A week had passed and Portman was still living in MJ's room, waiting on her hand and foot not that she much enjoyed it.
"you know you are too damn stubborn for your own good" he hollered at her across the room.
"Dean Portman, I hardly think that making my bed is going to kill me" she yelled back
"you are impossible"
"yea well whatever you are too"
Portman grumbled and fell into a large armchair next to MJ's bed. Causing her to smile and chuckle.
"what now" he asked irritably.
"you fell into the same chair and made the same noise doing so, yes I remember when I told you to come here and take that scholarship oh you got so mad at me cause you knew I was right."
"shut up" Portman teased as he pulled her onto his lap. "thank you"
"for what" she asked laying her head on his shoulder
"for not letting me get away with being an asshole"
"what do you mean"
"well around everyone else I'm a big tough guy, ya know, no feelings, a player, a hockey hunk, but you, you don't stand for me actin like my shit don't stink, you make me be me, and I like that"
"no no Dean I should be the one saying thank you, you've taken care of the most stubborn person in the world well next to you of course, for the past week now I know that's no easy task, I really appreciate you"
"aww thanks babe"
"shut up" she said playfully hitting him.
"ha you know you love me"
"yea I know"
Five years had passed and Fulton and Portman now found themselves in a two bedroom apartment in Montreal rapidly becoming the two leading defensemen of the league.
"hey man, dude Mjs on the tube" Fulton called out to his roommate
Portman walked into the room with a cold beer in his hand ready preparing himself for what he was about to see.
"Welcome back to the 2006 winter games in Torino, I'm Scott Bravo and currently I am joined by Mallory Jones known as Mj to her teammates, now this young woman is a prodigy many have said at just 21 she is in close grasp of the gold in snowboarding and to top it all off the first time she ever picked up a board was four years ago, Mallory tell us how did you get into boarding"
"well Scott I don't mean to get heavy on you or anything but I'm the kind of person that runs away from problems and what not and a few years ago I had not so much a problem but a huge fear of something going on in my life so I ran and dove into something new and I never could have dreamed that it would carry me this far"
"well we are certainly glad that you chose snowboarding as your vice, now how do you feel about a classmate of yours that was recently ranked the number 1 most dateable bachelor"
"actually Scott I wasn't aware that anyone I knew was even nominated"
"why yes ma'am, Dean Portman of the Montreal Canadiens"
"your kidding, unbelievable, well ladies he is every bit as attractive as you think he is and so much taller" she smiled.
Portman threw the remote at the television set. " I still cant believe she left like that" he mumbled. "just up and graduated early and gone the next day, didn't even tell anyone"
Fulton looked up all knowing, "well man she loved ya, only guy she ever loved you know better then me the shit that's happened to her and finally letting herself care, scared the shit outta her"
"yea I know but still, I'm just pissed"
"then stop sitting on y our ass thinking that its just gonna fix yourself and go do something about it" Fulton said getting more and more frustrated with the five year situation.
Portman nodded, put down his beer and walked out the door.
"well its about damn time someone listens to me" Fulton said to himself picking up Portman's beer and taking a swig.
"Hey Mj where are you goin"
Mj looked up at her teammate, "I'm just going out to the practice rink for a little bit"
"alright you know its ten past curfew and if couch catches you your dead"
"yea yea I know, don't worry I'll be fine" she answered reassuringly
Her teammate just rolled her eyes and left her alone.
"finally, no more people god people just piss me off sometimes" Mj began talking to herself as she laced up her skates. She got up and skated out onto the ice.
"god this is nice, I forgot how much the ice feels like home, man Dean Portman number 1 most datable bachelor, jeeze" she smiled to herself.
"yea I could hardly believe it either"
Mj turned around sharply to see the face that just uttered those words, unfortunately for her she ran into the wall and flipped over into the benches.
"goddamn Portman, give me a heart attack then brake all my bones, thanks" she mumbled from the clump she had piled herself into.
Portman couldn't help but laugh as he made his way over to her. "so not funny" she whimpered when he grabbed her elbow to help her up.
"are you ok" he asked gently.
"no it hurts you jerk" she answered hastily.
"oh lets not even get into getting hurt and jerks because trust me you would win"
"ouch, touché" she replied smugly
"yea well I've been holding that in for oh I don't know about five years"
"well I guess your still a wee bit bitter about the whole thing"
"well you pretty much did jumping jacks on my heart Mal how am I supposed to feel" he asked in all seriousness
"I don't know, hurt, scared, terrified, guilty, lonely, everything I've felt for the past five years, look Dean I know that you loved me but you know that scared me to death I'm sorry but I couldn't be with you I couldn't stay I'm sorry I hurt you I'm sorry I ran you don't know how bad I felt for doing that to the only person I ever really cared about but I didn't want to hurt you either even though that's kinda what I ended up doing"
Dean looked down at her "your wrong you know"
MJ looked up at him quizzically " I don't understand"
"I still love you, I wont ever stop, I'm going to marry you whether that means I have to sedate your ass to get it down the aisle I'm going to be with you for the rest of my life and your sure as hell going to like it"
Mj let a grin break through the tears that had begun to fall from her eyes, "you're a pain in the ass you know that right"
"yes I do and I wouldn't have It any other way, now will you please hold still so can kiss you finally"
"well how could I object to that" she replied sarcastically, she grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him down towards her and smiled into the sweetest kiss there ever was shared between two stubborn hockey players.
