Chapter 3

Amanda woke up due to the bright sun light shining in through the blinds. She sat up, still confused as to where she was and looked around. She seemed to be in a nice hotel room. One with a queen size bed and a poofy white comforter. The carpets were an ocean blue color and the room seemed to fit the same color scheme. Still, this didn't help jog her memory. She remembered drinking. A LOT. She also remembered being with Logan Couture. Though she wasn't entirely sure that had happened. As she scanned the room there was no sight of Logan. Unhappy that she had just dreamt of him she began looking around for Ashley and Nick. If they had in fact gone out drinking then this would be their hotel room. She agreed with her conclusion. Slowly she stretched her back and arms before standing up. She was wearing the hotel robe that the Embassy Suites usually had hanging in the closets. Amanda made her way to the slightly opened blinds and opened them further. To her complete shock the Golden Gate Bridge was part of her view...

~

Ashley adjusted her position for the millionth time. The night before Tomas, Ashley, and Nick had regrouped only to decide Amanda wasn't coming back. They then realized that the logical thing to do was to find somewhere to sleep. Unfortunately, all three of the idiots had left their thing's in Brent's car. So that brings them to where they are now. Sleeping on the living room floor of Brent's house. Honestly, Ashley was thrilled they had found a place to go, but she would have been happier sleeping in a hotel bed. That night she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep and slowly she was feeling worst and worst about her decision. For the most part she had spent the night laying in between Tomas and Nick's snoring. Which was infuriating in itself, but what nearly sent her over the edge was imaging how much fun Amanda was having with her best friend. Ashley couldn't help but feel extremely jealous of Amanda. Logan and her hadn't known each other but three hours and they had run off together. Ashley wondering if maybe love could be that easy. For her own sake she hoped and prayed they weren't in love. She couldn't imagine being the maid of honor and watching them “start their lives together.” She nearly threw up at the thought.

At around 3 am Brent had picked up the three friends from outside of the hotel. Luckily, Mrs. Burns had already put the kids to sleep so the car ride had been almost completely silent. Ashley and Nick both had got the opportunities to charge their phones. Of course, neither of them had any messages from Amanda or Logan. The only text Ashley had received was one from her dad begging Ashley to get Logan to sign his Sharks hat she had made him bring. (Sometimes, she thought her dad was more of a fan girl than she was.) She looked to her left and saw he brother sound asleep with a small puddle of drool forming on his arm where his head rested. She shook her head and looked to Tomas. He slept with a strange expression. Ashley couldn't figure out if he looked confused or hurt. Maybe both? She looked away before she could put much thought into it.

The sun had just rose. On her phone she check the time to find it only 8 am. She had absolutely no idea what time the Burns household usually got up, but she figured it probably wouldn't be a good idea to start to make any noise. It had been completely generous for them to let them to sleep here and to taxi them around the night before. Just as Ashley was thinking about getting some rest Tomas gasped and sat up beside her. Needless to say, the sudden loud sound scared the living daylight of of her. She put her hand across her chest and tried to breath calm. Tomas looked around bewildered. His hair slightly messy and his face slightly unshaven. Ashley clenched her jaw slightly and tried to continue breathing normally.

“Good morning.” Tomas quietly spoke in his morning voice.

Ashley once again tried to focus on breathing.

“Morning” She replied with a yawn.

She then laid back onto the couch's pillow she had grabbed during the night.

Tomas stretched his arms out in front of him and cracked his knuckles. Ashley noticed that in the night he had taken off his tux jacket and had rolled up the sleeves on his mint colored button up. He had also taken of the black tie he had been wearing. As he stretched and leaned forward Ashley watched the muscles in his back.

“I think I need coffee...” Tomas grumbled.

He looked back to see her response. She nodded groggily and sat up. Slowly she stood and felt her knees pop.

Tomas looked up at her uneasily, “That sounded bad.”

Ashley shrugged and went to the kitchen in search of paper.

“How about I write a note telling them where we are going and we can go on a Starbucks run? I don't think it's too far to walk from here.”

She found a paper and looked back up at Tomas. He frowned and looked down at his clothes.
“I'm really wrinkled...”

Ashley laughed lightly.

“So I will go in and you stand outside?”

He shrugged. She laughed again.

“Here, why don't you tell me what you would like and I can go get the drinks for Nick, you and I?”

He looked relieved and smiled. “Thank you.”

She pursed her lips jokingly at him. “Lazy bum.”

He laughed and typed his order into her Starbucks app.

After 20 minutes of wandering Ashley eventually found the Starbucks they had placed their orders in. Miraculously, nobody in the shop gave her a weird look for having rubbed off make up and a messy bun on her head. Though, the person at the register did ask if she needed a few extra shots in her coffee. She happily obliged. She needed all the energy she could get.
The mile walk back home she drank her Caramel Frap and tried a small sip of Nick's egg nog drink. She wanted to try Tomas's weird Pumpkin spice latte, but she was afraid she would turn into a steriotypical California girl if she did... Soon she reached the front steps of the house and decided she should knock. Right away Mrs. Burns answered the door in her PJ's. In the background was the excited squeals of Peyton. Susan closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Are you sure you want to come back?” She asked humorously.

Ashley smiled, “Yes, I believe I left some people.”

She laughed, “Well, it's okay Peyton took care of them.”

Ashley cocked and eyebrow. Susan stepped out of the way to let Ashley in the door. Immediately she saw Tomas, Brent, and Nick sitting on the couch in full make up with little clips and things in their hair. Peyton turned away from Tomas's face to get Ashley an 1000 watt smile. At first Ashley was shocked and felt bad, but almost immediately she could not contain her laughter and almost spilt the coffee. The three boys kept looking at her horrified.

