I know I said I wasn't going to post for a while, but I was watching an OHL game with my dad tonight and couldn't help myself...
Thank you everyone for your well wishes. It perked me up a lot. I get my x-ray results back soon, so I'm on my way to getting better. I am on painkillers, so I apologize for any spelling or punctuation mistakes...
Anyway, here's chapter 5!
Rizzo grunted and turned over, making the springs in his mattress creak in protest. Again. He glanced at the clock. 5:34. The Italian sighed and turned over. Again.
"Rizzo!" It was a whisper, barely there, but Rizzo could tell his roommate was frustrated with him. He looked over at Silk's bed. Ashleigh was fast asleep, tucked securely against Silk's side, a soft snore escaping her every so often. His teammate was glaring at him though. Wide awake. "Go to sleep or go away! We have training in…" He paused, looking around for the clock, "one and a half hours."
Rizzo looked at his roommate apologetically and got out of bed with a final creak. "Sorry." Silk just grunted as he settled back against his girlfriend. The big forward grabbed some clean clothes and his hockey gear before entering the bathroom to change. Might as well get a head start on training.
The arena was unlocked when he got there, which to Rizzo was a good thing. He really didn't feel like running that morning.
He was in the locker room, lacing up his skates before he thought to wonder why the arena was unlocked at 5:45 in the morning. It took him another minute to realize that he wasn't just humming a random tune to himself. He was hearing music.
He wandered into the rink and felt himself freeze when he saw her. She was… elegance.
Their eyes locked as she left the ice, but neither of them spoke a word. Soon Rizzo felt himself staring into empty space.
Who was she?
Val physically hurt when she saw how hard Herb worked the guys.
She gave Mikey a massage after training, as she had for the past month and a half. Each time he fell asleep about 10 minutes in. Normally she would have credited herself and her awesome massage skills, but according to Ashleigh, Erin, and Ava their boys were doing exactly the same thing.
When Doc Nagobads and Coach Patrick finally convinced Herb to give the boys a night off no one was more relieved than her. Well, the other girls were pretty relieved… and the boys themselves…
Anyway, the night off happened to coincide with Erin's work schedule. So the first official 'bar night' was declared.
"Chug! Chug! Chug!"
"Come on baby!" Ava cheered her boyfriend on as he chugged his third beer.
Most of the team, including Ava and Ashleigh, were more than half way to being completely smashed. Val and Rammer, both being underage, had volunteered to stay sober. They weren't missing out though. The team was pretty amusing when they were drinking.
OC striking out with Christian's date was a definite highlight.
"So," Erin smiled at the table, clutching a tray and her notepad, "How are you guys doing?"
"Fabulous!" Ava drawled, sipping her own beer. "And how are you?"
"I'm pretty good, Ava."
Buzz made his way around the table until he was leaning heavily on his girlfriend. "Erin!" He planted a sloppy, drunken kiss on her lips, much to the amusement of the rest of the team, except Mac, of course. "Is your shift over?"
Erin grinned and helped her boyfriend back to his seat. "Another half hour to go." She patted Robbie's shoulder and grinned slyly at him. "Then Ann-Marie'll take care of us."
"Whoo!" Buzz, much to Mac's consternation, let out an excited yell.
"Who's Ann-Marie?" OC asked curiously.
"Mac's gotta crush on 'er." Buzz laughed, slurring his words.
Erin winced as she walked away, this could turn out badly.
Robbie, red-faced, turned to Buzz. "Buzzy." Everyone could hear the warning tone in the forward's voice, but Buzz, in his drunken splendor, chose to ignore it.
"Ever since Erin brought her home for dinner for the first time…"
Mac retaliated with a punch to his friend's gut. "Shut up Buzz."
The tense moment was completely forgotten when, just minutes later, Verchota practically fell out of his chair. Ava turned and laughed when she saw thebrunette that had caused the near accident. "Ashleigh!"
The blonde's head snapped toward her friend. She had a goofy little grin on her face. "Yes?"
"We need to find Verchota a woman."
The Minnesotan looked shocked. "What?" His voice was fairly squeaky as he asked the question.
Ashleigh nodded slowly. "There're a lot of boys we need to help on this team." She grinned at the stricken looks on the guys' faces.
"Where's Erin?" Ava asked suddenly. "Erin!" She waved the younger McClanahan over to the table.
"What's up?" The brunette asked, straightening her ponytail distractedly.
"Don't you think we need to find Verchota a woman?"
Erin smirked as he choked on his beer. She leaned her elbows on the table and locked eyes with her friend. "That's an interesting proposition Ava, dear. And I do indeed think it's time to find Philly a girl."
Verchota groaned and buried his face in his hands in dismay. "Erin!"
Erin laughed at his whine. "In fact… there're a lot of guys here who could use our help."
"That's what I said!" Ashleigh shouted, saluting her friend with her beer.
Erin grinned and looked around the table for someone else to pick on. Verchota was fun, but he could only get so red. "What about you Wellsie?"
Wells shook his head and drank down almost half of his drink. "I've got a girlfriend."
Ava looked at him skeptically. "He's telling the truth." Morrow defended his friend.
"Really?"
Morrow nodded. "Jane Gallagher."
"Morrow doesn't have one though." Wells said, smirking into his glass.
"Thanks man." The brunette said sarcastically.
"Put Morrow on the list!" Ashleigh giggled. She was leaning quite heavily on Silk by this point. It was clear that the blonde wasn't a heavy drinker.
