Lies

"And how are you doing today?" Sharleen asked as she walked down the snow and ice covered sidewalk. She let out a screech as she almost slipped and fell on her butt. She could hear his laughter on the other end of the phone, making her smile and warm up. There was no doubt his laugh was one of her favorite sounds.

"I'm doing good."

"Work's going well?" Sharleen stopped outside of the Cairbou Coffee, where she had recently gotten a job at. She needed the money now that one of her roommates moved out and a cafe a few blocks from her house seemed decent.

Darcy bit his lip. "Yeah, I'll be home tonight. But you can't come over tonight or tomorrow." He hated lying to her about his job, but when she never brought up that she knew who he was or even payed attention to hockey, he took advantage of it by not telling her. She was becoming one of his best friends and he didn't want it to get ruined because of his status.

"I'm at work. I'll talk to you later, Darc." She hung up on him, not even letting him say goodbye. She had learned he didn't like people treating him like a baby. She didn't know why saying goodbye was considered babying him, but he took offense to it. She figured it had something to do with his ex.

Sharleen walked into the back, hanging up her coat and putting her bag in a stall. A co-worker, Jessie, smiled as she leaned against the wall. Jessie and Sharleen were the only two working since it was around six, and the only busy hours were in the morning or around lunch. They'd work until lockup, with was at ten.

They mostly talked, sitting at one of the tables and when a customer would arrive they would act professional and get what the customer ordered.

"What are you doing tonight?" Jessie asked and flicked through channels on the flat screen hanging up on the wall. She stopped on MTV.

"Considering it's Wednesday, probably nothing but going to bed."

She nodded, agreeing. They continued to watch the marathon of Catfish until they had to lockup. Only two people had came in, so they really had to do nothing for the entire four hours except clean. It was somewhat relaxing for Sharleen. She was able to work a little on a paper, while Jessie watched TV.

"I'm going to bring a blanket tomorrow," Jessie joked with a small roll of her eyes. "See ya!" She called and headed in the other direction.

Sharleen waved back and pulled out her phone. She bit her lip, deciding whether or not to call him. He said he'd be back that night, and Sharleen guessed he would already be home. Darcy was becoming a daily thing for her, she enjoyed talking to a guy who actually seemed to care about her well being and daily plans. It was nice.

"Hello?" Darcy said with uncertainty when he answered. Sharleen swallowed at his reaction to her call, she thought he would seem more enthused than that.

"Hey if you can't talk that's fine."

"What? No!" He insisted. "I want to talk. I'm just really tired, sorry," he said sheepishly, blushing as he tried to hide his face in his sweatshirt. He was walking down the airport and his teammates were right by him. He still got caught. Charlie Coyle laughed at him, pointing and yelling very loud that he was blushing. "Shut up." He rolled his eyes, forgetting he was talking to Sharleen.

"Who's that?" She asked with a look on her face. She pushed open the door to her apartment, seeing Bridget typing on her laptop. She gave a peace sign, not tearing her eyes from the glowing screen.

"Oh, just some friends."

"I thought you were at work," Sharleen answered defensively. She didn't like being lied to, especially if the people were her friends.

"Yeah, they're some co-workers."

Darcy had said he worked at a business office, saying he had to travel quite frequently for it. It was a last minute, on the spot scenario he had to come up with one morning. He wasn't very good at thinking when it comes to the morning hours.

Though she believed it, he still wasn't out of the clear. Darcy Kuemper isn't some normal name like Jake Johnson, it was out of the ordinary. Sharleen could hear his name on the TV, see his jersey in the stores, go to a game, the list could go on.

"Okay. Are you sure I can't come over at all tomorrow? Even for lunch?"

Darcy swallowed. "Sorry, I have to work again." He was met with silence. He really wanted to go see Sharleen since he hadn't in a while. "How about I stop by around 3. You have a hour break before the next class," he stated triumphantly, looking at the calender on his phone.

Sharleen smiled and nodded. "I'd love that. See you then Darc."

***

Sharleen was laughing so hard, she swore she was going to die from lack of oxygen. Darcy stayed determined, grabbing her sides and wiggling his fingers, trying to get her to hand over the remote. She still clutched it to her chest, not letting him switch the channel at all. It was her favorite movie and he could not do that.

"Just give it to me, I promise I won't change it!" Darcy pleaded helplessly. He leaned back, looking at the girl beside him as she still was gasping for air.

She shook her head fiercely, then stuffed the remote in her bra while sticking her tongue out. She figured she won, thinking he wouldn't dare go near her chest area. The blonde smirked and narrowed his eyes at her before pouncing on her. He pinned her hands above and slowly inched his hand closer to the inside of her shirt. Her heart was beating wickedly and she could feel sweat starting to build on her forehead.

