dundunduntonnnn: Thanks for the review - I'm glad you like the story. I got this up as fast as I could!

NellieBly413672: Thanks for the review, glad you liked it! Glad you liked the gag gifts too - that's my favorite scene in the movie! Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Peachy65: Thanks for reviewing! You'll find out what happens with the guys this chapter. I think you'll like how it turns out.

Dogdaysareover: Glad you liked it and thanks for the review! Hope you enjoy this one too.

LTJM: Thanks, gald you like it, and glad you liked Riley's convo with her mom. You'll see more of their interaction soon.

A/N: Thank you all again for the wonderful reviews! Reading them made me so happy. Sorry I couldn't get this chapter up sooner. I had such a busy week! Hope you all enjoy – please R&R!

Chapter 27: Change My Way of Living

The Monday after Christmas the team was ready to get back on the ice and begin practicing again. There was just under two months until the opening ceremonies, and their schedule was pretty full until then. Each week until the week before the games, the guys had three games. Since they played every upcoming Saturday night, it meant three practices on top of the three games. If they were lucky, each Sunday they would have a day to rest up.

Riley was joining the team at practice that Monday morning, but she was a little nervous. She didn't know how the guys would react to seeing her, or if they would even want to hear what she had to say. Since Herb had some paperwork for Riley to take care of, she didn't have to see anyone if she didn't want to that day, but she wanted to see everyone and get it over with. Arriving with Herb at the rink though, she decided to wait until after practice to talk to the guys. Riley also wanted to talk to a few of them individually, starting with OC. She wanted to start with OC because even though he was really pissed and said hurtful things, she knew he was being brutally honest, and in a way, Riley knew she needed to hear them.

Now if she could just find him before she ran into anyone else…

Riley waited in the hallway outside the locker room after practice, but near the end so that when the guys came out they wouldn't see her. She was standing opposite the direction of the exit, so if she was lucky, they wouldn't run into her. Her plan was to catch OC when he came out, hopefully alone.

It was as if someone upstairs was helping her out, because OC did walk out alone today, and he was one of the last ones, so Riley knew not too many guys would be following him out.

"OC, wait up," Riley called out running down the hallway to catch him. OC stopped and turned around, at first not knowing who had called him.

"Oh, it's you," he said upon seeing Riley.

"Can we talk?" Riley asked.

"I don't know," OC replied. "I don't think I have much to talk to you about."

Riley ignored OC's snarky comments and went on. "I need to talk to you," she said seriously.

"Okay," OC said, agreeing because he could Riley was serious from her tone and lack of smart ass replies.

"I know you and everyone else are probably still pissed at me. I deserve it. What I did…" the red head began, looking down at her feet in embarrassment before elaborating, "sleeping with Tim… was totally uncalled for." Riley looked back up at OC, who looked pissed at the reminder, but didn't say a word.

"Look, OC. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, and I can't make up for what I did, but I just wanted to apologize anyway."

"To help make yourself feel better?" OC scoffed.

Riley shook her head. "That's not the whole reason. It's part of it, but I just think all of you deserve an apology. You and Rizzo most of all."

"Why us?" OC asked. He was mainly making Riley a hard time now, just because he wanted to see her sweat it out.

"Well, Rizzo because by sleeping with Tim, it was sort of like… like I was throwing him under the bus. That wasn't my intention, but I can see how it looked to him."

"And me?"

"Because of everything that happened between us," Riley started. She continued, "You were trying to be a nice guy and gave me advice, then I basically… just threw everything you said in your face," Riley finished, not knowing how else to word it.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Riley continued, "OC, I wish I could take it all back, but I can't. The only thing I can do is show you and everyone else that I'm not that person. I care about all of you."

"Okay, " OC said, unconvincingly. "Well, I gotta go, but I guess I'll see you around if you're going to hang out with us again."

"Yeah," Riley said sadly. She didn't think she deserved their forgiveness, but she hoped it would have went better than it did.

OC walked away to leave Riley standing by herself in the hallway. Tears began forming in her eyes, tears she knew she would have trouble controlling. She hadn't even realized OC had stopped and turned back around again.

"A bunch of us are going to the bar tonight. You're welcome to join us." Riley looked up at OC but couldn't be sure whether he was being sincere or not.

"Um, I think I'll pass," Riley said. "I'm busy doing family stuff tonight." Aside from not knowing if he was sincere, she had already promised to help her mom do some things around the new house that night. She was moving in with them in a few days, as soon as she could move her stuff from her uncle's house to her family's house.

