“Please tell me you remembered to pick up the Malibu,” Lyndsey chimed as soon as I stepped foot in Pascal’s house. She’d sent me a text message about an hour before I got off of work, telling me that they were out of Malibu and she wasn’t sure she’d survive. Dr. Ashley had to ask me what I thought was so funny when I began snickering since I had been going over case files at the time.

“Of course I did,” I laughed, handing her the bag from the liquor store and taking off my coat. “I take it Carolyn already picked up the kids?” I asked her, noticing that most of the guys had beers in their hands. She snorted and nodded.

“Yeah, a couple of hours ago. She tried to glare poor Sarah into an early grave. She’s still convinced that Pascal slept with her when they were married,” she explained as she rolled her eyes. Anyone that knew Duper and Sarah would know how bullshit that theory was. Despite the divorce, Pascal loved Carolyn, just not like he used to. But he would have never hurt her like that. And Sarah was just too nice of a person to try to steal someone’s husband.

“Taylor! My love! You have finally arrived,” Jordan said dramatically, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “I love when I see you right after you get off work. It’s like the beginning of a porno.”

I snorted and shoved him away, laughing out loud when Max smacked the back of his head. “Watch what you say to my girl Jordan,” he warned.

“Your girl?” Sidney asked skeptically, traded a wary look with Lyndsey.

“Of course,” Max huffed. “She’s my best friend, she’s always going to be my girl. Right chére?” he asked me, hugging me and kissing my cheek. I felt butterflies erupt in my stomach, just like they had since we got together. It honestly made me want to cry. How the hell was I going to get through this wedding feeling this way about him? I was going to break myself doing this, and it would be my own damn fault.

“Whatever you say, Talby,” I laughed, trying to blow it off like he was just being silly. I wish that I was really as indifferent as I tried to seem. It would make my life so much easier. “Hey Dupe?”

“Yes?” he called from the kitchen, poking his head out and waving at me.

“I’m going to borrow your bathroom and change out of my work clothes,” I told him, holding the bag that I had brought. He nodded and waved me on. After a few moments I reemerged feeling much more comfortable. I’d traded my office dress for jeans and a t-shirt and my heels for some knitted boots. I really needed to unwind tonight. I hadn’t had a day off from both jobs in about two weeks. I work four days a week at Dr. Ashley’s office as a psych intern and assistant. It was a paid internship and was giving me a lot of experience, but God it could be exhausting. Then three to four nights a week I worked as a bartender at a sports bar. I got great tips there, even if I had to deal with drunken flirts. However, with two jobs, and school work, I was starting to hit a grind, and it was wearing on me.

Stress from personal life excluded.

“You would,” Tyler laughed as I walked into the living room. “You would wear a ‘no fur’ shirt. I think Raychel’s right, you are half hippy.”

I laughed and shook my head. “I’m not a hippy, I bathe regularly.”

“You positive?” he teased. I frowned at him, but jumped when I felt someone stick their nose in my hair.

“Not hippy,” Evgeni’s voice came from behind me as he patted me on the shoulder. “She smell like flowers,” he explained to Tyler, who simply waved the information off. If he felt like being a dick to me, he was going to. After all, it was all in good fun. “Good day?” Geno asked me, leading me off toward the kitchen so I could get something to drink.

“Long, stressful day, actually,” I sighed. “Two histrionics and a narcissist came in today. I wanted to rip my hair out.”

He nodded, listening to me even though that really meant nothing to him. It wasn’t the language barrier that did it this time either, it was just psych talk. Raychel could follow almost all of my psychology lingo since she herself was a psychology major. However, even she was lost at times if I got too in depth. Her focus for her masters was art therapy for trauma victims and special needs. My focus, on the other hand, was abnormal psychology and forensics. I liked to learn about the weird ones and what made them that way.

Instead of replying, he grabbed two shooters off of the counter and placed them in front of us, filling each with Stoli. “Shot fix everything,” he grinned at me, passing me one of the shooters.

“Right you are, Ev,” I chuckled, clinking my shooter to his before throwing it back. I winced, wishing he had picked something other than vodka to take a shot of, but it was the closest bottle. “Jesus Christ,” I coughed, feeling my eyes water a bit. “Now I remember why I stopped drinking so much of this shit.”

