LTJM: Thanks for reviewing
Peachy65: I'm glad you liked the parts with Mallory talking to both OC and Mac. You'll see some more of that in this chapter. Thanks for the review!
Lulu: Thanks for reviewing! Hope you like the next chapter!
Irishgirl837: There will be more Mac and Mallory stuff to come! I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reviewing
Vaughnloveralwaysandforev: Thanks so much for reviewing! There will be more parts with both Mac and Mallory and OC and Mallory in this chapter! Mac just might be a brave man again too haha! I hope you like it.
Dogdaysareover: Thanks for the review! I hope you like the next chapter too!
AN: Wow, this chapter came out a lot longer than I thought it would! I guess the length makes up for the time I made you wait. I'm sorry about that! It's almost time for exams so it's been a little bit hectic. Thank god for the Stanley Cup playoffs because they give me inspiration to write haha. Anyways, thanks so much to everyone who read and reviewed my last chapter and I hope you like this one!
AN 2: If any of you are trying to picture what Mallory looks like than I got the idea of her from a quick glimpse I remember from the Miracle trailer. It's a girl that Rizzo is dancing with. I got the idea for this chapter from that part of the preview.
Chapter 3
The first week of practice came and went. The only incident that occurred was Mac and OC's fight during the very first one. After that Coach Brooks made it very clear that he didn't want to see that kind of behavior again. Now it was weekend. It was a hot Saturday night and everyone was making plans. A few of the guys on the teams had dates with their girlfriends, but a good number of them were single so their nights were open to ideas.
"Do you have any clue about what we should do tonight?" OC asked Jimmy as the two of them walked down the hall to Silk's room.
"No clue. Maybe a movie or something?" the goalie suggested.
"Nah way, man. Nothing is out," OC told him.
As they kept walking, they saw Mallory leave her room. OC stopped moving and put his arm up to Jim's chest to stop him from walking too. Their RA was looking good. She wore a pink long sleeve shirt and a denim mini-skirt. She was walking towards the elevators and saw the two guys standing there.
"Hey Jack," she smiled at the blonde, and then turned to Jimmy, "Hi Jimmy. It's Jimmy, right?"
She was still learning names. She was in her classes and they were at practices so the team didn't see too much of their RA yet.
"Yeah," Jim nodded.
"Yay!" Mallory clapped her hands out of excitement over getting the name right.
"Now what occasion is making you look extra great tonight?" OC checked Mallory out.
Jimmy rolled his eyes. He didn't want to be here for this. It seems that ever since OC left Boston, he's wanted to get laid. Besides that, he didn't like Mallory as much as some of the other guys did. Sure, she was cute, but she seemed kind of fake to him. She always seemed to be flirting with the other guys or listening to music and doing god knows what in her room.
"I'll meet you in Silk's room," Jim told OC before suddenly walking away.
OC just ignored him and looked at Mallory to listen to her response.
"I've got my friend from back home's bachelorette party tonight. We're going clubbing at one of the discos in the city," she explained.
"That sounds fun," then a light bulb went off in OC's head, "Say, are there a lot of discos in Minneapolis?"
"There are some," she told him, "Why?"
"Oh, some of the guys and I were trying to think of what to do tonight. Maybe I could suggest clubbing to them," OC replied.
"Cool," she smiled, "You should try the Domino Room. That's the hottest club in town."
"How so?" he asked.
"Because that's where I'll be," she winked and giggled, "My friends are waiting for me downstairs. Maybe I'll see you later."
As she walked away, OC checked her out again and said to himself, "God, I hope."
OC then walked quickly down the hallway to Silky's and Verchota's room, where many guys on the team were hanging out trying to figure out what to do that night.
"Guys, I've got an idea…" OC announced as he entered the room.
OC's suggestion of going to the Domino Room was praised by all of the guys. No one but Jimmy knew that he was talking to Mallory right before he suggested it and he was surprised that no one questioned OC for knowing about the club since he wasn't from the area. But the guys were all pretty pumped with the idea of going to the club so they didn't ask too many questions about how he came up with the idea.