"Okay, well, see you tomorrow then," OC said, walking away again. He then stopped a second time to see Riley wiping her face.

"Riley, we all make mistakes," he said seriously. Then he grinned. "Some people just happen to make more than others. As long as you learn from them, there's no real harm." Riley looked at OC, wondering if he was making fun of her or being nice. She couldn't tell. "Catch ya later, Ri," OC said, and turned around again, this time actually leaving.

And with that simple nickname, Riley knew they were okay. Now she had to work on Rizzo.


Late Monday afternoon, Emma headed over to the dorms, wanting to take Bah's advice and talk to Mark. She was a little nervous, because Mark had every right to be mad and refuse to talk to her.

Emma knocked on the door, hoping Mark was in his room alone, because things would be even more awkward if she needed to kick his roommate out.

"Hey Emma," Mark said upon opening the door, sounding less than thrilled to see her.

"Are you alone?" Emma asked, not bothering to say hi first.

"Yeah."

"Can I come in?" Emma asked. "I need to talk to you."

Mark sighed. "Sure. Come on in," he said and opened the door just wide enough for Emma to walk in past him.

Emma sat on his bed and waited for him to walk over to where she was sitting. She thought he was going to sit down, but instead he stood in front of her with his arms folded.

"Okay, I deserve this, I know," Emma said, talking about Mark's attitude. "But if you'll just let me explain…"

"You can explain all you want, Emma. It won't mean anything."

"Mark, you're a great guy and I like you. Whenever I'm with you I have fun, and you're always so respectful and just an all around nice guy." Before Emma had a chance to continue, Mark interrupted her.

"And since I'm such a nice guy you decided it was necessary to see if I had a not so nice side by throwing your crush on OC in my face?" Mark rhetorically asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Mark, that's not what I was trying to do," Emma said softly.

"Then what were you trying to do?"

"I just…I don't know," Emma said. "I can't explain."

"Then why are you here?" Mark snapped.

Emma just looked at him for a minute without answering. She really didn't know what to say. "Mark, I don't want to hurt you. I do like you. I am over OC, I can promise you that. I just can't promise that things will work out for us."

"You're right about that Emma," Mark began, "because there is no us."

Tears began forming in Emma's eyes. She hated that Mark was so mad at her, and she didn't know how to fix it.

"Mark, please. Don't do this."

"I didn't do anything. You're the one that's at fault. I'm not going to be your back-up guy. If I'm not good enough for your first choice, then you're not good enough for me either."

"Mark, you are good enough. Too good. You're the guy any girl would be lucky enough to have."

"Which is why I deserve someone that puts me first and not second behind some other guy," Mark interjected, cutting Emma off once again. It was enough to make Emma snap.

"Mark! I came over here to talk to you. I already know I'm at fault. I don't need you reaffirming it. If you want me to leave I will, but you're not going to keep putting me down!"

Emma's outburst quieted Mark right down. He was giving her an extra hard time on purpose, because for as mad as he was, he still liked her, and Mark didn't want give in too easily.

Emma then continued when she was sure Mark wouldn't interrupt. "Mark, I like you. I really do. But what'll happen in two months when you leave and we never see each other again? I'm afraid that if I let myself get too close to you, I'll get hurt. Want to know why OC's so appealing?" Emma asked, but didn't wait for an answer. "Because I already know we'd never last anyway." Emma paused for a minute, letting it sink in with Mark.

"Mark, I can't say the same about the two of us."

"Emma," Mark said softly, now sitting next to her on the bed. He still didn't get too close though. "I wish you would have talked to me before."

"I didn't realize it until a couple days ago. I felt so guilty about what happened, especially because I didn't know what I was feeling or why, but after I thought it through, it all made sense."

Now Mark put his arm around Emma. "I can't make any promises about where we'll be in a couple months, but if you want to try…"

"I'd like that Mark," Emma said with a smile.


The next day after the morning skate that preceded home games, Riley was on her way out when she was stopped by OC and Silky.

"Long time no see, Riley," Silky commented. "Have you been hiding from us?"

Riley didn't know how to respond, but luckily OC answered for her. "Herb just gave her time off for the holidays. I saw her yesterday, but Herb was keeping her busy. He must know about your ulterior motive with any woman that crosses your path and decided not to let you near her." OC said this with a grin and winked at Riley to show her he was joking. Riley smiled, thankful OC came up with something to shut Silky up. Silky just gave OC a shove. He didn't find OC's comment that funny.

