Mid September, 2011. NYC.

Kate woke up to an empty bed. It was only 7:36 am but Tyler was already up and working out. She winced from the extreme back pain. The pain hit her like a brick wall, as she regained consciousness. She slowly rolled over and grabbed a small bowl out of her bedside table. It was still pretty full from last night. She smoked the entire bowl, which was usually enough to bring the sharp pain to more of a dull annoyance. She had secretly seen a doctor two days before, but they couldn't find anything wrong with her. Kate was getting increasingly worried about her deteriorating health, but she hadn't expressed any concerns to anybody. Her mother always taught her that a woman never draws any attention to her life problems. Plus, Tyler already had enough going on with hockey. There was serious talk about a lockout happening, and he had been on edge ever since the whispers had begun. And Kate's brother, Chace, was too busy trying to give his all to the last season of Gossip Girl that they were currently filming. So she masked her pain and symptoms with alcohol and weed. She also had to avoid Tyler for hours at a time on some days. Sometimes it got to the point where she couldn't physically get out of bed and put on a smile. She knew that her excessive partying and being shady with Tyler was definitely taking a toll on her relationship with him, but it was a sacrifice she was willing to make in order to see Tyler come closer to his dreams. Kate had been portrayed as a "mean girl" kind of queen bee character in high school, but deep down, she was actually one of the most caring people ever. She often found herself putting her loved ones' needs in front of her own.

By the time Kate was finally able to get herself up, and out of the bed, it was 8:10 am. She was slowly making her way down the stairs when she saw Tyler come through the door. Time to put on your happy face, she thought to herself. Tyler had a displeased look on his face.

"The lockout's definitely happening." he announced, loudly.

Kate walked over to hug her boyfriend.

"I'm sorry babe." she said, sympathetically.

Tyler kissed her. He furrowed his eyebrows, and stepped back.

"Did you smoke this morning?" he aggressively asked.

He already knew the answer, but made a point to call her out. Kate looked like a deer caught in headlights. She was an awful liar. She had promised him that she would try to stop smoking so much, especially during the day.

"No." she snapped back.

"You're seriously going to lie to me?"

"Tyler…" she weakly pleaded.

He shook his head and put his hands over his face as he exhaled deeply. He ran his hands over his face for a second, and then brought them down to his sides.

"Fine." he said, as he sat down on Kate's couch.

"I'll make eggs." Kate said.

"Thanks." he called out, putting his feet up on the coffee table.

Kate grabbed eggs from the Sub Zero fridge, and walked over to the cabinets to get a bowl. She reached up, grabbing a bowl and two plates.

"SHIT!" Kate yelled out as all three of the dishes crashed to the ground.

Tyler jumped up from the couch and ran over. Kate stood, staring at her extremely shaky hands. They had been shaking profusely for a week now, on and off. But usually when she smoked, the shaking stopped. She looked away from her hands when she saw Tyler getting closer. Tyler grabbed her arm and pulled her away from all the shattered pieces. He kneeled down and starting placing the larger pieces in his palm. As he stood up to throw away the pieces, he shot Kate a look. He thought she had dropped the dishes from being too stoned in the morning. He had yelled at her for the exact same thing the day before, so he was keeping his mouth shut this time. Kate turned her back as a tear streamed down her right cheek. She used every ounce of her to stifle her tears, and keep the emotions inside. But the tears kept coming. She ran upstairs to her bathroom, and locked the door. Part of her wished that Tyler would come running after her, demanding for the door to be unlocked, so he could hold her tightly as she spilled all of her problems to him. It was a sick logic that she often found lingering in her mind. She crawled into her luxurious golden claw foot bath tub, and wondered if she'd ever be able to express herself freely to somebody. For the first time in a while, she allowed tears to flow down her face. Tyler finished cleaning up the mess, then sat downstairs- oblivious as to what was going on upstairs. He waited for Kate to come down, giving her time to cool off. He waited a whole hour before he left, but Kate would never know that he stayed there waiting for her.

…

Kate looked down at her iPhone screen and typed in her passcode. She held the phone above her head as she laid on her back. She was thinking about calling Tyler since she couldn't sleep, when she suddenly dropped her phone on her face. She giggled to herself while picking the phone off her face, and holding it back in the same position as before. She always dropped her on phone on her face, but always texted like that every night. She tapped "Segs" and waited for the ring. Within the second ring, he had answered the phone.

"Hey" he said, half whispering.

His voice sounded so sexy when he talked like that. It was the same voice he used when he'd whisper dirty things into Kate's ear. Kate felt butterflies in her stomach.

"You asleep?" Kate whispered back.

"No. I can't sleep." Tyler admitted.

"Come over." Kate breathed.

"Okay."

Kate giggled into the phone. She could hear Tyler trying to get out of his sheets before he even agreed to come over. They stayed on the phone the whole time as he walked next door. They finally hung up when he kissed her forehead. Kate smiled from the comfort that his kiss brought her. It was like a temporary high that made her forget about the pain for a second. He reached his hand out and put it on top of her head, then quickly rubbed her hair, messing it up on purpose. Tyler always did playful things like that, which was one of the reasons why Kate enjoyed his company so much. He was a lighthearted jokester like herself that always made her laugh. They went upstairs to Kate's room quietly.

Kate slid the whole porch door wide open. It was mid-September and the air had a crisp, cool feel. She made her way onto the porch, and Tyler followed her with a blanket. He wrapped it around them, and pulled her into his arms. There was a calmness to their city block, as it was almost 3:00 am on a weekday and everybody in the city was still asleep.They watched the stoplights across the way change colors, as they talked. They hadn't seen each other since that morning when Kate dropped the dishes, but there wasn't any tension at the moment. They were laughing and finally both of them were starting to relax, forgetting about what they were individually stressed about. The sun started to peek out from behind the large buildings in the distance. Tyler cleared his voice, and paused before telling his girlfriend the good news.

"So umm, I talked to my agent earlier, and I think I'm gonna stay in the city during the lockout and just you know, like hangout and workout here." Tyler started.

He was pumped to tell Kate the news, because he thought she'd be just as excited to spend more uninterrupted time with him. But something about Kate's facial reaction was different than what Tyler had anticipated he would see.

"No, Tyler…" she responded, shaking her head.

"Why? I'm doing this so I can spend more time with you…" he said, his voice slightly cracked at the beginning.

She looked sad, but he didn't know exactly why.

"You need to go play hockey. You can't stay here… Especially for me. I mean... you came to the US to play hockey, not to hangout with girls." she told him.

"I'm staying here and that's final." he said, aggressively.

She hated when he intimidated her into ending the conversation. He kissed her cheek and squeezed her. She forced a smile and kept quiet, just looking into the distance. Tyler watched her out of the corner of his eye, knowing that her smile was fake. She felt different to him, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

"Let's go to sleep" Kate said, turning to Tyler.

He nodded, and helped her up. They got in to bed, and Tyler wrapped his arms around her. He faced Kate's back, as she stared out the windows, quietly letting tears roll down her face once more for the night. She was careful not to shake, and fell asleep with eyes full of tears. She knew what she was going to have to do in the morning.

Notes

I'll be posting another one very soon!! Sorry, I know this one's kinda short.

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