Just My Luck

Kylie poured herself a second glass of wine as she watched some romantic comedy that was playing on one of the movie channels. It was now the first week of August and summer was ending in a few weeks. Instead of being out with Jess and her boyfriend like she had been doing since Jon had left, she was enjoying a day in to herself. It was only two in the afternoon and she couldn’t believe that she had already opened up the bottle of wine that she promised she wouldn’t open until later that night.

By the time she finished up her second glass of wine, there was a knock on her door. She placed the wine glass back down on her coffee table before getting up to answer the door. When she fully opened the door, she saw Elina standing there with a little smile on her face. The two girls haven’t talked to each other since their fight, which they both thought was stupid. Elina decided to give Kylie some space while Kylie began to understand why Elina was getting upset with her.

“Hi, can I come in?” Elina asked, holding up a small photo album in hand. Her skin was much tanner than it was since the last time she had seen her. She couldn’t even imagine how Niklas looked since that man loved to tan. “I got the wedding pictures back and I wanted to show you.”

The brunette smiled back and gave her a nod, stepping to the side to let her in. Elina walked through the threshold and walked over to the couch as Kylie closed the door. “How was Sweden?” She wondered, crossing her arms over her chest as she joined Elina on the couch.

“It was good. I caught up with a lot of old family and friends.” Elina reminisced with an even bigger smile. “How has your summer been? How’s Jon?” She questioned as the photo album rested in her lap. Kylie didn’t know why, but Elina seemed nervous and antsy about something.

“My summer has been pretty good. I actually spent my two week vacation with Jon and his family,” Kylie said with a shy smile. “And since he’s been in Winnipeg I’ve been spending a lot of time with Jess and her boyfriend.”

Kylie poured herself another glass of wine and offered a glass to Elina in the process. She declined the wine, but asked for a glass of water instead. Once Kylie was away in the kitchen, Elina picked up the wine bottle and noticed that more than half of it was empty. She placed it back on the table as she heard Kylie return with her water. She quietly thanked her before taking a sip of her water.

Elina tried to keep her question as casual as she could, but knew that wasn’t going to work well. She was horrible at trying to keep things casual when she knew something was up. “So, how much have you been drinking this summer?”

Sighing, Kylie placed the wine glass down on the table. “More than usual, but it’s under control.”

“I just want to make sure you’re being careful, that’s all. I know how afraid you are that you’ll end up being like your father.”

Kylie bit her lip as she stared down at the wine glass. Thinking back to when she ran into Patrick at the club, she did drink a lot more than she normally would have. At the time, she didn’t give it a second thought and just wanted to have some fun. That was the same excuse her father had told their mother when Kylie and her sister were growing up.

“I’m not going to lie to you, I’ve been drinking a lot more than I used to. But I don’t drink every day and I’m not going to end up like my dad,” Kylie said sternly.

Elina placed a comforting hand over Kylie’s and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I know you won’t. You still need to be careful though. He thought he had things under control and now look where he is. You haven’t seen him since you were eight years old. Have you even told Jon?”

“No,” she shook her head sadly. “You, Niklas, and Patrick are the only ones outside my family that knows.”

She hated talking about her father. It bought back bad memories that she normally could forget on a daily basis. Once he was bought back up she was automatically put in a bad mood. Elina placed the photo album down on the table and reached over to pull Kylie in a hug.

“I’m sorry for bringing it up. I just want you to be careful, you know? I know things have been rough on you and our stupid fight didn’t help either. I’m really sorry about that day,” Elina apologized.

Kylie rested her head on Elina’s shoulder as they held each other tightly. “I’m sorry too. That fight was so stupid and we were both being idiots. I didn’t want to bother you with my problems because you and Nik just got married.”

“Honey, let’s just forget about it, okay?” Elina said, pushing Kylie’s hair out of her face. “Let’s look at the wedding photos, those will definitely put a smile on your face.”

Kylie agreed as she pulled away from Elina’s grasp. And just like that, all was forgotten. That was the kind of relationship Elina and Kylie had, they could easily be angry with each other but could also forgive each other in a matter of seconds. Elina didn’t even have that type of relationship with some of her oldest friends in Sweden.

The girls sat closely to each other as they looked at Elina’s wedding pictures. Both girls laughed at some of the goofy pictures that were taken that night, mainly at the one where Niklas and his brothers were pretending to by spies. For the next hour the girls continued to giggle and caught up on all the things that they had been missing out on for the whole summer.