Peyton frowned, “They look pretty...”

She seemed hurt by Ashley laughter. Ashley stopped her laughing a little to try and explain.

“Oh no, Peyton! They look BEAUTIFUL! I'm laughing because I left the house this morning wondering what I was going to do with these ugly boys. So I am SO glad you made them pretty. You did an amazing job!”

Peyton smiled again and moved back to Nick.

“You need more red...” She said thoughtfully before running back to her room for what Ashley assumed was more make up.

Susan next to Ashley was taking pictures and holding in the laughs as well.

“When my mom got her a make up kit I was originally mad, you know?” She spoke to Ashley, “But now I see why she did it. This is awesome!”

Ashley walked to the dining room table and set the Starbucks down. She then took the opportunity to take a few of her own shots.

“Please, just don't post them.” Nick begged his twin. “I'm going to be a rookie and the last thing I need is for the team to see these pics before I even meet them.”

Ashley smiled and knelt down for a better view of the 3 “pretty” men.

“So, may I point out that you three are all hockey players. You are all strong and you sport is violent. Yet you all are playing princess. Also, Tomas, you drink a girly ass Pumpkin Spice latte and now I come back to you wearing make up. I'm starting to question your sexuality.”

Susan, Brent, and Nick laughed. Tomas looked confused but seemed to have gotten the gist of what she meant.

“Are you saying you are manly?” He replied.

The others looked at him curiously until he continued.

“You play hockey too.”

Brent and Susan looked at Ashley surprised.

“I noticed you were fit but I didn't expect hockey!” Susan exclaimed.

“Well that is very cool! I told you, you should try, Sus.” Brent smiled.

Susan playfully sneered at Brent.

At the same time an enthusiastic Peyton came back into the living room holding a little princess chest filled with tea cup and teddy bears.

She smiled devilishly at the boys, “Now we can have fun...

~

Curiously Amanda explored the hotel room for clues of her night. She found Ashley's keys and her own bag of clothes, but neither of those helped her. Finally on the desk she found a note written on the stationary the hotel provides.

“Amanda-
Thanks for the fun night. I wasn't too sure this morning what happened, but from the pictures on my phone I'm pretty sure we went to a club. Sorry I had to split. I'll have Ashley give me you number so we can get together again. I didn't want to wake you. Anyways, I'm not sure what else to write... So I guess goodbye,
-Logan.”

Amanda's jaw dropped. She dropped the note and looked around the room. Finally the drive to San Francisco came to mind. Then she remembered Nick in the hallway and how he had pressed her against the wall. And how Ashley and Tomas had made a connection... Her eyes opened wide. She searched for her phone in every inch of the room. She ran back to the desk where she had found Logan's note, but her phone was nowhere to be seen. Now, she was stranded and had no way of getting a hold of anyone...

She sighed and brushed her hair behind her ear. She literally had no idea where everyone had gone. She could borrow someones phone, but the only numbers she knew by heart were her mom's, brother's, and her sister's. None of which would help her. Amanda decided she would busy herself by getting clean and changing her clothes, but when that was done with she found herself bored out of her mind again. So that was when she decided to pack her bags and purse and to go exploring in San Francisco...

~

Logan had woken up long before Amanda. He found himself sleeping on the pull out couch in the living room. Which actually relived him greatly. Last thing he needed was to wake up in bed with her. Now, Logan was in a taxi heading back to San Jose. He in no way had any clue where Ashley, Tomas, and Nick were. He was feeling extremely guilty for leaving Tomas with people he didn't know. And he was feeling even more worst for leaving all three of them stranded at a pizza place. To be completely honest, he had planned on coming back, but as soon as Amanda talked about clubbing he had already forgotten about his other friends. Amanda had gotten up and gotten them drinks during the dancing, but it never really dawned on him that Amanda would be 21 in February and it was only December. It made him wonder is her and Ashley went out drinking too...

Logan tried to not think about Ashley. The last real talk they had was when she told him about her quitting hockey. Once he thought about he could see why she would be upset with his response. He hadn't acted 100% supportive. And then there was the irresponsible incident of him ditching her in a town she has no idea where she is, stealing her car, taking her bags, and being too cowardly to call and apologize. He grimaced. The last thing he wanted to be known as was a coward. A great hockey player, yes. A charitable guy, yes. A cheater, eh... stuff happens. But a coward? That was not him. Never had he feared a girl, but Ashley was different. He wasn't afraid of the angry Ashley. The angry Ashley was feisty and... attractive. (He tried to not think of her like that, but sometimes those things came to mind.) What made him cower was her look of betrayal. It was one of the first expressions he had ever seen her have. The first was complete focus as she started to skate. And then was the complete betrayal look when Nick turned on her. Then it was anger. Which eventually turned to tears. Just thinking about it now made his blood boil. He remembered it took him a while to warm up to Nick just because of that day.

Logan tried to push the thought of her away. Though another memory came to mind. One of when he had taught her how to shoot from her left. That had been when they were both 14, and he had come down for winter break. Logan's mom had come out to supervise them and she ended up taking a lot of photos. There was one in particular though that Logan actually had in his hockey bag. It was one where Ashley had fallen back on her butt, and he was offering to help her up. From where his mom was standing the picture only got the back of him, but the picture perfectly got Ashley's expression. It was before her braces. Before she really cared about bruising herself and being embarrassed. It was before she had stopped smiling so big. He would never forget the look she was giving him though. It wasn't just a smile. It was a look of admiration. He cherished it, but what the picture didn't show was his expression. This bothered him. Now every time he looked at the photo before a game he was left wondering,

“Was I looking at her the same?”

Notes