Chapter 18

***Sorry, I didn't check spelling or anything so... hope it's not too bad! I just wanted to get this up tonight cause I haven't updated in a while... hope you like it***

“Delta Flight 6564: New York to Moscow, will begin boarding at Gate 3 now.” A woman’s voice sounded over the PA system at the airport. Wearing an old pair of American Eagle sweats and a Fleury practice shirt; I clutched my carry-on in one hand and Mattie’s hand in the other.
We made our way over to the boarding terminal, about to walk through the final corridor before I came to a halt.
“I don’t think I can do this…” I whispered, not needing to explain myself to Mattie; he knew me too well. He didn’t respond to me verbally, opting instead to give my hand a tight squeeze before pulling me through the threshold behind him.
Not being one to enjoy flying; I had doped myself up on gravol and Nyquil before we had arrived at the airport. Feeling extremely groggy before we were seated, I I fell asleep easily - my head on Mattie’s shoulder - before the plane took off from the run-way.


I woke up to Consti slopping ice-cold water down my front. “What the hell Consti?” He flashed me a mischievous smile before taking off down the aisle. “Shit!” I sat up, taking a peek around to make sure no one was left on the plane beside Mattie and me. I pulled my shirt up over my head, tossing it down on my bag and pulling a gray hoodie - compliments of Mattie - over my head. I shoved my wet shirt into my bag and threw it over my shoulder before shuffling down the aisle and off the plane.
The bitter Russian, December wind felt like a thousand knives against my face as we descended the stairs and made our way over to Dean; who was flagging us towards the door he was holding open. I pulled the hoodie in tight around my face and quickened my pace, as Mattie and I entered the hot airport terminal together.

“Alright guys… we’re staying at the Marriott and you two will be in room 306. Here’s your keys, schedules and info packages,” Dean said, handing each one out. “So… the bus is right there…” he pointed over his shoulder, “and, were you the last ones off?”
We nodded as he finished checking boxes on his clip-board. I readjusted my bag and followed Mattie to the bus, grabbing a pair of seats near the front; watching the lights of Moscow flash by our window.


“I can’t believe we have a bonding week before the tournament…” Mattie laughed as stretched out on our bed, flipping through the schedule. “Scavenger hunt, hmm… vodka factory tour… I didn’t know Russians made vodka…”

I laughed as I finished unpacking and turned to look at him, “I’m pretty sure Russian’s are suppose to make the best vodka.” Mattie’s lips formed into a comical ‘o’ as he went back to flipping through pages. “So, what are we doing tonight?”

“Notta. We’re going on a tour of Moscow tomorrow… bus leaves at 7! What?!” He exclaimed, waving the schedule in front of my face. I grabbed it out of his hand and tossed it onto the floor.

“Were you expecting to sleep in till noon?”

“No but… 7! Really?” I shook my head, not bothering to hide the smile on my face. A knock at the door sent me off the bed and across the room. I pulled the door open expecting Jake or Consti; finding Rennie and some friends instead.

“Uh… hey. We’re going out to some club, Consti said we can get in with our Team USA passes… you guys wanna come?” I still felt like crap after my gravol/Nyquil concoction, but I wasn’t about to pass up an opportunity to get to know my team better. I took a quick look down at my sweats and then back at Mattie, who was now sitting cross-legged on the floor, shaking his head at the schedule.

“Yah! For sure,” I said turning back around to Rennie. “Meet you in the lobby in 5?” He nodded and headed off down the hall. I quickly closed the door and started to discard my clothing. I grabbed a pair of skinny jeans, a tight blue, low-cut shirt and pulled them on. Topping my outfit off with a pair of stiletto heels and an oh-so-sexy Columbian winter jacket. I looked back at Mattie who was digging through his suitcase, pulling out a green t-shirt and pulling it on over his beater and jeans.
We walked out into the hall at the same time Jake and Aaron came out of their room; together the four of us headed to the lobby, meeting up with 20 other people.

“24?” I asked coming into the room, “who’s missing?”

“Consti, he’s at the bar by himself.” A few of us that knew Consti laughed. The rest stood uncomfortably, we all shifted back in forth, watching each other; most eyes were on me.

“So… we should go before Dean realizes we’re gone…” Rennie suggested, getting agreement from everyone.