The guys got ready, ate dinner, and arrived at the club a few hours later. Some of them sat down at a big table and others got beers from the bar. While most of the guys who went to the bar left to go back to the table, OC, Rizzo and Dave Christian stayed. Dave was chatting up a pretty blonde and OC and Rizzo were watching to see if she would actually believe his ridiculous pick-up line he was selling. The girl obviously did because she led Dave to the dance floor. While being led away, Dave turned around to his two teammates and nodded at them.
"I don't believe it…"
"Nor do I," OC was stunned, "Well it looks like that blind squirrel got her nut."
Rizzo laughed and OC took a sip of his beer. OC then felt fingers tapping his lower back. He looked over to his side and saw Mallory standing beside him, leaning against the bar.
"Hey, you made it!" she greeted him.
"I sure did," he smiled back at her, "How's the bachelorette party?"
Rizzo could tell that this was becoming a two-way conversation and that three was a crowd.
"I'm gonna head back to the table, see you later," then he nodded towards the blonde, "Mallory."
"Bye Rizzo," she nodded giving him a smile, "He doesn't have to go…"
"He'll be fine," OC told her.
When Rizzo walked away she answered OC's question, "Well, it's going pretty great actually. We're getting her pretty drunk. Luckily the wedding isn't for another couple of weeks."
"It will take that long to get over that hangover she's gonna have," OC joked.
"What do you mean?" Mallory laughed, "We're all innocent virgins at our table…"
"I saw the tequila shots sent to your way when we first got here….far from innocent," the hockey player teased.
They both laughed at his joke, especially since the bartender was getting more tequila for Mallory as they spoke.
"So I'm guessing you're pretty tied up with your friends," OC sounded a little disappointed.
"Yeah," she nodded, "I'm at Lynn's beck-and-call. She is the bride-to-be after all."
"Do you always rhyme when you're drunk?"
"I'm not drunk," she shook her head a little sadly, "Unfortunately, I have to go back to my friends now. She's a little nervous about the wedding. We've been at her side constantly, giving her drinks, trying to calm her down. Once we get her drunk enough, we'll have fun. We're thinking truth-or dare or betting or something like that."
"Bummer," OC sighed, "You just look so great tonight and I wish I could see you more."
Mallory blushed, "I'm sorry. But, I'm not the only one busy! You should go back to the guys. You need you're team bonding or male bonding or whatever you guys call it. And there's no better way than getting drunk together! I got to go now. I'll see ya later."
"Later, Mallory," he nodded at her as she walked away, back to her friends' table.
OC went back to the table that the rest of the team was occupying. The trip to the disco was actually a pretty good idea. The guys seemed to be bonding and getting to know each other off the ice. Most athletes would tell you that a good team on the ice is also a close group off the ice. Now they weren't all going to become best friends right away, but this small thing was certainly a start.
After a while of sitting around the table laughing and sharing stories, with the occasional time someone got up to dance with a girl, the team was running out of alcohol.
"Dude, could you get us some more beers?" Rizzo heard OC ask him, "It's your turn."
"Sure," Rizzo nodded to his friend.
Rizzo walked up to the bar and waited for the bartender to serve him. There was only one guy behind the bar and a lot of people surrounding it so he figured the wait would be a while. He was looking forward and felt somebody come up right next to him. He then heard a familiar voice.
"Hey Rizzo"
The hockey player looked to his right and saw Mallory smiling at him as she leaned against the bar. She must've been learning the guys' names better. He noticed her sitting with some of her girlfriends in a big table in the other side of the bar. Rizzo didn't recognize them from the floor so he figured they must be other college friends or friends from home.
"Hi," he nodded back, trying to be friendly.
"You having fun?" Mallory asked as she glanced over to the table where he sat with a bunch of the guys.
"Yeah," he replied.
Mallory looked up towards her table where her friends all sat. Then she turned her attention back to Rizzo.
"Listen, I've got a bet with my friends that I can hit on you and get you to dance with me. They don't know that we know each other. Its ten bucks so do you wanna dance with me and split it?" she giggled as she rubbed his arm with her hand. She was trying to show her friends that she was doing the 'flirting' portion of the bet.
