Chapter Thirteen;

It was around six thirty by the time everyone who was coming got to Sid’s, or rather Mario’s house. The guest list consisted of Max, Jordan, Tyler, Kris, Marc-Andre, Geno, Chris Kunitz, Emily, Ashley, Lauren, Leah, and obviously Sidney.
 “What do you guys wanna do?” Sidney asked, they were all seated at Mario’s big kitchen table with various drinks in hand.
 “We should play a game!” Lauren suggested happily.
 “Like what?” Jordan asked.
 “Ooh! I know!” Ashley yelled, “Let's play Never Have I Ever!” 
 “Oh my god! Yeah!” Emily laughed, remembering playing the game when she was younger. It was sure to be more interesting now.
 “How do you play?” Kris asked, trying to avoid making too much eye contact with Emily. They both were. They didn’t want to start anything else tonight, especially with Geno and everyone else around.
 “Well,” Ashley began to explain, “Everyone starts by holding up all ten of their fingers. Then we go around in a circle and each person says something that they've never done. And if someone else has done that before, they put one of their fingers down. The objective is to get everyone else out and the winner is the last one with fingers still up.”
 “What do we get if we win?” Max asked curiously.
 “A lap dance.” Lauren said, trying to sound serious.
 “Ooh! I'm in!” Tyler shouted and everyone laughed.
 “I was just kidding!” Lauren giggled and fake slapped him.
“Well does everybody have some cash on them?” Sid asked and everyone checked their pockets. They each set some money down on the table, adding up to 53 dollars and 25 cents total.
 “So winner gets it all?” Max asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yepp, so absolutely no cheating. Got that guys?” Ash said, looking mostly at Max and Jordan.
 “Babe, I would not cheat. Trust me.” Jordan said convincingly and everyone turned to look at Max.
 “What? I'm not gonna cheat either!” He said defensively.
 “Okay, okay.” Marc-Andre said, calming him down since they were seated right next to each other.

 “So who's gonna start?” asked Sid, trying to get the game moving.
 “Ash will.” Emily volunteered her friend on her left. “It was her idea.”
 “Okay,” she started but was interrupted by Max.
 “Wait, wait. Can it be anything, like anything?” he asked with a wiggle of his eyebrow.
 “Yeah, Max. You can say anything you want as long as you've never done it before.” Emily told him and he smiled.
 “Okay, got it.”
 “Alright, well then.” Ashley smiled, thinking of a good one to start off with. "Never have I ever been to Canada.”
 “Awe man, that's not fair!” Max protested and so did everyone else, but Leah.
 “Babe, how could you?” Jordan asked in a fake devastated voice. It was obvious that all of the guys had been to Canada before. They were all born there, except for Geno. And Emily and Lauren had gone there when they were younger.
 “Hey, I’m in it to win it.” She laughed and high-fived Leah from across the table, Leah being the only other one who didn't have to put a finger down.
 “What ever, my turn.” Emily laughed and thought about what to say, “Never have I ever gone hunting.”
 “Awe you bitch!” Ashley scowled. Being friends for as long as they had been, Emily knew she used to go hunting with her dad when she was younger.
 “Hey, like you said, babe. She's in it to win it.” Jordan said and high-fived Emily similarly to the way Ash and Leah did a minute ago. Now they were two of the people putting a finger down, along with Tyler.
 “Looks like TK's loosing!” Max pointed out after counting everyone's remaining fingers.
 “Awe it's okay, Teek.” Lauren consoled her boyfriend. While she did that, Geno leaned over discreetly and whispered something in Emily's ear causing her to smile. Kris noticed and felt a pang of jealousy shoot through him. He didn't want to say anything though. He knew how she felt about him and that's all that mattered right now. And besides that little bit of envy he had just felt, things were going pretty smoothly. No one suspected anything about what had happened the previous night and it seemed as if their secret was safe.
 “Alright guys, there's money on the line here! Let's focus!” Max said. It was obvious he wasn't planning on walking out of here empty handed.
 “Geno's up.” Fleury pointed out and he smirked at him.
 “Okay.” He said and prepared what he was going to say. “Never have I ever know how to speak French.”
 “Awe.” All three of the French Canadians and Emily said as they put another finger down. That left Max, Kris, Flower, Tyler, and Emily in last place with 8 fingers left up.
 “Okay, never have I ever had braces for my teeth.” Marc-Andre said and flashed a big smile showing his big teeth.
 “Ha, you would!” Sid laughed and Emily, Ashley and Lauren put another finger down.
