One More Night

Marc surveyed the bar wearily; the last place he’d wanted to be was out, but to humor his brothers, here he was. After a crazy half-season this last year all he’d wanted to do once returning to Thunder Bay was curl up and sleep for a week. The schedule and pace had been crazy, and while Marc had been excited and grateful to be playing, he was glad for the break.

Or at least he had been, until he and Robyn started having problems.

It wasn’t very noticeable to him at first; things were going to be a little stressful and hectic, especially with the way the season had gone. He understood that, in fact he had expected it. They spent a lot of time apart because of it, and he knew she didn’t like that fact, and so she was spending more time with her friends and doing things to keep herself busy rather than sit in their empty apartment. That was fine.

But once they got back to Ontario, he’d assumed things would go back to normal. Now he was starting to get concerned, because they’d been far from normal; even getting worse.

It seemed like Robyn was almost going out of her way to avoid him. Sure, they talked, occasionally. If they happened to get up at the same time and were having a cup of coffee or some breakfast, but it was awkward and tense, almost like they didn’t know each other anymore. It bothered Marc right to the core that he and his wife were in this predicament. A girlfriend acting like this was one thing, but she was his wife – she understood the way his hockey world worked, and to do this without any explanation was getting under his skin. It was almost like she didn’t want him anymore.

That’s what got to him the worst. The fact that she seemed so uncaring about what he did or where he went, and worse than that he could hardly remember the last time they’d went to bed and done more than sleep. Not that that was the biggest issue, but it was definitely attributing to his feelings of insecurity and inferiority lately.

“Come on Marc, can you please not look so depressed?” Jared complained as he sat down beside him. Marc let out a long breath before raising an eyebrow at his baby brother. Jared and Nessa had been together for three years, and they were all just waiting for Jay to pop the question. It was undoubtedly going to happen – the two of them were so head over heels it was sickening sometimes.

“I didn’t want to be here in the first place Jay,” he reminded Jared. The younger brother groaned and leaned back in his chair, before looking back to Marc with a perfected pout on his face.

“Come on Marc – can you just try and have some fun? For me?” he begged.

“Why would I do that for you?”

“Because I’m your favorite brother?” was the hopeful response that did drag a laugh out of Marc. Jared was determined that he was everybody’s favorite, and never failed to bring it up.

“Sure, sure Jay,” he chuckled, getting a toothy, gapped grin out of the youngest Staal. Jared had a prosthetic tooth, but hardly wore it. To Marc that completely defeated the purpose of even getting it, but he was glad Jared had got it in time for his and Robyn’s wedding. Their mother would have reamed him out hardcore had he not, and they would’ve never heard the end of it.

“Come on, why don’t you go ask that girl to dance or something?” he asked, elbowing Marc lightly. Marc’s eyes widened as he stared at his brother.

“Dude, I’m married, remember?”

“I’m not saying take her home! Jesus Marc,” Jared seemed offended at Marc’s comment. “I’m just saying ask her to dance. You’re just sitting here like your dog died, and a pretty girl like that should look like she’s having more fun than she is. I’ll ask her friend to dance, if that’ll help.”

Marc shook his head, but let his gaze wander to the girl Jared had indicated. She was pretty; she looked fairly tall, with long legs that would have made Marc’s mouth water had Robyn not been at the front of his mind. She was curvy in the hips and chest, and had long, golden brown hair that flowed in waves down past her shoulders. He couldn’t properly see her face, but she was laughing at whatever her friend had said. Not just politely chuckling, but full on, head-back laughing.

“I can’t dance anyway Jay,” Marc pointed out, hoping Jared would leave it be now. Jared let out a huff and rolled his eyes before leaning in.

“Neither can I – doesn’t stop me,”

“Nothing stops you – you’re ridiculous,” that made Jared laugh as he picked up his beer to finish it off. He quickly ordered another one for both of them, before getting a sly look on his face. Marc groaned, knowing exactly what was happening, and as the waitress brought their beer she had four shots on her tray.

“Jared, really?”

“Yes! We’re supposed to be having fun, so come on. Don’t be a wimp, toss ‘em back,” Jared put two of the shooter glasses in front of Marc before tossing back his own. Marc made a face before lifting the first glass, taking a deep breath and shooting the liquor. The tequila burned all the way down, making Marc’s eyes almost water as he coughed. Leave it to Jared to drink tequila straight.

As quickly as he could, not wanting to prolong the burning, Marc shot the second glass of tequila before downing about half of his beer in one go. He refused to look over at Jared, sure that a smirk would be on his little brother’s face. He spotted Jordan and Eric, the two of them chatting with the Pyatt brothers at the far end of the bar.

