Chances Taken

“How’s Lilly?” Kris asked and I sighed.

A week as past and I decided the two days before that I was going to take Lilly to the vet because she needed to take a serious chill pill and not be afraid of everything. Well, I couldn’t even get her to come down the stairs, I called Mike, but he never answered, so I called Kris, he said he’d be right over. Kris came over and we bribed her to come out from under my bed with ham and Kris picked her up and brought her to my car. He ended up coming with me to the vet and everything, but ended up waiting in the waiting room while I was with the doctor. She was prescribed the dog version of Prozac and the doctor told me that it should start working within forty-eight hours.

“She’s doing all right, it’s a bitch to get her to take the medicine though,” I said and Kris nodded his head, “Doctor told me to keep an eye on her though because she’s if the medicine doesn’t work and we try to get her to do things she doesn’t want to do, she can become nasty and show signs of rage symptoms.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah,” I said and then sighed and started to put my gear, “They’ll have to put her down then.”

“She gets along with your dog and Mikey’s dog, right?”

“Yeah, they all get along- Well, Stan and Jazz don’t really bother her, I think, I don’t know though,” I said and sighed, “I don’t know what’s going on when I’m not home.”

“Maybe you should put a camera up and see,” Kris said and I looked at him confused, “Wouldn’t hurt.”

“Maybe, I’ll be able to see if she comes out of her shell too,” I said and Kris nodded his head.

“What are we talking about?” Max asked as he shoved himself in-between Kris and I.

“Dogs,” I said and then heard Mike groaned.

“Mags, you’re not thinking about getting another one, are you?”

“Fuck you, Mikey!” I yelled and some of the guys laughed, “No, I’m talking about Lilly.”

“Oh, your socially awkward dog?” Mikey smirked, “Ok.”

“Shut up, dumbass,” I said and stuck his tongue out at me.

“I’ve got news bitches!” we heard and all turned our heads to the door to see Jordan storming in.

“What’s up Staalsy?” Sidney asked.

“Guess what two players made it into the Pens magazine?” Jordan asked as he held the magazine in the air.

“Let me guess, Sid and Geno?” I asked and Jordan smirked, and then frowned.

“Well, yes, but two that you don’t normally see!” he said and I snorted.

“The twins?” Marc asked and Jordan pointed towards him.

“So close, you’re half right!” he said and I rolled my eyes.

“Just shut up and tell us,” Max said as he stood up and walked over, “What is it?”

“Look, look, look,” Jordan said as he turned to the page and a huge smile appeared on Max’s face and he looked over towards me.

“Awwwww, do I smell love in the air?” Max asked and I looked at him confused.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked and Max walked over, jumped over the bench, came up behind Kris and I and wrapped his arm around both of us.

“You guys would be so cute together?” he said in a weird voice and I was utterly confused, “Brother Staal, take it away!”

“I’m confused,” Kris said.

“I’m scared,” I said and Max started to shake us back and forth, giggling like a little school girl.

“Something tells me this is gunna be good,” Marc said and I scoffed.

Jordan coughed a few times to clear his throat, pointing his finger to the page and looked up and smirked and then looked back down, “It’s an Artic Romance in Pittsburgh, these two Penguins have been spotted on multiple occasions getting nice and cozy with each other as the summer heat turns into the fall cool,” Jordan stopped and looked up, giggling a little, “Defenseman, number fifty-eight, Kristopher Letang and Right Winger, number forty-six, Maggie Marshall have been- bla, bla, bla, it just goes on and on about where they’ve been spotted- But LOOK!!!! There’s pictures!!!”

The whole team, other than Kris and I jumped up, crowding around Jordan to look at the magazine. I held my face and shook my head, “Unbelievable,” I muttered and Kris sighed and nodded his head.

“What the fuck, Letang?!” Mike yelled.

‘…Uh oh…’ I thought as I watched as Mike walked over, looking mad might I say. I jumped up in front of Kris and pushed Mike back, “Stop it Mikey!”

