To Sweden With Love

I spent my first few days on the island sightseeing and spending time on the beach, mostly just getting some time to myself in the sun and sand.

I had heard from Ellie a couple times, gushing about something Derick did and her stay in vacation.

To be honest, I toned her out most of the time, trying to put that life behind me, even if it was just for a month.

Patric and Ian have both tried to get a hold of me, but I ignored their calls.

The morning of Game 3, I woke up and put on a bathing suit, grabbed a towel, my sunglasses, and my book, and went down to the beach for the day.

After finally getting situated, I heard my phone ping.

i know where you are, if you don’t call me back, i will send Carl. and he is seriously pissed off right now

I sighed as I rolled my eyes at Ian.

you like me too much to do that to me

A few seconds after I sent the message, he was calling me.

‘Hey you are alive!’

I rolled my eyes as I sat back on my towel. ‘Yes, trying to soak up some sun on the beach. Why are you so eager to talk to me?’

‘You need to do something with this man, he has picked a fight with pretty much everyone since we left Pittsburgh, and we play tonight! Can you imagine how that is gonna go? Blood will be spilled Liv!’

I chuckled. ‘Ian dear, I am on vacation. I am to not have any worries right now, and you are blowing it.’

‘Seriously Liv, the guy is totally heartbroken.’

I shrugged. ‘He will get over it.’

‘I don’t think he will, but they are yelling at me to get on the bus. Are you gonna watch tonight?’

‘Man, I don’t know if I can fit it into my busy schedule.’ I joked.

He mumbled something to someone on the other end.

‘Okay mom, well thanks and I will talk to you later.’ He hurriedly said as he hung up.

What the hell was that about?

I shook my head as I threw my phone into my bag and got back to reading my book.

I was getting into the good part of the book when a frisbee landed at my feet.

“Sorry, clearly my friends have really bad aim.” the guy said as he came over for the disk.

I smiled up at him. “It’s fine. It cannot be that bad since it didn’t hit me, just landed at my feet.”

He laughed as he ran back to his friends.

A few minutes later, the frisbee was back at my feet.

“Now I think your friends are doing this on purpose.” I said laughing when he came running back my way.

“Well, they kind of are.” He said bending down. “I’m Ben.”

“Olivia.” I said as I matched his smile. “So why are your friends throwing frisbees at me?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

I put my book down and folded my arms. “Try me.”

“Okay, so we’ve noticed you out here the past couple days and they didn’t think I would come talk to you. So they have been trying to throw the frisbee over here for the past hour.”

I laughed. “Then they do have really bad aim.”

He chuckled and looked back to his friends. “Look, I need to go back to them before they make a scene. But how about we do lunch tomorrow?”

I bit my lip. “I don’t think so.”

“Oh, you have a boyfriend, I see.”

Not quite, I thought.

“No, I am just on a me vacation and just wanna enjoy my time.”

He nodded and smiled. “Well then I guess I will see you around Olivia.”

I watched as he ran back to his friends and start talking to them. When they looked down my way, I pretended to be into my book.

I guess there couldn’t be anything wrong with a little eye candy for a month.

------------------

Around dinnertime, I went to the hotel bar and asked them to turn on the game and opened a tab.

Three drinks and one period in, the Penguins were tied 1-1.

As I ordered my next drink, I heard a familiar voice.

“I see we meet again.” Ben said as he sat down beside me and motioned to put my drink on his tab.

I rolled my eyes. “Are you following me?”

“Me? Never. We’re staying here as well. Who’s winning?” He asked taking a sip of his beer.

“Tied. End of the first. Pittsburgh wins, we go for the cup tomorrow.”

He looked at me with intrigue. “We? So I take it you are a Pittsburgh girl?”

I nodded. “Born and raised, and-” I said lowering my voice motioning him to come closer, “I’m friends with most of the team.”

He laughed. “So why are you here and not at the game?”

I groaned as I took a drink. “Long story.”

He motioned for another round. “I got all night.”

I finished off my drink and told him the entire story. By the time I was done, I had already missed half of the second period.

“So let me get this straight, you left a guy at the altar for another guy, who you’re running from cause you don’t want to face your feelings?”

I moaned and put my head on my arms. “Well when you put it that way, I really am a horrible person.”

He chucked. “You girls sure have a special way of handling things.”

I chugged my drink. “Yeah well, what can I say, I am a special type of girl.”

I went to get off the barstool and I stumbled as he caught me.

“Have enough to drink there Liv?” He laughed as he helped me stand up.

I pushed myself away from him and somehow made it to my room without running into anything.

I threw myself on the bed and turned on the television to catch the rest of the game.

Next thing I know, I was waking up just in time to see the Sharks overtime goal.

“Well fuck.” I mumbled as i made my way to the mini bar.

My phone dinged, signaling the losing text from Ellie.

we lost Liv. pretty sure you had something to do with this.

My jaw dropped.

wtf is that supposed to mean?

you know damn well what it is supposed to mean

I rolled my eyes.

whatever

I tossed my phone back on the bed and went out out my patio with a bottle of wine.

I enjoyed the evening air and the sounds of the ocean for about three-quarters of the bottle when I decided to do the unthinkable.

I stumbled back into my room, picked up my phone, and dialed.

“Liv?”

I hiccupped. “Carl.”

“Are you drunk?”

I giggled. “No are you?”

“Liv, what’s going on? You okay?” he asked as he told someone in the background he would be right back.

“No! I’m the reason you guys lost!” I exclaimed.

He sighed. “Liv, you didn’t have anything to do with-”

“Yes I did. I made you fight with your teammates, causing issues. It’s all my fault.”

“Olivia, how did you know about that?”

“Ian told me and-”

“Wait,” he interrupted. “Ian told you?”

“Yeah, we’ve been friends for awhile now. Anyways-”

“So wait, that girl he was with in the garage, that was you?”

I took a breath. “Carl, I am a horrible person.”

“Ya think?”

I started to get offended. “Seriously? You ruined my wedding!”

He raised his voice. “How? All I did was write a note. I didn’t show up and throw you over my shoulder and kidnap you. You did the ruining.”

I slammed my glass down on the table. “You made me fall in love with you!”

He sighed. “Liv, can this wait until later? I am out with some friends.”

I gave a short laugh. “You know what Carl? No this can’t. Cause this is the last time we will talk. Goodbye.”

I hung up and threw my phone across the room as I fell on my bed.

Soon enough, I was in a drunken unconsciousness.

---------------------------

The next morning, I woke up and tried to shade my eyes from the sun as I got up to shut the shades.

After I got it to be darker in my room, I saw my phone blinking in the corner.

How did that get there?

Then it hit me, the drinking, the conversation with Carl.

“Oh my God, what did I do?” I asked myself as I picked up my phone.

Shockingly, I only had one message.

And it was from Carl.

I gulped and opened up the message to see a pic of him with some girl in bed naked, with the message ‘Fuck you’ typed underneath.

I instantly fell to the ground in tears.

What have I done?