“It put hair on chest,” Geno laughed, taking another shot of it.

“She doesn’t want hair on her chest ducky, she’s a girl,” Sarah laughed as she popped in to grab a bag of chips. “You’re never going to get a girlfriend if you make her think you’re trying to give her a hairy chest.”

“I get girlfriend,” Geno said indignantly, passing me another shooter and grinning. “When Taylor realize how much she love Russian.”

Sarah and I both laughed then. Oh leave it to Geno to cheer me up after a shitty day. Even through his moderately broken English, he manages to crack some of the best one-liners.

“I’ll realize how much I love Russians when your vodka quits treating me so badly,” I teased, kissing him on the cheek after taking the shot and giving him the empty shooter. “Until then, I’m done with that shit for the night.”

“You just wimp,” he countered with a laugh, grabbing me a cup from the cupboard and handing it to me while I got myself a can of Coke.

“No, I’m a lady,” I corrected, pouring a generous amount of whiskey into the bottom of my cup before filling the rest of it with cola. “And as a lady, I will avoid things that make hair grow on my chest or other areas of my body that I find hair to be a nuisance to.”

“Do I even want to know why you two are talking about body hair?” Eric Godard mumbled as he passed by us to get another beer. Geno and I traded a look before laughing.

“Stoli,” I replied simply. Eric stopped and shuddered a bit.

“Enough said. That shit puts hair on your chest.”

“Da,” Geno agreed, peaking into the living room to see who was playing the Wii at the moment. “I play next!” he yelled. Jordan waved a hand in the air to let him know that he had heard him, but didn’t say anything or look away from the screen. These boys got so damn competitive at Mario Kart, it was ridiculous.

I laughed and walked past him, plopping myself on the couch next to Lyndsey. “I’m loving this form of wedding planning,” I announced, leaning back and stretching onto the coffee table. Lyndsey nodded and knocked her drink against mine in an informal toast as we listened to the boys yell at each other over the Wii.

“Only because you get to drink,” Matt Cooke hollered across the living room with a teasing grin. I threw my middle finger up and stuck my tongue out at him. He was one of Raychel’s best friends and acted as a brotherly figure with her, so I was quite used to having him around. We got along quite well, but we weren’t close like he and Raychel were.

“Actually, I’m just quite glad I don’t have to deal with Sambo’s minions,” I corrected, shuddering at the thought of some of the other people Sam hung out with. They were… very stereotypical of bubbly blondes, I’ll put it that way.

“I don’t know, some of them can be pretty hot,” Jordan grinned back at me as the race he had been playing on finished. I raised my eyebrows, causing him to give me a slightly guilty look. “What? I’m just saying… they’re kind of-“

“Dumb,” Kris interrupted him quickly. “They’re dumb Jordan.”

“I didn’t say I was looking for intelligence,” he shrugged, going back to his game while Lyndsey and I rolled our eyes. Sarah took a seat next to me with a curious look.

“Jordan say something stupid, or perverted?” she questioned, obviously taking into consideration who had just been speaking.

“Both,” Lyndsey chuckled, shaking her head. “You two planning on going to the game tomorrow?”

“Can you remember the last time I willingly missed a game?” I smirked, taking a sip of my drink as both Lyndsey and Sarah looked thoughtful.

“I know I can’t,” Sarah finally conceded, looking over to Lyndsey. “Do you?”

“Actually, I don’t think I can,” she said thoughtfully. “So Taylor will be there-“

“Sporting a jersey for the amazing number eleven!” Jordan interjected with a cocky grin. Evgeni scoffed and lightly kicked him.

“No. She wear my jersey, right?” he asked, looking over at me with a half teasing, half hopeful look. Oh boy, here goes the competition again.

“Now look at what you’ve started,” Sidney teased his girlfriend as he entered the room, lifting her up and sitting in her spot before allowing her to settle on his lap. “Now they won’t shut up till this is settled.”

“Easily settled then,” Max grinned, watching everyone with interest. “She’s going to wear my jersey, aren’t you chére?”

I bit my lip and tried to avert my eyes. I knew if I saw the smile he was giving me I’d just give in right away, and then I’d catch hell from Jordan and Lyndsey. I didn’t want to go through that at the moment, not when I was actually having a good time. I didn’t want to feel the butterflies Max always gave me, just to remember that he was with Sammy now.