When Elina decided to go home for a quick nap, she invited Kylie to go out to dinner with her and Niklas since they had a big announcement for her. She was eager to learn what the announcement was and quickly agreed to the dinner invintation. After taking the short elevator ride back up to her loft, Elina walked in her home and found her husband in the kitchen.

“I couldn’t tell her,” Elina sighed, climbing up onto the kitchen counter.

Popping his head out of the fridge, Niklas looked over at his wife. “Why not?”

“We started talking about her dad for a little bit and then we ended up looking at the wedding photos. I invited her out to dinner so we could tell her together,” she sighed.

Sensing that something was wrong, Niklas shut the fridge and walked over to his wife. He cupped her face lightly and kissed her forehead. “What’s wrong honey?”

“I’m really worried about her,” Elina frowned, wrapping her arms around his waist. She told Niklas about how much Kylie had been drinking over the summer and he suddenly felt worried as well. “I think we need to do something about it.”


Kylie clapped her hands over her mouth in shock as Niklas and Elina looked at her with a big smile on their face. She got up from her chair and ran over to their side of the table to embrace the both of them in a hug. She placed a kiss on each of their cheeks and told them how happy she was for them.

“I can’t believe you guys are pregnant!” Kylie cheered happily, “Wow, you really wasted no time during the honeymoon, huh Nik?”

Elina laughed as he covered his face in embarrassment. “I told you she would say something like that,” he grumbled to his wife.

“Poor you,” Elina teased, running her fingers through his hair. “But Nik and I want at least three or four kids so we decided that now is a good time to start.”

Kylie was truly happy for her friends. She had learned to stop comparing her own situation to theirs and was slowly able to move on. She knew that they were truly in love with each other and she couldn’t wait to see the little addition to their own little family. Knowing how Elina was, their baby would be would be the best dressed baby the NHL would ever see.

“So,” Niklas began while Elina was away at the restroom. “How have you been doing lately?”

She shrugged her shoulders as she looked him in the eye. “I’m not sure, really, but I do feel better than before the summer started.”

“I’m glad,” he smiled. “Have you thought about taking the ring off?”

“No,” she shook her head, looking down at the ring. “I haven’t even attempted to try to do it. I honestly don’t think I’ll try for a little while longer.”

She felt naked and empty without her ring. Even though her ring was supposed to symbolize Patrick’s love for her, she couldn’t be without it. Taking her ring off meant that she was ready to move on and even though it had been months since their broken engagement, she couldn’t bare herself to take it off.

Despite all that he had done to her, she was still in love with him. She was angry as hell at him but she still loved him. She didn’t care if people were confused on why she still loved him. She believed that if they were truly in love with someone, they would have a hard time getting over them as well.

“It’s understandable. I hope you know that I’m really proud of you, you’ve come a long way since the night you came crying to me and Elina,” he reached over the table and gave her hand a squeeze. “We’re always going to be there for you, you know that right?”

Kylie smiled brightly at him and thanked him for all that he had done for her. She knew that things hadn’t been easy on him either since he and Patrick were still teammates. A part of her was afraid of what was going to happen once the regular season started. Niklas and Jon were both adults and knew how to put their differences aside, but she was still nervous that something would happen between the 3 teammates.

After Elina had returned, the 3 of the caught up over loss time. The married couple did most of the talking but Kylie didn’t mind. She loved hearing stories about their trip to Sweden. They promised her that next summer they would bring her with them.

She even got the chance to tell them her stories about her visit to Winnipeg with Jon. Elina had seemed much more open to the idea of Kylie and Jon hanging out together. Elina could tell that Kylie missed Jon a great amount by the look on her face as she told the stories about their adventures in Winnipeg.

Kylie heard her cellphone ring from her purse as Niklas talked about how ecstatic his mother was when she found out Elina was pregnant. She pulled out her phone and felt her body stiffen greatly when she saw Patrick’s name pop up on the screen.

“Shit, Patrick is calling me!” She panicked, “What the hell do I do?”

“See what he wants,” Niklas encouraged her.

She took a deep breath as she slid her thumb across the screen of her phone. “Hello?”

“Kylie? Are you busy?”

Patrick’s voice was strained and even sounded sad, which worried Kylie. In all their years of dating, she had never heard him sound so upset before. She excused herself from the table and ran outside of the restaurant for some privacy. The summer heat felt disgusting against her skin but she knew whatever was going on with Patrick was much more important.

“Patrick what’s wrong? Tell me what’s wrong,” she demanded.

“Can you please come over? I need you.”