James was showing off. Two of the most important women in his life were sitting just off to the side, a few rows back, from their end of the ice. Currently, he and the rest of the team were circling around the ice, flipping pucks towards Fleury in the net. Some were stretching off to one side, including Geno, who was lying on his back and stretching in only the way that Geno does. His legs were in the air in his typical odd stretch, so James skated by and tapped him happily on the legs, getting a little smile out of him.

The arena was filling up, but the Ali and Becca were easy to spot. James skated by their seats multiple times; sometimes skating backwards, sometimes trying to hit a puck in their direction to hit the glass and spook them. He knew Ali had a hard time adjusting to the sound of the puck hitting the glass, so he felt like playing that up just to make her smile at him.

And James got that smile. He got that smile four times as he continued warming up with the others, and it made him feel like……well, a superstar. One time as James skated past them, he flashed a smile right at Ali and his sister, and he saw Ali point at her hair. She gave James a thumbs-up after that, which made James actually laugh. So I know she digs my hair, at least. He skated back around to where the others were, a smile on his face. He didn’t care who questioned why.

Standing in a short line off to the side, James watched as two or three other players skated towards center ice and then took turns shooting at Fleury. As he waited for his turn, he directed his gaze over to where Ali and Becca sat. He knew he should’ve been paying attention, but there was something really awesome that made him so happy to see his little sister getting along so well with Ali. They were leaning in to one another, talking and laughing. James saw Ali lift her eyes to him, and even over the distance separating them, he saw her smiling in his direction. It was really the only warming-up James ever needed before a game.

The horn sounded and Pens filed off the ice to go back to the locker room. Since Ali and Rebecca were facing the direction James was heading, he made sure to give them a final nod before disappearing down the tunnel.

In the stands, Ali let out a happy sigh. Rebecca looked over at her.

“You two are so cuuuttteeee.”

She rolled her eyes. “It probably grosses you out, so I’ll keep it to a minimum.”

Rebecca laughed. “I’ll admit, you two doing whatever you were doing in the bathroom was kind of weird….but otherwise, it makes me happy to see my brother so happy.”

Ali grabbed at the v-neck of her jersey, straightening it as she tried to smooth out the tiny bit of butterflies invading her stomach. She often wondered just what her and James talked about when she wasn’t around. Though she didn’t have any siblings, Ali knew that what is said between brother and sister, stays between brother and sister.

…unless of course, brother or sister tells.

“You know what he told me?” Rebecca said, leaning in. There was hardly anyone else sitting around them at that the time, and Ali thought it was cute how she still leaned in and lowered her voice.

“Should you be telling me?” Ali smirked at her.

“I don’t care! It’s James!” Rebecca’s calm smile appeared. “He told me that he gets nervous every time he plays when he knows you’re in the stands. Like…he compared it to high school and stuff.”

Ali almost snorted. “Really!?” Oh James.

“Really!” She tapped her arm. “He also told me that he gets a boner when you wear his number.”

“BECCA!” Ali burst out laughing. “He did NOT tell you that.”

“Well……” she looked away and smiled. “Not in so many words, but I see how he looks at you. I saw ‘that look’ in his eyes when he left us earlier today.” She made air quotes when she said this.

Ali was half embarrassed and half turned on. Just sitting in the arena, waiting for her boyfriend to come out on the ice and play was enough to give herself a girl boner, let alone know that James got a rise out of her wearing his number. She figured he enjoyed her supporting him; at least, that much was obvious. But James did love to mark his territory.

“You’re not weirded out by that, are you?” Becca asked.

“Uhh, no….not really.” Ali smiled. “I’ve gotten pretty used to your brother’s boner.”

“GROSS.” Rebecca recoiled, trying her best to hold back a laugh.

In the row directly behind them, a few people started to scoot in to the aisle. They were all girls, about Ali’s age or maybe a little older, she couldn’t tell. They were also all carrying posters that were rolled up and held by rubber bands. In addition, each one of them was a blonde.

Rebecca’s eyes floated back to the row of girls noisily filing in. She looked at Ali and groaned. “Looks like a sorority behind us.”

