Chapter 8

I woke up, startled, wondering where Mattie was. Then the previous night all came flooding back to me. I rolled over and looked around, I was still in Jake's room. I was lying on Jakes bed and there was a centre that I recognized lying on the bed opposite me.

"Morning," Aaron said, stretching his arms above his head. "Quiet the time last night eh?" I let out a soft whimper. He chuckled, "I wouldn't worry about it, everyone knows the truth about what happened... and I don't think anyone blames you... if my friends did that to me, I would have done alot worse."

I closed my eyes trying to not cry again. "I'm not upset that I yelled at Consti, he deserved it. I just can't believe that I hit Mattie, Mattie..."

"Hmmm... well I think he'll get over it, if he hasn't already. He looked pretty guilty last night after you left."

I allowed my eyes to roam over the room finally, coming to a make shift bed on the floor. Following me glance Aaron said, "Jake went to get you some breakfast, he figured you might not wanna run into your buddies this early."

"Oh, he didn't sleep up here...?"

"Naw, you know Jake! Always the gentleman, he let you have his bed. Figured you'd want to stay here after everything..." I nodded slowly. My mind was racing but I was still too exhausted to make sense of anything. We both lay there in silence for what seems like a long time, when the door opens slowly.

"Oh hey," Jake says, pulling the door closed behind him, "you're awake!" He walks over to the bed and sits down beside me. He hands me a coffee and a muffin, tossing another muffin over to Aaron.

Jake watches me as I eat, the atmosphere in the room feels heavy, and we all remain silent. After I'm finished eating Jake sighs and finally speaks again: "So, you should probably go talk to your friend."

"I really don't have any desire to see him after what he did..." I began shaking my head, but Jake cuts me off.

"I mean Mattie, I was talking to him on my way back and, look, I don't think he even knew about this whole thing until last night... he seemed really sorry though. He said he'd be in your room."

I sighed and pulled myself up off the bed. "I really hope he didn't... I owe him an apology either way. I owe you one too..."

Jake started laughing, "You don't owe me anything! But, if you really feel bad... you could always, oh I dunno... come out to dinner with me tonight?"

"Umm... sure! I'll meet you here around... 6?" He nodded and opened the door for me.

Only the Left wingers and Centres had the morning off, so the building was almost deserted. I made my way slowly down the stairs, trying to figure out what I was going to say to Mattie. I stopped outside our door and tried to hear if Mattie was alone. After standing there for a few minutes and not hearing anything, I reached out and opened the door.

Mattie was lying on his bed, stairing up at the ceiling. At the sound of the door opening he propped himself up on his elbows and gave me a small smile. I tried to smile back but I felt my face fall into a grimace; he had a fairly noticable bruise on the side of his face. "Oh Mattie," I sighed, I could feel fresh tears forming in my eyes again. He quickly pushed himself off his bed and wrapped me in his arms. "I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me... I can't believe I did that to you-"

"I know, it's ok. I'm sorry too. I should have known something was going on with Consti..." He pulled me in tighter.

"I had no right to hit you... I'm so sorry!" I couldn't contain myself anymore and I broke down into deep sobs. He started laughing and pulled me down onto the bed beside him. I curled up next to him and we both laid in silence until I had composed myself.

"So... can I tell you what happened? I'm sure Consti will want to talk to you too but, I figure it might be better if you hear it from me right now..." I nodded, burrying my face into his neck as he stroked my hair. "Alright well, I saw you leave and I didn't know where you were going, so I got up to follow. I didn't see you in the hall so I assumed you went into the rec room. When I got in there, Consti and Carrol jumped on me and told me what they'd done. I guess, Consti didn't want you hanging around Jake, so he told Jake that he'd end his hockey career if he didn't stay away from you... When they told me I was so mad that they'd do that to you, but you have to believe that they only have your best interest at heart Carlie, really."

"They have a funny way of showing it..."

