[seven]

So, when I realized that they would have to take a cab home from the bar, I died laughing, seriously. Anytime I started writing anything about it, I just started laughing harder. So.. I avoided it all together. Sorry, I just couldn't do it. haha Once again, no proof reading. :-S

Got it in here twice though.. Whoo, I'm proud of myself. :-)

Peydon's POV

I keep my head ducked low as he tugs me out of the bar. Oddly, I feel like a five year old about to get scolded. All of his movements are intense and rigid, almost as if he might explode at any second. We finally get outside, and I already feel a lot safer. At least until I turn to face him as he paces the ground frantically. I pull my coat tighter around me before tying it closed and then pull my arms back behind my back, my head bowing uncontrollably as I bite my bottom lip as he continues to fume. What he's so mad about I have no idea, but I feel as if it's my fault anyways.

"Are you okay?" I ask quietly, just loud enough to grab his attention. He stops pacing and looks at me, almost as if he needs a few more seconds to compose himself before answering. He takes a deep breath and then nods his head once.

"Do you live close by, or do we need to get a cab," he asks in a strained voice, almost sounding as if he's still struggling to remain calm.

"I'm not far," I answer while pointing behind me, indicating the direction I live in. "Thanks for earlier, but I can manage from here," I continue before giving him a small smile and turning around to leave. He reaches out and grabs my arm, catching me by surprise.

"I'm not letting you walk by yourself." I open my mouth to object, be he raises his arm, cutting me off. "Humor me, if you will," he says with a small smile before sticking his arm out like an old fashioned gentleman. I roll my eyes before sticking my arm through his as we both start to walk. We fall into silence as our steps fall into pattern as we walk the short distance to the apartment I share with Shelby. I think about asking why he was so irritated earlier, but I bite my tongue every time I about have the courage to say something. Finally, I can't take it anymore and I speak up.

"Why are you mad at me?" I almost whisper as I divert my eyes to the ground, thinking counting the cracks in the sidewalk would be way better than watching the intensity appear in his eyes again. He stops walking, so I finally look up at him only to find a surprised expression on his face instead of the one I had been anticipating.

"I'm not mad at you," he replies. I give him a look as if to say 'Really..?' so he continues. "It just.. irritates me when guys think they can do whatever the hell they want, especially after they've been told to stop." I look into his eyes, wanting nothing more to call bullshit on him, but all I find is sincerity, so I turn and continue walking, him following me step for step.

"This is me," I say quietly when we reach the door to our apartment complex. He nods his head, and then continues to follow me inside. I think about telling him he's not coming with me, but I keep my mouth shut once again as we head to the elevator. Once inside we stand on opposite sides, starring at each other, almost daring the other to look away first, calling the other out or prodding to the other to blink. It's not until the elevator dings that we stop looking at each other. I make the first move and step out, him following after me quickly. As we approach the door to our apartment, I finally come to a realization.

"My key is in my purse," I say matter of factly while looking straight at Patrick.

"Okay," he says while a confused look crosses his face as he kind of shrugs his shoulders. I shake my head before rolling my eyes at him and raise my arms, signaling that I have no purse with me. His eyes light up as if the light bulb went off in his mind, and I find myself rolling my eyes at him again. I shove my hands in my pockets, hoping that the key will magically appear, but all I pull out is twenty cents that I throw down on the ground in frustration. I try shaking the handle on the door, hoping that just maybe it will open under the powers of my mind, but when it doesn't I bang my head lightly on the door. "Why don't you just call Shelby?" he finally asks with a small chuckle after watching me.

"I'll give you that one, I didn't think of that," I mumble before reaching for my phone. I dial her number, but it goes straight to her voice mail.

"Want me to try Jon?" he asks while sitting down on the ground next to the door, leaning back against the wall. He pats the ground next to him, and I give in, knowing it could be a long night as I shake my head yes. He whips out his phone, but after he closes it quickly I can only infer it's because of the same reason. We sit in silence for I don't know how long before he finally speaks up. "You could come back to my place," he offers.

"No thank you, I'm not that drunk," I mutter, causing him to laugh at me. We sit a while longer before he speaks up again.

