Chances Taken

I walked the halls in the house; Marc was upstairs, wanting to talk to Vero again. We had just gotten back from dinner and I wanted to see more of the mansion that we were being housed in. As I turned down a hall, I heard the sound of a piano; I knew that sound anywhere and went to follow it. I saw an opened down and walked down to it, the closer I got, the more I heard, with the sound of the piano, I heard two voices, but they were just talking. I stopped walking when the piano stopped, leaning against the wall and waiting to see what was going to happen next.

“Where’d you learn that?” I heard, trying to remember whose voice that was.

“My mom taught me when I was younger,” he answered and I smiled, liking the sound that he played.

“So dad was hockey player, mom was musician?”

“Pretty much,” he laughed and started to play again. I walked towards the door, wanting to know who was playing that.

I walked through the door and stopped, surprised to see Jonathan Toews sitting at the piano and his teammates Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith in the room. It was Toews and Kane’s voice I heard talking though, “Sorry, I heard you playing,” I smiled towards Toews, “It’s nice.”

“Thanks,” he said and I leaned against the doorframe, “You play?” he asked and I nodded my head.

“Really?” I heard and saw Kane perked up.

“Uh, yeah, I dabble here and there,” I said and then rubbed my arm and shrugged my shoulders.

“Can I hear something? Apparently this is like American Idol,” Kane said and I smirked.

“You really need to not watch that show anymore, Kaner,” Duncan said, finally showing his voice.

“Play something,” Toews said and then moved over on the bench.

“Um, all right,” I said and looked down the hallway before walking into the room and sitting next to Toews. I smiled while I looked down at the keys, my fingers brushing over some notes and then I looked at Toews and started to play something that I had been working on for a while now, a song I started a few years ago to learn, “Remember those walls I built? Well, baby they’re tumbling down, And they didn’t even put up a fight, They didn’t even make a sound, I found a way to let you in, But, I never really had a doubt, Standing in the light of your halo, I got my angel now…”

When I finished the song, doing a cover of Beyonce’s song Halo, I smirked towards Toews. He smirked towards me and shook his head, “Dabble my ass.”

“That was awesome,” Kane said and I shrugged my shoulders, “How long have you been playing?”

“Just about all my life, it’s always been hockey and music,” I said and Kane smirked towards his Captain.

“Hear that, just like you,” Kane said and I looked towards Toews, not saying anything because I didn’t want him to know that I heard their conversation, “So what’s your-“

“I thought I heard music,” I heard and turned my head to see Stamkos and St. Louis in the doorway, “What are you guys doing?”

“Just messing around,” Toews said and I gave an awkward smile.

“So you sing and play hockey,” Stamkos said, smirking at me and I nodded my head.

“Yup,” I said, popping the ‘p’, ‘…Maybe I shouldn’t have come. Had to follow the music, dammit Maggie…’ I thought and looked towards Kane, “What were you gunna ask?”

“Oh, uh, what’s your favorite thing to play?” he asked and I smirked.

“That’s like asking you what your favorite position it,” I smirked and the guys laughed, “I don’t really have a favorite.”

“Oh, come on, you have to have one,” Stamkos said and I looked at him surprised, “Everyone has a favorite something.”

“Uh, well-“

“What’s going on?” I heard and saw some more guys walking over, the pushing and shoving began and before I knew it, the room was packed with players that probably had no clue on what we were doing.

“So what is it?” Kane asked and I sighed.

“You do have one, right?” Toews asked and I laughed.

“Have what?” someone asked.

“Favorite song to play,” St. Louis answered, still leaning against the door frame.

“There you are,” I heard and saw Marc appear next to him, he saw the piano and smirked, “Should have looked here first.”

I smiled and shrugged my shoulders, “What did you play for them?”

“You’ve played for him?” Toews asked.

“Yeah, she played for us around Christmas, her and her brothers, we took a video, it’s on youtube,” Marc said and I rolled my eyes.

“And Staalsy won’t take it down,” I grumbled and Marc laughed.

“So come on!” Kane whine.

“What?” I asked.

“Play something else, your favorite song,” Toews said and I sighed and nodded my head.

“So demanding,” I mumbled, but loud enough for everyone to hear, I heard some chuckles.

“Are we doin’ like Kum ba yah, or something?” I heard someone ask and I laughed.

“All right,” I crackled my knuckles, “If I had to pick a favorite song, hmmm, well, I didn’t write it, though, I like to play it,” I smiled and started to play Andy Grammer’s Keep Your Head Up, “…But you gotta keep your head up, oh, And you can let your hair down, eh, You gotta keep your head up, oh, And you can let your hair down, eh. I know it’s hard, know it’s hard, To remember sometimes, But you gotta keep you hear up, oh, And you can let your hair down, eh…” I laughed as I played and sang because some of the guys knew the song and started to sing and those who didn’t just yelled really loudly when it came to the ‘oh’ and ‘eh’.

“What’s going on in here?” we looked in the doorway and saw Lindstrom, “It’s almost time for lights out,” everyone whined and I looked at my watch and saw that it was almost ten, “Come on, no whining.”

We started to all leave the room; I was walking next to Marc, a little sad that I had to leave the piano, surprising myself that I wanted to play more.

“Hey, Fleury! You said she’s on youtube?!” I heard someone ask.

“Just look up her name!” he yelled and I looked at him and punched his arm, “Ow!”

“Jerk!”

“What?” he laughed and we headed up the stairs and went towards our room.

“I’m telling Vero on you,” I said and Marc laughed and playfully shoved me as we walked into our room and he closed the door. I collapsed onto my bed and was surprised to find myself suddenly tired and falling asleep.

I woke up the next morning to my alarm going off on my phone, I groaned because it was for my normal schedule, not All Star schedule. Marc was groaning and I rushed to turn it off, seeing that it was seven in the morning. I sighed, knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to fall back asleep.

I quietly left the room and headed downstairs, figuring that no one else was awake, I was wrong, “I didn’t think anyone else would be up,” I said as I saw our Captain sitting at the counter drinking coffee and looking at something on his ipad.

“Use to early morning practices,” he said and I smirked and nodded my head.

I walked over towards the fridge and looked to see that it was fully stocked with food. I smiled, feeling in the mood to cook, I grabbed the three carton of eggs, four bags of bacon, five tubes of sasuage and the milk. I placed everything on the counter and Lindstrom was looking at me with wide eyes.

“Hungry?” he smirked.

“Starving,” I laughed and then bent down to look for pots, pans and some bowls.

“What are you making?”

“The breakfast of champions,” I said and he laughed, “You know, I’ve been meaning to tell you,” I stood up and leaned against the counter, “I finally understood what you told me at the game.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, well when you announced my name, before that I was confused on what you meant when you said that I helped your decision.”

He smirked and nodded his head, “You’re a good player, Marshall, for a girl.”

“You’re not so bad yourself, for an old man,” I teased because he was close to his forties.

“Get to cookin’ woman,” he said and I stuck my tongue out at him.