Lie and Tie
Fourteen
Tyler’s POV
I have never been so attached to my phone. I couldn’t stop staring at it in the hopes that Trish would text me. On the occasion that it did light up the excitement inside of me would become so immense I could barely breathe and then it would just be one of the guys asking if she had come home yet and I would deflate like a balloon. We had practice today and the whole team had given me space and tried to be consoling at the same time. When practice had ended I had never been so relieved to get out of the Garden. Unfortunately, Claude Julien called me into his office. I walked into his office and he motioned for me to take a seat across from him at his desk. We both sat down and he let out a heavy sigh as he folded his hands together.
“Tyler, this is your second season in the NHL. I understand what you are going through is extremely difficult and emotional but you need to learn how to turn your feelings off when you are on the ice. During practices, warm-ups, and games you haven’t been able to pull yourself together. The whole team needs you, the fans need you, and most importantly you need you.”
“Coach, I’m not me without her.”
He leaned back in his chair with a sigh and closed eyes before he opened them and looked me in the eyes, “That’s what I’m saying. Off the ice you aren’t you without her and I’m sorry. I’m sorry that this is all happening to you and its awful and I really hope it works out. However, on the ice you better be you because on the ice you are you without her. Are we clear?”
I nodded, “Yes Coach.”
He stood up and put out his hand while he said a triumphant, “Good”. I followed suit and we shook hands before I turned to leave. I went right out to my car and avoided the questions that all the boys were dying to ask me. When I got in I turned the car on and looked at the clock. It was nearly nine at night. My radio came on automatically and it was a sports talk show discussing tomorrow night’s game at the Garden. I pulled out of my parking spot, left the radio on, and took my all too familiar route home. A route that I took every day, more than twice a day on some occasions, and had always been one to make me smile with joy. Now the route only seemed to add to my pain. I tried my hardest to keep my eyes on the road and not have them wander to the shops as I drove past Maggie’s and went home.
Ashley’s POV
I woke up the next day and sat at my counter mindlessly stirring a steaming cup of coffee. I was too distracted with my thoughts about last night to even drink the liquid before it became chilled. When I came home I sat in the parking garage soaking in every word that the radio show was saying about the Bruins and when they were finally done discussing everything I turned off my car and walked up to my apartment before throwing myself on my bed. I had been so tired but too emotional to sleep and had spent half the night staring at my ceiling trying to figure everything out before my body took over and I fell asleep.
Coming back to the present I looked down and realized my coffee was now an undesirable temperature and I got up from my seat to dump it down the kitchen sink. I got dressed for a run [ http://www.polyvore.com/going_for_run/set?id=96435031 ] and left my apartment. I decided to take a different route in an attempt to keep my mind distracted. I figured I would be too busy trying not to get lost that I wouldn’t be able to focus on everything else that’s happening in my life.
When I got back to my apartment building an hour and a half later, Mrs. Robinson was walking in with a ton of groceries in her arms.
“Hello, Mrs. R”
“Oh hello dear!”
“Let me help you with those.” I said as I took all but one bag.
“Well thank you very much sweet heart. Let’s take the stairs, I need some exercise.”
We headed to the stairs and started our climb up to the sixth floor. As we neared the top of the first set of stairs Mrs. Robinson gave me a funny look before starting to talk.
“What’s got you so down lately? I haven’t seen you this down since you-know-what.”
I gave her a sad look and a sigh. “It’s nothing.”
“Oh don’t ‘it’s nothing’ me! I know you better than that. What did you think I wouldn’t notice how sad you are? No one in this building has seen you this emotionally distraught since you-know-what.”
“Please stop calling it ‘you-know-what’”
“Fine. This whole building misses the old Ashley Jones. The Ashley that moved in here before her freshman year of college. The Ashley that lugged her bag up these six flights of stairs everyday even when the elevator worked because you wanted that extra bit of exercise. Everyone misses hearing the familiar sound of your bag scraping the walls and making all these scratch marks.”
Mrs. Robinson rubbed her hand across the wall where a long trail of paint had been worn away. The trail began at the bottom of the stairs and went all the way to the sixth floor.
“That was how we knew you were home and after a while it just became a familiar sound. And familiar sounds are comfortable sounds. After the accident you started taking the elevator and the paint stopped getting chipped away, the people stopped having a connection and you stopped living. You stopped and then one day you just kicked into overdrive and pulled your life back together. Although we haven’t heard the familiar sound of your bag scraping along the walls, and we have all come to terms that we probably will never hear that sound again, we can tell that you’re doing better and that’s comforting enough. But now suddenly you are disappearing and people are going on search parties for you and you’re taking the damn elevator again. As soon as you start using that elevator people send up red flags. Everyone knows something just isn’t right and that’s not comforting and it sure isn’t familiar.”
We had reached the sixth floor by this point and we were standing in front of her door.
“Now you can tell me what the hell is going on in that life of yours or you can drop my grocery’s off right here and head back to your apartment. Your choice.” She stood there with both hands around the bag she was holding and one eyebrow arched. I let out a deep breath and nodded towards her apartment door.
“You might want to take a seat; it’s kind of a long story.”
I have never been so attached to my phone. I couldn’t stop staring at it in the hopes that Trish would text me. On the occasion that it did light up the excitement inside of me would become so immense I could barely breathe and then it would just be one of the guys asking if she had come home yet and I would deflate like a balloon. We had practice today and the whole team had given me space and tried to be consoling at the same time. When practice had ended I had never been so relieved to get out of the Garden. Unfortunately, Claude Julien called me into his office. I walked into his office and he motioned for me to take a seat across from him at his desk. We both sat down and he let out a heavy sigh as he folded his hands together.
