Chapter Twelve;

There was an hour and a half until game time when everyone started showing up in the locker room. So far Emily, Ashley, Lauren, Leah, Max, Tyler, Sidney, Jordan, and some of the other players were there. They were all just hanging out, waiting for other guys to get there.
 “Where are you guys’ seats?” Jordan asked the girls.
 “Right up against the glass on the side you guys shoot twice.” Ashley answered with a smile. She seemed extra excited for some reason.
 “Nice. I’ll be sure to be in that end for…” Jordan winked, purposely not finishing his sentence. Ashley just smiled. Her glittery sign was in her purse. Emily just rolled her eyes and smiled to herself about their secretiveness. It wasn’t really necessary.
 “Hey! There he is!” Max cheered as Evgeni walked in the room. Emily turned around, facing him now. She just smiled, not sure what to say. He smiled back.
 “Hey.” He said to her and gave her a hug, “I missed you.”
 “I missed you too.” She said back. The rest of their friends made ‘oohing’ and ‘awing’ sounds at them as they talked. They tried to ignore them.
 “You look beautiful.” Geno told her making her smile. Being with him reminded her what made her fall for him that night. He was adorably cute and so, so sweet.
 “Thanks Geno.” Emily smiled, trying not to think about last night.
 “No, I thank you.” He started, “I like you for long time and I thank you for giving me chance to be with you.”
Emily couldn’t believe how incredibly sweet he was. Telling him about Kris was not an option. She would never dream of hurting him like that. He deserved so much better than her.
Geno pulled her closer to him and pressed his lips to hers. At that moment, Kris walked into the room. Max, who had been trying to think of something to talk to Leah about, noticed him first and was worried what his reaction to their kiss would be. To Max’s surprise Kris didn’t seem phased by it at all. He just smiled and waved to the rest of the guys. His face didn’t show the hint of jealousy he was really feeling inside. Kris knew she loved him, she told him that. He would just have to put up with her and Geno being together for a little bit longer.
It wasn’t until Emily and Geno’s lips separated that she noticed Kris was there. She smiled at him when he looked at her, he smiled back but didn’t say anything to her. He secretly hoped that she was in the middle of breaking up with him, but he knew she wouldn’t be that heartless.
 “Hey Tanger.” Jordan greeted him with a grin.
 “Hey.” He replied as he walked up to where him and Ashley, Sidney, Lauren and Tyler, and Max and Leah were standing.
 “You feeling better today?” Jordy asked Kris, who didn’t know exactly what he meant.
 “I told him how you were feeling kinda sick after practice yesterday.” Max cut in to save Kris from saying something he’d regret.
 “Oh, yeah. I’m better now.” Kris said, catching on to what Max said. He smiled at him to show he appreciated it.
 “Good. We all gotta kick my brother’s ass today. I’m not letting him outta here with a win.” Jordan said and everyone agreed and laughed.
 “Oooh, Jordy, make sure he sees my sign!” Ashley said laughing.
 “Okay, I can’t wait to see it myself.” He replied.
 “You’re gonna love it, trust me.” Emily said, joining in the conversation as her and Geno stepped back into their group. He was holding her hand, which wouldn’t have been weird for her, except for the fact that Kris was standing right next to them. She couldn’t wait for this all to be figured out so it wasn’t awkward to be with both of them at the same time, but she didn’t know how, when, or even if that would happen.


When it was almost time for the game to start, all the girls gave their boyfriends good luck kisses, except for Leah and Max although they both secretly wanted to, and then went to their seats. The game started off relatively slow. Though there were a lot of good chances, both the Penguins and Rangers were scoreless after the first period. Eleven minutes into the second period, Sergei Gonchar slapped one in the net on a power play, assisted by Evgeni and Kris, putting the Pens up 1-0. Three minutes later a goal by Chris Drury of the Rangers tied the game at one. It was now the start of the third period. As the guys skated back out onto the ice and towards their bench, Jordan met up with Marc.
 “So we gonna do this or what, Ginger?” He asked his older brother with an excited smirk on his face.
 “Yeah and for all the shit you’re talking you better back it up.” Marc laughed.
 “Will do.” Jordan promised.
 “Alright, just wait for the right moment. Don’t wanna make it look staged.” Marc told him.
