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I managed to get through the rest of the evening without seeing anyone. After exchanging a few texts with Tyler, I got in bed and switched on the TV.

Before I knew it my alarm was going off. I rolled over and turned it off, staring at the time. I sighed deeply and rolled onto my back. Pulling the covers up over my head I fought off the tears that were threatening to fall.

“Come on, Riley,” I whispered to myself. “Just get to the shower. That’s it.” After a few more minutes of arguing with myself I rolled over to face the wall and let myself drift back into sleep.

I awoke again when I heard someone banging on my door. “One second!” I called out, slowly climbing out of bed. I pulled open the door to see Ellie.

“Oh, Riley,” she said quietly, looking me up and down. “Come on. You have to go to class.”

“Not today,” I replied. “I’m just really tired. Saturday catching up to me I guess. I really don’t feel like going,” I continued, shooting her a fake smile.

“Stop it. Riley you cannot shut down right now. We only have a few weeks left before exams. You can’t check out again. These classes are important. Come on.”

“It’s not like that, El. I’m just tired. It’s fine. I’ll sleep a bit more and be fine for the game tonight.”

Ellie sighed, looking down at her feet. “Okay,” she said quietly. “Just text me if you need me.”

I shut the door as she turned to walk away. I climbed back into bed and let myself drift off again. I woke up at noon feeling a little more functional and managed to get myself showered and dressed. I packed up my books and headed to the library, going straight to the normal table.

“Hey,” Addy whispered as I sat down. “Feeling better?”

“Mmhm,” I said brightly, smiling at her. “Just needed some sleep. You know how it is.”

I caught her glance at Ellie before turning back to her book. We studied for about an hour before I leaned back and sighed. “This is so dumb. I hate studying.”

“Agreed,” Addy spat out, also leaning back. “I wanna take a break.”

“You guys go ahead. Go for a walk or something. I’ll watch your stuff,” Ellie offered, looking at Addy hopefully.

We headed out and it wasn’t even 5 minutes before Addy started. “Do you wanna talk about it?” she asked, cautiously.

“Not really,” I muttered. “But I know that won’t stop you.”

“Listen Riley, we just worry about you okay? You’ve been going really well! What happened? Did you stop taking your pills?”

“No!” I said, way too forcefully. “They just kinda, stopped working I guess. I’m fine though. Really. I was just tired this morning.”

“When did they stop working?”

“I don’t know. Maybe a month ago?”

“Jesus, Riley. You have to go back to the doctor. We’re not going through this again. You’ve been good for over a year! You can get back there.”

“I’m fine now, Addy! Jesus! I can get tired every now and then! I was up late on Saturday, I wasn’t feeling my best yesterday. I’m good. I’m not going to let myself get like I was in grade 12, okay? I’m not going to be that stupid again.”

“It’s not exactly your CHOICE Riley! Depression isn’t a fucking joke, okay? You’re getting help. I’m taking you to the doctor tomorrow. I’ll borrow Marc’s car.”

“Oh for fuck sakes,” I muttered, stopping and turning to Addy. “Stop. I am okay. I promise. I was just tired, alright?! Jesus. Let’s go back now. I need to study more before I can go to this game.”

I turned and started walking towards the library again, acutely aware of the fact that Addy wasn’t following.

I sat down with Ellie and she glanced up from her book. “Where’s Addy?”

“I don’t know,” I spat out, trying to focus on studying.

“Oookay,” Ellie said slowly, accepting that I didn’t want to talk.

Addy came back about a half an hour later and quietly settled in to study. Nobody said anything else until it was time to go to dinner. Having cooled off, we all went to meal hall together and had returned to normal, all anger forgotten. We chatted, excited for the game. Halfway through the meal my phone started vibrating.

“You better still be coming tonight. I expect to see you in the stands.”

I fought a smile and quickly responded.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world. Good luck! : )”

We went about the rest of the evening, studying a little more before getting ready then catching a cab. I walked up to the counter once we got there.

