We’re gunna come back and she’s gunna have him tied and gagged. We need to handle this situation more delicately.”

“What did you have in mind?” I asked and Trisha smirked.