Chances Taken

“Mags, your necklace is so cool, where did you get it?” Emma asked as she saw it after walking into my kitchen.

“Kris gave it to me for Christmas,” I said as I smiled down at the custom diamond necklace that was shaped at my hockey number, ‘46’.

“It’s awesome,” she said and then took a closer look at it.

It’s New Years Eve and Emma had just arrived last night, having driven all the way to Pittsburgh from Dallas, Texas. Those of you who don’t know, that’s over eighteen hours of driving time, I felt a lot better when she told me she was making it a two day trip. I wasn’t home when she got in; I was in New York losing to the Islanders in a shootout. We lost the away game to the Senators, that was the game the day after Christmas, but we managed to win the home game against the Thrashers two days later.

“So what are we doing tonight?” Emma asked and I frowned, it was New Years Eve.

“Max is having a party at his place,” I smiled and Emma squealed and jumped up and down, “But none of us can go too hard tonight because we have a game against the Capitals tomorrow night.”

“Still, I knew it was a good idea to be here for New Years,” she said and I laughed.

“You had to be here, you start your job tomorrow,” I said and she perked up and nodded her head.

“Mario wants me to be in around noon so he can show me around,” Emma said and I pushed myself up on the counter, “I get my own office and everything.”

“I’m happy for you, Em,” I smiled, “We’ll start showing up around five thirty, six o’clock because the game is at eight.”

“I’ll be stuck there for over five hours with no one?” she asked and I smirked because it sounded like a whine, “Will you bring me food?”

“Yes, I will bring you food,” I said and she smiled brightly, I looked at my watch and saw that it was after noon, “You want to go out for lunch?”

“Sure, we need to get changed though,” she said and I smiled and nodded my head, we were both still in our pajamas.

I changed into my favorite pair of skinny jeans, threw on my black Ugg boots, a white long sleeve shit and then a grey knitted opened sweater. I walked into my closet towards my scarves and saw my black and white checkered scarf and wrapped it around my neck.

“Mags, you ready?” Emma called as she walked into my room.

“Yeah,” I said and then walked out of my closet and smiled towards Emma, “You look cute,” she was wearing black leggings with an oversized sparkly off shoulder shirt with tan knee high no heel boots.

“So do you? Where are we going?”

“Just a little French café in town, their soups are so good,” I said and Emma smiled and nodded her head.

We walked downstairs and into the garage. I opened the garage door and looked to see that it was snowing outside. I sighed because I was getting sick of the snow, “At time like these, I miss Texas,” Emma laughed and we both got into my jeep, “Thank you for four wheel drive,” I said and turned my car on. It looked like it just started to snow, so the roads weren’t too bad.

-Mike-
“Go left, go left, what the hell are you doing, go fuckin’ left!!!” I heard Jordan yell and turned my head to see that he, Sidney, Marc and Tyler were having an intense game of Call of Duty.

I snorted and shook my head, looking back at the pool table, a game that Kris, Geno, Ben and I were currently in the middle of, Kris being on my team. We were all at Marc’s house, we usually were, he had the best game room I’ve ever seen. I was about to make a shot when my phone went off in my back pocket, making me screw up and hear the guys laugh at me.

“Shut up,” I growled, the white ball moved, so my turn was over. I sighed and grabbed my phone, seeing it was Maggie calling me, “What’s up?”

“I need you to come and pick Emma and I up,” Maggie said, but the sound in her voice was off, like she was shaken up about something.

“Why? What’s up? What happened?” I asked and backed away from the pool table.

“Some asshole fuckin’ hit me and my car’s being towed, possibly totaled,” she said and I tensed.

“Are you guys all right?” I asked, maybe a little too loudly because this got everyone’s attention.

“We’re fine, a little cut up, but nothing to worry about,” she said and I relaxed.

“Where are you at? I’ll come get you,” I said and leaned my stick against the wall.

“On the highway, about three exits from our place,” she said as I ran for my coat that was lying on the chair on the other side of the room.

“Jesus, Mags, on the highway,” I growled, “You sure you’re all right?”

“Just come get us, Mike, it’s cold and we don’t want to walk,” she said and sighed.

“I’m on my way, give me a little bit, I’m at Flowers,” I said and then waved bye to the guys and ran up the stairs.

“All right, thanks,” she said and I hung up the phone.

“Hey! Mike! What’s going on?” Marc yelled as I hit the top of the stairs.

“Maggie was in an accident,” I said and then heard running as I opened the basement door.

“Is she all right?” Kris was the first to ask.

“She says she is, but I’m going to get her,” I said and Kris ran for his jacket and headed up the stairs.

“I’m coming too,” he said and I nodded my head

“Bring her back here!” Jordan yelled and I waved them off as Kris and I headed out of the house.

We ended up taking his SUV because when I got to Marc driveway, I remembered that I brought my car and not my truck, my car only sat two. The whole time in the car, Kris was asking a million questions, I ignored them, just looking out the window when we were on the highway to see if we could find the girls.

“There!” I said and pointed up ahead to see a tow truck and two police cars. Kris pulled up behind the police cars and we both got out and walked over towards Maggie and Emma, they had their backs to us and were watching her jeep being pulled onto the tow truck, “Mags.”

She turned around and smiled towards me, I got a good look at her, her face and hands had some scratching, same with Emma, but overall they looked fine. Maggie hugged me and then hugged Kris, he decided to hold her while I hugged Emma, who still looked to be a little shaken up.

“You all right?” I asked and she nodded her head against me, but it didn’t look so sure.

“What happened?” Kris asked and then walked over towards the jeep to see the damaged. I heard him curse and I walked over and my eyes widened.

“The guy just came out of nowhere and hit us,” Emma said and I looked at Maggie and then back at the jeep.

“You ladies were very lucky,” the tow truck driver said, “You when I see damage like this to a vehicle; the passengers are in body bags,” I tensed and then looked at the tow truck in front of this one to see that it was hooking up a big truck.

“Where’s the driver?” Kris asked and I nodded my head, Maggie nudged her head to the police car behind her and we saw that the driver was in the backseat of the first car.

“He was under the influence,” Emma said and I sighed, “Too early to be drinking.”

Kris walked back to Maggie and looked at the driver, “He’s just a kid.”

“A kid that did that to my jeep,” Maggie growled and I walked back to Emma.

The officers came back over and wanted Maggie to look over some paperwork and then she sign something and they said that they would be in touch to discuss how this will all go over. When it was over, we walked back to Kris’ SUV and then headed back to Marc’s.

“Why are we here?” Maggie asked from the backseat.

“The guys wanted to see you,” I said and she sighed and nodded her head.

“Vero’s gunna not let me go, I just know it,” Maggie said and Kris and I chuckled.

“You sure you’re all right?” I asked and Emma and Maggie growled and I tensed.

“We’re fine, all right?! The ambulance came, checked us out and then left, we’re fine,” Maggie said and I sighed and nodded my head.

Kris parked the car and we headed into Marc’s house, hearing the guys in the kitchen. We walked in and everyone was looking at us.

“Maggie! Are you all right?!” Vero yelled as she ran over and hugged Maggie.

“I’m fine, V, really, but,” she looked in pain, “You’re hurting me.”

“I’m not letting you go!”