 “Ooh! Look who's losing now!” Lauren teased Emily, trying to stick up for her man. Emily just stuck her tongue out at her.
 “My turn! And you can't lie!” Max was obviously excited. “Okay, never have I ever slept with anyone that's in this room right now.”
Kris and Emily looked at each other with wide eyes. Lucky for them, Ash and Jordan distracted everyone else with their giggling as they both put a finger down. While the guys joked with them about it, Em and Kris had a silent conversation from across the table.
Kris shook his head no, very subtly, trying to tell her not to put a finger down.
She shrugged her shoulders slightly in response.
Kris sighed, knowing she didn't want to cheat. She promised she would never cheat again, and this counted. He knew if he wanted her to be with him he would have to show her he wasn't afraid to be honest, too. Fine, but don't let them see. He mouthed to her and she nodded in response.
 “Okay, Leah's turn!” Emily said as a distraction.
 “Hmm…” Leah thought about what to say as Kris and Emily each put a finger down. Thinking they were in the clear, they got back to focusing on the game.
Emily was about to look at Leah, who was still thinking, when she noticed Max looking at her with raised eyebrows. Oh god, he saw. Seeing the panic in her face, Max smiled sympathetically and made a zippering movement across his lips to assure her he wouldn't say anything.
 “Never have I ever said the F word.” Leah finally said with a shrug of her shoulders. That got everyone's attention.
 “Bull shit!” Max said, not believing she was telling the truth.
 “I'm serious!” She said defensively.
 “Never?” Chris asked in disbelief.
 “Nope.” 
 “There's no way.” Sid said with a laugh.
“I'm not lying!” She assured them. While she tried to convince the rest of the guys, Emily noticed something different about Max. The way he was looking at Leah was as if he had seen her for the first time. He was completely smitten. Leah was different than any of the other girls he was used to being with, and the fact that she had never even dropped the F bomb proved it.
 “Seriously guys, she never said it.” Lauren tried to assure everyone. They just sighed. Everyone but Leah put a finger down.
 “Dude, that’s just crazy.” Ashley laughed.
“Whatever, it’s my turn.” Lauren said, a devious smile was on her face as she looked at Emily. “Never have I ever had the letter M in my first name.”
 “What the hell kind of never is that?!” Emily protested. That left her with only four fingers up, the only one with less than one whole hand up.
 “Yeah, really!?” Max added. Him and Marc-Andre were the other two that had M’s, leaving them each with six fingers.
 “Looks like someone’s a sore loser.” Jordan laughed at the them.
 “We haven’t lost yet.” Emily pointed out.
 “Yeah, key word yet.” He smirked back.
 “Whatever man. TK’s turn.” Max stuck his tongue out.
 “Okay, uh.” Tyler thought for a minute, “Never have I ever been to Mexico.”
 “Wow you suck.” Emily said, putting another finger down.
 “Teek!” Lauren was shocked he’d say that considering she had gone to Mexico with Emily.
 “I’m sorry, I didn’t know!” He apologized but was smiling.
 “Tanger’s turn!” Max announced, hoping he’d say something that’d keep his last six fingers up.
 “Never have I ever been twenty three yet.” Kris said simply.
 “Damn you.” Max shook his head disappointedly. He, along with Geno, Kunitz, Flower, and Tyler put a finger down.
 “Sid, your turn.” Marc-Andre said to the captain, who wasn’t paying attention. He was looking down at his lap with his hands under the table.
 “Dude, what are you doing?!” Max asked, getting Sidney’s attention.
 “Huh? I’m texting Ashlen.” He said, holding up his phone.
 “Well it’s your turn.” Chris informed him.
 “Oh, okay. Never have I ever kissed someone from Russia.” Sid said and got back to his conversation with Ashlen.
 “I love how I suck at this game so damn bad it’s not even funny.” Emily said, with only two fingers left.
 “Well, I think it’s pretty funny.” Jordan laughed, mocking her with the seven fingers he still had up.
 “Sorry.” Geno whispered to her, apologizing for being the only Russian she’d ever kissed.
 “Don’t be sorry. I’m gonna lose whether you’re Russian or not.” She smiled at him. Him and Max were the other two to put fingers down.
 “Alright, never have I ever been a girl.” Chris said using his turn.
 “Hey, that’s not fair!” Lauren complained.
 “Sorry, I just couldn’t think of anything else to get Leah to put another finger down.” He joked. That was the first thing that Leah had done since Emily’s never, being going hunting.