“You don’t need Taylor to wear your jersey Max,” Kris said after a moment, his voice coming out just a bit colder than any of us expected. “You have Sammy to wear it, remember?”

Max simply waved that off. “Sammy doesn’t wear jerseys to the game. She thinks they make her look like a boy. So I need someone wearing a Talbot jersey for me,” he grinned at me. I found myself smiling back, but luckily Jordan cut in.

“Too bad, I already called it. Better luck next time, Superstar.”

“No, she wear mine,” Geno insisted again.

“How about we settle this like men?” Jordan challenged, a competitive gleam in his eyes as he stared down two of his teammates. “Mario Kart. You, me, and the Wii. The pretty lady wears the winner’s jersey.”

“You’re on!” Max declared, taking a controller and sitting on the floor next to Geno, who readily agreed to the terms.

Well I’m sure glad I was counseled when they made this decision. How did they know I didn’t feel like wearing Goose’s jersey?

“That’s only three people then, it’s uneven,” Sarah complained, wrinkling her nose at the three men. “Why don’t you get a fourth person to play so it’s even?”

“No one else wants her to wear-“

“I’ll play,” Kris shrugged, cutting Max off and moving closer to the TV. A few of the guys looked a bit surprised. I suppose they forgot how competitive Tanger could get with video games. I’d been around when all the Frenchies got going on the Wii and holy shit. That could get scary.

“Let’s do this shit,” Geno said, the words heavily accented but funny nonetheless. It was one phrase that he’d gotten down pretty well, and it never ceased to amuse me.

I was almost shocked at how into the race those four got, almost. They were trash talking and everything. I don’t think it was really so much that they wanted me to wear their jersey that badly, they were just being men and refusing to lose.

It looked like Evgeni was going to win for a while, until Max shoved him and his player veered right off of the racetrack so Max’s player could take the lead just before the finish line. Geno, still in good spirits, playfully punched Max and got up. Jordan gave him a look that read as a clear warning, though Max probably had no idea what the warning was for. Leave it to Jordan to at least try to look after me over something this silly.

Kris, however, looked kind of pissed. He really was much too competitive.

“Still cheating?” he said a bit coldly to Max. “One day you’ll have to do things fairly.”

“Tanger, buddy, it’s just a game,” Cooke laughed awkwardly, patting him on the shoulder. “Calm down.”

Kris mumbled something under his breath and shook his head, stalking off after grabbing his beer off the coffee table. That boy was in one hell of a mood tonight, that was for sure. Maybe he’d had a hard time at practice today?

“Well that was interesting,” Lyndsey mumbled, standing up and stretching before looking down at Sarah and I. “Up for another drink?” she grinned. Sarah and I traded mischievous looks before jumping up and going to join Lyndsey in the kitchen.

---

“How do you like them apples St-st-st-staalsy?!” Lyndsey stuttered as our team won yet another round of Flippie Cup. I gave Sidney a high five as we laughed. He and I were really the only reason we won. Lyndsey and Sarah were so damn gone that I was surprised they even managed to flip the damn cups.

Jordan, Geno, Max, and Marc looked frustrated. I can’t blame them. They just got beat at a drinking game by a bunch of girls and Sidney. I’d be pretty damn frustrated too.

“The only reason you even won is because you have Taylor,” Jordan pouted, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the giggling girl as she leaned on and equally giggly Sarah for support.

“No ducky, we won because we’re bloody awesome!” Sarah countered, only slurring her words a smidgen. Marc-Andre rolled his eyes and checked his phone.

“I need to get ‘ome. Vero’s threatening to lock me out if I’m not ‘ome in twenty minute,” he chuckled, knowing that his feisty girlfriend very well might. That was one of the reasons I liked Vero so well, she didn’t make idle threats.

“We’re short a player then,” Max pouted while Geno grinned.

“I’ll fix,” he told him, running around to the other side of the table and lifting me into his arms, knocking Sarah right into Lyndsey and nearly sending them both to the floor. “New teammate!” he announced as he carried me over to the boys’ side. Lyndsey scoffed.

“She was our teammate!”

“And now she’s ours,” Jordan told her, sticking his tongue out at her. “We didn’t have any girls.”

