Chances Taken

“All right, all right, and this is for,” Mario opened the tag, “Sidney.”

“Oh boy,” Sidney said and we all laughed.

For this Secret Santa, we were allowed to put on the tag who it was from, when the person opened the gift, they were supposed to guess, and if they got it wrong, then they’ll never know.

Sidney ripped the wrapping paper and I saw his face turn bright red, I walked down to him and leaned over his shoulder to see that he had gotten porno DVDs as his present. I started to burst out laughing, I was laughing so hard that my eyes started to water.

“Thanks,” Sidney said and showed the DVDs to everyone, which caused them to start laughing, “Oh, there’s a note! Wonderful!” he said and then picked up the paper, “Dear Sid,” he said and then looked towards the guys, “That’s-That’s beautiful,” he said and I giggled, “Dear Sid, I know that you have,” he smirked and shook his head, trying not to laugh, “that you have no game with girls, so this is supposed to help you in the meantime,” he finished and laughed, shaking his head, “Thanks Staalsy.”

“How’d you know it was me?!” Jordan yelled and I laughed and nodded my head.

“Because that’s something you would do,” Sidney said and I smirked, “Am I right?”

“Yeah, you’re right,” he said and we laughed.

I needed to wipe my eyes because I was laughing so hard. Mike looked at me and smirked, “You all right?” he asked and I smiled and nodded my head.

“All right, next is,” Nathalie grabbed a bag, “This is for Craig,” she said and then handed the bag to our teammate and he opened it to find books, I smiled because everyone knew that Mr. Harvard loved to read. This was a tough one, anyone could have gotten him that.

“Thanks Kuni,” he said and I looked towards Kunitz, “Your wife wrap it for ya?”

“Shut up,” he said and we laughed.

“I knew it,” Craig said and I smirked and leaned against Geno’s back

A few of the guys went by, Jordan got condoms, from someone, Max got sex toys from Tyler, Kunitz got hockey tape from James, we laughed at that because the box that the tape was in, was wrapped in hockey tape and needed to be cut with a knife. Joey Vitale got movies; Ben Lovejoy got a book called ‘Pranks for Dummies’ because he seemed to always fall for everyone’s pranks. Mike got a Dolphin’s mug from Geno, Paul Martin got cooking supplies because he was the chef of our team and James, who lived across the street from him, was more than happy to make Paulie put those supplies to work.

“And this is for,” Nathalie grabbed the trash bag, “This beautifully wrapped gift,” the guys laughed, “Is for Maggie.”

“Of course it is,” I giggled, “Max, you shouldn’t have.”

“How do you know it’s me?” he asked and I smirked.

“Really?”

“All right, it’s me,” he said and I laughed, handed my drink to Mike and walked over towards the bag, opening it up and smiling brightly.

I threw back my head and laughed, shaking my head and smiling towards him, “You’re lucky I love you, ya dork!”

“What is it?” Sidney asked and I pulled the huge stuffed Penguin out of the trash bag and the guys laughed.

“Hey Sid, it looks just like the Penguin that bit you at the zoo!” I said and the guys laughed even hard and Sidney playfully glared at me. I walked over towards Max and kissed his cheek, “Thanks darlin’.”

“Happy doin’ business with ya, ma’am,” he said and tipped his invisible hat and I giggled.

A few more guys went, Marc got video games, Cooke got a huge cookie monster animal, Johnson got boxing gloves for his new obsession in fighting, Kris got shampoo because he was supposed to have the famous sex hair look, which somehow he always pulled off.

“And this one is for, James,” Mario said and handed James the box. Mike wrapped his arm around my shoulder and I finished off my drink, reminding myself to get Max to make me another one.

James ripped the penguin wrapping paper and then opened the box, only to laugh and close it, covering his face and shaking his head. I bit my tongue to hold back my smirk.

“What is it?” the guys started to ask and James opened the lid and the guys that were next to him looked inside and smirked.

Everyone knew that James was obsessed with his hair; I knew that he like only washed in once or twice a week because he always wanted it to look good. He and I were the only ones to never wear our helmets during warm ups. James pulled the first thing out, a bottle of shampoo, then a bottle of conditioner, a bottle of hair gel, a magazine of men’s hair styles, some scissors, because his hair was getting way too long, some brown hair dye, because we teased him so much in the playoffs when the guys were growing their beards and we found that he had brown hair but a red beard. There was a note on the box that simple said ‘Now you can match =)’ and then last there was a coupon cut out of a magazine for a local hair shop.

“What the hell?” he laughed and shook his head.

Everyone was laughing at this, it wasn’t as funny as Sidney’s porn tapes, ‘…Dammit Staalsy, I was hoping to give the funniest gift…’ I thought, but I should have known that there were better pranksters on the team.

“All right, Flower,” James said and Marc laughed and held up his hands.

“Wasn’t me,” he said and James looked towards Pascal, the main person who teased him.

“Nope, but damn good job on who it was,” he said and I had to bite back a smile.

James was looking over each person, muttering to himself trying to figure out who it was, “Cooke?”

“Nope.”

“TK?”

“Nope, got Talbo’s gift.”

“Joey?”

“Nope, got Mikey’s gift.”

“Mikey?”

“Nope, got- well they haven’t gotten it yet,” he said and I giggled.

“No way!” James said and I looked up to see he was looking at me, “Maggie?”

“Ding, ding, ding!” I said and the guys laughed and Pascal walked over towards me and gave me a high five.

“Nicely done, Mags!” he said and I smiled brightly.

“Thanks, so much,” James said and I saw the smirk on his face.

“Was the message received?” I asked and he chuckled and nodded his head.

“Loud and clear,” he said and the guys laughed.

After everyone had gotten their gifts, some knowing who gave them their gifts, some didn’t. Everyone was scattered throughout the area. I was pulled into the other room with the girls and I made sure to bring my big Penguin with me. Emma followed me and sat down next to me. All the wives and girlfriends were there and were all looking at me sadly, which made me groan because I knew that they all knew, no doubt their husbands or boyfriends told them.

‘…I’m gunna kill the guys for having big mouths…’ I thought and saw Vero placed herself next to me and put her hand on my knee.

“How are you holding up?” she asked and I looked at her, “Marc told me.”

“Can I kill your boyfriend?”

“No, I love him too much,” she giggled and I smirked and then sighed.

“He hasn’t told me yet,” I said and the girls gasped.

“Are you sure that-“

“I’m sure,” I said and Maureen sighed and nodded her head, “I’m going to talk to him after the party, I don’t want to start anything here.”

“Honey, no one would be angry if you started it here,” Vero said and I smirked towards her.

“You just want to see some action,” I said and she giggled and shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s been so boring at the holidays since TK dropped that bitch,” she said and I laughed.

“Not to mention since Geno dropped Ms. Tits too,” Maureen said and I rolled my eyes.

“I hate that fake blond bimbo,” I said and the girls nodded their heads.

There was a knock at the door and I turned to see Kris walking in, “Can I uh, steal Maggie?” he asked and they nodded their heads and I looked back towards Vero.

“You might get your wish,” I muttered and then sighed and stood up. I felt Kris’ hand on my back as he led me out into the hallway and into another room, someplace more private, “What’s up?”

“What did you mean before?” he asked and I looked at him.

“What?”

“When I asked if there was something wrong, you asked if there was?” he said and I just looked at him, “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know Kris,” I said and leaned against the wall and looked him straight in the eyes, knowing full well that some of the girls and maybe some guys were listening in on the conversation, “You tell me.”