Our huge group headed down the sidewalk outside; it was still freezing cold, but lucky for us it wasn’t snowing. The bar was three blocks away and it didn’t take long to reach it. As Consti had informed the boys; our Team USA badges got us in, no questions asked, and we were ushered in to a closed off lounge.
I took a seat on one of the white leather couches, beside Mattie, who automatically put his arm around me and pulled me closer. The rest of the guys pilled around and we re-introduced ourselves.
25 of us in total had made Team USA, the order, according to the schedule Dean had given us:
1. Carlie Simone ( C ) - Line 1
2. Matthew Doiron ( RW ) - Line 1
3. Jake McQuaid ( C ) - Line 2
4. Adam Rennie ( G ) - Starter
5. Carter Vessey ( D ) - Line 2
6. Chris Rayner ( LW ) - Line 2
7. Adam Constable ( D ) - Line 1
8. Aaron Turner ( C ) - Line 3
9. Jeremy Butler ( D ) - Line 1
10. Steven Miller( RW ) - Line 2
11. Andrew O‘Shea( LW ) - Line 1
12. Wayne Metcalf( RW ) - Line 3
13. Sheehan Bryenton ( LW ) - Line 3
14. Brett Messick( D ) - Line 2
15. Kyle Likely( C ) - Line 4
16. Corey Beaton( D ) - Line 3
17. Rylie Squire( RW ) - Line 4
18. Corey O‘Shea( D ) - Line 3
19. Jackson Dowling( LW ) - Line 4
20. Matthew Farrar( G ) - Reserve
21. Spencer Murphy( D ) - Line 4
22. Jared Malone( D ) - Line 4
23. Jonathan Morgan ( Extra Defence )
24. Michael Grey (Extra Centre )
25. Kevin Reid ( Extra Winger )

So far I was still having a hard time putting names to faces, but obviously, being the only girl on the team; they all knew me.
Mattie had hit it off with the O’Shea twins from Buffalo, and was caught up in a deep conversation with them. I spent some quality time with Rennie and his friends from Oklahoma, Steven Miller and Brett Messick.

After a couple hours Consti made his way back over to everyone, some Russian girls in tow. He saw me talking to Rennie and made a B-line for us; grabbing my arms and pulling me off the couch before I could protest. He dragged me onto the dance floor and tried to make me dance.
I was a horrible dancer, and I knew it, so I usually tried to avoid these situations whenever it was at all possible. Although judging by the grip Consti had on me, this one was not about to be avoided. Eventually I gave in, allowing him to spin me, dip me , and every other foolish thing he could think of.
After three songs he pulled me close to him and leaned down to breathe his whiskey-scented breath in my ear. “You got something with another hockey boy you need to tell me about?”

“No… why?”

“Superstar over there has been staring at you since you got here. I thought it was just cause of the badge but he’s still watching you, he actually made his friends move to a new table with him to keep an eye on me.”

I didn’t need to turn around to know who he was talking about, but I did anyway. There was a dozen or so NHL players spread out in the exclusive VIP lounge. At the table closest to the stairs sat some familiar faces, my ’ex’ among them. Max Talbot, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury, Colby Armstrong, Alexander Ovechkin, Sergi Gonchar and an assortment of women sat at the large round table. On seeing my stare, Sidney waved, motioning for me to go over. Consti looked down at me and smiled, taking my hand and moving to the stairs before I could stop him. Rennie walked by and I grabbed onto his arm; trying to stop Constis’ movement with the added wait. My plan backfired once Rennie saw Sidney wave again. He gave me an amazed look before grabbing my other hand and dragging me up the stairs with Consti.

Sidney stood up when we reached them, greeting me with a hand shake and introducing himself to the boys.
“You guys, this is Carlie Simone, the girl I was telling you about… she’s a forward for Team USA, she’s gonna be playing this week. These are her friends, John Rennie and Adam Constable.”

“You can call me Rennie… I’m a huge fan… you’re like my hero!” Rennie shouted over the music, reaching out to shake hands with Fleury; who smiled and thanked him. A few people moved over to make room as three chairs appeared out of thin air.
We spent the next while talking about training camp and all hockey-related things.

After our conversation switched from pro-hockey to the game NHL 2009, a blond girl spoke up, “Wow… you’re just as bad as them! Hockey, hockey, hockey… don’t you ever get sick of it?”

I stared at her with a sincerely shocked look, “Of course not… it’s hockey!” The guys all laughed along with me and we fell back into comfortable conversation, until another Max started asking me random questions about my love-life.

“So… must be weird, eh? Playing on the same team as your boyfriend. You guys ever get into nasty fights or what?” I shook my head and laughed along with Consti.

“No, we get along pretty good… and when we do fight I always win anyway.” I answered simply, earning a nod of approval from Fleury.

“Is the same way with us,” he threw his arm around the black-haired girl next to him, “she always win!” I laughed at the smile on his face and the way she rolled her eyes at his comments; like it was no surprise. I glanced over at Sidney to see him giving Consti a strange look, then it hit me; they thought Consti was my boyfriend.

“Oh!” I exclaimed, putting my hand over my mouth and laughing out loud. “He’s not my boyfriend!” I pointed at Consti, “he’s just a friend… my boyfriend does play on our team though.” I looked through the crowd trying to find Mattie, finally finding him at the bar. He was evidently trashed and was sitting at the bar with the O’Shea twins; they had their arms around each other shoulders. I shook my head and laughed again. “He’s the guy… hugging the twin… boys…” I sighed and took a sip of pop as the table erupted with laughter.

Colby Armstrong leaned over toward me, a big grin on his face. “You’re a pretty girl and all, but I don’t think he’s going home with you tonight.” I rolled my eyes and punched Consti - who was laughing the loudest of all - in the gut. As fun as the night had been, I could still feel my ’ex-boyfriends’ eyes on me, and the only thing more awkward then sitting this close to him and talking to him; was having no one else know that we already knew each other.
No one else seemed to pick up on the sparks that were firing across the table either, or the fact that he was still staring at the back of Mattie’s head with venom in his eyes.
I didn’t see his problem, I had kept up my promise; to stay in contact. I had exchanged e-mails with him over the past few months since training camp had ended. He was suppose to leave Mattie alone, to not push me into anything; and here he was, all but diving over the railing at my boyfriend.