 “Looks like it’s my turn.” Jordan said, preparing something to say. He noticed Emily’s last finger being up and smirked at her. He knew something that he was sure everyone else had done before. “Never have I ever had brown hair.”
 “You dick.” Max said, speaking for everyone. Jordan just laughed.
 “Losers have to go in the living room.” He said to Emily, who was all out of fingers, pointing to the next room over.
 “Thanks, Jordy.” She said as if it didn’t faze her and got out of her seat and walked into the living room by herself.
 A few minutes later while waiting for someone else to get out and join her in the losers room, Emily heard Max and Jordy going at it.
 “Max loses! No fingers, means no money. Get out.” Jordan said with a laugh.
 “Yeah, I got a finger for ya.” Max shot back, flipping Jordy off as he walked into the living room.
Playing a game probably wasn’t the greatest idea considering how competitive all the guys could get.
 “Looks like I’ll be joining you.” Max smiled, sitting down on the couch next to Emily.
 “Yepp.” Emily said, hoping he’d forgotten about finding out about her and Kris.
He didn’t.
 “So, you and Tanger? Is that where he was last night? He was trying to tell me some shit about his ‘Uncle François’. But I wasn’t buying that. I just had this feeling.” Max asked, an amused look on his face.
 “Max, please please please don’t tell anyone. If Geno finds out I slept with Kris it’ll crush him. I really don’t want to hurt him.” Emily begged him.
 “Don’t worry I won’t say anything, I promise.” Max said honestly. “But may I ask, how did that happen?”
 “Well, he came over to my apartment and we got into a little fight and then he told me he was in love with me and I told him I was in love with him too and then we just kind of did it.” She smiled as she told him. It felt good being able to talk about it with someone, even if it was Max.
 “Oooh, romantic.” Max said with a chuckle.
 “And that was just the first time.” Emily added. For whatever reason, she felt compelled to tell him all about it while she had the chance. She trusted him to not tell anyone and she really wanted to talk about it.
 “First out of how many?” Max asked, kind of surprised that she even trusted him enough to tell him. It seemed like everyone always doubted him or didn’t believe he could do things. It felt good to have someone finally trust him with something important.
 “Two. And the second time was even better.” She gushed. It felt like she was talking to Ashley or another one of her girl friends, and she liked that.
 “So I take it he was good?” Max chuckled.
 “Good? More like incredible!” She said just as Kris walked into the room.
 “Oh, hey Banger. I mean, Tanger.” Max joked, “We were just talking about you.”
Kris looked at Emily who just shrugged her shoulders.
 “He knows.” She said.
 “How’d you find out?” Kris asked him, not sure what else to say.
 “François told me.” Max lied with a smirk.
 “He pretty much figured it out himself. I told you he would be the one to put it together, but you insisted he couldn’t count.” Emily shook her head. Max was confused since he hadn’t been there for the conversation she was referring to.
 “Oh.” Kris said simply.
 “Yeah, man. And from what I hear, you’re like a beast in bed.” Max said. Emily hit him on the arm for saying that. “Ouch!”
 “Thanks?” Kris said. He wasn’t exactly as comfortable talking about it with Max as Emily seemed to be.
 “No problem, but if you don’t mind I’m gonna steal your secret lover for a moment.” Max said and then turned his attention to Emily. “I wanna talk to you about something in private.”
 “Okay.” She said and he directed her into another room.
 “We’ll be back in a bit.” Max told Kris and shut the door behind him.
They were in some kind of room that didn’t have much furniture besides a couch and some chairs. Mario’s house was huge, who knows what room this was.
 “First of all,” Max started to ask once he was alone with Emily, “Are you planning on breaking up with Geno?”
 “Yeah, I’m gonna have to. I’m probably going to give it at least a week though. I don’t have the heart to dump him without a reason and I’m not telling him about Kris.” She explained.
 “Okay, I was just curious. But that’s not all I wanted to talk about.” He told her.
 “Alright, then. Continue.”
 “Well this is actually about me. I need to talk to someone about it and I figure since you were able to trust me with that, I can trust you with this.” Max told her, “I really like Leah.”
 “Oh my god I knew it!”
 “What? How’d you know?” He asked. He didn’t think it would be that easy to tell.
 “Well its just in the way you look at her. I saw you watching her earlier and it’s like she put you under some sort of spell. Like you were hypnotized and she was all you could see.” Emily smiled at him, “I don’t know how to describe it exactly, but I just had a feeling.”
 “Really?” He asked.
 “Yeah.” She nodded, “So are you guys gonna hook up?”