“One of everything in here, huh?” Ali also looked back, trying to survey who they’d be dealing with for the next few hours.

“Were you ever in a sorority?”

“Oh my God, no.”

Rebecca laughed. “I didn’t think so. Don’t take that the wrong way!”

“I never would” Ali replied with a smile.

“James dated like three of them” she added. “Added up together, they had half the amount of personality you do.”

They looked at one another and shared a little laugh. In front of them, a few middle-aged fans drew into the aisle, taking up the seats that were in front of Ali and Rebecca. They smiled at the girls before taking their seats.

“Maybe they’ll neutralize the bleached hair behind us” Ali whispered to Rebecca.

She instinctually twirled a piece of her own blonde hair around her finger. “Thank God mine is natural!”

They people-watched for the next 15 minutes, waiting anxiously for the game to start. When the opening hype video played and the lights went out, Ali got the familiar rise of goosebumps all over her body. They announced the starting line up, which James was a part of. He stood at center ice for the anthem, alongside the other usual players. Across from them stood the starters for the Vancouver Canucks.

Ali stood alongside the rest of the crowd, listening to the National Anthem but watching James. Most everyone in the line hung their heads during the song, but James held his up, his eyes scanning the darkened crowd. The soft hint of hair around his mouth and the darkness of the spikey mess of hair on his head stood out most to Ali. She felt a little guilty ogling her boyfriend while her country’s anthem was being sung, but it was just too good a view. And he gets nervous with me here. Amazing. He never looks nervous about anything. It made her smile.

The anthem ended and James placed his helmet on, covering up the hair. Ali’s attention was taken away not only because of that, but also because of the girls sitting behind her. They started screaming, holding up their posters in hopes of getting the attention of the cameraman.

“Ohmigod, look.” Rebecca grabbed Ali’s arm and stuck a finger in the direction of the girls behind them.

Ali glanced back and saw that at least two of the four posters being held had something to do with James. The other two dealt with Crosby and Malkin. Rebecca was frowning in disgust.

“Whores.”

All Ali could see was the writing for the sign for Crosby. It had the usual concussion-related, sex-related joke on it that most posters had whenever their type brought them to games. The Malkin and Neal posters were being held towards the cameraman, who had come over and pointed the lens right at them. This caused them to jump up and down and wave even more.

Since the face off had already happened and the whistle had already blown for the first time that game, the girls were really causing a commotion. Another face off was being done at their end of the ice, nearest to where they sat. The camera man panned around to the other side of their section, so Ali could now see what the other posters read:

Put it in my five hole, Nealer!

Hey James! Can I hold your stick?

She groaned. Dumb bitches.

On the ice, however, as the guys waited for the game to come back from commercial, they idly spoke to one another and skated in the vicinity of the face off zone. James looked over from his spot on the ice, originally trying to spot Rebecca and Ali, but instead he caught the posters with his name on them. Once he saw them, he let a smile escape, then lowered his head.

Ali felt her heartbeat race in her throat. If they only knew who they were sitting behind.

Rebecca glanced over and saw Ali facing forward, still and stone, her face with no emotion. “Hey. Don’t worry about them, okay?”

She shrugged. “I know. It’s just so annoying.”

“Well just remember, he doesn’t take them home.”

Anymore, Ali thought.

* * *

The game progressed nicely. By the third period though, James hadn’t scored, but he had two assists. He was also tired as all get out, and could feel his body struggling even as he sat on the bench. There had been way too many penalties for both teams, which meant James has more time on the ice during power plays. The game was tied 3-3, with six minutes left to play.

“18. GO.”

James hopped over the boards, switching out with Kunitz. He went right into speed-mode, zooming past two Canucks to try and grab possession of the puck. He got it, but quickly lost it as well, causing a turnover. He swore at himself as he circled back around and tried to catch Ryan Kesler, who had taken the puck from him. James went as fast as he could, chasing Kesler as he ran into Letang and Maata. Working his stick, James was able to use the time Letang bought him to retrieve the puck, sending it down the ice to Malkin.