The worst part about the whole night, was that I kept hoping Mattie wouldn’t come over. I knew that he would have no idea of my past relationship, but I didn’t want a reminder that I was off limits. I didn’t want to be off limits to the handsome man that sat across from me, not tonight.
Like every guy at this table, he had girls on either side of him. They were all generic though; those, insert pretty girl here, Barbie type-A girls. It made me feel happy that he wasn’t paying any attention to their fawning; and made me feel guilty that I cared.
Last call went out around the bar, as the Russian techno music began to be turned down; the lights turned up. I took a last look across the table to find him looking back at me. I sighed and gave him a small smile.

“We should head back, it was really nice meeting you all! Hopefully you’ll make it out to some of the games…” I said as I pushed myself up from my chair.

“Wouldn’t miss it! I’m expecting a hat trick in the first game, by the way.” Crosby quipped as I headed down to the bar to collect Mattie.

“Just for you superstar!” I laughed over my shoulder, noticing that Consti and Rennie were right behind me.
Mattie was too drunk to walk by himself; Consti threw him over his shoulder and headed outside. I ran back up to the couches to get my coat before following them out.

Consti threw Mattie down on the bed, he was out cold. I said good night to the rest of the guys and closed the door; stripping down into a pair of boy shorts and a long-sleeved Crosby shirt.
I was settling into bed when there was a knock at the door. It was loud, but it didn’t even register with Mattie, who was snoring soundly beside me. I looked at the clock; 4:17AM. Go to bed Consti! I thought feverishly as I opened the door.

“Oh! Hi Max…how did you know where-”

“We need to talk.” The penguin said, leaning on my doorframe, a look of fear on his face.

“Umm…” I looked behind me at Mattie, “I don’t think this is the best time Max…” I didn’t need to ask why he was here. There was only one reason he would be coming to call at this late.

“It has to be now… I won’t get any sleep if we don’t talk now.” I nodded, understanding completely what he meant. I took a last look at Mattie, before pulling the door stopper down and stepping out into the hall after Max. He disappeared around a corner and I rounded it; not seeing him anywhere. I continued a few paces down the hallway, when I felt someone grab my arm and pull me into a room.
Before I knew it I was standing in the ’ice/pop machine’ room, face-to-face with Evgeni Malkin.

“Where did Max go?” I asked, as the Russian stared down at me, his brown eyes watching me patiently. After a minute of silence I asked again, “Where did Max go?” This time he responded with a nonchalant shrug.

“This matter?” He asked in broken English.

“No, I guess not… why did he go to my room then?”

“Um. I know, you not come here if you know it’s me.” He looked down at the floor, his face contorted in pain. I reached out my hand to him, pulling it back before I could touch him.

“Evgeni, I’m sorry… I can’t do this… I have to go.” I took a step towards the door, but he grabbed me and pulled me against him.

“You don’t…”

“But I do… Mattie’s-” He cut me off with a kiss. His lips were hot and rough on mine. I had always wondered what it would be like to kiss him, and now I knew; it was better than anything I had imagined. All the hours I had spent day-dreaming about it seemed so dull and foolish now, when compared to the real thing.
Somehow my hands had become intertwined in his hair, my body was pressing up against him on it’s own accord.
Suddenly my mind began to work again and I realized the implications of what I was doing. I pulled back, pushing myself away from him before he could stop me. I put my hands over my face and turned my back to him. What did I just do? I could feel tears pooling under my lids and I shook my head trying to keep them away.
He timidly placed his hands on my shoulders, spinning me around and then pulling my hands down.

“You promised you wouldn’t do this… you said you wouldn’t do anything while I was with Mattie…”

“And you promise never to leave me… now we both break promise.” He pulled me against him again, this time to rest his chin on my head. “I’m sorry Carlie, I can’t help what it. I feel…” I could feel him shake his head, unable to find the words that we were both thinking.

“I need to go back Geno…”

“He drunk, he can’t know you not there.”

“No, but I know I’m not there. I need to be there Geno, I can’t do this to him…” I moved away from him, this time he didn’t try to stop me; instead he followed me out into the hall and laced his fingers with mine. I knew I should tell him to let go but the damage had already been done, and this didn’t feel worth the fight.
He walked me to my door, kissing my forehead goodnight. He was halfway down the hall before he turned around.

“Carlie. I mean what I say last time. We should be…” He interlaced the fingers on his two hands, searching.

“… together…”

He nodded. “We will be. It is how it should be.” I gave him a sad smile and he continued walking.

I closed my door behind me and walked over in between the two queen beds in our room. Mattie was now spread out over both sides, still snoring. I looked down at him and felt a wave of guilt wash over me. I couldn’t make out with my ex-boyfriend and then lie beside my new boyfriend. I sighed and pulled the covers off the other bed; crawling in before turning off the light, leaving myself alone in the dark.