“Tyler, this is your second season in the NHL. I understand what you are going through is extremely difficult and emotional but you need to learn how to turn your feelings off when you are on the ice. During practices, warm-ups, and games you haven’t been able to pull yourself together. The whole team needs you, the fans need you, and most importantly you need you.”
“Coach, I’m not me without her.”
He leaned back in his chair with a sigh and closed eyes before he opened them and looked me in the eyes, “That’s what I’m saying. Off the ice you aren’t you without her and I’m sorry. I’m sorry that this is all happening to you and its awful and I really hope it works out. However, on the ice you better be you because on the ice you are you without her. Are we clear?”
I nodded, “Yes Coach.”
He stood up and put out his hand while he said a triumphant, “Good”. I followed suit and we shook hands before I turned to leave. I went right out to my car and avoided the questions that all the boys were dying to ask me. When I got in I turned the car on and looked at the clock. It was nearly nine at night. My radio came on automatically and it was a sports talk show discussing tomorrow night’s game at the Garden. I pulled out of my parking spot, left the radio on, and took my all too familiar route home. A route that I took every day, more than twice a day on some occasions, and had always been one to make me smile with joy. Now the route only seemed to add to my pain. I tried my hardest to keep my eyes on the road and not have them wander to the shops as I drove past Maggie’s and went home.
Ashley’s POV
I woke up the next day and sat at my counter mindlessly stirring a steaming cup of coffee. I was too distracted with my thoughts about last night to even drink the liquid before it became chilled. When I came home I sat in the parking garage soaking in every word that the radio show was saying about the Bruins and when they were finally done discussing everything I turned off my car and walked up to my apartment before throwing myself on my bed. I had been so tired but too emotional to sleep and had spent half the night staring at my ceiling trying to figure everything out before my body took over and I fell asleep.
Coming back to the present I looked down and realized my coffee was now an undesirable temperature and I got up from my seat to dump it down the kitchen sink. I got dressed for a run [ http://www.polyvore.com/going_for_run/set?id=96435031 ] and left my apartment. I decided to take a different route in an attempt to keep my mind distracted. I figured I would be too busy trying not to get lost that I wouldn’t be able to focus on everything else that’s happening in my life.
When I got back to my apartment building an hour and a half later, Mrs. Robinson was walking in with a ton of groceries in her arms.
“Hello, Mrs. R”
“Oh hello dear!”
“Let me help you with those.” I said as I took all but one bag.
“Well thank you very much sweet heart. Let’s take the stairs, I need some exercise.”
We headed to the stairs and started our climb up to the sixth floor. As we neared the top of the first set of stairs Mrs. Robinson gave me a funny look before starting to talk.
“What’s got you so down lately? I haven’t seen you this down since you-know-what.”
I gave her a sad look and a sigh. “It’s nothing.”
“Oh don’t ‘it’s nothing’ me! I know you better than that. What did you think I wouldn’t notice how sad you are? No one in this building has seen you this emotionally distraught since you-know-what.”
“Please stop calling it ‘you-know-what’”
“Fine. This whole building misses the old Ashley Jones. The Ashley that moved in here before her freshman year of college. The Ashley that lugged her bag up these six flights of stairs everyday even when the elevator worked because you wanted that extra bit of exercise. Everyone misses hearing the familiar sound of your bag scraping the walls and making all these scratch marks.”
Mrs. Robinson rubbed her hand across the wall where a long trail of paint had been worn away. The trail began at the bottom of the stairs and went all the way to the sixth floor.
“That was how we knew you were home and after a while it just became a familiar sound. And familiar sounds are comfortable sounds. After the accident you started taking the elevator and the paint stopped getting chipped away, the people stopped having a connection and you stopped living. You stopped and then one day you just kicked into overdrive and pulled your life back together. Although we haven’t heard the familiar sound of your bag scraping along the walls, and we have all come to terms that we probably will never hear that sound again, we can tell that you’re doing better and that’s comforting enough. But now suddenly you are disappearing and people are going on search parties for you and you’re taking the damn elevator again. As soon as you start using that elevator people send up red flags. Everyone knows something just isn’t right and that’s not comforting and it sure isn’t familiar.”
We had reached the sixth floor by this point and we were standing in front of her door.
“Now you can tell me what the hell is going on in that life of yours or you can drop my grocery’s off right here and head back to your apartment. Your choice.” She stood there with both hands around the bag she was holding and one eyebrow arched. I let out a deep breath and nodded towards her apartment door.
“You might want to take a seat; it’s kind of a long story.”
Notes
Hey Everyone!OMG I am soooooo sorry that it took so long to update. this past month has been like the craziest month ever and everytime I sat down to write this update something else came up that I had to take care of.
Thank you all for reading and please leave comments down below.
I hope you all enjoy the update and again I'm sorry it took so long just for a short lame update.
Also I just wanted to let you know that the last time I asked for people to choose option A and option B, and although they came in a tie I chose option B.
Option A:
I continue this story all the way through until the ending that I have planned. and it becomes one big massive story.
Option B:
Sad to say but there are only a few more chapters to this story.
Happy to say that I will pick up there lives in a sequel that is yet to be named.
So basically I have decided that the story will be multiple stories instead of making one crazy long one that has everything shoved into it. SO no need to worry because nothing about what is going to happen to them will change. :)
Love!
-E
11/8/13