Cinematic Confessions

Corey liked rooming with Duncan. He was a good guy that wasn't in the group of pranksters on the team, which meant Corey wasn't constantly having to worry if Duncan would take his shorts out of his bag and put them in the shower or some random gag. But, what he didn't count on was having to worry about Duncan telling the rest of the guys Corey's side of the conversation he had overheard when Corey had called Autumn the night before. And, now he was getting ribbed by all the guys as they sat down to dinner.

"I swear, he's worse than I was with Kelly!" Duncan told the group, who just howled with laughter. "Calling and asking about her morning sickness and shit," he revealed.

Corey took a deep breath, trying not to let their jokes get to him. "You realize that when you're on the road, it's the time to get away from that shit, right?" Patrick Kane asked him with a laugh.

Brent nodded his head in agreement. "He's right. You don't see me calling Bri at all hours asking about her pregnancy," he told him.

Sharp turned his head to look at Brent. "Oh, you're one to say that!" he said, and everyone turned their attention to the two roommates, wondering what kind of information Sharp held on Brent. "You may not call her anymore and ask her about the pregnancy, but just two weeks ago, you were on the phone with her for two hours talking baby names," he revealed to the group. He looked around, nodding his head. "Yep, I said two hours," he repeated.

Brent elbowed Sharp in the ribs. "Shut up," he said through gritted teeth.

"So what'd you decide on?" Brandon Saad asked. And, just like that, the heat was off of Corey and on Brent instead. He felt bad for the man. He knew how it felt to get flack from your teammates, but Corey was just glad that he wasn't the one under the spotlight anymore. And, he knew for a fact if roles had been reversed, Brent would join in. Hell, he had just done that to Corey. So, he didn't feel so bad that Brent was getting some jokes back at him.

Brent stayed tightlipped, not wanting to answer the question, but Sharp was on the ball. "I believe it was Robert or James or Brent, Jr," he said with a laugh.

"Back to Crow and talking to Autumn all the time," Brent said, putting Corey back in the limelight. Corey shot him daggers, unable to believe he had just thrown him under the bus like that. "When are you gonna put a ring on that finger and make an honest woman out of her?" he joked. Corey rolled his eyes. He and Autumn had only been dating about two months. He wasn't about to marry her yet. "You're just going to let her have that baby out of wedlock?" he continued the teasing, with the other guys joining in.

"You're going to hell, man," Corey said to Brent, who just looked at him. "She's doing this great thing for your sister, and you're making fun of her," he added.

Brent held his hands up in defense. "I'm not making fun of her!" he exclaimed loudly, causing a couple of people at the next table over to look over at them. "I'm making fun of you by way of her," he said, shaking his head, knowing his argument made no sense, and everyone at the table started laughing at him.

"Look man, we like her," Duncan told him. "You know that. But, you have to admit, this is a weird situation you've got yourself in," he said honestly. Corey knew he was right. The woman he was dating was pregnant with another couple's child. That was weird. But, it was also a great thing she was doing, just like he had just said to Brent.

"Yeah, well who's life here is completely normal?" Corey countered, not pointing any individual out, knowing they could each figure out something that wasn't completely normal in their lives. Brent was already in his second marriage after his first wife had died of cancer. Duncan's in-laws were still living with him, six months after moving in to help take care of his new baby. And, Saad was dating a woman who's parents hated him because they did not approve of their daughter dating a white man. They all had things in their lives that weren't exactly "normal".

Duncan nodded his head. "You're right, man," he told him. And, after that, they left Corey alone for the rest of the evening.

As they walked back to their room after finishing dinner, Duncan asked, "So how is Autumn doing really?"

Corey looked at him, wondering why he was asking that. Did he feel bad about the jokes back at dinner? "She's doing good," Corey replied, not going into detail.

"Good," Duncan nodded his head. "Tell her she can talk to Kelly if she has any questions about anything, you know?" He said it stiffly, like he really didn't want to be talking about this subject, and Corey picked up on it fairly easily.

"I think she's got it covered," Corey told him. "Between Katherine and Cade and Bri, she's good," he assured him. He wasn't sure why all of a sudden Duncan was concerned, but he brushed it off as he changed subjects. "Wanna play Mario Kart?" he asked, and Duncan welcomed the change of topics, nodding his head enthusiastically, heading towards the gaming system that was already set up in their room.