“You didn’t want any, you wankers!” Sarah countered, referring to when we’d first started playing and the boys demanded that they were an all testosterone team. “Give her back!”

“Yeah!” Lyndsey agreed, slamming her cup on the table. “Give her back!”

“But she wants to be on our team, don’t you Taylor?” Max asked me, smiling in that way that made his eyes light up like he was up to something. I loved that smile, I always had. But I hated when he used it on me.

Fuck.

“It won’t hurt for me to play a round with them guys,” I shrugged. “Just get Pascal to play with you three and we’ll be even again.”

“B-but,” Lyndsey whined, trying to make her lip tremble for extra effect.

“Just let them have their way Lynds,” Sidney laughed, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “We’ll beat them anyway,” he continued as he waved Duper over to play.

“You think so Crosby?” I asked, smirking at the challenge he had just presented.

“Oh I know so Batten,” he smirked back. “We all know I’m the real reason we kept winning.”

“Pfft, please,” I scoffed. “You’re the prodigal child of hockey, not the prodigal child of drinking.”

“That’d be Taylor here,” Jordan grinned, patting my head like a proud parent. “Prepare to be annihilated.”

“You willing to be money on that, Gronk?” Pascal questioned as he walked over to the table. I groaned, realizing that this was about to get way more competitive than it had ever needed to be.

“You bet your ass I am!” he yelled, slamming his hand on the table in excitement while Geno and Max grinned at each other. “Hundred to each player on the winning team?”

“Jordan!” I shrieked, smacking his shoulder. “I don’t have that kind of money!”

“We’ll cover it chére, don’t worry,” Max assured me, giving me a light pat on the butt. “You just make sure you flip your cup over as quick as you have been.”

I blushed a bit when he touched me as thoughts rushed into my head that had no business being there. With alcohol clouding my judgment, it was all I could do to keep myself from pinning him to the wall and taking just what I wanted from him. He always had liked when I got aggressive, when I let him know just how badly I wanted him, and how far I was willing to go to get him.

I wonder if Sammy knew that he liked that? Did she know that he liked aggressive women? Did she know that he liked being clawed and shoved around on occasion? Or did she just lay on her back and play blow up doll for him like she has for as long as I’ve known her?

Whoa! Those thoughts need to stop right now. This is Sammy I’m talking about. My best friend. The girl I grew up with. The girl that stuck with me even when everyone that we went to school with hated me. The girl that stuck up for me when I was bullied. How in the hell do I keep thinking such cruel thoughts about her?

“Ready?” Geno asked, pulling me from my thoughts. I looked down at the table and realized that the cups had been filled when I wasn’t paying any attention. I winced when I saw the amount in them.

“Awww… we’re playing full cup?” I whined. That’s a lot of beer for someone who hates beer to drink. Bleck.

“It’s for a hundred dollars, Taylor,” Sarah reminded me slowly. Could she even handle a full cup of beer at this point?

“But it’s a whole cup. And I hate beer,” I sighed, wrinkling my nose as I stared down at my drink. Couldn’t I have had a mixed drink? Sure, it’d probably knock me on my ass by the time I was finished with it, but at least I wouldn’t throw up. “I’m gonna wind up gagging.”

“Since when do you have a gag reflex, ma minou?” Max asked, raising an eyebrow as he appraised me with a smirk. Everyone that was at the table, and those watching, got quiet as they stared at him. Fuck, I was staring at him. I can’t believe he just said that! He always pulls this shit when we’re drunk. Sometimes I’m surprised Sammy doesn’t catch on. But then again, she doesn’t speak French, so she’d have no idea what he was calling me.

“That’s a little inappropriate, isn’t it Max?” Pascal asked slowly, looking between Max’s cocky smirk and my wide eyes. I didn’t know how to respond. My first instinct, obviously, was to flirt back with him, but I couldn’t do that. Not in front of all of these people.

“It’s Taylor,” he waved off with a shrug, like that explained everything. Well Max, you know, it doesn’t explain anything! I don’t know what the fuck it’s supposed to mean. Why is it that you think you can flirt with me? Why do you think you can toy with me like this? God, do you not realize how much it hurts?!

“Exactly,” Kris cut in from his spot at the bar. “You shouldn't be so disrespectful Max, especially to her.”