“But-“

“I said stop it Mikey! Nothing happened, it's just people trying to get a quick buck. We're just friends and we run together with our dogs,” I said, translating my words to German, because that’s usually what happens when I get angry. Mike and I are fluent in the language thanks to our mother and grandmother.

Mike grabbed the magazine from Max, who was currently holding it and shoved it in my face, “This doesn’t look like nothing, Maggie. Look at the way you two are looking at each other! What aren’t you telling me?! Are you and Letang a thing?!”

-Kris-
Everyone kind of just stood around in shock as the two siblings yelled at each other in a different language in front of everyone. We didn’t know what they were saying, but it looked at like Maggie was winning, considering that Mike was getting red in the face and Maggie kept cutting him off.

“Ok, ok, how ‘bout we stop fighting,” Sidney said trying to get in-between the two siblings, but it didn’t quite work. The two of them seemed to be ignoring everyone in the room, “What are the speaking? Geno?”

“German, I no understand German,” he said and Sidney sighed.

“Help me out, get Mags out of here,” Sidney said and Geno nodded his head, “Easier to carry her out.”

Geno walked over towards Maggie, wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up, throwing her over his shower. Kunitz was holding the locker room door opened as Geno was heading for the door.

“Geno, duck!” the guys yelled, but it was too late.

“OW!!! Geno you fuckin’ dickhead!” Maggie yelled as she held her head and hunched over Geno’s shoulder in pain. She had hit her head on the top of the door frame because Geno was too tall and didn’t have enough time to duck.

‘…I better go with them…’ I thought as I snuck out of the room, wanting to see if Maggie was all right and letting the others deal with the angry brother.

Geno brought the angry Maggie out to the ice where we saw some of the Coaches talking and getting practice set up. When they heard Maggie yelled in German and she didn’t sound happy, they looked over towards us confused.

‘…A Russian, Frenchman and a German, oh this is the punch line to a bad joke…’ I thought as Geno placed Maggie on the bench and sat in front of her.

“You calm down?” Geno asked and Maggie huffed and nodded her head, “Good,” he looked back at me and then back at Maggie, “You and Tanger really-“

“No!” we both said at the same time and then sighed.

“We’re just friends,” Maggie said and Geno nodded his head, “My brother’s an idiot.”

“It ok, I won’t tell,” Geno said and we both looked at him confused, only to see a smirk on his face, “Have fun,” he said and then stood up and headed back towards the locker room.

‘…What did he mean?...’ I thought and then looked back towards Maggie to see that she was rubbing her head, “You all right?”

“I’ll live, didn’t get hit hard enough for a concussion,” she said and I smirked, “Stupid Geno and being so freakin’ tall.”

I chuckled and then sighed and looked down, “About the magazine.”

“I’m not worried about it,” she said and looked at him and then looked into her eyes.

‘…She’s got really pretty blue eyes…’ I thought and then coughed a little and looked down, ‘…She is really pretty, we do spend a lot of time together, so I can see why-…’

“Tanger?” she called and I looked at her, “We still have to get ready for practice.”

“I know,” I said and she smiled towards me and it made me smile back, “Come on.”

“All right,” she said and I held out my hand and then pulled her up when she took it.
We headed back to the locker room and she stuck her head in first, finding that it was quiet. I stood behind her as she bent over to look and I couldn’t help but check out her ass, ‘…Fuck that’s even perfect…’

“Uh oh,” I heard Maggie mutter and she stood up and looked at me, “Coach is in there.”

“Perfect.”

“You gunna join us, Artic Romance?!” I heard Coach yell from inside the locker room and I couldn’t help but blush.

Maggie cursed as she walked into the room and quickly over towards her head, some of the guys snickering from Coach’s comment.

“Now,” Coach started and looked at us, “Suit up and get on the ice, we’re going over some possible plays.”

‘…Joy…’