 “I want to, but I don’t know. I have the hardest time talking to her. I can never find the right words to say.” Max confessed.
 “Well you’re gonna have to be a man and talk to her. She’s shy so just get her to warm up to you and you’ll be able to talk about anything and everything and it will be perfect. Trust me.”
 “But what am I suppose to say? She’s different than the rest of the girls I’ve been with.”
 “Just be yourself. Don’t worry about trying to impress anyone. She’ll like you for you.” Emily said, trying to convince him to trust her.
 “Okay. Thanks.” He said genuinely.
 “No problem. Remember I’m always here for you if you wanna talk.” Emily told him with a smile.
 “You too. If you ever need anything, don’t be afraid to talk to me about it. I’ll do whatever I can to help.” Max promised her sincerely.
 “Thanks, Max. I’ll remember that.”


Meanwhile in the losers room Kris was joined by Ashley and Marc-Andre who unfortunately ran out of fingers.
 “No offence Ash, but Jordy is being an ass.” Flower joked as they each took a seat on one of the couches.
 “He just likes to win, is all.” She said with a laugh.
 “Lucky he’s on our team when it comes to hockey, eh?” Kris added and they agreed.
 “Definitely.” Marc-Andre laughed.
Geno walked into the room and took a seat.
 “Welcome to the losers’ lounge.” Ashley said to him, making him chuckle.
 “Great.” He said.
 “Where’d Max and Emily go?” Ashley asked, realizing that they should’ve been in there with them.
 “They went in the other room.” Kris told her.
 “Geno, you better watch out for Max. I wouldn’t leave my girl alone with him for more than two minutes.” Marc-Andre joked.
 “Oh god. Geno, what would you do if she was in there getting some from Max?” Ashley laughed and Geno shook his head.
 “I’d kill him.” He said. Kris suddenly felt completely and utterly uncomfortable being in the same room as him.
Luckily Max and Emily walked back into the room at that moment. Max went over and sat by Kris while Emily chose a spot next to Geno.
 “Where were you two?” Ashley asked suspiciously.
 “Just talking in private.” Max answered.
 “About what?” Ash wasn’t giving up.
 “Nothing that would concern you.” He replied again. “It’s not a big deal.”
 “Okay, whatever you say.” Ashley gave in.
Geno was suddenly noticeably more protective of Emily. He had his arm around her waist and held her close to him. He didn’t like the thought of her being with other guys. She was his and he wanted everyone to know that.
 “Max,” Kris whispered to his friend who was seated next to him, “Whatever you do, don’t let Geno find out about me and her. He would murder me.”
 “Don’t worry, my lips are sealed.” Max whispered back.

Tyler, Lauren, and Sidney soon joined everyone else in the loser room. That left Chris, Leah, and Jordan in the game.
 “Jordy is a sore winner.” Chris laughed as he walked into the room. Everyone else was just sitting around talking, Sid was still texting Ashlen, and Geno kept Emily as close to him as possible.
 “No doubting that.” Max added.
 “Yeah, well I gotta head out anyway. Maureen needs help with little Zach.” Chris told everyone, speaking about his wife and their nine month old son.
 “Aw Chris you need to bring Zach to a game sometime. I wanna see him again.” Emily told him. Last time she got to see him, he really seemed to like her. She was good with little kids like that.
 “Will do. See you guys later.” Chris said. Everyone else said their goodbyes and he left.
Not long after he left, both Leah and Jordan came into the room.
 “Who won?” Marc-Andre asked. Jordan scowled at him, his arms folded across his chest.
 “Her.” He said and everyone but Ashley clapped and laughed at him.
 “That’s what you get for being a bitch.” Max said to him.
 “Aw, Jordy it’ll be okay.” Ashley said, giving him a hug.
 “At least I have you, that’s all that matters.” He said, hugging her back.
 “Someone wants in her pants.” Tyler joked.
 “Well at least she let’s me in them!” Jordan shot back. Lauren hid her face in her hands, embarrassed at the comment. She insisted on waiting until marriage, which Tyler didn’t completely agree with but didn’t argue about. He respected that.
 “Shut up.” TK said, Jordan just smirked at him.
 “Okay now, let’s calm ourselves down a bit.” Max said, trying to keep everyone friendly.
 “I’m tired.” Emily yawned, trying to help change the subject as she rested her head on Geno’s shoulder.
 “I’m bored.” Ashley added, “Sid, what else is there to do here?”
 “Uh, I don’t know. We could watch a movie.” He suggested and everyone seemed agreed.