Rizzo laughed and paused for a moment, a little surprised by how blunt she was and how she didn't even build-up the question, like most girls would.
"Sure," he grinned, "What the hell, why not?"
The hockey player then turned to look at the dance floor, quickly glancing up to Mallory's friends in the process. The DJ turned a new song, Carl Carlton's "Everlasting Love".
"Come on," Rizzo grabbed Mallory's hand and lead her onto the dance floor.
Mallory and Rizzo got onto the floor where all the other couples were dancing. They got pretty close to Mallory's friends' table so that they could see that Mallory was dancing with Rizzo. The two began dancing and got pretty into it. They got sucked into the song and Mallory kept shifting from facing Rizzo to turning around and grinding up against him. They were both smiling and looked like they were having a blast.
Not just Mallory's friends saw them dancing. All the guys at the table noticed the pair on the dance floor too.
"Well, Mac, it looks like you've got some competition," Phil patted his friend on the back and laughed. After a week, he was still badgering Mac about Mallory.
"Whatever." Mac shrugged him off and took a drink of his beer.
At the end of the song, the guys saw Rizzo and Mallory hug and Mallory whispering something in their teammate's ear. The two parted and Rizzo walked by his table to see the guys all starring at him. He figured that they saw him dancing with Mallory.
"I'll go get the beers now," Rizzo said with a goofy look on his face.
When he got back to the table with the beers, he quietly told a pissed-off looking OC that it was just a bet that she had with her friends, which seemed to relieve OC. About a half an hour after Rizzo came back to the table with the group's drinks, it was Robbie's turn to get beers from the bar. At the same time that he got to the bar, a familiar blonde also arrived. He didn't notice her walk across the club to get to the bar. If he did he may not have come to avoid hearing his teammates' comments about them.
"Robbie, hi," she must've been just as surprised to see him at the bar as he was to see her.
"Hey, Mal," he sighed and looked away from her.
Seeing that Robbie wasn't in to having a conversation, she turned to the bartender who just came up to serve them.
"Hey, what can I get you?" he asked.
"I'll have…," both Mallory and Robbie talked in unison and stopped when they realized what happened. Mallory's face turned slightly red from embarrassment.
"You can order first," Robbie told her.
"Thanks," she said softly, while not even looking at him and then turned to the bartender, "Can I have another round of tequila for my table?"
"Sure."
Mallory and Robbie stood in an awkward silence for a moment. Then Robbie spoke up.
"So, how was dancing with Rizzo?" Robbie asked.
"Fine," she laughed and shook her head, "Why do you care?"
"I don't. I was just wondering," the hockey player replied.
The thing was that he didn't know if he cared, or if he should have cared. They never actually agreed to be friends or anything. Even if they had, it would still be kind of awkward because they were never really friends to begin with. As soon as they met, they just began hooking up.
"Here you go," Robbie was snapped out of his train of thought when the bartender brought Mallory her drinks.
"Thanks," she paid him, and then started some small talk, "At least the music is pretty decent tonight."
"Yeah it's been pretty good so far. And it's about to get even better! The DJ is going to start an ABBA hour in about five minutes," the bartender informed her.
"Oh fuck me!" the blonde sighed, "I gotta leave. I can't stand ABBA."
She was starting to walk away but then she remembered that Robbie wasn't a big fan of the group either, "You coming, Robbie?"
"Yeah," Mac nodded, "I can drive home I brought my car."
Mallory nodded. Now that was an arrangement they had been used to. They went dancing with some groups a couple of times and there always managed to be an ABBA thing going on. They'd always leave to avoid listening to a band that Mallory claimed, "The day of their birth was the day the music died."
"I gotta go bring these drinks to my table. I'll meet you at the door," she grabbed the tray of tequila to bring back to her friends.
Mac walked back towards his table. He was surprised to see them not watching his conversation with Mallory, like they had watched her dance with Rizzo.
"Hey, where's the beer?" Verchota asked, unaware of the situation.
"Someone else can get it. I'm out," he then walked to the door to find Mallory just arriving herself.