He chuckled, playing with some of my hair before talking again. "Consti said that they saw Jake going upstairs and then you following him. I guess, I just was so angry that I decided to go wait for you in our room. I expected you to come back here, not... well, not confront Consti!" He started laughing loudly. "I've never seen you like that before, ever. You're usually the one reigning us in... Anyway, so I headed back here, planning on telling you what was going on... if Jake didn't already. That's when I heared you yelling at Consti. I figured I'd go down there and try to help you guys out... that's when-"

"-when I slapped you in the face... yah. I remember that part." I sighed deeply, trying to figure out what I needed to do to make this right. "Mattie, I will never be able to explain to you how sorry I am... never in a thousand years did I ever think I'd hurt you like that..."

"Well it's not so bad, I'm not mad at you anyway. And hey, now I kinda look tough! Well, as long as no one finds out it's from a girl."

"Mattie, everyone was there... they already know it was me that hit you."

"Oh, oh yah..." He gave a deep sigh, disappointment filling his face, and I couldn't help but laugh at him. He cracked a smile to and we continued to lie on his bed, both of us in our own thoughts.

A knock at the door pulled us back into the present and Mattie shouted "Come in!". A frightened looking Consti made his way into the room, followed by Carrol and Marty. The three of them went over and sat down on Consti's bed, while I held my position, still curled up in Mattie.

After an awkward couple minutes of silence, Consti and Carrol both started apologizing at once. As angry as I was at them, it was hard to stay mad while I was feeling this content beside Mattie, and we both burst out into laughter before Consti and Carrol could finish.

"Ummm... does this mean we're off the hook?" Consti asked, confusion evident on his face.

"Hmmmm..." I sighed, finally pushing myself away from Mattie, who was now laughing into his pillow. "Well, I'm a little mad... and I'm still upset that you guys would do this. But, seeing as how I hauled off and hit Mattie... and he's not angry... I figure I kind of have to let it go."

Both Consti and Carrol gave audible sighs of relief, while Marty just laughed along with Mattie. I figured I could do with a shower so I got up and made my way into the bathroom, giving the Consti and Carrol a quick hug before closing the door behind me.

Mattie's POV

As annoyed as I still was at them, I couldn't stay mad any longer. Carlie didn't hate me, we were fine, and that was really all I cared about.

"So how much did you tell her?" Consti asked, once the sound of water could be heard from the bathroom.

"I told her the truth, about how I found out... and then I lied to her about why you did it."

"Why didn't you just tell her the-" Carrol began, but I stopped him.

"Why didn't I tell her the truth? 'oh hey Carlie, so... guess what?! Consti and Carrol were just trying to make sure no one hit on you because I'm in love with you and I'm too chicken shit to say anything', I'm sure she'd love that!"

"Mattie," Marty began quietly, putting down his cell phone for the first time. "She's in love with you, even if she hasn't realized it yet. Everytime I come into this room she's curled up around you, or sleeping beside you. Anytime I see you guys outside your holding hands or walking with your arm around her... girls don't just hold on to the same guy all the time unless they care about him."

"But you don't know that for sure, and I won't risk ruining everything we have." I groaned and put my hands over my face. I was exhausted, I didn't get any sleep last night; I was too worried about her, and whether or not she hated me.

"So, you're ready to spend the rest of your life wondering what could have happened? She's going to eventually find someone Mattie. At least if you tell her and she says no, you know you tried. That's better then watching her with someone else, and you're stuck thinking she could have been mine. I really don't think you want that man."

I didn't say anything. I glared at Marty and turned my attention back to the ceiling.

"Well, lunch was over like... 5 minutes ago... we gotta get back to training. See you for supper." Carrol sighed, getting up and heading out of the room. Consti followed, waving bye; Marty stopped at the door, looking back at me "Just watch her man, there's no way she doesn't want to be with you... you just gotta get her thinking about it." He closed the door behind me, leaving me alone with my thoughts.