“Thank you! Enjoy your stay, and let us know if there’s anything we can provide.”

Ali smiled at the guests as they made their way to the elevators. When they were out of eyeshot, she pulled out her cell and dialed her best friend.

“Hey!”

“Hey, Britt – you busy?” Ali leaned her back against the check-in counter, facing the hotel’s giant stainless steel logo.

“Not at all, what’s up?”

“Bored at work, just looking for a distraction.” She dug the nose of one of her heels into the carpeting.

“Well…I have something exciting that might distract you” her friend said.

“Oooo, what?” She suddenly felt excited.

“So I’m coming home to visit my parents on Thursday, right? I was wondering…if it’s okay with you, I was thinking about coming down and visi—“

“YES.” The answer came out louder than Ali had anticipated, and a few guests in the lobby glanced over. She ducked her head a little and continued in a lower voice. “Yes….you can stay with us! And I’ll have James get you a ticket to the Flyers game with me!”

“I was hoping you’d say that” Brittany exclaimed. “Oh my god, now I can’t wait. I thought home was going to be such a drag. Do you have a jersey I could borrow?”

“Do I have a JERSEY you can borrow?” She repeated the words with a laugh. “Of [i]course[/i] I have a jersey for you!”

“One of James’?”

“Well…..not his [i]actual[/i] jersey, but yes” Ali replied. Her mind was already spinning with things they could do during her visit. Restaurants, shopping, just hanging out and talking, just… [i]anything[/i]. Anything that involved time with her best friend, no matter what it was.

“I can’t wait to tell James you’re coming. He’s been anxious to meet you” she said with a content sigh. “The next couple days are going to move soooo sllooowww.”

“Isn’t Jamed playing here tonight?” Brittany asked.

“Yeah, in fact…I meant to call him before he gets going and it’s lights out for me trying to reach him. Shall we talk later? I am SO excited for this weekend."

“Me too!” Brittany said. “SEE you soon!”

This made the pair of them squeal in excitement before hanging up. Next, Ali quickly brought up James’ number and hit send.

* * *

James was seated at a long wooden table in a pub in downtown Boston. Letang and Geno sat on either side of him, with about eight other members of the team filling up the rest of the table. It was early afternoon, but it was an 8 o’clock puck drop, so everyone present was still fairly relaxed. Despite this fact, a tension remained hovering over the team like a storm cloud. Any minute, and it might release. To James, that moment could be decided at the end of their game later that night.

Where his phone rested on the table, he saw Ali’s picture pop up on his cell, signifying an incoming call. “Hey guys, I’ll be right back….gotta take this.” None of them really paid any mind, making it easy for him to skip out and take the call. He ducked into a hallway near the entryway where it was a bit quieter. “Hiya babe, what’s up?”

“Guess what!”

He could hear the elation in her tone in just those two words. “What?”

“Brittany’s coming to visit this weekend!”

James face lifted in surprise. “No way! That’s great! Is she driving down from your hometown?”

“Yep! And, if it’s possible…I was hoping to bring her along to the Flyers game on Saturday…”

“Done.” There was no question in his mind. Getting an extra ticket was easy, and this was Ali’s best friend. There was no way he wasn’t going to do what he could for the friend that his girlfriend loved. “Whatever I can do, and that’s the very least I can do.”

“You could pull a hat trick” Ali giggled.

“Okay, that [i]might[/i] be a bit tougher…” He heard Ali laugh again over the phone and it made him smile. “So how’s everything back there?”

“Boring…but good. And…yep: I see two more people arriving. I gotta run. Kick some ass tonight! I’ll be watching.”

“I’ll wink at the camera for you if I get the chance” he teased. They hung up, and James felt a little better than he did five minutes before.

* * *

Sid was up first for the Penguins. True to form, he handled the puck flawlessly, skating towards a poised Tukka Rask as if he wasn’t even there. One flick of his wrist and the puck dodged Rask’s gloved hand, landing in the net.

Rask shook it off.

On the other side of the ice, Marc-Andre Fleury waited. Knees bent, head forward, his dark eyes followed every move of Zdeno Chara’s towering body. In as little as four long strides, Chara closed in on Fleury. Even with spread legs and open arms, Chara was able to bypass Fleury, planting the puck in the net.

One chance left for the Pens to grab the extra point, ending the game after two overtimes.

James heard his name announced as he stepped out onto the ice. The ref set the puck down on the center line as he skated slowly towards it. It was one of those moments where James felt most calm. Staring at the puck on the ice was as familiar a scene as seeing his reflection in a mirror. Shootouts were a tense deal, especially to fans, but this was one of James’ favorite moments in the game. Just him and the puck. Nothing else.

The ref gave a nod.

[i]Let’s do this.[/i]

He cradled the puck in his stick and took off. He never really heard the crowd…just the cut of his blades, the sound of the rubber against ice, and his own heavy breathing.

If it’s one thing James excelled at, it was speed. And his speed beat Tukka Rask as he pulled a toe-drag, faking that extra second of hesitation before slipping the puck effortlessly through the goalie’s legs.