Ten minutes later, they were yelling at each other, while other guys from the team made their way into the room, picking sides and calling out "next". The guys were getting rowdier as the race was winding down and Duncan and Corey were neck and neck. Thirty seconds later, Duncan was throwing his controller on the bed, while Corey was holding his up in victory.



Autumn, Brianna, and Katherine had been shopping all day, and now they were sitting down at Brianna's house, getting ready for the Blackhawks game to start. This was the first time Autumn had ever been in Brianna and Brent's house, and she was in awe of the size. She figured they would have a big house, but she couldn't believe how enormous it was. There had to be at least five bedrooms and another three or four bathrooms. She looked around the living room as Brianna and Katherine went to the kitchen to get plates for the pizza they had gotten on their way back, while talking about their babies.

Autumn looked at all of the pictures that lined the wall and bookshelf. There were several of Brianna and Brent, and Autumn couldn't help but think what a cute couple they made. She was brought back to reality when she heard Katherine calling out her name. She spun her head around to see Katherine holding out a plate to her. "I feel so out of the loop not being pregnant," Katherine said with a laugh.

"Please, this is your baby," Autumn told her, putting her hands on her growing stomach. Katherine put her hand on top of Autumn's, smiling at her.

"How's the morning sickness?" Brianna asked.

"How does everyone know about my morning sickness?" Autumn asked with wide eyes as she laughed. Corey had called her the night before asking how she was feeling, and Cade and Katherine were always asking her how her morning sickness was going.

"Well, Corey was telling Brent about it, and he told me," Brianna summed up.

Autumn shook her head. "Damn that Corey," she said jokingly.

"He really likes you," Brianna said, and Autumn looked over at her, not expecting that comment to come out of her mouth. "Brent says he can tell that Corey really likes you, that it's getting serious," she said as she took a piece of pizza and put it on her plate. She really had no idea how her words were affecting Autumn. She had known that her feelings towards Corey were getting serious, but she'd never been positive of Corey's feelings. Now, Brianna was filling her in.

"Who wouldn't love her?" Katherine beamed as she put her arm around Autumn. Autumn looked up at her, giving her a knowing look. She knew Katherine had momentarily forgotten about Autumn's last boyfriend in New York who hadn't had the same feelings for her as she had for him and had ultimately broken up with her because he wasn't ready to "get serious" yet. But, Katherine knew Corey was different. "I know Corey's totally falling for you," she continued.

Autumn rolled her eyes. "Anyways, can we talk about something other than me and Corey?" she asked. She really didn't like it when the subject was on her, especially on her love life. "Like how excited are you to have that baby?" she asked Brianna.

"Oh my God, you can't even imagine. I've been carrying him for eight months. I'm ready for him to be here already!" Brianna told her.

"She's only been carrying our baby for two, and I already want her to have him or her!" Katherine chuckled as she took a big bite of her pizza. Autumn smiled at her, knowing that Katherine was excited about being a mother. "Have you and Brent come up with a name yet?" she asked Brianna.

"We've got a couple," Brianna said, biting her lip, but keeping the names a secret. "What about you and Cade? You started looking at names yet?"

Katherine nodded her head. "Oh yeah! Cade's actually really into it," she said, as Autumn sat to the side, feeling a little out of the loop. Katherine and Brianna had so much to talk about with the two of them going to be mothers soon. But, Autumn wasn't in that group. She was merely carrying Katherine's baby, but she wasn't actually going to be a mother.

She listened as they kept talking, but she stayed quiet. Katherine noticed, and looked over at Autumn. "Is everything okay?" she asked, and Autumn smiled as she nodded her head. "Okay, just checking!" Katherine said, continuing her conversation with Brianna.

Autumn turned to look at the large screen tv that was up on the wall that was showing the preshow to the Blackhawks game. She looked in the background behind the announcers to see several girls standing there with signs. A couple of them had written on them how much they loved Corey Crawford, and it was at that moment that Autumn realized just how big of a deal Corey was in the Blackhawks world.