The play couldn’t have gone better for James. Malkin passed to Dupuis, who passed back to Malkin. This gave him just the amount of time to get in place in front of the net. When Malkin fired away, James stuck his stick out, redirecting the puck into the net.

The goal horn sounded and James shouted happily, lifting his gloved hands in the air. He was immediately pounced upon by the rest of his line, each of them congratulating him. The music track started to blare over the goal horn, and James and the guys headed for the bench to bump knuckles with the rest of the team. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Ali and Rebecca jumping up and down excitedly, which made the goal that much more thrilling for him. He smiled the whole way down the line as his teammates congratulated them. When James circled back, he gave a quick point to Ali in the stands, then took a seat on the bench.

Ali saw the point, and Rebecca squealed happily. “See!! See, Ali!!”

“I did!” She was laughing, out of breath from her and Becca’s celebrating for the goal.

Behind them, of all things, Ali heard the girls with the posters screaming.

“He pointed at us, Vanessa! Did you SEE that!?!?” the one blonde shouted.

"I know! I know!!"

Ali whipped her head around, watching as the girls all linked hands and fingers together excitedly.

“What did they just say?” Becca asked her. Her eyes were angrily looking behind them. “Because I’ll be happy to remind them who my brother was actually pointing at.”

“No, don’t” Ali said, eyes still on the girls. They were fanning their faces and giggling excessively. It was driving her crazy, yes…but she didn’t want to stoop to their level. Let them think James was giving them attention; it just made them appear all the dumber.

“Did you wear your necklace?” Rebecca asked Ali.

“Yeah, why?”

“You should show them.”

Ali laughed. “They wouldn’t believe me anyway, and I don’t have the patience to deal with them. I’m here for James, for the team, and to hang with you. Not waste my time with a bunch of airheads.”

Rebecca smiled and shook her head. “You are different, that’s for sure. No wonder James wants to—“

She stopped short.

When Ali looked over at her, eyebrows creased, Rebecca bit her lip so hard she could taste blood.

“He wants to what?” Ali asked.

You are so stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

“Becca?”

“Yeah?” Her lip definitely hurt, but it wasn’t enough punishment for almost slipping James’ secret. “Oh….Nothing.”

Ali stared at her, assessing her face. Rebecca just smiled, feeling her heartbeat thumping in all her pressure points. When Ali turned her attention back to the ice, Rebecca let out a huge sigh. Please don’t let this come back to bite me, she wished.

* * *

“Babe!”

Ali trotted forward and fell into James’ embrace. He smelled fresh, with just a hint of cologne and hair gel. He had on the navy blue suit she bought him for his birthday, complete with a gray tie and engraved cuff links. His hair was as perfect as ever, and so was his smile.

“Thought I wasn’t going to get one” he said, rubbing the back of Ali’s head. “But did it count to you guys?” He looked at her, a twinkle in his blue-green eyes.

“Fuck yeah, it counted!” Ali replied.

“I agree” Rebecca said, coming forward to hug her brother next. “Amazing, as usual!”

“Superstar status?” He pointed the question at Ali, and she nodded.

“You know you are.”

He felt like it. “Thanks, babe.”

“Did you see those whores with the posters?” Rebecca asked. Her face immediately took on that look of disgust she wore earlier.

“They seemed like perfectly nice ladies, Bec.”

“They thought you pointed at them after you scored, by the way.” Ali smirked at James, trying to see if he would react to that at all.

“Like I said: perfectly nice ladies.”

“Ugh.” Ali made sure he saw her roll her eyes at him.

“You should’ve told them whose girl you were" he said with a grin. He rubbed the back of Ali's neck beneath her hair. The strength in his hands was noticeable, even in his most tender touch. It made her want those hands to go other places.

“So are we going out?” Rebecca asked. “Don’t you guys normally go out afterwards or something?”

“Yeah but where will we go if you can’t drink?” James asked. “PA’s kinda weird when it comes to bringing under-agers in bars.”

“Really?”

Ali saw Rebecca’s shoulders fall. She rubbed her arm. “It’s okay Bec, we can find something to do while they are out.”

“You don’t want to come out either?” He was frowning somewhat unhappily.