The horn sounded even as James knelt into a victory pose. Geno was first out of the bench to hug him. He felt the gloved hands of his other teammates as they tapped his helmet.
It was the end of their four game losing streak, and it ended on James’ shot.

* * *

Ali jumped off the couch as if she was in the stands, blanket and cell phone flying in separate directions. She danced around the coffee table, doing a victory dance of her own. The camera zoomed in and she watched James celebrate with his teammates, his massive grin beaming in High Definition. 1080ip, and it still didn’t do it justice.

Though the game had gone late because of the double overtime, Ali wanted to wait up for post-game interviews. She knew they had to interview James, and she wanted to be there for him, if only from their bedroom. Plus, there was absolutely [i]nothing[/i] sexier than a perspiring, compression-clad, fatigued James Neal.

In the span of commercials and closing commentary, she readied herself for bed. She slipped on pink boy shorts and a black camisole and climbed into bed, waiting for RootSports to show the locker room interviews.

She figured Crosby would be first, and she was right. He spoke into at least a dozen cameras and voice recorders, his eyes making sure to give each of them separate attention. He praised the hustle his teammates had, and their drive to get back to winning again.

James was next, and Ali found herself smiling at the television. His skin was flushed, and his hair was a disheveled, sweat-soaked mess. One of the reporters asked something about how it felt to have the game winning goal, and he smiled humbly at the floor.

He answered a few more questions patiently, tiredness in his voice but an acute energy in his eyes. They flicked between those standing in front of him as he wiped his face with a Gatorade towel. Another member of the media made an inaudible comment, and a few chuckles were heard, including one from James. He made a quick-witted reply, causing the reporters to laugh again.
The questions ended, and they thanked him for his time.

Before the cameras could pull away, James looked dead on into the RootSportsTV camera and gave a quick wink.

Ali practically swooned.

* * *

It was sometime after 2 am when Ali felt her phone vibrate under her pillow. It took a couple rings before it actually woke her up.

“Hello?” She rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Immediately she had to hold the phone away from her ear as the sharp sound of dozens of people could be heard, the dull thump of a bass playing in the background.

“Ali!?”

“Yeah?” She sat up. “…Sid?” Her brain was slow to catch up. She glanced at the name on the call, and it said [i]James[/i].

“Yeah, hey…I’m really sorry to call you this late…” The music was so loud, Ali could barely hear him. She thought she heard another familiar voice, but she couldn’t tell.

“You still there, Sid?”

More noise.

“Sorry…I’m back. James is fucking hammered. We’re taking him back to the hotel now.”

Ali frowned, mostly in confusion. “Is he okay?”

“Besides the fact he’s acting like a complete asshole, sure.”
Well that was a rather loose answer. The loudness of wherever they were was starting to annoy her.

“Can I talk to him?” she asked. There was a pause, and it seemed the noise in the background diminished.

“I’m outside now” Sidney said. “Again…I’m sorry to call you like this. I figured you might want to know what’s going on here incase you don’t hear from James for a while tomorrow.”

“What the hell is he doing?” She already knew the answer. They won the game, the first after a streak of losses, and James was likely celebrating in fine fashion.

“It started out well enough” Sid said. It sounded like he was walking. “But you know how he gets…Pushed it too far.”

Rolling her eyes, Ali leaned back onto the pillows. “Are you taking him back now, then?”

“There’s five of us here.”

That relaxed her some. She could care less if James partied, but she didn’t want him to go so overboard that he did any damage, to himself or otherwise.

“Thanks, Sid.”

“Anytime.”

Another pause.

“I should tell you he made out with someone.”

A lump shot into her throat. “Huh?”

“Don’t get upset—“

“What the fuck do you mean he [i]made out[/i] with someone? Did he do anything else?” Ali felt herself fall somewhere between confusion and worry. Those two emotions made it hard to focus on Sid’s voice.

“No. He didn’t. There were these girls who wanted to meet some of us” he explained. “They were actually pretty cool in the beginning, so we let them hang with us for a while.”

The lump in her throat grew.

“But you know James…”

She thought so….or did she?

“It was really sloppy, Ali. He didn’t know what he was doing, honestly.” Sid’s voice sounded regretful, as if he’d committed the wrong, not his teammate. “I got him out of the there the minute I saw it happen.”

The lump kept growing.

“She stayed with her friends back at the club, so she didn’t follow us or anything” he continued, obviously trying to fill the silence on the line. “Geno and Duper have him now, I’m right behind them.”

Ali tried to take a deep breath. Her mind was having a field day; creating scenarios of James touching this girl the same way he touched her. Cruelly, her mind wondered if he wanted to fuck this bitch the same way he fucked her.

“You okay over there?”

“Yep. Just fine.” She didn’t know what else to say. Really, she didn’t know what to think.

[i]He has to do this….we all do.[/i]

Ali shook her head, attempting to shake those words out of her mind. It didn’t work.

“What can I do?” Sid sounded even more dejected.

“Nothing.” This was one situation Sid couldn't play and win. “Just get him back safe and make sure [i]someone[/i] calls me in the morning.”

She didn’t wait for Sid to respond, she just simply hung up.

* * *