 “Yeah, yeah. Get ready for the beat down of your life.”
 “Like I said before, you’re on.” Marc told him and skated to his bench with a grin on his face. Jordan did the same.
Sidney was out to take the face off with Guerin and Kunitz on the wing with Orpik and Gonchar on D. On the other side of the glass the girls watched as the puck dropped. Sidney won the face off easily and they started to get the puck down the ice. They shot with no luck. Eventually the lines changed for both teams. Both Staals were on the ice.
 “Get your sign ready.” Emily told Ashley who held it up right as Jordan slammed his brother into the glass right in front of her.
The two of them stood there, holding each others jerseys, pre-fight talking.
 “You see Ash’s sign?” Jordy asked his brother, laughing to himself about what it said.
 “Yeah, you ready for this, sexy blonde?” Marc asked, ready to drop the gloves.
 “I was born ready.” Jordan said and let his gloves drop to the ice.
The refs blew their whistles, stopping play as Jordan and Marc skated around in circles a fair distance apart. Jordan took the first shot, but couldn’t help laughing as he did so. Marc fought back, but like his brother, couldn’t keep a straight face. They each threw punches back and forth until they eventually fell to the ice, with Jordan landing on top. The refs came over and had to pull them off of each other. As they each skated to the penalty box they argued over who won. It was one hell of a pathetic fight, but the crowd seemed to enjoy it and the rest of the guys got a kick out of it.
 “That’s my Jordy.” Ashley proudly said. Emily just laughed.
Not long after the ‘fight’, Sidney, who was thinking about Ashlen the whole time, scored on a breakaway giving the Pens the lead. And minutes later Evgeni snuck one past Lundqvist, giving the Pens a 3-1 lead.
That ended up being the final score of the game. The crowd cheered as Geno skated onto the ice as the first star of the game. He threw his stick into the crowd and walked off the ice where he was greeted by his girlfriend.
 “You did amazing tonight!” Emily said giving him a hug.
 “Thanks.” He smiled. “Was all for you.”
 “Aw.” She smiled up at him. He was insanely tall standing next to her with his skates still on.
 “Yo, shower up and let’s get outta here. Party at Sid’s.” Max announced to them.
 “Okay, I’ll see you in a little bit then.” Emily said to Geno, knowing he had to go shower and change.
 “Okay.” He smiled and went to go get cleaned up.
Before Emily could go back where her sister and friends were, Kris stopped her. He was out of his skates and most of his gear but he hadn’t showered yet.
 “Hey.” He said, his tone not showing how he was feeling.
 “Hey, good game.” She congratulated him with a small smile.
 “Thanks.” He told her. “You going back to Sid’s?”
 “Yeah I think so.” She said. They were silent for a moment.
 “So,” Kris started to say, “How’s Geno?” He asked, though he was really trying to ask when she was going to dump him.
 “Kris, I can’t break up with him tonight. I really can’t bring myself to do it.” She told him honestly. He looked down at his feet.
 “Oh.”
 “I will though, just not yet.” She added quickly. She didn’t want him to take it the wrong way. She wanted to be with him, she loved him. “Just give me a week with him, and then it will have been enough time that I can legitimately say that it’s not working or come up with something else to tell him so I don’t hurt him too bad. I suck at breakups.”
Kris nodded, understanding what she was saying.
 “Okay. Take your time, but try not to take too long.” He said with a smirk on his face, “One special night with you just isn’t enough for me.”
 “I’m not sure if you mean just spending time with me or the sex, but either way I agree.” She said so no one else would hear and smiled at him. He just grinned in response. “Go get showered so we can all get out of here.”
 “Okay. See ya later best friend.” He said and walked to the showers.
Emily just stood there smiling as she watched him walk away. It amazed her how quickly she forgot about how sweet Geno was to her when she was with Kris, and how being with Geno made it impossible for her to consider breaking up with him.
 “What was that about?” Ashley asked her, having noticed she had been talking to Kris. Ash knew Emily wasn’t completely over him, but that was pretty much all she knew about them.
 “Just talking.” Emily shrugged her shoulders.
 “Oh. Well come on. As soon as Sid and Jordan are done with their interviews we’re outta here.” She told her, grinning.
 “Sounds good to me.” Emily agreed and followed her out.