“Well I’m not just going to leave your sister home alone, silly.” Ali smiled at him. “You deserve to have a night with your guys, anyways. It’s been an estrogen-fest lately.”

More noise filled the hall where they were standing as a couple of other Pens walked by. They were also dressed in their suits and ties, looking sharp and completely opposite of how they looked on the ice. Kris Letang was one of the ones coming out of the locker room, his black hair flowing around his shoulders as it normally was. He stopped and said hi to both Rebecca and Ali.

“So are you coming out, Nealer?” he asked.

James didn’t really know. Ali wasn’t totally wrong in saying he could use a night out, but his sister was in town. He didn’t feel right just leaving her after a winning game like this. At that moment, he felt Ali’s hand wrap around his, giving him a squeeze.

“Go out, babe. We’re cool with it.”

Rebecca nodded, although her eyes looked sad.

With a discerning look, James nodded at Letang. “Yeah, I think I’ll come out for a little. Usual place?”

“Usual place.” He tapped him on the shoulder. “See ya later then. Adieu, ladies.”

James still didn’t feel right. He ran a hand over Ali’s hair, smoothing its silky length that just covered the first half of the number 18 on her back.

“You sure about this?”

Ali saw the question in his eyes, but she wanted him to join the rest of his team. “Of course! We can continue our breakup party, right Bec?”

“Ooo…that's true!” She seemed to perk up a little. “Although today has been so awesome, I don’t even remember why we broke up in the first place.”

“Perfect! Let’s keep it that way!” Ali replied happily.

“Bec, you cool with this?” James narrowed his eyes on her. “Be honest.”

“Yeah, go have fun….but promise me that when I’m legal here, you’re taking me out with the rest of them.” She winked at James, and that made him feel a little better.

“Sounds like a fair trade to me.” James pulled Ali into him and his smile cooled a little. “You know what I want first, though.”

He didn’t give her time to answer. Their lips locked and Ali could taste the faintest hint of spearmint on his tongue. Something about the vigor with which James kissed her helped her decide that she was officially horny. Deepening the kiss, she left James knowing just what she was feeling.

Nearby, Rebecca looked away. As she did, she caught Crosby exiting the locker room and she waved. "Sid!"

“Hey, Becca!” His cheerful tone and matching grin was hard to miss.

Ali and James separated when they heard him, their hands never unlocking. They watched him and Rebecca hug.

“Oh my God, how have you been!?!” she asked him excitedly.

“Really good, actually. I didn’t know you were in town?” He looked over at James and Ali.

“Just for the week” James replied. “Needed a change of scenery for a while.”

Rebecca felt herself flush a little. “I thought I wasn’t going to get to see you or any of the others. I’m glad I did though.”

Sid smiled, his gaze shifting to the floor. “It’s good to see you too. Having fun so far, I hope?” Now he looked at Ali. They both smiled at one another.

“Totally."

James was sensing his sister slowly losing her train of thought. “We should probably get going, eh Becs?”

Rebecca looked over, temporarily knocked out of her dreamy state. “Yeah, guess so.”

Her and Sid hugged again. “See you soon, I hope."

“Same.”

He watched as the three of them left. As they headed down the hallway, Ali turned back and gave him a tiny smile.

* * *

James arrived at Vin’s no less than twenty minutes later. A healthy number of the team were present; even some of the family men joined them. Fleury and Kunitz were, in fact, the first to greet him as he made his way through the throng of people to the back of the bar.

“Nealllleerrrr.” Kunitz shook his hand.

“What’s up, gentlemen.” He looked around, spotting Geno and Sid at the farthest table, also Bortuzzo, Bennett, Sutter, and Letang. A few others stood near their table, beers in hand.

“Nice crowd” he replied. “We gotta serve ourselves or what’s the deal?” He grinned at Fleury, who was still drink-less.

“Don’t look at me, man” he replied. “Geno’s girl is working tonight, she’s been more than accommodating, hasn’t she, Kuni?”

Chris nodded, but he also rolled his eyes. "Maybe a little too accommodating."

“Who…Kelly?” James’ eyebrows bent. “Where is she?” Perfect fucking timing.

