“You up for an adventure?” Heather asked over the phone while I was at work on Thanksgiving night. The boys had flown up to DC to spend the night up there before their game on Friday evening against the Capitals.
“What kind of adventure?” I asked hesitantly.
“Black Friday shopping,” she said excitedly. “A lot of stores open at midnight, but I’ve been doing some planning and found there are actually some better deals starting when you get out of work. Our Nanny will have the kids, so it will just be a girl’s day…unless you think you will be too tired.”
“Well, I don’t work tomorrow night, so I will be staying up anyway to get back on my normal sleep schedule for a few days. Yeah, I am definitely up for an adventure,” I said with a big grin. I definitely thought this whole Black Friday thing seemed a little crazy, but Americans seemed to make a big deal of it and it just felt like I should be apart of it.
My relief came in a little early, so I was showered, changed and ready to go by 7:30am when Heather arrived at my apartment. She had a big, friendly smile on her face as I jumped in her Range Rover. I turned around to find Caroline, Vinny’s girlfriend, and a petite dark haired woman I had never met. “Oh! Olivia, you already know Caroline, but our other shopping buddy for the day is Karine Gagné. Her husband Simon Gagné was just traded from Philly to Tampa Bay
“Hallo, nice to meet you,” I said as I took the woman’s hand. She smiled sweetly and said in a thick French accent, “Very nice to meet you, too.”
It was great to finally meet some women that were genuinely nice and fun to hang out with; not that hanging out with Steven and Steve wasn’t already a blast, but having that female perspective I have been missing since I moved away from my friends in Germany
We shopped like crazy. I truly felt like I was on a shopping spree, the women were literally throwing clothing at me to try on, saying that I was going to need some nice outfits for the upcoming fundraisers and parties that the team held for the holidays.
“I thought Black Friday was for Christmas shopping?!” I whined as I plopped down with my 6 bags of clothing and food tray at Panera Bread.
“It is and that is why we have been switching it up so some of us can get stuff for the kids. We didn’t want you to get bored just clothing and toy shopping…” Caroline informed me.
“Well, I appreciate it, but I do need to buy some things for Steven, Steve and my patient, Eric.”
“Perfect because after we eat lunch and unload some of these bags, shopping for the men is next on the agenda!” Heather said excitedly as she sat down next to me, smacking her list on the table.
I was chewing on my sandwich when Caroline asked out of the blue, “So how are things going on the Steven front?”
I almost choked and I could feel myself turning every shade of red, causing Heather to give me a good healthy smack on the back. Once I swallowed the food and took a swig of my Iced Tea I said, “Um, you know…good.”
“That boy only has eyes for you,” she smiled. “The way he looks at you is the exact way Vinny used to look at me when we were young and first started hooking up. Of course he still does look at me that way, but there is something just priceless about young love.”
“Mmm, I have to agree,” Karine piped up. Karine had informed me earlier that she and Simon had been childhood sweethearts. “It sometimes seems like they will never settle down, but they love some sort of stability in their lives, so when they find a good woman they latch on fairly quickly.”
I just smiled and nodded, taking in all the information. I didn’t know what to say. I was pretty sure Heather was the only one at the table who knew all the details with my situation, but Caroline obviously had a clue after what happened on Tuesday. I took another bite of my sandwich letting all the memories from yesterday’s events flood back into my mind. Surprisingly, I did end up getting some sleep in his arms after we went for round two in the shower; I still am in awe over the fact that sex can be so good with someone that cares for you.
See, you are finally allowing yourself to realize that Andreas has never cared for you. My relationship with Andreas is not healthy. I shouldn’t have to put up with him treating me like a dog that is only good enough when he needs a friend. Steven…Steven treats me like I am a goddess, he is so gentle with me and Caroline did have a point on the way he looked at me. I have never seen that look in a man’s eyes before, but I sure as hell know how it makes me feel as if I’m the only thing in this world that can make him happy. I can only hope my eyes say the same when I look at him. But listen to me, ugh, Andreas was right, I’m allowing the whole American independence fill up my head…I just don’t know what to do. I have a duty to my family. I don’t have a choice even if I do want one…
“Earth to Olivia!” Heather pulled me back from my internal head-war, “Your phone is ringing.”
“Huh?” I said, snapping out of my trance and then realizing that it was my phone. I picked it up and looked at the caller-ID. Andreas. I took a deep breath and hit the ignore button and then hit the power button, effectively turning it off because I knew he would just keep calling until he got an answer.
Heather and Caroline looked over at me with sympathetic but proud faces as I just nodded at them and went back to finishing my lunch so that we could get back to the task at hand. Christmas shopping for our men.
“Wow, what a shitty ass game,” I grumbled as we walked out to board the bus for the airport. We had just been completely shut-out by the Washington Capitals, 0-6, effectively flushing our win-streak down the drain and taking away all the talk of 50-goals in 50-games for me. At least I don’t have to hear anymore about that…
“You heading over to Olivia’s after we get home?” Downie asked as he sat down next to me.
“I don’t know yet, probably not the best idea with being in the middle of back to back games, but I do want to see her…”
“Well how about we take over pizza and a movie or something? Unless you don’t want me around...” he faded off with a pouting lip that made him overly pathetic, giving me no chance of getting the night alone with Olivia. “Just think, if I’m there you will have to behave, which solves the back to back game dilemma,” he informed me with a big goofy smile.
