Chapter Seven;

It was a little after four when Lauren and Leah finally left the mall. They were on their way back to Lauren’s apartment for her to drop off the stuff she had just bought and to pick up some things to take to stay over night at Leah’s.
 “Hopefully Em won’t care we stayed a little bit longer than I expected. I told her we’d be back by four.” Lauren said and glanced at the time. It was 4:11.
 “It should be okay.” Leah assured her.
By the time they got to Lauren’s place it was 4:22.
 “You can wait here if you want. It’ll only take me a second.” Laur told Leah as she got out of the car.
 “Okay.” Leah agreed.
Lauren grabbed her three bags and hurried inside the building.



Emily’s mind was empty. She wasn’t thinking or worrying about anything. She felt at peace as Kris’s lips brushed her neck. His body was on top of hers and they were on her bed. She never would have imagined that she would be doing this with him, but here they were. Doing it.
Suddenly the sound of the front door opening and closing was heard.
 “Em! I’m back!” Lauren called from the door.
 “Shit!” Emily whispered. She forgot about Lauren. She couldn’t know about this. “Stay here.” She whispered to Kris as she got up off of her bed unwillingly.
 “Em?!” Lauren called out again.
 “Hold on!” She replied as she threw on her robe that was hanging on her bathroom door. Once her was covered she hurried and opened her door, just enough for her to squeeze out and then shut it quick.
 “Hey, Laur.” Emily said, still breathing heavily.
 “Hey, I just wanted to tell you I’m staying at Leah’s tonight.” Lauren told her, studying her sister’s face. “Did you just get out of the shower?”
 “Uh, yeah a little bit ago. I was just about to blow-dry my hair.” She lied.
 “Ha, I was gonna say. It’s kind of a mess right now.” Lauren laughed.
 “Ha ha, yeah.” Emily fake laughed nervously. It was just now hitting her of what she had done. She had a hard time believing it herself.
 “Well, I’m just gonna grab some stuff to take and I’ll be out.” Lauren told her and walked to her room, still in ears distance from her sister.
 “Okay.” Emily nodded not moving from where she was standing. Her once empty mind was now racing with thoughts.
 “Leah’s coming with us to the game tomorrow.” Lauren said from inside her bedroom.
 “Okay.” Emily said, barely loud enough for Lauren to hear. She walked out of her room with a bag of her things.
 “Well, see you tomorrow.” She smiled.
 “Okay.” Emily said for the third time in a row. It was all she could get out. Lauren waved and grabbed her jacket off of the hook. The door shut behind her.
A tear slid down Emily’s cheek as she turned around and opened her bedroom door. Kris had put his jeans back on and was looking for his shirt. When he saw Emily’s face, he immediately felt worried.
 “What’s wrong?” He asked, panicked.
 “I’m awful.” She said flatly, her eyes filling with tears.
 “What? No you’re not. How could you even say that?” Kris asked. It broke his heart to see her that upset.
 “Because I am.” She said, breaking down. Kris came over to her and embraced her in a hug. She rested her face on his chest. “How could I do that to Geno? I feel terrible.” She cried.
 “It’s okay, it’s not your fault.” Kris said, trying to calm her down by petting her hair. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have come over.”
Emily lifted her head off of him and looked him straight in the eye. “No, I’m glad you did. I said I feel awful for doing it, but I don’t regret it. I really do love you.”
Kris smiled and wiped a tear off her face with his thumb. “And I love you. So trust me when I tell you it’ll be alright.”
 “Okay, if you say so.” She said and her crying came to a stop, though she still couldn’t help but feel bad about it.
 “Well, I guess I should put my shirt back on now.” Kris said with a grin on his face.
 “Ha, and I should probably put some clothes on.” Emily added, also smiling though her eyes still showed that she had been crying.
 “Well, if you have to.” Kris joked and Emily laughed.
Kris eventually found his shirt that ended up being under the bed, and Emily changed out of her robe and into her white Abercrombie and Fitch sweatpants and a maroon tee. She brushed out her still damp hair and clipped her side bangs back and out of her eyes.
 “You know, I’m really glad I came over today.” Kris told Emily while they both sat on the edge of her bed.
 “Trust me, I know.” Emily laughed as she dangled her feet above the ground. Kris smiled as he watched her amuse herself. She slowly looked up at him. “No one can know about it, though. No one.”
 “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. I promise.” Kris swore.
 “Okay. Neither will I.” She agreed, “I really don’t want to hurt Evgeni and I definitely don’t want to be known as a cheater or a whore or anything like that.”
 “Don’t worry. You are not a whore and no one thinks you are.”
 “They will if they find out.”
 “No they won’t and they’re not going to find out. It’ll be our secret. No one has to know, no one has to worry about it.” Kris said, holding her hand in his.
 “Okay.” Emily nodded her head. “Can I ask you a favor?”
 “Yeah, sure. What is it?” Kris asked, prepared to do anything she wanted.
 “Do you think you could stay here with me tonight? I’m afraid if you leave I’ll do something stupid and make things worse.”
 “Yeah, I can stay.” Kris told her and she smiled.
 “Thanks.” She said and hugged him. She was glad at least things between him and her were good. Surprisingly, they weren’t the least bit awkward. It was just nearly perfect.



Max stared at the ceiling of Kris’s apartment. He was sprawled across the couch, boring himself to death. For whatever reason, he was still waiting for Tanger to get back with no luck. He was glad he called Lauren when he did. There was no way he would be able to wait this long to talk to Kris about it.
The clock that hung on the wall across from where Max was laying showed it was a little after five. He groaned and got up, walking over to the fridge. After searching through it with his eyes for a minute, he grabbed half of an Italian sub.
 “Don’t mind if I do.” He said and took a bite. Max then took a can of Pepsi and a bag of Doritos and brought his meal over to the couch. Turning on the TV to the Flyers/Blackhawks game, he kicked back, relaxed, and waited for Kris some more.