Sure, she knew he was a big player, having won the Stanley Cup with the team. But, Autumn wasn't a huge hockey fan, and she had no idea that Corey was so big. She suddenly felt insecure, though she didn't know why. Corey had made it clear that he was solely into her, so why did she care that there were a couple of girls with signs made out to him on the tv? She shook the thoughts out of her head as she turned her attention back to Brianna and Katherine, who were beginning to pay attention to the tv as well.

"Hey look! It's your man!" Katherine called out when the screen turned to show Corey from the last game as the announcers talked about his excellent play as of lately. "You know, you should totally take credit in how good he's playing," Katherine winked at her.

"And when he starts playing shitty?" Autumn asked with a laugh. "Will that also be my fault?"

"Brent's blamed me for his bad play before," Brianna spoke up.

Katherine spun her head around, staring at Brianna with wide eyes. "My brother is an asshole," she said simply, and Brianna laughed.

"In the playoffs, when I was getting sick a lot and he was up with me a lot," she explained. "He wasn't getting a lot of sleep, and his play kinda lacked, and I heard him talking to Duncs saying that it was my fault that he was playing like shit," she told them.

"Just wait til he has to get up in the middle of the night when the baby is crying," Katherine laughed. "He's going to have to get used to that real quick."

Autumn thought about how Corey had gotten up with her on a number of occasions when she had had morning sickness in the middle of the night. Fortunately for them, he continued to play well. She would have felt awful if his play lagged because of her. "Oh good! It's starting!" Brianna said excitedly as the three girls got comfortable on the couch to watch the game.

Autumn found herself getting bored halfway through the first period. This was something she was going to have to get accustomed to if she continued dating Corey. This was a big part of his life, but she just hadn't gotten interested in the sport yet. Maybe she could blame that on her dad, who had tried to make her like hockey at a young age, but it just had backfired on him instead.

She found herself missing being at the game. At least then she could focus on something on the ice. While watching it on tv, she found that she couldn't keep track of the puck. Again, Corey was going to have to teach her how to love the game.

She became more interested in the third period when the game was tied with five minutes left. Both Brianna and Katherine were screaming their heads off, while Autumn stayed quieter, keeping her eyes on the Blackhawks' goaltender when he was on the screen. She watched as he made an important save, and she found herself getting more excited. Maybe this sport wasn't so bad after all.

The game went into a shootout, and Autumn sat on the couch with her hands clasped together, hoping that Corey could get the win. When Jonathan Toews got the puck past the Blues' goalie, it was all up to Corey to make the next save and win the game. She watched as the Blues' forward stepped up with the puck and made his way down the ice. Corey moved to the left, and his pad barely stopped the puck. The rest of the Hawks jumped onto the ice to celebrate with the goalie who had just won the game for him.

Brianna and Katherine were going crazy, and even Autumn was cheering along with them. "Whatever you're doing to that man, keep it up. We're looking to be back to back champions!" Katherine exclaimed. "The sex, don't stop that!"

Autumn's eyes went wide. She had told Katherine that she and Corey had slept together, but she wasn't expecting her to advertise it in front of Brianna. But, Brianna didn't seem phased by the news, or at least she wasn't letting on that she was.

They talked a little while longer before Katherine and Autumn went back to their respective places. Autumn crawled into bed, grabbing her phone and sending Corey a quick text telling him congratulations on the win. She wasn't expecting him to respond. She was sure he was out celebrating with the guys or something. So she set her phone on the nightstand and she got comfortable under the covers.

Much to her surprise, her phone beeped a few minutes later. She looked at it, seeing a text from Corey. Thanks…did you watch the game?

Autumn chuckled. She knew she'd surprise him by watching the game. Yeah, Kat and Bri sucked me into it ;) but I have to say, I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would ;)

She didn't have to wait but fifteen seconds for a response. I'm going to have a hockey loving girlfriend yet!

She smiled to herself as she read that text. She liked when he called her his girlfriend. Yeah, we'll see about that! I think I'm gonna go to bed though. See you on Wednesday?

The team was set to get back Tuesday night after their game in Columbus, so she assumed she would see him the next day. I'll meet you for breakfast if you don't have to work. Good night babe.

She set her phone back on the table before turning on her side to go to bed. A smile was on her face as she thought about Corey. Things seemed to be going her way lately, and she was grateful for that.