"Let's go," she led the way out.
None of the guys knew that Mac left with Mallory. They couldn't even tell by looking at her table to see her not there because her table was across the dance floor, which was flooded with couples who were getting into ABBA's "Fernando". So the guys went on with their usual conversations, without any gossip about what Mac could or could not be doing at the moment.
"Guys, hottie at twelve o'clock," Phil nodded towards the bar.
A few of the guys looked up to see who Phil was talking about. The bar was so crowded with people surrounding it that nobody knew who Phil was referring to.
"Which one?" OC laughed, "There are at least twenty girls there."
"The brunette in the red halter dress. She has the flower in her hair," Phil pointed to her.
"Put your hand down, Verchota," Bah grabbed Phil's arm and pulled it down, "She's gonna think you're a weirdo for pointing."
"I bet you I can get her to go to bed with me," Phil said seriously, "Silk, you mind not going back to the room tonight?"
"Go to her place," Silk shrugged as he finished his nearly empty glass of beer.
"Okay," Phil nodded. He then got up to go talk to the girl, who looked like she was just waiting at the bar.
A few of the guys watched as Phil was trying to pull the moves on the girl. They saw him buy her a drink. The girl must've been a little fancy because she got a red wine. She was drinking the wine as she just nodded and gave a small smile to Phil, who was doing all the talking.
"I'm outta beer," Silk announced, "I'm gonna get some more."
"I'll come with," Jimmy volunteered, "I want another drink too."
The two hockey players got up and walked towards the bar. They were from the same place and played for the same school, but they couldn't look more opposite. Silk walked confidently in this bar, almost as if he owned it. Jimmy, on the other hand, walked with his hands in his pockets and he was slouching. He wasn't that much into the club scene. He didn't like dancing that much and was practically dragged here by OC.
They got to the bar and were only about five feet from Phil and the brunette he was chatting up. Silk leaned against the bar and Jimmy stood a next him but away from the crowd. Silk listened to Phil's one-sided conversation.
"Doesn't sound good for Verchota," Silk joked.
Jimmy laughed, "Guess he won't need your room tonight."
"I wouldn't have given it to him anyways."
Jimmy and Silk both laughed. While laughing, Jimmy looked over to Phil and the girl. The goalie saw the girl looking up at him and smiling. Jim stopped laughing and smiled back at her. She was a lot more beautiful close up. She had the prettiest blue eyes that Jim had ever seen. Verchota thought that the girl was smiling at him and kept talking.
"She seems in to you, Jimmy. Go talk to her," Silk tried to persuade his friend.
"Nah…I don't know," Jim shook his head, "Verchota's already talking to her."
"So? They're not married," Silk laughed.
Silk then maneuvered around the people standing at the bar right up to Verchota and the girl.
"Hey," he then pulled Jim's arm and brought him into the conversation, "Have you met, Jim?"
The girl laughed and shook her head, "No."
"Well, have fun with that," Silk snickered, "Come on, Phil. Let's go get some beer."
"But I was…."
"You were bombing," Silk told him quietly so that the girl couldn't hear.
"Fine," Verchota shrugged, knowing he'd lose that battle.
The two walked away, leaving Jimmy alone with the girl.
"I'm Jim."
"I know," she nodded, "I'm Elizabeth."
"People call me Jimmy."
"People call me Elizabeth," she took a sip from her wine.
"Not Liz or Lizzie?" he asked.
"Just Elizabeth," she stressed.
"Okay…Elizabeth," he laughed.
His laugh caused her to laugh too, "Sorry I just hate when people call me that. My mother named me Elizabeth. If she wanted me to be called Liz or Lizzie then she would've named me Liz or Lizzie."
"No, it's alright. I've just never met anyone who cared so much about a nickname," he chuckled.
"Well you brought it up," she smiled, "So tell me, Jimmy, do you believe in the saying 'All's fair in love and war'?"
"What do you mean?"
"I was just talking to your buddy over there," she nodded towards his table, "And you got your friend to intervene for you."
"So? It's not like you seemed interested anyways," Jim answered her.