Sidney’s phone buzzed in his hands. He quickly checked the name of who was calling, hoping for Ashlen.
 “Damn.” He swore once he saw the caller was actually Jordan. He ignored his call like he did to everyone else that tried calling earlier. He didn’t want to talk to anyone else but Ashlen. “Her flight should have landed by now, right?” He asked Evgeni, who he was with in Mario Lemieux’s living room.
 “Yeah I think.” Geno shrugged. He was getting slightly annoyed by Sid’s obsession with this girl. But he couldn’t blame him for feeling the way he did. He knew what it was like.
 “You think she’s okay? Oh god, what if there was an accident?” Sid asked, his mind racing with horrible thoughts.
 “Don’t worry. There no accident. She probably just land now.” Geno tried to convince him.
 “What if she forgot about me? Do you think she met someone else on the plane?” Sid was freaking out. If Ashlen didn’t call soon, who knows what he’d do.
 “She’s not going to call. She’s not going to.” Sid went on and on.
 “She’ll call. Just be patient.” Evgeni told him. This wasn’t exactly how he wanted to spend his day. He’d much rather be with his new girlfriend, Emily.
 “I have been patient. I’ve been waiting to talk to her again since the moment she left. I don’t know how I’m gonna stand being here when she’s there. I want us to be together. And I think…” Sidney was interrupted by his phone vibrating, “It’s her!” He shouted with excitement.
 “Answer it.” Geno told him after he didn’t immediately answer. Sid nodded and took a deep breath.
 “Hey, Ash.” He said into the receiver as if he were trying to impress someone with his cool guy voice.
 “Sidney Patrick! I miss you a hella lot!” Ashlen’s voice shouted back at him happily.
 “Ashlen I miss you like crazy!” Sid said back forgetting about his cool guy routine. Geno chuckled to himself as he listened to their conversation.
 “The plane just landed like seconds ago, I’m not even off yet but I just could not wait any longer to talk to you! And everyone probably thinks I’m insane ’cause I’ve been freaking out the whole time waiting to land to call you!” She said and Sidney couldn’t help but laugh at her enthusiasm.
 “Trust me, Geno had the number of the psych ward ready to dial if I said another word about how badly I needed to hear your voice again.” He told her with a grin on his face.
 “Awe, Sid that’s so sweet!” She laughed.
 “What can I say, I’m crazy for you.” He replied, smiling at her adorable laugh.
 “And I’m crazy for you too.” Ashlen said.
 “Well since we’re both so crazy about each other, I thought of this crazy idea.” Sid said, hoping she would at least consider his plan.
 “And what might that be?” She asked curiously.
 “Well, I was thinking about how insanely impossible it is for us to be apart. And I talked to Mario and he said it was okay. So I thought, why don’t you come live here in Pittsburgh and you can stay here with me at Mario’s. What do ya say?”
 “Okay. Oh my god, yeah! Yeah! That’d be amazing! Are you being serious?” She said excitedly. She loved Sidney’s idea. She always wanted to live in Pittsburgh and if he was serious about her moving out there with him, it was like a dream come true.
 “Yeah, seriously! So you’ll do it? Come live here and we can see each other every single day?” Sidney asked. Hearing how thrilled she was made him feel even more excited about it.
 “Ahh! Yes I will! Oh my god I’m so excited!” She cheered and Sidney smiled nearly as big as when he won the Stanley Cup. “But shit, I hafta get off the plane now. Can I call you back later?”
 “Yeah, yeah. Call me as soon as you get a chance!” Sid told her. He could hear the flight attendant talking in the background.
 “Okay. I’ll talk to you later! And I freaking love your idea. It’s the best ever! Bye!” She said quickly and Sid chuckled.
 “Alright, bye!”



 “So what are you wearing to the game tomorrow?” Leah asked Lauren as she looked through her closet in search of something to wear herself.
 “Probably the new jeans I got today and either this top, or this one.” Lauren replied, holding up two of the new shirts she had bought earlier that day. The one in her left hand was from Hollister. It was a bright blue v-neck with a pocket on the chest. In her right hand she held a dark blue short sleeve shirt from American Eagle, with the store’s name written in a lighter blue on it. “Which one do you think I should wear?”
 “Hmm. Well, I would pick the one on the left cause the color really stands out. But the other one’s really cute too. So whichever you want.” Leah told her.
 “Okay, I like that one too.” Lauren agreed. “What are you going to wear?”
 “I think my skinny jeans from Pacsun and the grey and white striped shirt I got today at Hollister.” She said.
 “Oooh that’ll be cute.” Laur said with a smile.
 “Thanks.” Leah smiled back.

I need you
I need you here
I need you now
I need security somehow
I need you
Like you would not believe
You're the only thing I want
Cause you're everything I need…

Lauren’s phone sang signaling she was getting a call. “It’s Tyler.” She said without even looking at her phone. She could tell it was him from the ring tone. That was their song.
 “Hey Teek.” She said, answering her phone.
 “Hey Laur. What are you up to?” Tyler asked. Lauren smiled at the sound of his voice.
 “I’m at Leah’s picking out what we’re wearing to your game tomorrow.” She replied, “How about you?”
 “Sounds fun. I just got back from Godard’s place.” He said.
As the couple’s conversation continued, Leah sat on her bed picking at her nails. She wanted so badly to have a guy that called her and cared about her and that loved her like Lauren did. It had been a while since she had been in a real relationship with anyone and she missed it, though she wouldn’t admit it. All she could do was put on a smile and wait for her knight in shining armor to come rescue her.