The Best Thing

"I promised I'd be here, so I am, but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy it!"

"Is your girlfriend always so pleasant, Shaw?" A call came from somewhere in the locker room.

"I'm not his girlfriend!"
"She's not my girlfriend."

We looked at each other with gazes of differing intensity. We were both upset.

Andrew was about to make his NHL debut for the Chicago Blackhawks and I had been given fairly good seats. His family flew down for the game as well so I would be sitting with them; they were already in the arena but Andrew requested some alone time with me before the game since there was a very big chance I wouldn't be staying for the whole thing.

"Boy, have I missed you Hannah." There were traces of sarcasm in the statement but I ignored them. I knew he meant it.

"And I've missed you too. Now that you're settled in Chicago we can hang out more, right?"

"Depends on my practice schedule and all of that."

"Of course," I said, rolling my eyes.

Truth is, moving to Chicago was maybe one of the most silly things I've ever done. I missed my family and I didn't fit in here, which made me miss home even more. Having Andrew here would've made things so much easier, but I had a feeling I wouldn't be seeing him as much as I wanted to thanks to my favorite thing in the world: hockey.

"Hey, killjoy, can you at least pretend to be happy you're living in the same city as me again?"

I smiled. "I don't have to pretend. Just don't get hurt out there today, ok? Promise me?"

"I can't promise that but I'll try not to get into any fights," he said, winking at me.

Since I knew Andrew didn't make promises he knew he couldn't keep, that was good enough for me. I winked right back at him and walked out of the locker room and headed to my seat.

-three hours later-

"You're unbelievable."

"Dad, I-"

"Not another word young man. You knew perfectly well Hannah was in the arena yet you just had to prove that you're a tough guy."

"Oh Andrew, if only you had seen what your little fight did to that poor girl. I've never seen someone shut down so fast."

"I'm sorry, mom."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, Andrew."

"Well, where is she?"

***

"I couldn't back down, the guy was practically asking for it. I had to prove that I'm not just another pushover rookie from Canada who's going to be an average hockey player."

I narrowed my eyes at the freshly showered and clothed hockey player sitting on the couch ottoman across from me. As soon as the first punch was thrown, I stood up and ran out of the Wells Fargo Center as fast as I could. It made me angry to think that I flew all the way to Pennsylvania for a promise I made to this boy and he couldn't even keep his end of the bargain.

"Hannah, please say something."

We were currently sitting facing each other in the hotel room that he had gotten for me for the weekend. His parents had their own room on a separate floor, but they went out to dinner without us, saying that we needed to 'sort out some things.'

"You don't–" I turned away from him, trying to find the right way of phrasing what I had wanted to. Finally, I fixed my gaze upon the ceiling and said, "You don't get to tell me you love me, text me sweeter things than you ever have only after I leave Canada, and then make me promises if really all you mean to do is break them."

There, I said it.

Shaw was capable of playing with my heart when I never even knew he had it to begin with.

Wait a minute…

"The necklace, under the frame," I began, looking into Andrew's eyes. To my surprise, they were already staring right into my own. "It was from you."

Andrew nodded, wringing his hands together.

"He who holds the key can unlock my heart. You. All this time I thought it was a twin thing and that Dennis had the key."

Andrew simply shook his head and pulled out a gold chain that was previously hidden under his long sleeve thermal. The key pendant attached fit perfectly into my own keyless heart pendant.

"Oh my god," I whispered under my breath, bringing my hand up to my own chain. Fucking Shaw. I felt the tears begin to prick my eyes before they eventually began to fall.

"Oh no, not this again," Andrew started to joke. "Please stop crying. You know I can't handle it when you cry."

I couldn't help it. Tears fell faster than I could even register. Andrew Shaw had a way of wringing my heart in his hands and making me feel more emotions than I would during a normal calendar year. Somewhere along the way, I had given the key to my heart to the boy next door. God, how did I not notice?

Andrew moved to sit next to me and put his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into him. "Why are you crying?"

"I don't even know," I answered honestly, wiping tears furiously off my cheeks. I sat up and away from Andrew and tried to calm my breathing. Everything was fuzzy and nothing made sense. I became acutely aware of Andrew's hand tracing patterns on my lower back, which wasn't helping my situation. I was confused.

For almost 10 years Andrew and I had been the best of friends. He had told me he loved me before I left for Chicago, but did I love him back? At least, in that way?

Andrew's hand began to migrate higher up my back and I tilted my neck forward to grant him access for a massage. As his fingers worked the tension out of my body, I thought of how I could figure out this situation.

"When did you realize you had fallen in love with me?"

I turned my head to look at him. I felt his fingers momentarily stop moving but they continued shortly after. His thumb worked on a knot that had formed at the base of my head and it took everything in me not to close my eyes and tilt my head back in pleasure.

"You were the first girl I had a crush on in elementary school. When it didn't go away no matter how many girlfriends I had or how many times we hooked up, I thought it had to be something more serious than a crush. And it was. It just took me 8 years to realize it."

I wiped the last few tears off of my face and recalled all of the times Andrew and I had fought over significant others we didn't approve of, or dates that had been ruined because the other purposely showed up with an ex to sabotage it. I smiled. I guess we both had the same crush back in the day.

I felt Andrew's fingers start to play with the strands of hair at the base of my neck, tugging at them even while still massaging me. I closed my eyes and remembered all the times during sex that my hair would be played with and none of those times were as gratifying as this. Then again, all the times Andrew and I had hooked up, neither one of us were patient enough for foreplay. After taking a deep breath, I realized that there was no coming back from what I was about to do.

"Hey Andrew?"

His fingers stopped. "Yeah?"

"I think I love you, too."

As soon as I spoke those words aloud, I straddled the hockey player that was sitting on my hotel room couch and placed a light kiss on his cut-up cheek. His hands rested on my hips and as soon as our lips found each others', he lifted me up and carried me off to the bedroom.

By the next morning, I was sure of it. I had fallen in love with my best friend, the boy next door.