Disclaimer - I do not own anything even remotely related to The Mighty Ducks. I only wish I had thought of them first…
Italics indicate character thought.
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They were still walking and now that the conversation had become so open, Beau found herself moving her mouth to ask something she really thought you should never ask a boyfriend. She cleared her throat nervously. "Um, so now that you got to ask me a personal question, do I get to do the same?"
Charlie grinned and pinched her side. "Wanna know about my other girlfriends, eh?"
She laughed and pushed him away a little. "Yeah, I guess I do."
He shoved one hand in his pocket and pulled her back against him. "Well, there have been three." He looked out of the corner of his eye at her and when he saw no negative reaction he continued. "Linda was a girl who I dated for three years of high school." He sighed and Beau broke in, sensing he was unsure what to say.
"Did you love her?"
"Um, I think I loved the idea of her. And I loved her as a friend, definitely. She was the best friend that I had ever had. She totally accepted me for what I am, or what I was at the time." He smiled, thinking about Linda and feeling a little sad that they had not stayed in better touch. "But, no, I didn't love her as someone that I wanted to be with forever. You have to understand…with my family…I don't think I knew what love was supposed to be. All I knew was that Linda supported me." He took Beau's hand as they descended into a tunnel under a train track and he spoke up to be heard over the passing train. "When she moved to Florida we broke up and I didn't date anyone else during high school. Our freshman year here I started dating Guy's half-sister Christina who was a senior."
Just saying her name left a dirty taste in his mouth. "That winter when they were home her and Guy started having trouble getting along and she was really horrible to him. I broke up with her after that."
She turned to look at him, her eyes wide with admiration. "You broke up with her because of Guy?"
He spoke simply. "He's my friend."
She gripped his hand tighter. "That he is."
He didn't want to tell her about the third, but knew he would hate himself if he didn't. "The last I…it was the end of last year and we were at the big yearly Athletics Ball. It's a formal affair and the soccer team always has a party after. I drank way too much and ended up with…" He pulled his hand away from her, feeling the very antithesis of proud. "It was a one night stand and it's definitely not something I'm proud of."
He looked at her and when she only smiled at him, his heart beat faster. "You don't think less of me, Beau?"
She laughed, her voice carrying over the field by her dorm and bouncing off of the trees covered in snow. "Think less of you? For being an adult and doing something that made you happy at the time and for admitting now that you feel like it was a mistake? Of course not. It was then, it is over." They were at her elevator now and she wrapped her arms around his waist. "So I think we're done sharing our sordid pasts, huh? These kinds of things really make you think."
He smiled down at her. "Yeah. Make me think that there is no other girl that I've ever told these things and no other girl I can imagine wanting to tell them to." He kissed her gently and then turned to leave as she stepped into the elevator and held the door open with her hand.
"Happy birthday, Charlie."
He waggled his new hockey stick at her. "I love you."
-
Thanksgiving and December came and went along with the regular hockey season. The Pennington State Wolfpack boasted their first undefeated season in ten years. Both Adam and Charlie had set records in various aspects of the game and the team was now just days away from taking on the NCAA tournament and the only other undefeated team in the country. U of Maine. Julie's team. The former Ducks were all pumped to take on their friend.
Beau had traveled home for the Christmas holidays, but it didn't feel like anything to celebrate. It was hard to walk down the street and see the same families decorating in the same way and have to stand on the front porch and put up lights without Parker. It was strange to decorate the tree and not argue with her brother over whose homemade macaroni ornament went in the front. Her parents were putting on brave faces, but Beau knew they were hurting and the worst moment came on Christmas Eve when she was cleaning out her room to pass the time and she found the signed Taking Back Sunday t-shirt she had bought for Parker the summer before they left for college. She cried over it for hours.