"So I guess he figured out what that gift meant…" was Silky's comeback, now putting OC in his place.

"What gift?" Riley asked curiously.

"Nothing. Some stupid gag gift Silky got at the Christmas party," OC said. Then changing the subject he asked, "Riley want to come out with us tonight after the game?"

"Uh, maybe. I'll think about it."

"It'll be fun," OC said, trying to get Riley to join them.

"I'll let you know," Riley said. She hadn't talked to anyone except OC yet, so Riley wasn't entirely sure anyone would want her to go out with them.

That evening, Riley was one of the first at the arena for the game. Before each game she was in charge of getting equipment ready, filling water bottles, and basically doing anything else that Herb needed as well. Jimmy was usually the first team member to arrive, so Riley decided that she would take advantage of the chance to talk to him alone. Riley knew he had a pregame routine that he hated breaking, but because they were usually the first two people around, they typically made some small talk anyway.

"Hey Jimmy," Riley said without looking up as the locker room door opened.

"How'd you know it was me?" Jimmy asked.

"You're always here first," Riley said, now looking up.

"Yeah I guess I am," Jimmy said. "How are things looking?" he asked, noticing Riley was studying the other team's roster, which happened to be another one of Riley's jobs. Herb always had Riley look at the starting lineup and make notes based on what notes he already had on the players. Sometimes Riley sensed it was nothing more than busy work though, because she never felt that good at making the notes, and she never even saw Herb use them. Riley often got the feeling that almost everything she did was busy work, but it really didn't bother her. Riley was just glad Herb was letting her be a part of the team.

"I think you guys will win tonight," Riley told him.

"Don't go jinxing us," Jimmy said, flashing a smile.

Riley planned on talking to Jimmy about everything that had happened, but he was almost treating her like nothing had happened anyway, so she decided not to say anything. Maybe I was making everything a bigger deal than it needed to be, Riley thought to herself, somewhat satisfied. A few seconds later, Rizzo walked in and Riley instantly realized she wasn't totally correct in her thinking.

"Hey Jim," Rizzo said, ignoring Riley's presence. Riley knew Rizzo saw her and was clearly still mad at her. She decided not to let it get to her though. More of the team was entering the locker room now and Riley wanted to talk to Rizzo alone, not with all sorts of noise in the background.

The guys played well in the game and came out on top, winning four to two. They decided to go out for a while after the game to celebrate their win. Whether they won or lost, they usually went out after the game, but it was always more fun when it was in celebration.

"Riley, want to go out for a while?" OC asked her. OC couldn't put his finger on it, but somehow Riley seemed different since she came back after Christmas. It was almost like she was more mature or something, and OC didn't really mind her hanging out with the team anymore. Besides, it was always fun to have a few girls around too. He knew Kristen, Gayle, and Emma were all coming out, so he thought it would be fun for Riley too.

"Um, I don't know," Riley said, hesitating. She got the vibe that most of the guys put the past behind them… the past meaning Riley and Tim, but Riley knew she still had to talk to Rizzo.

"Come on. I'll give you a ride," OC said, tempting her like he had before.

"The other girls will be there," Rammer added, having overheard part of OC's conversation with Riley.

"That's not much incentive to go," Riley mumbled. OC was the only one to hear her.

"You don't like them?" OC wondered.

"I never really got to know them," Riley said, realizing she was always too busy getting drunk and trying to hook up with someone on the team to talk to the girls.

"They're really friendly," OC said.

"Emma's not," Riley said.

"Well, last time I checked, you weren't nice to her either," OC reminded her. Then he said, "You can just hang out with us then."

"Okay, I'll go for a little bit," Riley said.

At the bar, Mac and Rammer were arguing over who was buying the first round of drinks.

"I won that bet fair and square," Mac argued.

"No. I won," Rammer said. "You just thought you won because you got a phone number."

"That was the bet," Mac said.

"The bet was to get her number. Her fake number doesn't count," Rammer said with a smirk. Silky was standing nearby and began laughing, giving Rammer a high five for the comment.

"I have a solution," Silky said a minute later. Riley and OC had just walked in with Bah and Buzz, and the Riley and OC were walking over to where the three teammates were standing. "Riley can buy the drinks," Silky said.

"What?" Riley asked, having heard her name but not hearing what Silky had said.

"You're buying the first round."

"Why?"

"Well because…we bought you drinks all those other times. Now you can treat us."

"I believe it's Mac's turn to buy those drinks," OC said, saving Riley. "If memory serves me correctly, he lost a bet."

