Time Stands Still

The two private investigators arrived to the house of Tyler Seguin. They pulled to the side of the driveway. The lot was empty; Tyler’s car wasn’t in the driveway. Instantly, Val and Reilly looked to one another, with concern. They weren’t sure what to do. They had been given strict orders by the Boss to talk to Tyler about his online etiquette. But how could they, when the man wasn’t even there?

They shared a look and half considered turning around and leaving. But luckily, they didn’t have to wait for very long. The familiar boom of a car’s bass sounded, just before the car pulled into the driveway. The black jeep jerked to a halt, turned off, and the young Dallas Star forward climbed out. He stood with his hands on his hips staring at the strange car. He mouthed some kind of explicit word, before heading off to see what was going on.

Val looked to Reilly, and they got out, as Tyler walked forward toward them. He was skeptical, but not in a bad mood at all.

“How can I help you Nichy and uh…?”

“Reilly! The other part of your blockbuster trade who surprised everyone!”

“Oh yeah, the guy who stole my best friend Marchy from me!” Tyler frowned for a second, evidently upset with the Bruin winger.

“I didn’t ‘steal’ him!” Reilly was beginning to tense up. His fingers were clenched together in a ball, tightly. He looked as though he might knock someone out with his fist. He wasn’t particularly happy with the accusation that he had “stolen” this guy’s best friend. The young man frowned, narrowing his eyes and knitting his eyebrows together, darkly.

Tyler looked at him and cocked his head to the side. He stared at the smaller man, cracking a sly smile. “Relax man, I was kidding! We’re cool!”

Reilly loosened up, unclenching himself. He instead moved to fold his arms. Tyler tapped him on the shoulder, pushing him back a tiny bit.

“So, what are you two doing here?” the Dallas Star centre eventually questioned.

“We need to talk!”

“Yeah!” Val exclaimed, smiling his innocent, typical smile.

Tyler turned on his heels and motioned for them to follow him inside of his house. He led them up the driveway, past his car and into a side door, that opened up to his living room, right before the kitchen. He walked in and immediately headed over to his couch and sat down. He looked at them, flipping his Dallas hat backwards on his head like a cool kid.

Val joined him, sitting down, joyfully, beside him, while Reilly moved a bit slower. Tyler and Val shared a secret handshake with one another, chuckling. The Bruin closed the door behind him and gradually made his way over to the couch. Val got back up, seeing that his partner was remaining standing. The two agents stood before the man known as Tyler Seguin.

“Alright, I’m all ears. Speak to me boys!”

“Listen, we are concerned about you, Tyler,” Reilly began, looking the hockey player right in the eyes. “The HDA…”

“The HDA shouldn’t be concerned about me! There are better ways for them to be using their time, like hunting down the person who hacked into my freaking Twitter account last season!”

“Does it look like we really want to be showing sympathy toward you? We don’t!”

Val made various attempts to look as stern as Reilly, but he ended up just cracking his sweet smile once again, unable to be upset or angry.

“Then why are you people sticking your nose into my personal business?”

“It was our Boss, he wanted us to talk to you. He wanted us to speak to you.”

“About what then, spit it out Smitty!? I don’t have all day!”

“About your online etiquette! There I said it!”

Tyler was done playing things cool. He was beginning to grow irritated. “The HDA shouldn’t be snooping into my personal stuff man, that’s wrong and a total invasion!”

“Well can you at least just watch what you say?” Val asked, smiling.

“What, is your “Boss” my father or something?”

“No.”

“Then he shouldn’t be telling you two to come and talk to me about my online habits! Who is this man anyway?”

“His name is Antti Niemi and he doesn’t screw up. If you are in serious danger, because of these “tweets” and “texts” and online messages, then he has every right to send us over here to confront you!”

Tyler jumped to his feet. He stuck his face to Reilly’s. Their noses brushed one another. “Get out! Пока! (Bye-bye!) Right Valeri?”

Val frowned finally, glaring at his linemate. Why was Tyler being incredibly hostile toward them?

Reilly shoved Tyler backward, on instinct. “Fine! We’ll just tell Nemo that you refused our help and that you’re a stubborn, cakesniffing, rich, pretty boy, who abuses the rights of his freedom!”

The Bruin grabbed his companion by the arm and briskly walked off, heading back to the exit door, dragging him behind. They paused at the sound of Tyler’s harsh tone. Reilly had a hold of the door handle.

“Tell him that then! And also add on, to mind his own business! I’m a grown man and he isn’t my father!”

With that said, Reilly swung the door open and then slammed it shut, in fury. “He’s SO stubborn!” He stomped his foot on the ground.

The two men hurried back to their black FBI-style vehicle, with the HDA.’s logo on the side of it. It had been a wasted trip to see Tyler. They would go back to their booked hotel a few miles away, call Antti Niemi and report the news to him. They had tried to confront Tyler, but he had only shot them both down. It wasn’t like they’d been rude to him. They were simply following through with their case and command and simply attempted to give him a warning.

And little did they know, that trouble was a-Bruin. (See what I did there!?)