Chris nodded towards the bar. “Up there. Why?”

James didn’t answer. He turned and walked up to the bar, suit coat, tie and all, running a hand through his hair. He knew exactly what he was about to do, and it was long, long overdue.

He leaned over the wooden bar, waiting patiently to either be discovered by one of the other people standing there, or by Kelly. He’d wait all night, too. He didn’t care. It was somewhat hard not to notice James, given his height and his notoriety, and within a minute or so, Kelly looked his way. She nearly dropped the glass she was holding when she saw him.

“James?”

“Hey Kell.” He gave her the most charming smile he could muster.

Kelly hurriedly served the beer to the man holding a couple dollar bills, then told the others standing there she would be right back. James waited coolly at the end of the bar, not moving as she walked over. Her cutoff Pens t-shirt left her bare midsection open for view, with the v-neck of her shirt helping to display her full rack. She worked both of these as she reached the point where James stood.

“Thought you’d never come back here” she said, also leaning over the bar. She was inches from James’ face, and he did his best not to look down at her cleavage she was desperate for him to see.

“Almost didn’t.”

She cocked her head, blonde hair shifting to one side. “How come?”

“Well, after Buffalo—“

“—Right. Sorry.” Her face looked a little annoyed, but she quickly rebounded. “Where’s your, uhh….”

“Girlfriend?” James finished. “At home.” This seemed to perk Kelly up greatly, and he was thankful she was as dumb as she was sloppy.

“So does this mean that…” She batted her lashes at him. “…you know…”

“No. I don’t know.” He smiled. “Tell me.”

“That we can go in the back….”

James actually laughed. He couldn’t even hold it in. Kelly stood up a little straighter, and the flirty look she had on her face now looked confused.

“See, Kell…” James started. “I thought maybe I’d give you another chance here, but once a slut, always a slut, eh?”

Her eyes darkened. “Excuse me?”

James stood up and pulled out his phone. He lifted a finger to her as he waited through the tones on the other line. Finally, Ali picked up.

“Hey babe!”

“Hey, I have someone here who wants to apologize to you.” James held the phone out to Kelly.

She looked at his phone, then looked at him. “What?”

James took her hand, opened her palm, and then put his phone in it. “Say hi.”

Kelly was dumb enough to do it. She held the phone up and looked at James with apprehension. “Hello?”

“Hi, who’s this?”

“Kelly. Who’s this?”

James was smiling across the bar from her.

“Is this Kelly from Vin’s?”

“Yes….” Kelly looked at James and frowned. “Is this your fucking girlfriend?”

James’ smile widened. “Go on. Apologize.”

“Apologize for what?!?”

“Hello?” Ali said on the line.

“Apologize to my ‘fucking girlfriend’ for being a slut and telling people that I banged you” James said angrily. “Tell her.”

Kelly flung his phone at him and backed away from the bar. “You’re an asshole, you know that?”

On the line, James could hear Ali saying something, but was enjoying Kelly’s reaction too much. “No, no, no, come here, Kelly. I’m not done putting in my order yet.”

“Fuck off, Neal.”

“Hey babe, still there?” James said into the phone. “Sorry, hang on one more second.” He dug in his pocket for his wallet, then pulled out a one hundred dollar bill. With two fingers he held it up for Kelly to see.

“I don’t want your fucking money—“

“Good.” He tossed it at her anyways. “Because I don’t want you spreading fucking lies around Geno, or Sid, or any of the rest of this team. Got it?”

The other people at the bar were raising their eyebrows. A few of them were smiling, looking over at Kelly as she stood there mortified.

“Tell them whatever you want. Tell everyone you think I’m an asshole. Tell them I suck and need Geno to score. Make up whatever fucking lie you want, baby….But you and I have never fucked, and THAT is the truth.” He smiled, then lifted the phone. “Ali?”

“….yes?” Her voice filled the section of the bar beside him. She'd been on speaker phone the whole time.

“I took care of Kelly for us.”

“I heard.” Ali said. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

And James hung up.

* * *

Notes

Bye, bitch! ;-)