"I wasn't," she laughed, "Thanks for saving me from that one. I owe ya one."
"Anytime," he smiled back to her.
She then turned her attention to the door. She gasped and put her hand on her forehead, "Oh brother…."
"Are you okay?"
"I have to go," she said quickly. She then gulped the rest of her drink and scuffled away, leaving a confused Jimmy standing at the bar.
Jimmy walked back to his table, with a confused expression on his face. He shook his head to forget about the weird thing that just happened, but his teammates had to ask about it.
"What happened, Jimmy?" Verchota asked, "I saw her run away from you."
"At least she talked to me, man," Jimmy joked.
"Ohhhh," a bunch of the guys laughed and teased.
Even Verchota laughed, "Whatever, there are other fish in the sea."
"Yeah," Jim nodded, "Other fish in the sea…"
Mac and Mallory arrived back to their residence hall about twenty minutes after they left the club. They filled the time with small talk and listening to music on the radio. Once they got to the hall, the majority of the building was completely empty. It was a hot summer Saturday night, they were all out partying.
"I'm sure your friend won't be mad at you for leaving her bachelorette party early," Mac tried to reassure Mallory, who talked about how she was worried her friend would be mad at her during the car ride home, "ABBA sucks, she'll understand."
"I hope," she sighed as the pair got off the elevator.
The two walked down the hallway and stopped at where their doors were, same location on the floor but on opposite sides.
"So good night, Robbie. Thanks again for driving me home," she was facing him with her back against her door. She took a cigarette out of her purse and lit it, huffing out the first smoke.
"No problem," he nodded. He just stood there, looking down at Mallory. It made her feel kind of uncomfortable.
"Bye," she sighed while giving him a small wave.
Mallory took her cigarette out of her mouth and huffed out smoke again. She tried to avoid Robbie's face because she knew he was not a smoker. The blonde turned around to unlock her door.
"Mallory," Robbie grabbed the girl by her waist and turned her to face him. Then he kissed her.
The kiss lasted all but a few seconds. He felt that Mallory wasn't kissing back. When he let go from the kiss he saw her giving him a confused stare while she huffed out more smoke from her mouth. The two stood in silence for a moment. Robbie was mortified by what he had just done and Mallory a little weirded out.
"Robbie, come inside," she unlocked her door while she was looking at him at the same time, "I don't want to have this conversation out here."
Mallory opened the door and let herself in first. She turned on the overhead light. The hockey player took a deep breath and followed her.
"I'm really sorry," Mac was a little speechless, "I just thought that when you asked me to leave with you, that you meant to actually 'leave with you'."
"No, no. It's okay," she tried to reassure him as she closed her door, "It's fine."
"So did you really mean just leave to get away from the music? Because all the other times we left, we fooled around afterwards…"
"I…I just wanted to get away from the music," Mallory told him as she took her final huff from her cigarette before putting it in the ashtray on her desk, "I'm sorry if I made you believe it was something more. Let's just not do that again."
"Why not? I liked our arrangement before. Can't we just go back to that? No strings attached, like last time," he moved closer to her and brushed his hand against her cheek.
"No," she moved back from him, shook her head and sat down on her bed. He was still standing in the middle of her room, "I didn't feel anything, Robbie."
"I didn't either! It's the same I've always felt. I didn't feel a thing," he told her honestly, hoping that that's what she wanted to hear.
"That's the point! I don't want that!" she tried, "I don't want you! I'm sorry, Robbie. I don't want to go back to that situation again. I just can't do that…"
"Why not? You never cared before. Why do you suddenly care now?" Robbie was confused and a little pissed.
"Because I just can't, Robbie! I was a different person back then!" she didn't want to sound mean, but her voice was a little louder than she had anticipated.
"Whatever," Mac shrugged as he walked away from her.
He opened her door and as he was about to walk away, he stopped himself. He looked down to his feet and said in a lower voice, "I'm sorry. Let's just forget this ever happened."
"Okay," she nodded quickly in agreement.
Robbie took a deep breath, "Okay."
The hockey player than walked out and closed the door behind him. That was finally the closure on their little long dead fling that they both needed.
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