PART SEVENTY-SEVEN: BAD DAY

I don’t usually have bad days. Normally, I find something or someone to cheer myself up, even if something really terrible happens. However, when I woke up on the morning before the first game of the regular season, I was not in a good mood.
Running late was something that always annoyed me, and this was the case that morning. I woke up myself, without an alarm. I figured it was about to go off, so I sleepily grabbed my phone to turn it off before it started blaring. It took me a moment for my eyes to adjust, but when I looked at the screen I realized that it was way past time for the alarm to go off. I never slept through alarms, and neither did Patrick, so I knew that wasn’t what had happened. I had forgotten to turn the damn thing on.
“Shit!” I exclaimed, punching the mattress. I woke Patrick up, and he was highly confused and still very tired.
“What’s going on?” he wondered, yawning and stretching. He hadn’t even bothered to open his eyes.
“The alarm didn’t go off, Pat. We have to leave in fifteen minutes,” I explained. The day had barely even started and I already hated the world. I always showered in the morning and now I didn’t have time to. I began to strip out of my pajamas and I walked around the room in my underwear, searching for jeans and a Hawks crew neck to throw on.
“Fifteen minutes, you said?” Patrick asked. His eyes were open now and he was suddenly awake enough to get up. “We could get a lot done in fifteen minutes,” he smirked, wrapping his arms around me after I had located a decent pair of jeans.
“Are you really serious right now?” I asked, wishing he would let go so I could get dressed.
“Yeah, I’m serious,” he answered before he began to kiss my neck. His hands moved up from my waist to my chest and I pushed him away.
“I’m not in the mood for this. Please don’t touch me,” I warned, and he looked hurt.
“Okay, sorry. I just thought we could do something in the morning, for once.” I ignored him and put my clothes on, then brushed my teeth, washed my face, and brushed my hair. By the time I had grabbed a package of Pop Tarts, it was basically time to leave. Patrick drove us to the United Center and we didn’t talk much during the ride. He knew I was in a bad mood, and I guess he also knew better than to push me over the edge.
Practice was a little better since I was distracted with tasks to do, and anything hockey related usually made me happy. I did what I needed to do and even made smalltalk with the players, but as soon as Patrick and I got home, all I wanted was to take a shower, so I did. I felt replenished by the time I stepped out of the bathroom in comfortable yoga pants and a long sleeved shirt from VS Pink, my hair down and wet so it could air-dry. Things were looking up when I went into the kitchen to get some lunch and I saw that Patrick had just finished making macaroni and cheese.
“I made some food,” he smiled, setting a filled plate down at the table for me. “I thought it might make up for this morning.” Luckily for him, macaroni and cheese was one of my favorites. I still got excited about it like I always had when I was a kid.
“Thanks, babe,” I said. I kissed him on the cheek before joining him at the table to eat. It felt good to fill my stomach with multiple servings of the cheesy goodness, and I was ready to go when I was finished. I went into the living room and bent down to grab my laptop so I could work on a seating chart for the reception. That, and I still needed to order a few things.
“I love those yoga pants on you,” Patrick told me, being a typical guy.
“You’ve told me that before,” I smirked as I took a seat on the couch and got to work.
“I know, but I just thought I’d remind you.” I got engrossed in my work and didn’t respond, so he sat down next to me and pulled me into his lap. “I know you weren’t in the mood this morning, but I did make you a super fancy lunch. You owe me, now,” he reminded me.
“I’m still not in the mood for that, babe. I need to get things done.”
“You just got done with lunch, though. You deserve to take a break, first,” he convinced me. He shut my laptop and kissed me harshly on the lips, pushing me down on the couch.
“I told you I don’t want to,” I said.
“I bet I can change your mind,” he replied. He sucked on my neck and then pulled my shirt down so he could kiss me all over.
“What the hell do I have to say for you to understand that I want to work on my own things right now?” I asked, now truly mad. He wasn’t usually like this. In fact, he never was. He always understood when I wasn’t in the mood to do something.
“I’m sorry, but it’s been a week since we’ve done anything sexual at all. I just want you.”
“Well you’ll have to find a way to control your horniness, then, because I just want to get some things done so I can have some time to relax in Dallas tomorrow,” I broke it to him.
“You’re always working and getting things done,” Patrick whined.
“Weddings take a lot of work, especially this one. Didn’t you realize what you signed up for when you asked me to marry you?”
“I knew it would take a lot to make the wedding happen, but I sure didn’t know you were going to change,” he answered.
“How have I changed?”
“You don’t act like you’re that happy anymore. You never want to do anything even remotely romantic with me and half the time you’re in a terrible mood. You’re not fun to be around,” he confessed.
“I’m busy and stressed and I don’t want to be anymore. Sorry that I want to be done with all of this so I can have free time again. Did you ever think that maybe I’m trying to get to a point to where we can actually go out on dates again and have some fun?”
“No, that didn’t cross my mind. I’ve told you before that I’d hire a wedding planner so you can tell them everything you want and make them do all the work. I wish you would just let me do that for you.”
“Who hires a wedding planner three months before their wedding when they’ve already been working on it for a nine months?! It would be a waste of money. I would have done everything for nothing. I might as well just finish what I’ve started.”
“Fine, go ahead and get to work, then, and don’t let me help you,” Patrick retorted.
“By the time I explain everything you need to do so you can help, I could already have it done. You’ve helped me out a lot, believe me, but I don’t need your help anymore.”
“Okay, I get it. You don’t have to be so bitchy about it.” I wasn’t expecting that remark from him, and I didn’t like it.
“Alright, sorry. I’ll stop being such a bitch, but don’t expect to get laid anytime soon,” I told him.
“Whatever. Tazer wants to hang out, so I’ll see you later,” he announced. He slipped a hoodie over his head, put his shoes on, grabbed his keys and headed out the door.
“Later, asshole,” I grumbled when he was gone.