In an instant Darcy had reached in her bra and snatched the remote. He relaxed back on the couch, trying to relax his brain and heart. It felt so weird for him to be that close to a woman like that again. He had to calm down from the sudden rush he was feeling.

Sharleen tried to breath normally through her nose. She rubbed her eyes before standing up and walking to his kitchen, wanting to get a drink of water. She grabbed the glass, filling it, and chugging it down in a matter of seconds. When she walked back to the couch he had changed the channel, and that felt like her que to leave. It was getting late anyways, and she had classes the next morning.

Darcy walked her down and they stopped in the lobby. He smirked as he grabbed her waist and brought her into his body and felt as she wrapped her arms around his torso. He was so tall she probably would never reach his neck. They hugged for a few minutes, longer than usual but neither minded, and soon the manager cleared his throat. The two turned around, seeing the man smiling and shaking his head. A couple of days ago he had hassled them about PDA, and how they cannot do it in his lobby.

"Now listen," he had said with a point of his finger, "I don't want to see any excessive kissing, hugging or hand holding. You here me, Kuemper?"

"But we're not even dating," they had both said helplessly.

Sharleen waved to both men before walking out of the fancy apartment building. She lived about ten minutes away from him, it was reasonable, and sometimes Darcy had said to just pack some clothes and she could stay with him for nights when she was over. He didn't like when she was driving on the icy roads at night.

When she arrived back home, she knew texting Darcy to tell him she made it home safely was a good idea. He responded almost immediately, saying that was good. She snorted and rolled her eyes as she walked up the stairs to her room. She peaked into her roommate's room and saw her already passed out on her stomach.

Throughout the last few weeks, Sharleen definitely noticed that Darcy had been somewhat more clingy. He was more into hugging her or having his arm around her. It felt nice, finally someone that showed Sharleen off, even though they weren't technically together. But he had been more worried, making sure she was always okay. He called and texted her more, too.

One time he had called her on a Saturday night, he sounded like he was crying, but when she came over to his apartment he was completely fine and on his laptop. She looked to see if there was any signs of him crying, but she had just noticed his eyes were a little red, which didn't give her enough evidence to ask him.

***

Darcy hummed as he slid on his shorts and a shirt. He brushed through his hair, getting kicked out of the bathroom by Marco Scandella. He went into the locker room and saw Mikael Granlund clicking and pressing on his phone. Panic took over as he picked up his pace to his stall.

"Hey what are you doing?" Darcy asked and looked down at the screen he was on. It was his text messages with Sharleen and he saw that she had texted him and said she was going out of town for the weekend. He decided to be disappointed about it later.

"She's cute," Granny said, earning a glare from the goalie. Charlie 'oohed' and leaned over Darcy's shoulder. He easily grabbed the phone and tapped on her picture.

The picture was of a selfie she took. She was laying on his couch, actually spamming him to be funny as he made them dinner. He picked his favorite one out of the hundred.

"Yeah, who is this?" He said it loud enough to gain half of the locker room's attention, and soon the whole room was hushed as they stared at the young goalie. Darcy mumbled, not actually saying anything as he stuffed his phone back in his pocket. He grabbed his bag, determined to leave this situation. "If she's not you're girlfriend I'm sure Nino over there would jump her."

Nino barked out a laugh before winking. "You know the ladies love me."

Darcy grumbled and continued on out, ignoring the smirks that were shot his way. He knew if he told them they were just friends they'd want to meet her, after claiming to know he was lying and that they were actually dating. And he couldn't risk her meeting any of the guys. A familiar face could create dozens of questions. In Darcy's head, questions were not a good thing.

"Hey," Jason caught up to him, grabbing onto his shoulder. "Is she the girl you slept with a while ago after..." he trialed off and scratched the back of his neck. Darcy never said he didn't sleep with Sharleen, actually no one ever asked. So he just nodded. "And now what? Friends with benefits, more than friends, what?"

"Just friends, actually. I like her company." He felt the need to tell Jason about him not coming clean to her. It had been aching to come out lately, and with all the lies already told he could not confess to Sharleen now. "I would have you all meet her but, the truth is, she doesn't exactly know about the whole hockey thing."

"What?" Jason exclaimed. Darcy wasn't sure how he was feeling about that.

"She never said she knew who I was. I liked that she didn't make a big deal of me and so I didn't tell her."

Jason looked away. "But you never told her any more things? Like a fake job?"

Darcy nervously chuckled and he suddenly was guilty. If his own teammate was beginning to call him out on it he wasn't sure what Sharleen would do if she ever found out. "I said I worked at a business. Nothing more though."

Jason sighed. "Well good luck with that." He started to his car, ignoring Darcy's calls to him about him being an ass.