Jared kept the liquor flowing, and before Marc knew it he had more alcohol in his system than he had in a long time. Even at the last game of their playoffs he hadn’t drank this much, and as he moved to stand up everything took a spin, so he sat back down in his seat.

“Shit… you drunk?” Jared asked, and Marc nodded.

“Yeah, jesus… Robyn’s gonna chew my ass out when I get home,” he complained, and Jared made a face. Jared and Robyn hadn’t ever really got along – she thought he was too immature and reckless, whereas he found her too strict, and went as far as to call her stuck up. He was sure it was just that they’d never taken the time to really get to know each other, but in the five years she and Marc had been together – three years of dating and two years of being married – that hadn’t changed.

“You can come to my place then, don’t want her on your ass for being human,” he rolled his eyes, and Marc managed to chuckle. He didn’t particularly find it funny, but when he was as drunk as he was, he found nearly everything funny.

“Thanks bro,” Jared nodded before taking another drink. His eyes traveled back over to the bar, and Marc followed Jared’s gaze. Those two girls were still sitting there, and after a moment Marc’s intoxicated brain put two and two together, realizing what Jared was about to suggest.

And it didn’t sound that bad.

“Come on,” Jared patted Marc’s arm, and with a deep breath Marc stood up and followed Jared through the crowd toward the two girls.

“Hey, how are you ladies?” Jared asked. The two turned, and Marc’s breath caught slightly. The brunette had bright brown eyes, and a wide, open smile. She was drop-dead gorgeous. Her friend was also beautiful; long blonde hair streaked with a lighter blonde and some light brown, with blue-grey eyes and a tighter smile.

“Good, how about you two?” the brunette replied. Jared’s smile was wide and easy, and soon the blonde relaxed slightly as her friend responded to the redhead.

“Good! Me and my brother were actually wondering if you wanted to dance,” Marc nodded as the brunette’s eyes turned to him, and he hoped he didn’t look as drunk as he felt. Not that it should matter – he was married – but her friendly smile was disarming him.

“Sure. I’m Bree, by the way,” she offered a hand to Jared, who shook it and told her his name, before she offered her hand to Marc. Marc was surprised by her firm grip, and felt his own smile grow.

“Marc, nice to meet you,” he told her, before leading her out to the dance floor. He looked over Bree’s shoulder to see Jared and the blonde still talking. She seemed more apprehensive around the two of them than Bree had, and Marc understood. They were two strange men in a bar, the fact Bree seemed so friendly was a little surprising.

“So, you from around here?” Bree asked. Marc nodded, having to lean in slightly to hear her.

“Yeah, grew up here. What about you?”

“Just moved here a couple of months ago, actually,” she answered, piquing his interest.

“Really? What brought you to Thunder Bay?” she giggled before shrugging.

“Needed a change of pace and a change of place. I grew up in Toronto, and I wanted to get out of the big city for a while. I’m writing for the newspaper,” she replied, and Marc nodded.

“Cool,”

“So what do you do? I haven’t seen you around. Not that I’ve gone many places,” she added, making Marc laugh.

“I actually work in New York, but I come home every summer,” her eyes widened and she let out a little gasp.
“No way! What do you do?”

“I work with the Rangers,” Marc answered, even in his drunk state knowing enough to not make a big deal out of it. People reacted so differently, sometimes they were cool with the fact he played in the NHL, others made a big scene. He didn’t know how Bree would react, so figured that being vague was better.

“The hockey team? Oh my God that’s so cool; I’d kill to write for an NHL team,” she sighed, and he laughed.

“Really?”

“Yeah; I love hockey. I mostly stick to local stuff, but my dad was a huge, huge Leaf’s fan when we were kids. I’ve been so busy the past few years thought that I haven’t kept up with the NHL,” she explained. Marc smiled down at her as they slowly swayed back and forth. She seemed content to settle with that for dancing, and Marc was grateful he wouldn’t have to expose himself as a terrible dancer.

“Well, this past season was ridiculous,” he allowed, and she groaned.

“Damn lockout – just when things had calmed down enough that I would have been able to catch some games here and there they have a work stoppage. I was so mad that when it started up in January I didn’t even bother to watch.”

Marc laughed at the obvious anger in her voice; she was honestly upset about the whole thing. He nodded, and stepped in a little closer to avoid being run into by a different couple. After sharing a quick, awkward look they both started to laugh, but neither took a step back to regain their earlier distance.