Erin grinned at her friend's suggestion and obliged. Writing both Verchota and Morrow's names in her notepad. "Who else?"
"What about Christian?" Buzz asked, happy that he already had a girlfriend, and wouldn't be subjected to this new form of torture the girls had created.
Ava looked to the dance floor, where Christian and his date were… getting along nicely. "Doesn't really look like he needs much help." She observed dryly.
Ashleigh giggled again. "Johnson?"
"Nope."
Mac grinned and vouched for his friend. "His girlfriend's… feisty."
Johnson laughed. "I love Sara, honest, I do. But feisty is a definite understatement."
Erin tapped her pencil against her chin and smiled. "Good. Johnson needs a feisty girl to keep him in line." She gave Janaszak a coy look. "I think Jannie needs to go on the list."
Mac downed the rest of his beer. "I think that's a good idea, little sister. Put 'im down!"
Erin laughed and wrote Jannie's name down. "I'll be right back, guys. I'm gonna grab another round and punch out."
Ava looked around the table appraisingly. "Jimmy?"
The dark haired goalie looked up. "Me?"
Ashleigh looked up and nodded so hard that she succeeded in falling out of her chair. "Oops!" She giggled from her seat on the floor. After several failed attempts at getting up she finally just ended up leaning against Silk's leg. "Put Jimmy's name down."
"Guys-" the Bostonian cut himself off as two blondes passed by the table.
"Jimmy?" Rizzo asked, waving a hand in front of his friend's face. "You okay, man?"
"What? Yeah."
"He was staring at Laina and Ann-Marie!" Buzz declared.
The goalie glared at his short teammate. "You're really annoying when you drink."
Mac nodded his agreement.
"Here we go guys!" Erin announced, setting several pitchers of beer on the table. "So what's going on?"
"We're putting Jimmy's name on the list!" Ashleigh stated as Rammer helped her back into her seat.
Jimmy shook his head violently. "No. Put… Rammer's name on." He said, suggesting the name of the first guy he saw. All three girls shook their heads. "Why not?"
Erin exchanged a knowing glance with Val. "Just because." She answered, pouring the Boston net minder another drink. "Besides, we've got enough work ahead of us with Philly, Morrow, and Jannie on the list."
"Hey!" The three guys didn't know whether to be offended or not.
"Hello?" OC groaned as he answered the phone.
"Jack?"
"Marissa?"
"Yeah. Are you okay?"
"Uhh…" He groaned and put a pillow over his eyes. He'd forgotten to close the drapes the night before.
Marissa laughed. "You're hung over."
"Not so loud." The blonde whined not even bothering to deny the statement.
Marissa laughed again. "So I guess it's not a good time to tell you that I'm coming to see you."
"It's always a good time to tell me that." He grinned, despite his pounding headache. "When are you coming?"
"Well, right now I'm on a payphone at a gas station in Chicago. So about 6 hours or so."
"You're where?"
"At some gas station, it's taking forever to get gas…"
"How are you in Chicago?"
"Well, I drove what's commonly known as a car. I left last night and have been driving since. I was going to stop in Ohio, but I thought I might as well do it all in one stretch."
"But-"
"But what? Aren't you surprised?"
"Hell yeah, I'm surprised… We're going to Norway soon, though."
"I know."
"You'll have driven all this way and we'll be leaving…"
"I'm going to Norway, Jack."
"What?"
"I'm coming with you to Norway."
"But-"
"Look Jack, I already bought my ticket, there's no use arguing."
"Marissa-"
"Oh, I have to go pay. I'll see you tonight. Love you."
"Yeah-" That was all he got out before she hung up. "Love you too." He sat up slowly hung up the phone. Then with a brief, painful, shake of the head he headed to the bathroom to take a shower. That girl never ceased to amaze him.
Silk looked blearily at OC as he sat down next to him. He was not in a good mood.
Ashleigh, who he loved dearly, had an unfortunate advantage over him, in that she could get completely and utterly drunk and not suffer from a hangover the next morning. It drove him crazy. Especially when she woke him up at 8 o'clock in the morning, as she'd done that morning. "Morning Jack." Silk, Rizzo, and OC all glared at her. She was way too perky. "We already ordered, but I'm sure we could call the waitress back." OC grunted his response and laid his head down on the table.
"What are you doing up so early?" Rizzo asked groggily.
"Yeah," Silk added "You don't have her in your room."
Ashleigh rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's comment. "What are you doing up?" OC was definitely one to sleep in, given the chance.
"Marissa called."
"She did?" Ashleigh squealed.
The three guys scowled at her. "Yeah."
"So what's going on with her?"
"She's in Chicago."
"Chicago?"
OC nodded and took a drink of the orange juice the waitress had just placed in front of Ashleigh. "Can I get the same thing as him?" He jerked his thumb in the direction of Silk's breakfast. The waitress nodded absently at him before wondering away.
"What's she doing in Chicago?" Ashleigh asked, snatching her drink back.
"She's getting gas." They looked at him blankly. "She's coming to visit, but she had to stop for gas."
"No way!"
Jack rubbed his temples and nodded. Ashleigh really needed to stop screeching like that, before his head exploded. "She'll be here later today."
"She knows we're going to Norway, right?" Rizzo asked quietly.
Jack smiled at the waitress as she placed his food in front of him and nodded in response to his friend. "She's coming with us."