“She knows I wasn't being disrespectful, right chére?” he asked me with a wink. I swallowed the lump that had built in my throat and nodded.

“Yeah, yeah, I knew that,” I said quietly. “Now, can we do this before the beer gets warm and tastes even nastier?”

“Fine. Fists together boys,” Cooke ordered Jordan and Sidney. The reached their fists across the table and waited for the go. “Megan Fox or Angelina Jolie?” he rattled off quickly. Sid immediately blurted out Megan Fox, earning a scoff from Lyndsey, while Jordan stood for a moment, looking a bit disgusted.

“Uck, Fox I guess,” he mumbled as Geno yelled at him to answer and drink. He then began gulping from the infamous red cup, but he was already behind Sidney because of his hesitation. Sidney sat his cup down and began working on flipping it while Jordan was still drinking. His cup landed upside down just as Jordan finished drinking, giving Lyndsey the okay to start drinking. Jordan got his flipped when Lyndsey was about halfway through his beer, and Max began drinking.

We caught up there. Lyndsey was having a hard time flipping it because she was so intoxicated, and Max was just used to playing this game. He got his flipped a few seconds before she did and Geno began gulping his drink right before Sarah started hers. Geno was really fast at drinking, luckily, but he was a horrible flipper. Sarah actually barely managed to beat him in the flipping, and Pascal started drinking right before I did.

I held back a gag as I took my first drink, knowing that it would be the worst one. Then I just kept going… until Duper fucking poked me in the stomach. I flinched back, nearly spilling my drink, but kept going. He finished before I did and began working on flipping his cup. A few seconds later, I was done and had a horrible grimace on my face. I missed my first flip, and I could see how close Pascal was to landing his.

“You’re such a cheater,” I growled at him, trying to distract him from flipping.

“You’re just mad you’re going to lose,” he countered with a smirk, nearly landing his cup. I positioned mine at the edge of the table and popped my finger right underneath it, sending it into the air at a perfect angle. It flipped itself over and landed solidly on the table, upside down.

“Oh really?” I grinned as he looked up, glaring at my perfectly placed cup. “You lose,” I smirked as Jordan, Geno, and Max cheered.

“We won!” Evgeni hollered, picking me up and hugging me. They wouldn’t be this excited if we weren’t so close to losing… and money wasn’t on the line. I giggled and hugged him back, feeling quite happy that my phone bill for the month was paid for now.

Who said you can’t benefit from drinking?

Max ran over and pulled me away from Geno, grinning wildly at me as he hugged me before leaning down and kissing me right on the lips. My body responded before my mind did, and I kissed him back with just as much force, falling right into the rhythm that we’d had down pat less than a year ago.

God it felt good to kiss him again, to be in his arms. It felt like I was going home, and I couldn’t get enough. I wanted to stay here forever. Fuck everyone else.

It took a second for the silence in the room to penetrate through the bliss of the kiss, but once it did, it hit hard. Uh-oh.

I pulled away from Max with a sheepish smile. I wanted to kiss him again, to see where what we were feeling right now would lead us, but I couldn’t. It would only end badly, and someone would wind up hurt.

I swayed a bit on the spot, trying to avoid everyone’s eyes as they stared at Max and I. Max had a goofy grin on his face, just like he did when we’d had our first kiss. He’d worked so damn hard for that. He’d chased after me for so long, even if I tried to convince him I wasn’t interested. He’d proven me wrong though, very wrong.

“Taylor, I think it’s probably time you go home,” Kris spoke softly as he touched my arm. “You’ve ‘ad a lot to drink, and you’re not looking too good.”

I lazily brought my gaze up to meet his. He was right. I’d had a whole lot to drink tonight, but I brushed it off since we were playing games. I was having too much fun to call it quits. I didn’t think anyone had realized how drunk I really was, but the look on his face told me I was wrong.

“Yeah, I prolly should,” I answered, slurring and accenting my words a bit more than I would sober. “Where’s Tyler? I can catch a ride with him.”

“Tyler already left a couple hours ago,” Kris told me with a furrowed brow. “Don’t you remember?”