They all went down to Mario’s movie theater room and got situated in their seats. Ashley laid on Jordan, Tyler sat by and held hands with Lauren, Leah sat on the other side of Lauren and next to Max, on Max’s left was Kris, Sidney sat by Marc-Andre, and Geno sat with his arm around Emily. They unanimously chose to watch Sudden Death, because honestly, not many movies can get cooler and more intense than that.
The movie was about to the part where “Iceburgh” gets strangled in the dishwasher. Emily had her head resting on Geno’s chest. She wasn’t paying a lot of attention to the movie. She looked around without moving her head. Her and Geno were sitting in the back row of seats. In front of them Ashley and Jordan were making out, Sid, who was in the same row as them, was still texting Ashlen, and it seemed like everyone else was just watching the movie.
 “You still tired?” Geno asked her quietly.
 “A little.” She replied in a whisper, looking up at him.
 “You’re eyes are incredible.” He whispered back, looking into her blue-green and brown eyes. She just smiled at the compliment. He tilted her chin up and kissed her. They made out for a few minutes and then separated for a moment. Evgeni smiled. He was so infatuated with her. He was jealous of any guy who she had ever been with just because they had all he ever wanted when he didn’t. Now that she was his he wanted to make up for lost time. He pressed his lips to hers again. For him, it couldn’t get much better than this.
 “Don’t look now but Geno’s sure enjoying your girl back there.” Max whispered to Kris, who just shrugged.
 “She’s not my girl yet. I can’t control what she does. She’s giving him a week so might as well let him enjoy it.” Kris whispered back, even though he really didn’t want her doing anything with Geno.
 “So you wouldn’t care if they slept together tonight?” Max asked.
 “Yeah I would care, but she wouldn’t do that. Besides, they’ve only been going out like two days.”
 “So? You two weren’t even together when you guys did it.” Max pointed out.
 “She’s not going to sleep with him.” Kris said firmly. He knew she wouldn’t, but thinking about it made him mad. He wished Max would just mind his own business.
 “Okay, okay. But I can tell he wants to. Just warning ya.” Max whispered, sounding like he knew what he was talking about. Kris acted like he didn’t hear him and just stared at the screen for the rest of the movie.
When it was over it was time for everyone to leave. They said their goodbyes and went to their cars.
 “I see you tomorrow?” Geno asked Emily as they stood outside in the light snow.
 “Yeah, text me.” She replied.
 “Okay.” He said and kissed her goodbye.
Once he had left Max came over to her.
 “I just wanted to say thanks for trusting me and talking to me tonight.” He said with a smile.
 “Same to you.” Emily said back, “Any luck with Leah yet?”
 “Eh, not yet. But I’m working on it.” He said.
 “Alright. Make sure you remember to talk to me if you ever any advice.” She reminded him.
 “I will, and you be sure to come to me first if you need to talk about anything.”
 “Thanks Max. I promise I will.” Emily said and hugged him. Luckily Geno had already left.
 “Okay. I’ll see ya later.” He told her and went to his car.
The last person she was waiting to see before she left was Kris. He walked over to where she was standing by herself and shot her a small smile.
 “Hey.” She said, a half smile on her face. She wasn’t really feeling happy but she wasn’t sad either.
 “Hey.” He replied, studying her face. “What are you thinking?” He asked. He could tell something was on her mind.
 “You don’t wanna know.” Emily sighed. There were a lot of things running through her mind. Mostly about how quickly her feelings changed depending on who she was with. Being with Geno made her feel so special and important. He treated her so well even though she didn’t deserve it. Being with Kris made her feel loved and carefree. He loved her even though she was with someone else. Being with both of them at the same time made her feel slightly awkward and like she didn’t deserve either one of them. They both wanted her for themselves, but she just couldn’t be both of theirs.
 “Okay then, never mind.” He smirked.
 “I’m sorry, Kris. I really am. I wish this was easier. I want to be with you, I really do.” She said, trying to convince herself as she said it. She loved him, she had to remember that.
 “It’s okay. I know it’s hard.” He said as he hugged her. “Spend this week with Geno and then, like you said, it will have been enough time to be able to end it with him. It’s gonna be okay. I’m here for you always.”
 “Thanks, Kris. I’m sorry for making us have to wait. I’ll make it up to you somehow. I promise.” Emily said, looking into his eyes.
 “Okay.” He chuckled, making her smile. “I’m gonna head out. I’ll see you tomorrow probably.”
 “Probably.” She nodded, “See ya.”
 “Bye.” He said and left.