I rolled my eyes, “Fiiiinnneee. Let me call her,” I growled as I pulled out my phone. A look of confusion must have passed over my face as the phone went directly to voicemail, because Downie caught on automatically.
“What’s wrong, she change her number or something?”
“No, it just went right to voicemail, so it must be off or something.”
“Oh, well we can get in touch with her when we get back to the Sunshine State
“Knock, Knock!” Downie banged on the door. I still hadn’t been able to get a hold of her on her phone and I was beginning to get worried, so we decided to just show up at her place.
“Who ist it?” her voice rang out from the other side of the door.
“Your two favorite boys!” Downie sang back in a high pitched girly voice as he batted his eyelashes in front of the door-peephole. I couldn’t help but punch him in the stomach, so he was still bent over when the door opened. I was still laughing at Steve when I looked up to find a man about Marty’s height in jeans and a long sleeve buttoned-down shirt, with thick, dark unruly hair that was topped off with a scowling face.
“Whoa!” Steve blurted out as I froze, standing there staring at the obviously annoyed man. “We leave for one day and come home to find that Olivia got a sex change…” he was going to say something more but I instinctively punched in him the stomach to silence him once more.
“Andreas, bitte geh zur Seite, damit sie reinkommen können,” Olivia pleaded from behind him with a wary smile that told me she was just as surprised to see him as we were and not very happy about it either.
The man’s face actually softened a bit, causing me to think he was probably a person who could put on a wonderful act of being sweet as pie, but a real asshole when given the chance. He backed up, giving room for Downie and me to enter the tension laden room.
Downie of course didn’t skip a beat as he stuck out his hand for Andreas to shake. “Hi! I’m Steve Downie, and this is my best friend Steven Stamkos. We have befriended Olivia over the past week and a half; she takes care of one of my best buddies on the pediatric floor at the Children’s Hospital. We just got home from DC after losing a terrible game, so we figured we’d bring over some pizza and a movie to relax for a bit.”
“Are you not professional sports players? You do not have girlfriends to spend the evenings with?” Andreas asked in perfect English with an evil raised eyebrow that made me want to deck the guy.
“Nah, we can’t find women to put up with us for longer than a week or two. Believe me, Olivia hasn’t gotten to the 2-week breaking point yet,” Steve joked as he hugged Olivia and then walked over to her kitchen, acting like he had been there a million times when it all actuality it was his first time stepping into the place. The whole scene was hilarious, taking all I had not to piss my pants.
I decided to do my part by also shaking Andreas’ hand, leaving a kiss on Olivia’s cheek and following Diggity over to the kitchen so that I could pull out some plates and cups. Olivia stood still for a moment before un-freezing and joining us. “You have no idea how good that smells,” she said with a smile and a wink to thank us for saving her. I knew she had a lot she wanted to say to us, but it obviously was not the time with Andreas still standing like a statue in the living room, most likely festering.
“So, I thought you weren’t supposed to be arriving in the States until the end of next week?” Steve piped up while he walked past Andreas with a plate full of pizza and plopped down on the couch.
Andreas just stood still. I couldn’t decide if he was just floored by how the two of us were acting or if he was thinking about how to find a hit man to murder us. Olivia walked over with her own plate and cup, sitting down on the love seat across from Steve and said, “Andreas thought it would be nice to surprise me. He had this planned all along,” she said sweetly with a smile that told me she did not find this a happy surprise.
“Oh, wow, what great boyfriend you are…” Steve said in a tone that could have easily been taken as mocking.
Andreas finally moved, but to my dismay he took a seat next to Olivia so I was stuck sitting next to Downie when all I wanted to do was grab Liv and take her far away from the evil man. “I am Olivia’s fiancé,” Andreas said plainly as he took Olivia’s cup and helped himself to a bit of her drink.
“So where is the ring?” Steve pressed.
“I do not think that is any of your damn business,” Andreas growled with his volume ramping up a bit.
Steve just held up his hands in a truce and said, “Sorry, I did not mean to upset you, friend.”
I watched as Andreas made a fist with his other hand, flexing it and unflexing it. Suddenly I was very afraid for Liv. She seemed to notice it also, strategically moving the conversation towards a more neutral area, hockey.
“So what happened tonight?” she asked, looking straight at me with eyes that made me wish I could carry her back to her bedroom and make love to her.
I sighed, putting down my empty plate, “Our defense had a major meltdown and we just couldn’t seem to get a puck past their goalie. It was almost as if someone forgot to tell us we had a game to play today.”
“I’m sorry that your streak has been broken,” she said sincerely. “You play tomorrow, correct?”
“Battle of the Sunshine State Florida
“Yeah, Hammer is right, you should come to the game,” I paused, “Both of you,” I manned up and finished, looking at Andreas to see if he had enough spine to say no.
“That’s a great idea!” Liv exclaimed as she turned to Andreas to see his expression. “Then you could meet some more of my friends; some of the women I spent the day with today!”
I could tell Andreas was not at all for this, as it was obvious he was trying to keep his cool while he once again began flexing his fist. “We will see, Olivia. I am here to spend time with you, not your friends,” he said, trying to offend us. “Besides, I don’t think I’d be into watching guys skate on the ice…”
“Oh, but it is such a wonderful game to watch and a lot more exciting than you are making it sound!” Olivia tried again.
“We will leave tickets at will-call,” Downey
Andreas huffed and nodded, “We will see.”
omg i hate andreas please update soon waiting with baited breath
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