Patrick's POV

Watching him place his hands all over her, it took ever ounce of control I had not to wipe that smirk off his face. Even after I had gotten her outside, I still had to take a few seconds to calm down. And okay, so she might have turned me down, but she hasn't asked me to leave yet, so I'm not giving up hope yet.

"Did you have fun at the game?" I ask, trying to break the ice a little. I see her eyes light up, and I know automatically what her answer is going to be before she gives her head a little nod, a smile lighting up her face.

"Those seats were amazing," she gushes before laughing a little bit. Okay, so as much as she wants to deny it, she's a little drunk.

"Never sit that close before?" I continue, loving how her head is now resting on my shoulder as we continue to sit in the hallway. One of her neighbors walks down the hallway, glancing at us before disappearing into his apartment.

"Are you kidding me? I don't have two dimes to rub together, much less money to throw away on seats like that," she continues, but I can tell by the tone of her voice that she's becoming more tired as we sit here, so I cut the conversation off there. Within a matter of minutes, I can hear that her breathing has become even and after glancing down at her, I confirm that she is in fact asleep before lightly leaning my head on hers and relishing this moment; she's actually not fighting me right now.

[six]

This whole Kaner/cabbie thing is breaking my heart. :-( lol I'm hoping for Kaner to have some sort of press conference soon. Either way, his fault or not, I'll adore him all the same; I just need to hear what happened come from his mouth. One again, didn't proof read anything. Didn't have it in me tonight.. haha

Peydon's POV

"Where did those come from." I ask with an even tone while looking at the passes in Shelby's hands. The form of the sentence is a question, but I say it much more like a statement.


"Pat gave them to us to use along with the tickets. Come on, we gotta beat he crowd!" she says enthusiastically while trying to walk past me to get to the stairs, but I stay where I am, not moving an inch for her to get past me. She looks up at me, and it's then that she realizes I'm starring daggers at her. "Pey, seriously. This is my chance to meet Toews, are you going to ruin that for me?"

"I'm sure you're bff Pat can arrange for you to meet him some other time," I retort, cocking my head to the side just a little bit to let her know how irritated I am with her.

"Don't be so dramatic," she replies while rolling her eyes at me. "And besides, you and Pat are friends too, maybe even more." I narrow my eyes at her in response, but that just makes her smile more before she continues. "Don't think I didn't see the way you were undressing him with your eyes during the game. He seemed to be enjoying the view too." Without listening to her anymore, I rip my pass out of her hands and look down at the ice one last time to see the shit eating grin that makes me pissed as hell before stomping in the direction of the stairs, Shelby smiling as well behind me because she got her way; once again.

After finally finding our way down toward the locker room, we showed our passes and got in easily. We both stand timidly by the door; at least until Shelby spots her prey. She throws a wink over her shoulder in my direction as she walks over in Jon's direction, leaving me shaking my head and all by myself. I look around the room, looking for no one in particular, but being very surprised when I don't find a certain someone lingering around the room. I make my way in the direction away from the door, knowing I'm probably in the way standing there. I walk past Shelby, but she's too busy to even notice me; all her attention is on Jon, and his likewise. I head toward a chair on the far side of the room, sitting down in it even though I figure it's probably for media personnel of some kind.

"Burish?" I hear a name ask, a chuckle following afterwards. I turn to my left and see Patrick standing there, freshly showered as he gestures to my jersey. He walks past me and to the stall right by me. It's then that I see the words P. Kane above the stall, and I silently curse myself for not noticing that earlier.

"Tough guys need love too," I say with a shrug, trying to keep my answers simple. He laughs that boyish laugh of his in return, and as he raises his arms to pull a shirt over his head, I sneak a glance at his bare upper body and am quite shocked that it's much more muscular than I was anticipating. He catches me starring, and I think I'm surely going to die of humiliation. "Enjoying yourself?" he asks with a smug smile.

"If you're referring to the game, then yes. Now?" I ask, standing up, wishing I was taller than 5'2. "Not so much." I'm sizing him up when Shelby walks over to us. She looks at the way we are glaring at each other, and then shakes her head.

"Come on, we're going home to change and then going out," she says before tugging on my arm, not giving me a chance to respond. I glance back over my shoulder just in time to see Patrick shake his head while a smile tugs at the corners of his lips.