“Hi,” I said, smiling. “My name is Riley Garrison. There’s supposed to be tickets here for me?”

“Of course Ms. Garrison,” the lady responded, as she pulled out an envelope. “Here you are! Enjoy the game!”

I took the tickets out and handed one to Addy and Ellie. I pulled out the last one and noticed a note in the envelope.

“Enjoy the game, Riley Garrison. I’ll score a goal for you. We’re on a roadie after this one so I’ll call you when I get on the bus. Tyler. : )”

I showed it to the girls, rolling my eyes. “He’s so weird,” I said.

“He’s so ADORABLE!” Addy gushed. “Oh my God. This is so cool.”

“Let’s go in,” Ellie said, shooting me a wink.

We made our way to our seats and my mouth dropped.

“Aren’t these the same seats as last time?” Addy asked, looking around.

“Coincidence. There’s no way,” I muttered, making my way to my seat. I watched the teams warm up and I searched until I found Tyler. A few seconds after I noticed him I saw him glance in my direction and grin once he noticed I was already looking. I smiled and shook my head, leaning back. “He totally fucking knew,” I said quietly.

“Hm?” Ellie asked, looking at me.

“He knew this is where we were sitting that night. How the hell?”

“I’m sure you’ll find out,” Addy said, laughing. “Now I’m going to get us beers. You settle in and get ready to watch your boy play hockey.”

The game went by way too quickly. We drank way too much and the Bruins won. Tyler scored one goal and made sure to shoot me a nod before celebrating with the team.

As we left Addy brought up the attention. “Oh my GOD! Did you see that?! He is so into you. Oh man. Tell me your secrets, Riley.”

“Stop it,” I said, smiling and shaking my head. “He was just showing off. We talked about that play on Saturday night and I told him his shot was always too predictable and that’s why he wasn’t scoring. He only shot blocker side because I told him it would work better. He was just giving me my credit.”

“So basically, you’re telling me your secret is you know more about hockey than any girl should and you aren’t afraid to tell the superstars what they need to change.”

“Hey, if it isn’t working, switch it up!” I said, laughing.

“Unbelievable,” Ellie muttered, smiling. “I really never thought your obsession with hockey would move onto the other side of the glass.”

“I know what I’m talking about!” I said, opening the door of a cab. “You can’t argue with that.”

We got back to res and headed into my room. “Do you have any beer?” Addy whined, opening my fridge.

“Go to town. It’s a Monday though, so remember we have to go to class tomorrow,” I replied, gesturing for her to toss me one.

And hour later we were all feeling pretty good. My phone started ringing and I glanced down at it.
“It’s him,” I said, suddenly nervous.

“Well WE will see YOU tomorrow!” Ellie said cheerfully, grabbing Addy’s hand and pulling her out the door. I stared at the phone for another few seconds before answering.

“Hey,” I said brightly.

“Hey! What’s up?” I could practically hear his smile through the phone.

“Not a whole lot. Congrats on the goal tonight, superstar,” I said, slurring a little on ‘superstar’.

“Are you drunk?!” Tyler asked, laughing.

“Maybe a little…” I said, giggling. “Not important. Where are you guys headed?”

“We’ll be back Saturday morning,” he replied, sounding tired. “Playing in Montreal on Wednesday then Ottawa on Friday.”

“Well if you play like tonight you’ll kick ass! And you better beat Montreal. Ugh. I hate the Habs,” I muttered heatedly.

“Yeah well that makes us both,” he replied, laughing a little. “We’ll beat em. Don’t you worry about it. But it’s late and I feel guilty because you actually have school tomorrow. I’ll call you tomorrow night yeah?”

“Okay,” I said, smiling. “You do that. Good game tonight. I already said that. That’s stupid.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, fighting laughter. “Good night, Riley Garrison.”

“Good night, Tyler Seguin,” I replied, the last thing I remembered before falling asleep.