"No!" Mac said. "I didn't lose the bet. I got the phone number."

Silky, OC, and Rammer, all in unison said, "A fake number doesn't count!" Riley began laughing at the exchange between the guys.

"It was still a phone number," Mac argued.

"I'd give you that," OC began, "if you weren't stupid enough to believe it was a real number. That girl pulled the oldest trick in the book."

"What'd she do?" Riley asked, having not been there the night this had all transpired.

"She gave him the number six, six, eight, four, six, two, eight," OC said. "On the dial, those numbers can also spell…" OC grabbed a napkin off a nearby table and a pen and wrote 'not in 2 u'.

Riley laughed. "How did you not recognize that?" Riley asked Mac.

"Well excuse me if I don't pay attention to the letters on the phone when I'm dialing a number."

"Well you still should have recognized it," Riley commented. "How many times have you gotten the same number?"

This made everyone roar in laughter except Mac. Mac just rolled his eyes and gave Riley the finger.

"Feisty tonight, aren't we?" Silky asked Riley. She shrugged in response.

"Hey Rizzo," OC then called out, seeing Rizzo walk in the bar. He then looked at Riley to gauge her reaction. OC knew she hadn't talk to him yet.

"I'm gonna go say hi to some of the other guys," Riley said, getting away from the group.

After Riley made her way around the bar, having successfully avoided Emma and Rizzo, she decided to try to find Rizzo. It was easier than she thought, and because he was only standing with OC, it was easy to get him away.

A slightly reluctant Rizzo followed Riley outside where they could talk without interruptions.

"Rizzo, I honestly don't know where to begin," Riley started, "but I guess I'll start with - I'm really sorry."

"What for?" Rizzo asked somewhat sarcastically.

"Everything," Riley admitted. "Most of all, I'm sorry about sleeping with Tim. I know how it must have looked to you, and I swear I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm also sorry for taking advantage of you. I never thanked you for helping me out all those times when I was drunk off my ass and too messed up to go home. You could have went to Herb, gotten my ass kicked off the staff, and you wouldn't have had to deal with me anymore, but you didn't." Riley paused and looked down at her feet. Before continuing, she looked up again and noticed Rizzo's eyes had softened compared to before.

"You're such a nice person, and I completely took advantage of everything. I didn't treat you like a friend at all, and I'm really, really sorry. I guess I'm ultimately hoping we can start over, because I think you'd make a great friend," Riley said, realizing she probably sounded pretty lame asking to start over.

"Thank you for apologizing," Rizzo said. "I'm sorry about the things I said too. I was probably a little harsh."

"Rizzo," Riley began, "you're too nice. You don't have to apologize for anything. I needed to hear what you said. I appreciate hearing the truth. I know I've been impossible to put up with from your standpoint, and you've been too nice to tell me until things were way out of control."

"Well, I forgive you," Rizzo said. "I can't say we're friends now, but I might be able to work on it." Rizzo half heard OC telling him the other night how Riley was 'different now' but he chose not to really believe it until he saw it. She would really have to prove that to him.

An hour later, only a handful of the guys were still at the bar, because most had just stopped in for one drink. OC, Silky, Mac, Mark, Bah, and Buzz were still hanging around, as was Riley and the three other girls.

"Let's play a drinking game," Silky suggested.

"What game?" Bah asked, sounding like he didn't want to play.

"I know!" Emma said. "We could play 'Never Have I Ever'."

"No," Bah said. "You always win," he told his best friend.

"Why?" Silky wondered and smirked. "Lack of experience?" he asked, eyebrows raised. Silky as well as everyone else knew the game quickly turned sexual after a few turns.

"No," Emma replied. "Because I think of really good ones." Emma then added, "But if we play now, I'll win on lack of experience. No here is as experienced as Riley." Emma made the comment with a hint of glimmer in her eyes as if she was purposefully being rude.

Bah inwardly groaned. He hadn't heard much from Riley all night, and now Emma was about to start something to change that. To his surprise, Riley didn't respond with a smart ass comeback, but just a natural sounding statement.

"I'm not playing."

"Why? Because you'll lose?" Emma asked, trying to egg the teen on.

Riley didn't take the bait, trying to be nice to Emma like OC had suggested, and simply said, "Because I'm not drinking."

"Riley, I was really joking when I said I wasn't buying you a drink," Mac said. "I only said that because you were making fun of me about the phone number. I'll go up and get you something…what do you want?"

"I'm fine, Mac really. Thank you though," Riley said with a smile.