Patrick’s POV

I drove my Hummer furiously to Tazer’s place. I needed to get out of the apartment and take a breather. Lena had a lot on her plate, I knew that, but it was giving her an attitude that was stressing me out. I hoped Johnny didn’t mind that I needed to complain to him to get things off my chest.
“Hey man. You got here fast,” he greeted me when I arrived at his apartment.
“Yeah, I was probably speeding quite a bit. Lena’s stressing me the f*ck out.”
“Why? What happened?”
“She’s in a shitty mood way too often. This morning she was in a bad mood because she forgot to set the alarm, and she got mad when I wanted to have morning sex. Then she got some time to shower when we got home from practice and I made her lunch and she was all happy about that. She got out her laptop to work on more wedding stuff and I tried to get her in the mood but she got really pissed at me again. I mean, maybe I was being a little pushy, but we’re in the middle of a week long dry spell, which hasn’t been the case even once since our first time. So then I told her how she wasn’t any fun to be around anymore and she told me she was busy and stressed. She doesn’t want a wedding planner or my help and I’m so done with her bad moods, so I told her to stop being so bitchy,” I explained.
“And?”
“And she told me I wasn’t getting laid anytime soon.” Jonathan just laughed at me.
“What?”
“You have a lot to learn, Kaner.”
“Oh, and I suppose you think you can teach me a few things about relationships, right?”
“Well, I’m at least smart enough to know not to call my girlfriend a bitch, let alone my fiancé,” he smirked.
“Yeah, I guess that wasn’t the smartest move…I was just pissed, and it came right out,” I defended myself.
“I know what you mean. Don’t worry about it, you’ll feel bad about it later and apologize. She will too, you’ll forgive each other, and it’ll be great. But for now I think you need to go out. I’ll call Shawzy, Saader, and Smitty and we’ll go out and have a few beers,” Jonathan suggested.
“I don’t know…the last thing I want is to set Lena off by coming home drunk,” I told him, unsure.
“You’ll have time to sober up. We can stall a little if we have to.” As much as I knew it was probably a bad idea, I hadn’t gone out to a bar with the guys in forever, and it sounded like a major stress reliever.
“Alright, let’s do it,” I gave in.

Lena’s POV

I needed to vent. I always did when I fought with Patrick. He was my everything, and it just didn’t feel right when we weren’t on good terms. I needed encouragement and advice so I could patch things up with him. But first, I needed to let out my anger by explaining the situation to someone. I immediately called Tess, my rock.
“Sup,” she said when she answered her phone. What a weirdo.
“Um, hello to you too. To answer your question, a lot. Are you doing anything?” I questioned her.
“Yeah, Jordan and I are about to go bowling. I actually was just about to call you. You wanna come?” The invitation was nice, but it wasn’t what I wanted or needed. A serious girl talk was necessary, and I didn’t want that to have to happen in a bowling alley. I had more of a sit down at home thing in mind, but I didn’t want to delay or ruin the plans Tess and Jordan already had.
“Actually, I better not. I think I’m just going to stick to wedding stuff,” I lied. I never lied to Tess, but I felt bad. I had already pissed one person off, and I didn’t want to screw things up for anyone else.
“Are you sure? Is something wrong?” I heard the concern in Tess’ voice.
“No, everything’s fine, quit worrying ya softie. Beat Jordan’s ass at bowling, okay?”
“Oh, that shouldn’t be a problem. And if something’s going on, you BETTER text me. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Alright, bye.” I hung up the phone and slumped down in a chair. I really just wanted to talk to someone, and both of my best options were busy. I was out of luck. Unless…no, I shouldn’t. A thought crossed my mind and I wanted to push it away, but I was desperate. I needed a friend, and I knew of one who was always willing to help. I picked my phone back up and found the name in my contacts. I hit the call button and held the phone up to my ear, listening for an answer. After a couple rings, I got one.
“Hello?” Dylan’s voice filled my ear.
“Hey, Dylan.”
“Hey. What’s going on? You never call me. I thought you were more of a texting kind of girl,” he said.
“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry to bother you, but would you mind if I came over? I really need someone to talk to.” I crossed my fingers, hoping he wasn’t already busy.
“Of course you can come over! I’ll text you my address and you can head over here whenever. I don’t have any plans,” he answered. The corners of my mouth turned upwards.
“Thank you so much! I’ll see you in a few!”
“See ya.”

I snatched a hoodie out of the bedroom and put it on along with some Nikes. I threw my purse over my shoulder after dropping my phone inside it and I headed out the door. I really hoped Dylan would be insightful, or at least helpful.

Notes