Last Year Was Complicated

"Coming through."

Brett jumped out of the way as Antoine announced this as he and Jamie held onto each end of a couch. She held the door open as they carried it into the condo before Brett stuck a door jam under the door to keep it open so that she could help. She went back to her car, and slung a duffle bag full of shoes over her shoulder, then taking a large box filled with kitchenware from the back seat. She rolled her eyes when Antoine immediately took it from her arms and headed inside, so Brett grabbed a suitcase and rolled it behind her and into the condo.

As she set both bags down inside the entrance of her bedroom but out of the way of anyone's walking path Brett looked around the large bedroom. Gia had forced her to take the master bedroom with the en-suite and despite her parents also being adamant about the condo, and making it feel like home she was sure it probably never would.

Antoine stepped into the room behind her, looked around and told her, "This place is pretty great."

"Definitely an upgrade." Brett stated with a nod of her head.

Her voice must have betrayed her and showed her true feelings because Antoine wrapped an arm around her shoulder and told her firmly but softly, "They want to take care of you, it's not such a bad thing you know."

"No, I know it's not and I love them for it but I just... frankly I feel ridiculous. I get why they want this, it makes sense but... I don't know I guess like... I'm twenty-three and my parents are paying for my living expenses." Brett mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest for good measure.

Antoine smiled gently and he gave her shoulders a squeeze before he told her, "You'll get used to it, and you'll feel differently in a little bit."

Brett sighed and she changed the subject by saying, "Thanks for helping. We appreciate it."

Antoine nodded his head and said, "Any time, you know that."

He leaned down and kissed her head gently and then he left her in what was now her bedroom, alone. Brett stayed in there for a few more minutes, looking around trying to imagine her furniture in here, trying to imagine herself in here. Finally, when she couldn't take it any longer she headed out into the living room, where Jamie, Jason and Antoine were taking a break, sitting across the couch placed in the living room, drinking a beer each.

Brett dropped onto the floor next to Gia, which was when Jason asked, "Not that I mind doing this, but uh... why isn't Segs helping?"

Brett was quiet, and Gia turned her glare over at Jason, who's cheeks flushed as she said sharply, "Because that would mean he would know where we moved to, and that is not happening."

"Okay... I'll just keep my mouth shut from now on." Jason said softly.

Antoine grinned and told him, "That's probably for the best."

There was a round of laughter, and Brett smiled gratefully at Antoine. He was always so good at lightening the mood whenever it was needed. Jamie changed the subject completely by asking everyone, "Wanna take a break and go grab something to eat?"

"I'm down." Jason said, and Antoine nodded, the three of them turned their eyes to Brett and Gia expectantly.

Brett was about to say no, Gia could tell, so she answered for her, "Sounds good, we're starving."

Brett sighed and relented, shoving her feet into shoes and following them all out of the condo, locking the door behind her. They all fit into Gia's now empty early 2000's Jeep, leaving their large vehicles that were still full of furniture and boxes in the parking lot. Everyone made small talk as they drove, but Brett simply pulled her phone from her pocket to answer a text from her mother.

Hope everything's going okay for move in day. Call me tonight? Love you.

Everything's good. We're just taking a lunch break.

Brett glanced over at Gia, who had her eyes on the road as Jamie directed her through traffic to some diner he seemed to enjoy. She sent her mother another text message.

What are your plans for this weekend? I thought maybe I could come home to visit.

No plans as of yet. Just let us know and we'll make sure your room is ready.

So Brett took a quick glance at her calendar in her phone, she had no classes Thursday or Friday, and aside from a four hour shift Thursday morning she didn't work again until Monday. If she left Thursday after her shift she would get into San Antonio around four, and she could head back Monday morning. She thought maybe a little bit of mom time was just what she needed right now.

Brett tucked her phone back into the pocket of her jeans as Gia came to a stop in a parking spot outside of a diner. She took the spot in their booth next to the wall and she was glad that Antoine slipped in beside her as everyone else piled in around them, and they were giving their orders to a waitress only two minutes after walking in the door. Everyone seemed to already know what they wanted, clearly they had been here before, so Brett stuck with something simple and similar to what everyone else had ordered; bacon cheese burger, fries and an orange juice.

The conversation around her flowed between everyone with ease and Brett had to admit, she hated the way that life seemed to keep spinning after she and Tyler fought. Not that she thought it shouldn't, or that for some reason it wouldn't just be her that was so consumed with what had happened but she guessed that for some reason, despite knowing better, she hoped that just once Tyler would surprise her and show up at her door with an apology. She was desperate for him to show her that he really did give a damn about her, like he hadn't so many times before.

She was determined to stay away from him this time, he could come to her.

- - -

Brett was exhausted by the time she pulled into the driveway of her childhood home in San Antonio that afternoon. She hadn't been sleeping well as it was, but add in the fact that she had given up on trying to sleep that morning and spent two hours in the gym in their new condo complex at six that morning and then got ready and went to work before spending four and a half hours in her car on the highway meant that she was practically falling asleep now.

She got out of the car, slipped her phone into the pockets of her pants and then she grabbed her backpack from the front seat and headed up the driveway and into the house. She knocked on the door twice before opening it and calling out, "I'm home."

Patty came around the corner from the kitchen, dish rag in her hand and smiled, "Hi sweetie."

"Hi mom." Brett said softly, and the moment her mother's arms wrapped around her it was like the dam had finally broken and Brett threw her arms around her and cried. She wasn't sure how long they had stood like that; Brett crying into her mother's shoulders while she ran her hand over Brett's hair and held on tightly to her but eventually Brett pulled away, wiped at her cheeks and laughed at herself, "Sorry."

