Lies

Darcy wasn't up for going out with the guys. He'd much rather sit home, relax a little, and have a beer by himself. He was sick of all the crap the guys gave him, and it didn't help his mood that he just played a shitty game. He couldn't keep control of the puck, but he thanked God that the offense was able to pull off a win in overtime against the Nashville Predators.

His mind was just going crazy that night before the game. Actually, he couldn't concentrate the whole week, but he was still able to at least stop some pucks from flying in the back of the net. This time though, he just ended up losing control.

After the second goal, which should not have gone in like the first one, Coach Mike Yeo threatened that if he let in another pathetic goal he would be benched. Darcy stopped all pucks that came his way after that.

"Hey." Nino Niederreiter slid into the seat next to him. He wasn't one for going crazy at bars like some of the other guys did, so he usually stayed quiet and casually would talk to some girls. "How are you?"

Darcy rolled his eyes, taking a large pull from his bottle. He didn't want to talk about it anymore than the small details he gave before. He was just trying to forget. But, he couldn't. "Fine."

Nino stared at him and shook his head. "So not good?" Nino could read everyone like a book. The guys just said it was some weird Swiss sixth sense.

"I just-- I'm out of it."

"I can tell."

Darcy shot him a glare before sitting up straighter and finishing off his beer. He signaled to Jason Zucker, who was walking up to the bar, to get him another. "I don't want to talk about it, okay?" It came out sounding harsher than he originally intended, and immediately felt bad as Nino stood up and sighed.

"We're just trying to help, man. We're teammates."

Darcy was able to get through the rest of the night without any other worrying teammates. They gave him looks as Darcy stumbled out of the bar with Charlie Coyle behind him, occasionally grabbing onto his shoulders if he leaned forward too much. They were probably concerned with how they would even get home. Or maybe because they had practice tomorrow morning and Yeo would rip them a new one if they came to practice hungover.

When he arrived back to his apartment he kicked off his shoes, then took off his pants, followed by his shirt. Darcy trudged to the couch, falling face down as he lay there in just a pair of boxers and a pair of socks. He sat there, motionless as he just thought about his failed love life. It didn't matter that he was only twenty-three, his love life still sucked. He never had any time for a girlfriend when he was a teenager, he basically just crushed on girls.

Somewhere during his confused thoughts, he fell asleep. He slept on the couch the entire night until he heard an annoying screeching. He wasn't exactly sure where it was coming from, he just guessed it was the alarm set on his phone. Groggily and still hungover, he grabbed his pants, fished out the phone and turned it off. After grabbing some Advil he got dressed. He decided not to shower, knowing sweating will most likely wash away that sticky alcohol feeling.

At practice, a horrible one for him, he slammed his stick down on the ice and let out a frustrated grunt. The goalie coach, Bob Mason, waved him over to the bench to speak with him. Darcy lifted up his mask.

"We know what's bothering you," he said bluntly. Darcy cursed under his breath, knowing that Charlie probably said something. He hated getting his personal business mixed in with his job, but sometimes it was hard not to. "You just need to let it go. Trust me, I've been through heartbreak, but you just need to fight through it, got it?"

Bob said some more words about strategies and other techniques to keep the puck more secured before practice was officially over. They all went back to the locker room and changed.

"We're hitting up this new bar downtown tonight, you in Kuemps?" Erik Haula asked him from across the locker room.

Darcy thought about it. It would be good for him to actually enjoy some time out with the guys now. "Hell yeah."

***

Sharleen curled her lips into a small smirk as she fiercely finished writing down her final thoughts. Just as she was finishing up her last word, the door to her bedroom flew open, causing her to jump and her pen to streak across the paper. She groaned and looked up to find her friend, Bridget, smiling happily.

"Goddamn it, you made me ruin my religion paper."

Bridget didn't apologize, she just stared at her. "Why don't you just type it out?"

"Because I get extra credit for writing it," Sharleen responded and didn't care to look up as she carefully used whiteout on the pen mark.

"Seriously? I think it's just cause the professor wants to bang you."

Sharleen laughed. "He's like, forty."

"Thirty-eight, to be exact, and he's fucking sexy."

"What about that he's fucking married?" She laughed and threw her notebook on the ground by all her other school things. She stretched and stood up, walking over to her closet. "Thinking about going out tonight?"

"Of course," Bridget replied.

