The Ice Queen

Chapter Twenty Three
-Mike-
"So if Marchand was the break up, who's the hook up?" Nick asked as we walked towards the arena.

"Is that what you thought about during your nap?" I asked and Nick nodded his head, "Unbelievable."

"Come on, I know you're thinking it too!" he said and I sighed and walked into the arena.

'...I am to be honest...' I thought as I walked down the hall and headed into the locker room.

When I got there, Alyssa was already there, interviewing with some reporters, talking to them about what she expects out of the game and what she hopes to accomplish today.

I walked into the locker room and saw that some of the guys were already there. Alex came over towards me, already putting his gear on.

"Keep Marchand away from AJ," he muttered and I nodded my head.

Alyssa came into the room and sat on the bench in front of her locker, a locker that was right next to mine. I looked at her and she turned her head towards me, she didn't look like she get any sleep, "You all right?" I muttered and she nodded her head and started to get dressed into her gear, '...This is going to be a long night...'

-Alyssa-
I smirked as I skated past my teammates and pounded their fists. Hats were being thrown onto the ice and I was more than excited because I had just received my first hat trick.

I watched as Tuukka slammed his stick into the boards and then skated back over towards the net. I smirked and looked over towards Coach, who nodded his head and told me to do another shift. I was excited, it was the first time ever that I had scored five goals in one game, equaling to, my first hat trick.

There were ten minutes left in the third period, and the score was five to three. The Bruins had plenty of time to get two or three more goals, but not I was on the ice to make sure they didn't.

In the first period, five minutes into the game, I had scored against Tuukka, with Nick and Marcus' assistance. Two minutes before the first period ended, I skated from one side of the ice to the other, Bruins right behind me, Milan, right behind me. I shot the puck at Tuukka, it bounced off of him, I shot it again and it slipped right between his legs. From there, right from the faceoff circle, Tyler and Brad skated down the ice and scored against Vokoun, seconds after me.

In the second period, I had scored again within the first forty seconds of the period. I was on a roll, because I was taking all of my anger and frustration out on the ice. During the middle of the period, we were at the face off center and Milan skated next to me and bent down, placing his stick in front of mine. He asked if I was all right, but I ignored him. Shawn Thornton took a two minute penalty when he tripped me while trying to get the puck, I scored again, on a power play. Brad had scored a few minutes after me and then when there was only thirty seconds left on the clock, I stole the puck off of Chara and skated towards Rask. From where I was, I knew I wasn't going to make it into the net. Alex was there, I passed the puck to him and then skated around the net. Alex shot the puck and it hit the post, I reached out my stick and hit it in, losing my balance and falling to the ice, but the puck didn't go in. The horn blew and the period was over, we were still up by two, but I wasn't going to let them win.

In the third period, I was starting to slow down, I was tired, I knew that, but we needed to win. Brad tried to talk to me, but I shoved him away and missed my chance to stop Patrice Bergeron from scoring. Coach called for a time out and we all skated over towards the boards, Mike, Nick, Sean Collins, Jason Chimera and I were on the ice gathered around our Coach, while the others on the bench piled in. We were still up by one, but I wanted this game to be over with.

-Mike-
We all smiled brightly as we listened to the fans cheer as the horn blew saying that the game was over, we had won, and it was all thanks to Alyssa. Everyone was impressed with her hat trick, I think she was even impressed with it. She told me before the game started, while we were in the locker room before warm ups started that she needed to win this game, she got it.

We headed back to the locker and Coach called saying that Alyssa, Vokoun and Alex were being named stars, Alyssa of course getting the first star. When she came back we all congratulated her and said that we wanted to take her out, but she declined.

"Raincheck," she smiled and the guys nodded their heads, only Alex, Semin, Nick and I knowing the reason why she was in no mood to party.

She walked over towards her locker and I smiled, wrapped my arm around her shoulders and shook her a little, "You did good, Red."

"Thanks, Mikey," she smiled and then everyone got out of their gear and headed for the showers.

