Hooked on a Feeling

“God damn it.” Carey Price muttered, walking quickly through the doors of the Bell Center. He was going to be late. Again. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed long red hair and a leather jacket.

“Please!” A woman’s voice rang. “I have to talk to Lars Eller! He’s about to make a huge mistake!”

“Ma’am, if – “

“Do I look like a Ma’am to you?”

“Fine. Miss. I can’t let you past this point.”

“But – “

“I will remove you – “

Carey hesitated. “Annalise?”

The girl turned around. She looked a lot like Annalise, but it wasn’t her.”

“Sorry.” Carey muttered. “I was mistaken.”

“No! I’m her sister, Olivia. I have to talk to Lars! And this … man…won’t let me!”

Carey sighed, knowing she was probably about to call everyone’s favorite security guard a mall cop. “Ivan, she’s fine. Come on, I’ll take you to him.”

Olivia ran over and fell into step next to the goalie. “Where is Annalise anyway?” Carey asked.

“That’s what I have to talk to Lars about. Why do you call her Annalise?”

“It’s how Lars introduced her. Why? What do you call her?”

“Ann. She hates it.”

Carey laughed and led her to the locker room. When they arrived, he pushed open the door.

“Everyone decent? Got a lady looking for Eller!”

But inside, no one was getting changed for practice. Subban, Tindori, Pacioretty, and Gallagher were playing poker.

“Didn’t you get the text?” Subban asked. “Coach postponed practice. Apparently. He wants to talk to us.”

Carey let Olivia in. “Phone’s out of charge. Where’s Eller?”

“Not here, yet. Hello.”

“Annalise’s sister. Olivia.”

Olivia looked at the game. “Can I join?”

Twenty minutes later when Lars did arrive, the teammates who were playing were not happy. At first, when he saw the redhead in the locker room, he thought it was Annalise. She wouldn’t pick up his calls. Maybe she had changed her mind.

But Annalise wasn’t that forgiving.

“Olivia?” Lars frowned at her. “What’s going on?”

She looked up at him. “Poker.”

He laughed. “What did you win?”

“Around fifty bucks.”

Lars smirked at his teammates. “Why’d you let her play?”

“We assumed she didn’t know how to play. Annalise doesn’t play.” Subban supplied.

“Oh, no, she hates cards.” Olivia said, looking up from counting her winnings. “Don’t put her on a pool table though. She’s a shark.”

“We know.” Pacioretty sighed. “Should have known when the first thing she says is, ‘Remind me how to play this game again?’”

“Classic Ann.”

Lars was frowning at Olivia again. “Why are you here?”

“Need to talk to you. It’s about Annalise.”

Lars nodded. “Alright.”

“Let’s go somewhere private. Outside, maybe?”

Lars led her back outside the stadium, where she immediately lit a cigarette.

“Don’t tell Annalise.” Olivia said, taking a drag. “I’m down playing the habit so she doesn’t flip out.”

“Your sister doesn’t want to talk to me anyway.”

“Well, tell me why.”

And Lars told her everything. About Tess, how he felt, how he used Casanova to stay close to Annalise. Thanksgiving. What happened at his apartment. Everything.

And when he finished, Olivia was shaking her head. “Lars, you are a fucking idiot.”

“I know.” He looked at her. “How do I fix it?”

Olivia scoffed. “I have half a mind to tell you to go fuck yourself.”

“Olivia. Please, I want to fix it.”

“No, you don’t get to give me bullshit.” Olivia said, shaking a finger at him. “I’ve watched my sister go through a lot of guys. Some, in the end, liked her more than she liked them, so she broke their hearts and left. Some couldn’t even being to date her because they were so terrified of how beautiful and smart and good she was.

“And then you came along. And I thought, hey, finally someone who might just be good enough for her. Someone who’s better than all that.”

“How can you say that?” Lars asked incredulously. “I tried to cheat on my girlfriend with your sister. How can you say a cheater is good enough for her?”

“Because. You kept yourself from doing that until you honestly could not help yourself. And she made the first move. I know the way you look at Ann, Lars. There’s no way you’re still in love with Tina or whatever the hell her name is. What I don’t get is why you don’t dump her.”

“I’ve been with her for a long time. It’s not something that you just end. Tess is a good person, a good woman. I don’t want to hurt her.”

Olivia shook her head. “You’re right. You’re not good enough for my sister.”

“What?” He could have sworn she was trying to talk him up.

“You’re a fucking pussy. Can’t even go after what you want in your life. Too afraid of change.”

“I’m not afraid of change.”

“Oh yeah? Then prove it.” She stomped out her cigarette. “Later, Lars.”

Lars watched the redhead walk away with a frown. Olivia must really care about her sister. Or at least, understand exactly how much trouble Annalise went through to help her and want to repay her somehow.

“Olivia!” Lars shouted after her. “If I broke up with Tess, would Annalise take me?”

“I don’t know.” Olivia called back. “But isn’t that sort of the point?”

So that was the deal, Lars realized. But he had already known it for a long time. Stay with Tess, get married in a few years, and settle into monotony, trying to forget about anything that might have been better. Or take a chance and plunge into something unknown, pray that one day, eventually, Annalise would take him.

He watched Olivia’s red hair bounce in the winter sun, the exact same shade as her sister’s. Olivia was right. He was fucking terrified.

Really there wasn’t a safe choice, or a good one. It came down to what he honestly, really wanted. And that, at least, he knew.

~*~

Lars pounded up the stairs to the Richards sisters apartment. It had taken him a month to break up with Tess, simply because he could never catch her at home. She deserved better than a phone call.

Then Annalise wouldn’t return his calls. He hoped she hadn’t moved on. It was January, though.
Lars pounded on the door. Please, be free. He’d do anything.

The door swung open to reveal Olivia. She took one look at his tight face and the bright bouquet of wildflowers in his hands. She gasped and put her hand over her mouth. “Oh, Lars, you finally did it!”

“Where’s Annalise?” he asked.

Olivia sighed and shook her head. “She’s in New Jersey for her best friend’s wedding.”

“Fuck.” Lars seemed to deflate, backing up to lean against the door behind him.

“Come inside.” Olivia said, holding the door open wider. “You look like you went through hell to get here. I’ll make a pot of coffee and we can talk strategy.”