Chapter 6

Keeping up with posting every other day!! YAY me!

Another DMB song on tap today for the soundtrack... I'm still in that mood and it's so hard not to get lost in this tune.  This is version is just Dave and Tim again from Radio City.  Enjoy reading and listening. Oh! And don't be too mad at me for ending this Chapter where I'm ending it... how else am I supposed to get you to come back and check it out?! LOL

All at once the ghosts come back reeling in you now
oh, Tell me What if they came down crashing
It used to be that you and me played for
All of the loneliness that nobody noticed until now
I'm begging slow I'm coming here
I’m only waiting

I wanted to stay
I wanted to play
I wanted to love you

I'm only this far
And only tomorrow leads the way
I'm coming waltzing back and moving into your head

#41 – Dave Matthews Band

Ch. 6

“Well at least the Phantoms have one good looking thing going for it!” a very familiar voice rang out down the hallway of the Mohegan-Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, PA.  I was walking down the hall with Rowe, going over an idea that two of us had come up with for a prank video when I heard him.

“Matty!” I squealed, spinning around and jumping into his arms.  “Oh my gosh, what are you doing here?!!” I continued in a high pitch voice, not even noticing some team members of the Baby Pens looking at me like we were crazy.

“I came here in hopes to see this awesome Media/Communications Director that I’ve been hearing so much about.  She has supposedly single handedly turned around a struggling franchise in Glen Falls and everyone raves about her game night playlists and funny internet jaunts,” he smiled, laying it on think.

I slapped at him and shook my head.  “Shut the fuck up, you are such a god-damn suck-up!”

“Hi, I’m Matt Murley,” he grinned at Andrew, jutting out his hand in an attempt to stop me from giving him shit.  Of course it worked.

Once introductions were done, Andrew excused himself to the locker room, leaving me alonde in the hall with Matt.  “So what are you really doing here?” I turned and asked Matt.

“I’ve been spending some time in the Burgh with some friends and I thought it would be nice to come check out the baby team.  Oh, and I noticed who they were playing, so I thought it was an even better excuse to see my favorite girl,” he smiled and pulled me into a tight hug.  “So things are going well?”

“Yeah,” I drew out.  “The job is going amazing…”

“But life isn’t?” he raised an eyebrow.

I shrugged my shoulders, not really wanting to get into the whole discussion about Mike and me.  After my slip of my tongue in my sleep the other week, tensions were up a bit.  We were still “together,” but I finally had to come clean about James to him and he was more than a little disappointed in the fact that I didn’t feel the need to talk to him about it sooner.  He looked at it as a trust issue.  I on the other hand saw it as something in the past, but in all reality it was still a present issue.  I glanced down at my black and olive green bracelet and looked back up at Matt and smiled sadly.  “I’m kind of seeing one of the guys on the team…” I said quietly, feeling lightly strange talking about it in front of the two super-star strangers.

About an hour later, I was sitting in one of the suites with Matt, watching our teams duke it out.

“So who is the guy?” Matt whispered towards the end of the 1^st period.

“Mike Testwuide,” I answered quietly.

“Who’s J. Testwuide?” he asked, nodding to JP who was just getting back to the bench from his shift.

“That’s Mike’s older brother and one of my roommates.  I live with Mike, Andrew, JP and Ben Holstrom.  However, both Ben and Mike are in Philly right now.

“Well then you have some company to keep you occupied,” Matt chuckled.

“Yeah, I feel like a den mother sometimes.”

“I’m sure.”

“So what’s the deal with you and Mike?”

“Well, I kind of didn’t tell him about James and then I kind of said something about him when I was sleeping with Mike…”

“Oh, that sounds really baaaaad.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” I laughed pathetically.  “We’re just taking things slow.”

“Why isn’t he playing tonight?”

“He’s playing in Philly right now.  I have a sneaky suspicion he just might stay up with the big club for the rest of the season…he’s doing really well,” I said proudly, unable to keep myself from smiling.  I really was proud and happy for him, despite the fact that I missed my best friend and still felt bad that things weren’t progressing like they should be due to my stupidity.

“I see,” Matt smiled politely.  We went back to talking about how his high school coaching was going and out of the blue he took my hands and looked intently at me.  “What are you doing for New Year’s Eve tomorrow?”

I gave him a curious look.  “Um, nothing.  I was just planning on hanging out with the guys…I’m heading to Philly on the 1^st to spend some time with Mike and then catch the Winter Classic the next day…”

“Good, then you are coming with me to a party!” he exclaimed.

“What?  Where?!”

“It’s at a friend’s house.  You need a change of scenery for the evening and we need to celebrate another year in hope’s it plays out even better than this one!”

I bit my lip.  “I don’t know…” I started slowly.

“Doesn’t matter.  I’m kidnapping you.  You have no choice.”