Patty smiled softly and wrapped an arm around her, guiding her into the kitchen as she said, "I figured there was a reason you wanted to come visit so I made an apple pie and I'm making your favorite mac and cheese casserole for dinner."

"Thanks." Brett mumbled as she dropped into a bar stool at the kitchen island.

Patty handed her a plate with a slice of steaming apple pie on it, and a little scoop of ice cream, before she grabbed two forks and sat down next to Brett, handing her a fork before they both took a bite of the pie. That was when Patty asked her, "Is it Tyler?"

Brett nodded, she didn't say anything. Instead she took a small piece of her pie on her fork, as well as a little bit of the ice cream and popped it into her mouth in silence.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Patty asked her, and Brett shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't really know what to say, and besides which, I know you think I'm an idiot for putting up with him so I figure what's the point in talking about it." Brett stated honestly.

Patty reached out and rubbed her back, telling her softly, "Honey I don't think you're an idiot. I could never think that about my own child you know."

Brett let out a strangled laugh, "Very funny."

With a smile her mother told her, "You're allowed to feel however you want to about him, and whatever happened. And you can always talk to me, one hundred percent free of judgement, you know that."

"I just... I went over to see why he didn't show up to dinner that night and... honestly I wish I hadn't even gone." Brett stated softly.

"What happened?"

Brett didn't answer that, instead she asked sadly, "How can I still love him so much after all of this and he doesn't even care about me at all?"

- - -

Tyler, in Florida, after playing the Panthers and winning, came out with two goals and two assists and for all intents and purposes it was a good night for him. Yet, here he was after a big win and a big performance, sitting in his hotel room at ten at night already thinking about just going to bed. That wasn't very typical of him, in fact it was very, very opposite. Usually Tyler was the first one making plans for the guys after a game like tonight, and yet he had been the first one dressed, did his thing with the media, and was the first one on and off the bus back to the hotel.

In fact, he had been like that all road trip so far.

It all came back to Brett.

He felt pretty awful about what had happened between them the week before. He had never, not once, seen that look on her face, not even in their worst of fights and that fight certainly wasn't anywhere near as explosive as they had been in the past. Tyler could remember with certainty nights where they were physically throwing dishes at each other, or when Tyler had gone through his whole house picking up any of Brett's things that had accumulated and started throwing them at her as a sign to get out of his house.

But that fight, it was different for some reason. Maybe it was because he realized that he had actually hurt her, physically not emotionally, and that wasn't the kind of guy he was no matter what he said or did. Sure, he was a grade a asshole but he wasn't that guy, he didn't get off on hurting her like that, in fact he didn't even know what in the hell had possessed him to do it in the first place but he knew that if he could go back he wouldn't have grabbed her like that, not that hard and probably not at all.

Still, it wasn't like the guilt he felt was doing anything productive for him. It didn't make him get up off of his ass and go apologize and try to make things right. It didn't make him shape up and suddenly start acting like a decent human being. It didn't even make him sent her a text to let her know he was sorry. All it did was make him feel bad, and when he spent time feeling bad about something he had done or caused it seemed to just make him make the situation worse.

Which was why he got up from the bed, threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and headed out of his hotel room. He was glad that he hadn't run into any of the guys on his way out of the hotel, and he took a cab to the closest bar to the hotel, finding a seat at the bar once he arrived. He ordered himself a beer and glanced around, his eyes drifting from one blonde head to another, he was so sick of blondes.

His eyes landed on a brunette standing with a group of her friends, who seemed to be trying to get her to do something she didn't really want to do. Tyler figured it had to do with the dance floor they were next to, with the way they kept grabbing her arm and trying to pull her forward but she remained rooted to the floor even in six inch heels, and Tyler couldn't help but let his eyes drift up her long, tanned legs that disappeared into a pair of cut off shorts. He smiled gently, just as she turned and caught his eyes and so he turned back around and counted in his head.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight-

"Is anyone sitting here?" He turned to look to his left, finding the brunette from across the room now standing next to him with a small smile. He shook his head so she sat down next to him, ordered herself some kind of cocktail and Tyler tried not to visibly roll his eyes. Brett never ordered cocktails, Brett was a beer girl, and he was sure she could probably drink more of them than he could in a night. Tyler wondered if the girl next to him was like that, or if she would be drunk by the time they were done this round.

He smiled over at her and told her, "I'm Tyler."

"Josie." She told him with a bright smile as well.

He tipped his beer bottle slightly toward the pink drink that was placed in front of her and said, "Nice to meet you Josie."

A small giggle came out of her mouth and Tyler knew he had her. Somehow, with girls like this, all he had to do was say their name and it was like hook, line and sinker.

He wasn't surprised when she leaned toward him and asked him, "Wanna get out of here?"

He thought about asking her if she wanted to finish her drink first, but the way she looked over at him made him do nothing but nod his head. He tossed a few bills down to pay for their drinks, and rolled his eyes when she grabbed his hand and lead him out of the bar and into one of the four waiting cabs on the curb outside of the bar.

He was surprised when, once the cab pulled into traffic, Josie turned to him and leaned forward to kiss him but he didn't let that surprise translate into any kind of body language other than him grabbing her hips and sliding her closer to him on the back seat as his tongue brushed against her bottom lip and then snaked into her mouth.

Tyler wondered what the driver was thinking when Josie slipped one of her legs over his and with her knee's resting on the seat on each side of his thighs Tyler wrapped his arms around her waist tightly, pulling her into him even more. He smirked against her lips as her hand wandered down his chest, her fingers grazing over the front of his jeans, before they pulled at the button and the zipper and she slipped backwards just a few inches on his thighs as her hand slipped under the waist band of his boxer briefs. She let out a small laugh as Tyler let his head fall back against the seat and he had to remind himself that they were in a cab as a breath of air slipped out of his mouth in response to her touch. Brett who?