"So, you're not drinking now that you're legal?" Kristen asked. Kristen wasn't trying to be mean, but was just really curious.

"I don't feel like it tonight," Riley said, giving part of the truth. She didn't feel the need to tell the table why she wasn't drinking.

"Oh my God!" Emma said, in a really loud voice. "You're pregnant with OC's love child, aren't you?" Everyone at the table turned to look at Emma following her drunk outburst. OC was pissed Emma put that idea into anyone's head, and everyone else was confused. Most of them were wondering if Riley being pregnant could be true. After all, she had slept with a lot of people. Everyone then turned back to Riley, waiting for a response.

"Umm… no," Riley said, giving Emma a look that said the idea was crazy. She wanted to come up with a sarcastic comment more than anything to shut Emma up and throw the remark back in her face, but decided not to. Emma's outburst may have been inappropriate, but the only comebacks Riley could think of were much worse, and OC already looked pissed.

"Is it Tim's then?' Emma asked, not wanting to give up. Mark looked at Emma now, silently telling her to stop. He knew she was a drunk, but her comments were rude and uncalled for whether she had an excuse of being drunk or not.

Riley's attempt to let Emma's remarks go went out the window. "I didn't want to tell you Emma… but since you're so insistent… it's Mark's baby." Riley said this with a serious enough look to throw Emma off, but a joking enough look to make everyone else, except Mark, laugh.

"Nice comeback," OC commented. After that, the idea for the drinking game was dead, and everyone just enjoyed conversation until they were done with their beers and ready to leave. As OC and Riley were leaving, Bah stopped them.

"Riley, I'm sorry about Emma. She can be a mean drunk," Bah explained, apologizing for his friend.

"It's not your fault, Bah. I think Emma would have been rude to me no matter what though," Riley added. "She doesn't really like me."

"She likes you," Bah said unconvincing. Kristen gave him a look that said he wasn't very believable.

"Emma just isn't used to you," Kristen said, somewhat revising Bah's statement and obvious lie. "I'm sure if she tried to get to know you, she'd realize you're a nice girl."

"Thanks, Kristen," Riley said sincerely. She hadn't been sure what Kristen or Gayle thought of her, but Kristen always seemed genuinely nice, and now Riley was pretty sure it was only Emma that had something seriously against her.

"We're gonna go," Bah said. "Thanks again for the ride over, OC."

"No problem," OC replied. Although he had driven Bah and Buzz over along with Riley, he only had to drive Riley home because Buzz was leaving with his wife and Bah with his girlfriend.

On the drive home, OC asked if Riley had fun at the bar.

"Yeah, it was fun," Riley responded, sounding truthful.

OC wanted to ask Riley why she wasn't drinking, but he didn't want to come right out and say it, so he tried to get to the question another way. "The look on Emma's face was priceless when you said you were having Mark's baby."

"The look on Mark's face was priceless too," Riley said, smiling at the memory. "I just hope he wasn't too mad at me for saying that. Emma was just really getting on my nerves. It's none of her business why I wasn't drinking."

"Yeah," OC said in agreement, though now slightly disappointed knowing he wouldn't be able to ask her himself.

"Go ahead, ask," Riley said.

"Ask what?" OC asked, taking a quick look at Riley in the passenger seat.

"I know you're curious about why I wasn't drinking. I could hear it on your voice."

"It's none of my business," OC said.

"It wasn't Emma's damn business," Riley replied. "I don't care if you know."

"Do you want to tell me?" OC asked, after Riley was quiet for a minute.

"I'm trying to take your advice seriously this time."

"My advice?"

"Yeah, it's my New Year's Resolution," Riley said.

"Taking my advice is your New Year's Resolution?" OC asked, looking really amused. "What advice was good enough to be a New Year's Resolution? And by the way, you do know it's not January first yet, right?"

"I know. But I'm starting early. And your advice was about not sleeping around… and being more careful," Riley said.

"And that has what to do with drinking?"

"When I drink I tend to go a little out of control. I know one drink would lead to more… I don't want to get drunk. Besides, tonight I realized I can have as much fun without drinking."

"Good for you," OC said sincerely, complimenting Riley on her realization and self control. A few minutes later, OC pulled into Herb's driveway to drop Riley off.

"Thanks for the ride, OC," Riley said before getting out of the car.

"Anytime, Ri," he replied. "Glad you had fun."

Riley smiled and got out of the car, then shut the door, thinking she was really glad she had a friend like OC. Even if we do hate each other, she thought smirking about their typical playful banter.