“I know what happened in Europe when I had no choice in things,” I shook my head and groaned.

“Yup, and you had the time of your life so it’s going to be awesome!”

New Year’s 2012.  Where has the time gone?!  Even though I had some amazing memories from the past year, I was looking forward to another year in hopes it wouldn’t be the tilt-a-whirl this had been.

I finally found my scoring touch and found a niche of comfort with my new team.  Sidney was back to original form and we complimented each other perfectly.  The Penguins were sitting comfortable in the Eastern Conference Standings, looking like the strong contender we were expecting to be.

Tonight I was toasting to new beginnings and to forget the one’s that haunted my dreams.

I thought about this while I got dressed and looked at my new hair cut in the mirror.  It had been a while since my hair had been this short.  I couldn’t really bring myself to cut it after Hanna said she liked it long, but it was a new year and I needed a new me.

Sidney was having a huge blow-out party at his house.  Supposedly there was going to be ample amount of women to go around.  Max and Staal were telling stories around the locker room about how they had been recruiting women for the last week and a half after Sid gave them permission to invite a few ladies to mingle.  However, I’m fairly sure Sidney didn’t expect them to invite every girl from every one of the bars in Pittsburgh.  I wouldn’t mind having someone to ring in the New Year with, but one had to be slightly wary of anything Max and Jordan found to be “worthy.”  There was no way to know what the criteria was to be invited, including what kind of favors were given in return.

You could hear the music pouring out of the house as I walked up the sidewalk with snowflakes falling and framing the large home.  I stepped into the foyer and was immediately greeted by the two “women recruiter’s” automatically, giving me the lay of the land and which women they thought I should check out immediately.

“There was this brunette beauty that came in with Matt Murley and he insisted she was not his girlfriend, which gives the okay for you to hit on.  She’s smoking hot and it wearing this tight, short, satin, navy blue dress that is pleated to hug all the right curves she’s packing.  It’s a one shoulder type dress; believe me buddy you won’t be able to miss her!” Jordan practically drooled.

I laughed.  “And why aren’t you going after her?”

“Because I’m already lined up with at least three beauties tonight and there just isn’t enough of me to go around,” he scoffed, popping the collar of his shirt.

I looked over at Max and raised an eyebrow.  “And your excuse?”

“Oh, don’t worry, she’s already on my list of midnight kisses, but I’m thinking I might end up fighting Crosby for her,” he nodded his head over towards the direction Sid was.  I turned and noticed him laughing, but I all I could see was a sliver of the blue dress Jordan gushed about.  It was evident Crosby was enjoying her company, along with the guy I assumed was Matt Murley, because I could hear Sid’s distinct laugh even over all the guests and music.

“Well, if the Captain already has a bead on her, what other options do I have?” I asked with a smile.  The way these guys were obsessed with women always made me laugh.

“There’s a red-head right over there that looks like she is in need of a drink,” Jordan motioned while not so gently pushing me towards her direction.  I talked with the very nice red-head, but I quickly lost my interest when she talked about how she was in nursing school at Pitt.  So, for the next hour I mingled with various teammates and guests before heading downstairs to the make-shift dance floor.  It was packed.  There had to have been almost 100 people in the house, making it challenging to move around.

“Oops! Sorry!” Sid yelled loudly after he bumped into me, almost causing me to spill my beer.

“No problem bud, it’s your house, not mine,” I yelled back with a smile.  “Having fun?!”

“Fuck yeah.  My buddy, Matt Murley brought this amazing brunette…”

“Yeah, Jordy said she’s a looker,” I chuckled, following upstairs with him to grab another drink.  Midnight was coming soon and I wanted to make sure I had some champagne to toast with.

“She’s fucking hot and seems really down to earth.  She works for one of the AHL teams in NY, but I can’t remember which one at the moment,” he laughed.

“Where is she?” I asked, looking around.

“Downstairs with Murley, she didn’t want to come off the dance floor, so I figured I’d just grab a bottle of champagne and take it along downstairs with me instead of worrying about glasses,” he said as if he was being overly daring.  In all actuality he was being daring for him.  Every now and then the creature could get loose, and tonight was one of those nights.  He grabbed a bottle and motioned for me to come back downstairs.  “There are a few girls down here who are going to need some loving at midnight…” he giggled like a school girl.

I just shook my head and followed him downstairs.  We were pushing through the throngs of people when the countdown began.

10…9…8…7…

“Over here Nealer!”

6…5…4…3…

“Shit! I don’t know where she got off to!” Sid yelled, looking in the exact opposite direction than where she was standing.  It was as if time was suddenly standing still and only the two of us were able to move towards one another.  She was my Death Star and her gravity pulled me in.

2…1… Happy New Year!

Everyone was yelling out the happy cheers and wishes of good times, but Hanna and I were oblivious to it all as we stood staring at each other, just inches apart, unable to move any closer.