Alyssa took her time in the shower, she was usually pretty quick, but I figured that she was thinking, she was the first to go in and the last to come out. While she was gone Nick was talking to me trying to figure out which Bruin Alyssa was with.

"Will you just let it go?!" I growled and he smirked and shook his head.

"It's kill you, right! To know!"

"Know what?" Alex said and I sighed.

"Who her boyfriend is," I answered and Alex was a little taken back.

"AJ has a boyfriend?" Alex asked and I nodded my head, but our words weren't private, some of the other guys in the room heard and started to ask.

So when Alyssa walked out of the room, fully clothes, but still drying her hair, eyes were on her. She looked at us confused as she walked to her locker.

"Why are you all staring at me? Do I have something on my face?" she asked and I sighed and shook my head, "Then what?"

"Who's the boyfriend?" Nick asked as he threw his arm over her shoulder.

"What?" she asked and started to blush, "None of your business!"

"So you do have one!" Alex yelled and Alyssa groaned and I felt my heart sink to my stomach.

"It's a Bruin isn't it?" Nick smiled brightly and Alyssa rolled her eyes and started to pack her bag.

"No way! You're going out with a Bruin?!" Marcus asked as he walked over and stared at Alyssa.

"So what if I am," she started and then threw her hair up in a messy bun, "It's not against the rules," she turned towards Alex, "Not to mention, I think I proved today that just because we're in a relationship doesn't mean it's going to affect my game."

"Whatever," Alex muttered and then turned around back to his locker, "So full of secrets."

"I've always enjoyed secrets," she smirked and I rolled my eyes.

-Alyssa-
I walked out of the locker room with Alex and Semin, Mike was almost finished, but told us to go ahead. Semin kept on asking who I was dating, but I just changed the subject.

"AJ!" I heard and turned to see some of the Bruins walking over.

"Hey!" I smiled and hugged Tyler, Andrew Ference, Nathan and Tuukka, "Sorry Tuuk, had to show you up."

"Just wait till next time!" he said as he put me in a head lock and ruffled my hair.

"Hey! I just did my hair!" I whined and the guys laughed. I walked back in-between Alex and Semin.

"Good game, Red," I heard and looked to my side to see Brad standing there.

"Yeah, you too," I muttered and saw Alex take a step foward, but I just placed my hand on his shoulder.

"Can we talk?" he asked and I shook my head and started to turn away, not wanting to hear what he had to say, "AJ," Brad said and then grabbed my wrist as I turned, "Please."

"Brad, let go," I muttered and then sighed. No one knew what Brad had done, no one except Brad, Milan, Alex, Semin, Nick, Mike and I, so you can imagine that the other Bruins were surprised that I was being so cold towards Brad.

"Red, pl-" I whipped around, grabbed Brad's wrist, pulling him forward and I landed a punch across his face, not caring who saw.

Brad was surprised that I would do that, he landed on his ass and looked up towards me, flinching when I glared at him, "You don't get to call me that! Only friends get to call me 'Red'! No friend does that to me!" I growled and then saw Milan push through the crowd and look at me shocked, "Milan told me to forgive you, it was an accident- And I wanted to believe that, wanted to pretend that it didn't happen," I sighed and bent down to go through my bag, grabbing for the disc, "I don't want to hear your excuses, your lies - None of it," I barked and then stood up and showed him the disc, "How 'bout you watch that before you come up with more bullshit!"

I threw the disc onto his lap and then looked up towards Milan and shook my head. I rolled my eyes and grabbed Alex and Semin's shoulder and started to walk away. We headed out of the arena and as I walked over towards my car, I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Semin and Alex there. Semin pulled me in for a hug and Alex sighed and placed his hand on my back.

"Maybe you shouldn't be by yourself, Red," Alex said and I pulled away from Semin and shook my head.

"I bothered you guys enough," I sighed and Alex shook his head.

"You're our teammate, and Marchand did something disgusting," Alex said and I opened my car door.

"Thanks, but- I'm good," I said and then got into the car and drove away, wanting to head home and go to bed, '...I scored my first hat trick and lost my best friend all in a few hours, fan-freaking-tastic...'