Sharleen nodded and threw her head back, putting up her dark brown shoulder length hair in a bun. "Then let's get ready." She dug around in her closet, pulling out two dresses for each of them.

Bridget popped open the make-up and accessory chest. She was going to school to be a special affect artist, so obviously that meant she was amazing at applying make-up. Sharleen sat back in the desk chair as she got made up. Once she was done, she slipped on the dark blue dress and took down her hair. She left it the way it was, slightly wavy.

The two girls walked to the bar that was just a few blocks from their apartment, knowing they'd just hail a cab when they wanted to leave. Usually they would drink and dance a little, nothing too exciting for the honor students.

The music was blasting from the speakers, not impressing Sharleen as the techno beat pulsed through the bar. Bridget quickly abandoned her friend when she caught sight of a guy eyeing her up. Sharleen walked up to the bar, ordered a fruity drink to start off with, and just hoped to let go.

***

"Do you know what you need?" Jason shouted from across Darcy. His smirk slightly scared him, but with the alcohol flowing through his veins he was up for any suggestions that would help him get his mind off of her.

"What?"

"A rebound!" He smiled wickedly and looked around, scanning the bar for any candidates. Jason was pretty good at getting first impressions of people, so he would always help if the guys needed it. "Behind me. Brown hair, blue dress. Total bomb."

She was gorgeous. Darcy could tell that much. She didn't get all made up, and even if she was wearing a dress, she just looked so simple and relaxed. He smiled and nodded, but as he began walking towards her, he was a lost of words. She became more clear as he got closer, and he had absolutely no idea what to say. He had been out of this game for so long, he wasn't even sure what pretty strangers liked to hear anymore.

"Hey babe," he said when he approached her.

Her face scrunched up as she examined him, clearly taking in his appearance. Her eyes scanned his body before looking up at his baby like face. He held a wide smile and his blue eyes sparkled, like he was holding so much hope. He seemed nice, but him calling her babe threw her off.

"Uh, hi."

That's how it all started. He soon changed her uncertainty to knowing she liked him. They danced, talked, laughed, and Darcy was then escorting her out of the bar and back to his apartment. She giggled as he touched her inner thighs, kissing her neck. She ran her fingers through his blonde hair. Sharleen wasn't planning on going home with anyone, but it changed when she looked into those blue eyes. He reached her underwear, stopping short as he seemed to almost stop breathing.

"Are you okay?" Sharleen asked, leaning up to get a good look at him in the dark room.

Darcy sighed, stood up, and walked to the other side of the room to turn on the lights. "I can't do this, I'm sorry." He figured she'd be pissed, but she simply shrugged.

"It's fine. Do you want to talk about it?" Darcy gave her a look, thinking she had to be kidding. Most girls would be mad if they didn't get what they wanted. Sharleen laughed. "I'm a good listener."

He dug through his drawers for some clothes for both of them, knowing he wasn't going to make Sharleen go home at three in the morning. He handed her the smallest shirt and pair of shorts he could find before walking into the bathroom so they could change privately. When he knew for sure she'd be done, he came back in the room and saw her folding up her dress, placing both the dress and heels neatly on the side table.

Darcy smiled slightly as he climbed onto bed and sat across from her. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she studied him. Darcy just sat there, swallowing and hesitantly looking into her deep brown eyes.

"Can I guess what's wrong? I'm at school to become a psychologist."

Darcy chuckled and shrugged. "Sure."

Sharleen tapped her chin and thought about his behavior. She had a pretty good guess at what was wrong, but decided to let him sit there awkwardly for a couple more moments because she found it funny to see him squirm.

"So you got dumped," Sharleen concluded. Darcy rose his eyebrows, expecting for her to continue but she simply shrugged. "I can't guess your life story!"

He sighed. "Actually I was cheated on."

"Oh." Sharleen reached forward to touch his arm. She wasn't going to say she was sorry for two reasons. One being she hardly even knew who he was, and two being she knew that when people said they were sorry for a breakup didn't help at all. "Well, we could have a pity party."

"Pity party?"

"Yeah," she shrugged, "like, we watch old sappy movies, eat pizza and ice cream all night. We could even paint nails but I'm guessing you're not up for that."

"I'll skip the pizza and ice cream for the sake of my fitness and well being, but the movie idea sounds good."

Sharleen smiled. "You better have Netflix."