In Minneapolis, Charlie and some of the other Ducks were having problems of their own. Charlie's mother was spending more and more time with her boyfriend Davis, and he didn't seem to like the idea of having a built in possible step-son. He took every opportunity to put Charlie down and at 22, Charlie was over putting up with it. He spent his days working at the skate shop and his nights skating and spending time with Guy and Jesse at the Banks' house. Guy's sister was pregnant and hormonal and taking over the family's tiny apartment. Jesse's father couldn't go an hour without mentioning the white elitist college of Jesse's choice and the hockey injury. Mr. and Mrs. Banks didn't question their son's friends spending hours a day in their rec-room and simply bought more food for dinner and opened their home to the boys they had been hosting for the past seven or eight years.
Over the week and a half that the team had off, Charlie and Beau called each other every day. Despite being twelve hundred miles apart they gave each other strength and on New Year's Day, Beau was thrilled to be on a plane towards Charlie's hometown. The tournament was to be played there and they had only two days of practice to prepare.
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"You okay, babe?" She was standing behind Charlie in a dark hallway, her bags already dropped at a downtown hotel and her body weary from the extra long practice they had all pushed themselves through. She pulled her pony-tail tighter and touched his shoulder gently. He didn't look at her but just laid his hand lightly on the doorknob.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm a little nervous about how this is going to go." He reached back for her hand and took it in his. Beau couldn't help but notice it was clammy.
"Nothing to be nervous about. I love you…your family is just an extension of that."
He opened the door and glanced at her over his shoulder. "I wouldn't say that just yet."
Casey was jogging into the living room as soon as they entered. "Charlie! Baby!" It had only been a week since he had been staying full time at the Banks', but she had him in a tight embrace immediately and he dropped Beau's hand to return the gesture. She pushed him away, getting a better look at him and Beau couldn't help but think that this was the exact way she had been greeted by her mother when she had flown home. But then she felt a penetrating gaze on her and the warmth she had felt when thinking of her family left her immediately. Casey Conway's voice was icy.
"So, this is the girl I've heard next to nothing about."
"Mom!" Charlie's voice was strained. Why did I think it would be any different?
To her credit, Beau smiled sweetly and stuck out her hand. "It's so nice to meet you, ma'am. You've done an amazing job with this son of yours. I just adore him."
Casey scoffed, taking the smile for farce and disliking Beau even more for it. She ignored the girl's outstretched hand. "They say in the papers that you are quite the hockey player for a girl." She smirked now. "The only other girls that Charlie has ever played with did nothing but distract the boys on the team and take all of the glory for themselves…getting scholarships and getting drafted. It's a disgrace."
Beau had never been talked to in that manner by an adult and she was literally struck wordless. Her mouth hung open and her face was a pale color. Charlie, however, had something to say.
"God dammit, Mom. You asked me to bring my girlfriend here. You wanted to meet her. I thought for once that you would actually care about something that was important to me so I gave it a try." He laughed bitterly. "What a joke."
He started to move towards the door and Beau felt sick for him. Just as they turned towards the exit a man came through it, his dark black hair spiked up too high someone in his 40's. His goatee was trimmed short, and his mechanic's jumpsuit was covered in grease. Charlie froze in his steps and subtly pulled Beau closer to him.
"Well, shit. The prodigal son returns." Davis Robinson's voice was bitter and it sent a chill up Charlie's spine. He had absolutely no idea what his mother saw in this man.
"We were just leaving, Davis." He watched, disgusted, as Robinson's eyes slid up and down Beau's lanky frame. She was wearing a bright red sweater that fit her like a glove and slim jeans. She was well covered, but Charlie wanted to cover her with a blanket – or twelve – and hide her further. He could feel his mother tense behind him, knowing she too had seen Davis' look. Great. He moved quickly towards anywhere but there and stopped in his tracks when Casey spoke.
"Charlie, we'll see you at your game next week. You still need to bring by the tickets."
That was it. Why bother anymore? He nudged Beau out into the hallway and turned around, hands down by his side. "You know what, Mom? Don't bother. If you can't accept Beau – or me for that matter - then I don't want anything else to do with you. Have a nice life."
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Cc – I'm not sure I know what you're talking about with Rachel. Help me out here. Maybe I'm losing it!
Princess-sunshine – WOW! Thanks so much. I mean, wow. I really appreciate that you called it "honest." That ones means a lot to me. Thanks. And as for Tommy, he really is a bastard isn't he?