I follow silently as Shelby continues to pull me in Jon's direction, who is obviously waiting on us. I remain silent as we take a back way out of the arena, head toward the player's parking lot and then to a car that I can only assume is his. All three of us climb in, and I sit silently as he drives to our apartment. Only after we get out of the car and are on our way inside so I speak up.

"I'm not going," I say quietly as the elevator door closes behind us.

"Yes, you are," Shelby replies defiantly, but in an even tone.

"You can. I'll be fine, really. I'm just going to call it a night, maybe take a hot bath or something," I say with a shrug before stepping out of the elevator and walking into our apartment without another word. I head into my bedroom, dropping my stuff on my bed and walking over to my dresser to take my jewelry off. As I'm doing that, I know she's standing in my doorway, so I turn my head slightly but keep it pointed toward the floor, acknowledging she's there, but doing nothing more.


"I know Bryan hurt you," she says quietly while leaning on the door frame. "But you have to stop doing this to yourself sometime," she adds before turning around and leaving, going to get dressed to go out with Jon, no doubt.

Sighing to myself, I walk into my bathroom to wash my face before crawling into bed, but it's then that I catch a glimpse of my reflection. The bags under my eyes and dark circles are hidden with the proper application of make up, but I know they are there. It's been a while since everything happened, but I hardly sleep nonetheless. I know for a fact there isn't a single night that I've slept soundly. I pop my head out of the bathroom just in time to see Shelby walking by my room slowly, trying not to look at me but I know she is out of the corner of her eye.

"Give me 5 minutes," I mumble before heading toward my closet. She gets excited and follows me, helping me pick out my outfit.

After we arrive at the club, I follow silently as Jon makes his way toward the rest of his teammates, trying to hide behind Shelby. Introductions are preformed, but I still feel oddly strange around all of these guys. I sit at an empty table in the general area of the guys, and I can't help but notice Patrick staring at me from a table across from mine. Under age or not, he sits there and knocks a shot back, and I know that nobody in here has a problem with it. A waiter comes by, and I grab a drink, and then another, and then one more and sit them on my table as I see Patrick approach me. It could be a long night..

"Drowning your sorrows?" He asks while sitting down across from me.

"I could ask the same for you," I reply while gesturing to the drink in his hand. "Except I don't quite see what sorrows you have to drown. You won, played well," I say while shrugging my shoulders. "I'm not seeing the problem."

"I would explain, but we'd be here for a while," he says with a chuckle. No sooner than that has escaped his mouth, it's as if girls swarm the table, coming out of no where. I sit there for a little while, very uncomfortable before I can't take it any longer.

"Excuse me," I mumble softly before making my way through the pack of them. I look for Shelby, but find her and Jon getting along great so I know I can't crash their private party. My eyes continue to scan the room until they fall on the dance floor. With a sigh, I head in that direction, hoping dancing can at least take my mind off things.

I walk down the stairs and into the middle of the dance floor where I dance by myself, getting lost in the music. Well, okay that's not completely true. I almost get lost in the music, but I can't help but notice how Patrick is still staring at me, and oddly enough, I don't find it irritating. Maybe that's the alcohol talking, but I find myself shaking my ass almost as if to taunt him.

Just as I'm about to whip my head back in his direction, a very attractive guy approaches me and starts dancing. A smile crosses his face when he finds me dancing back, and then I smile in return.

I've been dancing with my mystery man for some time now when things get a little bit out of hand as I feel his grip tighten on me.

"Don't do that," I say politely as I bat his hand off of my behind. He smiles a drunken smile at me before stepping closer once again toying with the edge of my shirt. I push him away, but he doesn't seem to take the hint as he slams our hims together, his hand exploring up under my shirt and resting on the side of my stomach.

"I said don't do that," I yell at him before trying to push him away once again, but failing as he once again pulls me toward him. I know my eyes are getting wide as I start to look for an escape route, but coming up with nothing since I'm still in a state of shock. I feel a pair of hands clasp onto both sides of my arms, tugging me away from a now very irritated man standing in front of me.

"I think the lady made is clear she doesn't want you to do that," he almost barks while standing in between me and the mystery man. The guy opens his mouth to object, but just shuts his mouth and continues to stare at us both. "Come on, I'll take you home," he says in a nicer tone after turning toward me.

I had never been so glad to see Patrick Kane in my life.