Promises to Keep

STARS CEO JIM LITES RIPS INTO JAMIE BENN, TYLER SEGUIN: IT'S PISSING ME OFF.. WE ARE GETTING TERRIBLE PLAY FROM OUR TOP TWO PLAYERS

The title stabbed Tyler in the heart like a knife. He kept reading the article, getting more confused, and more angry the longer he kept reading it. He knew Tayla had to report the facts; it was her job to write articles. She didn't make the comments; she simply summarized them into one, neat article that caused so much rage to consume him.

"We pay these players to be the best players on our team; and they are consistently out-efforted and outperformed by everybody else's best players." Tyler read it and grumbled, knowing he was currently the leader on his team in points, and Jamie was just behind him. Though they led their team, they were far from the top; he was tied for 57th. His scoring percentage was the worst of his career, and it seemed like he wasn't getting any puck luck.

Tyler slammed Tayla's laptop closed, immediately regretting slamming it so hard. He sat in the kitchen; alone. Because Tayla was the one who had given him the heads up, and because the comments had caught him so off guard, a fight ensued. He knew it wasn't her fault; and felt terrible for taking out his anger on her. It was Jim who made the comments, after all.

He hadn't spoken to him in ages; since the end of last season to be exact, and neither had Jamie. Neither Tyler nor Jamie were aware these comments were going to come out.
He had received a heads up from his coach, not that he needed it; he had received a heads up from, of course, Tayla. Before the GM or even the coach knew the statement was made, Tayla had already known; and the conversation was fifty shades of awkward.

"Um. Hey Ty," Tayla greeted, as a smiling Tyler walked into her office. She had just finished typing up one of the worst articles she had ever written, in terms of Tyler, that was. The CEO of the Stars had called both Tyler and Jamie out; and to Tayla, the comments were petty, and unnecessary. She figured she understood the motive; light a fire under their ass, ignite more passion into their game. Going public, especially in this day and age, didn't seem like the appropriate way to do it; at least, not to Tayla.

"Hey, you okay?" Tyler asked, sensing Tayla felt a little awkward.

"Uh- yeah. Is Jamie around?" Tayla asked, feeling like he deserved to know about what was about to happen.

"I'm sure he's still around- why?" Tyler asked, now becoming concerned.

"Can you ask him to come in here for a sec? There's something I want to talk to the both of you about- ASAP" Tayla made sure she emphasized the ASAP bit. She felt they needed to hear it from someone before the media took the story and rolled with it.

"Yeah- yeah I'll text him" Tyler pulled out his phone, telling Jamie to come ASAP. "But can you tell me what's going on? Is everything okay?" Tyler asked, sitting in the chair across the desk from his girlfriend.

"Everything is- well, I mean it's fine" Tayla fumbled over her words.

"Hey Ty- got your text, what's up?" Jamie came jogging into the room, clearly a little out of breath. "Tay, is everything okay?" he then turned to Tayla, who gestured to him to sit next to Tyler.

"Close the door" Tayla instructed, and Jamie obliged, before taking the seat next to Tyler.

"Can you tell us now what the hell is happening?" Tyler asked, rather frantically.

"Yes" Tayla nodded her head, wondering how the hell she was going to say this. "Some comments were made today, made very publicly that I wanted you to be aware of before the media shit storm ensues" Tayla chose her words carefully. Both Tyler and Jamie sat in their seats, silently, so Tayla continued.

"Obviously there's been some talk about the team's performance" Tayla began, and Tyler and Jamie frowned, but nodded. "Well, it seems like Jim's got a little- erm, 'ballsy'?" Tayla wasn't sure how to phrase it.

"Can we just cut to the chase?" Tyler snapped, scaring Tayla slightly.

"Fine." Tayla snapped back just as aggressively. "Jim called the two of you out for playing terribly" she began, and Tyler and Jamie simply looked at her, confused. "He said it pisses him off that nobody is saying what is completely obvious to him: we are getting terrible play from our top two players. If the both of you don't lead, you won't succeed. He's tired of getting e-mails from the owner asking what the hell is going on with the two top players" Tayla ended, though he did continue to rip on them quite a bit more.

"Did you write an article?" Jamie asked, and Tayla nodded, glad he wasn't freaking out and reacting like Tyler did. "Can I read?" he asked, and she slid the paper across the table. She slid two copies; one to each of them. She tried to read their facial expressions, but she wasn't able to. After a terrible Christmas, between running into Jason, and dealing with her sister, she was glad to come back home to Dallas, where it was just her and Tyler. Of course things were fine until this moment; when Tayla decided to break the news of the comments made about them. She didn't want to be the person to do it; but she knew they would both be pissed if she didn't at least warn them, especially since she was told to write an article about it.

"Wow" Jamie finally ended, putting the paper down, looking defeated. "I mean, obviously we know we aren't performing or producing like we'd like to..." he trailed off, his eyes just searching for an answer. "But-" he cut himself off, regaining his composure. He breathed heavily, closing his eyes.

"Well that's fucking nice" Tyler threw the paper on the desk. "I'm aware I haven't been scoring like I did last year, but is he for fucking real?" Tyler asked, raging. "Thanks for writing this" he then turned to Tayla, snapping forcefully.

"Dude- she's doing her job" Jamie turned to Tyler, sensing he was a lot angrier about this than he was. "She didn't say any of this stuff" he pointed out.

"Doesn't mean she had to write about it" Tyler snapped back.

"I was just doing what I was asked" Tayla defended softly.

"Exactly- and just because we aren't doing ours, doesn't mean she shouldn't be doing hers" Jamie pointed out. He was angry about the comments too; who wouldn't be? He was called out, in front of the entire world, for not playing well enough. He knew he wasn't playing to his potential; he wanted to be better; he needed to be better.

"Whatever" Tyler grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Look, just because he made those comments, doesn't mean-"

"Just stop" Tyler interrupted Tayla, who looked at him, shocked. "You wrote this piece of shit- just stop" he huffed, and stormed out of the office, leaving Tayla and Jamie alone, feeling stunned.

Was Tyler an asshole for how he reacted? Absolutely. He shouldn't have taken his anger out on Tayla; he was just very taken aback from the comments; he wasn't expecting it. Now Tayla slept upstairs, haven't spoken to Tyler since he stormed out of her office only hours ago.

"Can't sleep?"

Her voice startled Tyler out of his thoughts.

"No, I can't" Tyler muttered.

"I can't either" Tayla confessed, feeling bad about the article, but still feeling angry with Tyler.

"That's my fault" Tyler frowned, apologizing. "I shouldn't have freaked out at you the way I did. You were only doing your job" Tyler sighed. "I'm sorry, Tay"

"I know you are" she sighed heavily. "It was some pretty rude stuff he said; I know I'd be angry too" Tayla affirmed, approaching Tyler. "I know you're upset; but it's your response now that he's looking for. Show him how damn wrong he is" Tayla clarified when Tyler looked confused.

"I know I'm not playing the best- but we're a team, you know? It's a team sport. It can't be just Jamie and I- though we both know we've got to be better" he sighed, Tayla sitting beside him, rubbing his back lightly. "I'm lucky to have you" he whispered, resting his head on her shoulder and closing his eyes.

"I know you are" Tayla replied smugly, and Tyler rolled his eyes.

"I love you" he smiled.

"I love you too"