“Nope,” I giggled, shaking my head. He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Well ‘e did. I told him I’d take you home, since I’m heading that way anyway,” he explained, looking slightly awkward as a bit of a pink tint crept into his cheeks. God he was so cute, even when he got shy and awkward and embarrassed. How on earth is he, of all the guys on the team, single?

“Okie dokie,” I grinned, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the coat closet. “I have to get my coat though, because it’s cold outside.”

“Oui,” he chuckled, following me diligently. He was such a nice guy. “You really didn’t need that last beer.”

“Prolly not,” I agreed, pulling my coat out and trying my hardest to get my arm in the hole. It was proving to be a lot more difficult than expected though.

“Need help?” Kris asked as he watched me, thoroughly amused at the struggle I was having.

“Please?” I pouted, sticking my lower lip out a bit. He rolled his eyes playfully, but helped me into the jacket. He seemed pretty laid back at the moment, maybe he’d been drinking more than I thought? But he didn’t act even remotely drunk. Huh. Maybe the man was finally opening up around me again. It’s a nice thought. “Merci beaucoup.”

“De rien,” he waved off, moving towards the door while I followed obediently. I was just glad I wasn’t getting my ass chewed from drinking so much this time. I shivered as we stepped outside, feeling the frigid air bite at my face. It was miserably cold out tonight, but I had to admit, the shock of the cold was helping to sober me up a bit.

“You alright?” Kris asked as I stumbled a bit on the ice. Luckily I caught myself before I totally busted my ass.

“I’m fine,” I replied quietly, trying to push my bangs out of my face and following him a little closer so I could try to see what spots to avoid. “Thanks for taking me home by the way.”

“No problem,” he grinned, grabbing my arm quickly before I fell once again. “You tripping because of the ice, or because of the alcohol?” he teased, holding my arm the rest of the way to his car and opening the door for me.

“A bit of both,” I admitted with a small blush. “That and I’m just good at falling.”

“That’s never good,” he chuckled as he climbed in the other side and started up the car so it could warm up a bit.

“No, it’s not,” I said thoughtfully as my thoughts turned to what had happened just before Kris suggested that I got home. Max had kissed me. And I had kissed back. I’d given in to what I’d been trying so hard to abstain from, and I’d done it in front of nearly his entire team. They’d all seen it. They’d seen me betray my best friend. They’d witnessed me breaking my own heart even more. “Oh God, what’d I do?” I whimpered, feeling my chest tighten as my actions finally registered in my head.

I was a horrible person. How could I do that to Sammy? She’s engaged to him! She’d be devastated if she found out. It wasn’t a really lusty kiss or anything, and it went no farther than a kiss, but the feelings in it…

Well, at least the feelings on my part. To Max it was probably a drunken action, and I just happened to be the person there. But fuck, it had felt so good to be in his arms again. I felt so safe, and so wanted, even if it was only for a moment.

My lip trembled as I remembered the feeling of warmth that had spread over me, the familiarity that brought me a calm I hadn’t felt in over eight months. I wanted to run back into the house and jump back into his arm, but I couldn’t.

And that crushed me.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Kris said softly, grabbing one of my hands and holding it lightly. I shook my head as a few tears leaked out of my eyes.

“No it’s not,” I sniffed, trying to wipe my eyes before he could see that I was crying. The last thing I needed was someone else seeing how weak I really was. “How could I do that to, Kris?”

“You didn’t do anything,” he said soothingly, rubbing his thumb on the back of my hand.

“I kissed him!” I yelled hoarsely, feeling my throat close up a bit as I spoke the words. “He’s engaged to my best friend, and I kissed him! It’s bad enough that I’m in love with him, but Iactedon it. I just… fuck!”

He sighed and let go of my hand, instead deciding to hug me instead. “You’re human. You made a mistake-“

“And I’d probably do it again, given the chance,” I spat, disgusted with myself. “Why do I even fucking love him? After all the bullshit I’ve gone through with him, why?”

Kris was silent for a moment, thinking over his words carefully before he spoke. “You can’t help who you love. You’re heart controls that,” he said slowly. “But one day your heart will realize that he isn’t worth all the pain you go through.”

“You think so?” I asked, huffing out a bitter laugh as I pulled away from him. He shrugged with a small smile and brushed a lock of hair out of my face.

“I hope so.”

Notes

Ma minou - my kitten