All of me

'Guess whose playing here this coming weekend?!' Lily says running into the room.

'Uh...' Please don't say the Bruins. Please not the Bruins.

'The Rangers are playing the Red Wings! Will you come with me?! Oh please please! It's been forever!' She gave me her puppy-dog eyes.

'I guess...'

'Aw come on! After the game we can hit one of the bars near Madison Square Garden. It'll be so much fun!' She says as she comes and gives me a hug from behind.

'Okay let's do it! It's has been a long week, we deserve it. Besides how can I say no to that face.' I say as I grab her cheeks.

'Yay!'

'No matter where I am, I just can't escape the Redwings...' I shake my head.

Lily laughs hysterically.

'I know! You can wear one of my shirt-' she stops mid sentence. Her facial expression was priceless.

'Nice try.'

The weekend comes around and we head to the game. One thing I didn't get in New York was their transportation system. It was too complicated. The MBTA was so much simpler back home.

This was my first time at the Garden. It was much bigger than the one in Boston, for sure. It was the famous Madison Square Garden after all.

We head inside and take our seats. One thing that I surely missed the most was the atmosphere at a hockey game. The thrill, the excitement, the intense felt amazing.

The puck dropped, the game had begun. It had been a while since I watched a hockey game. I kept getting notifications on my phone from the Bruins app here and there, letting me know that their season had started but never really paid that much attention to it. I just didn't get that excitement feeling anymore. Maybe because I wasn't home or maybe- Needless to say I was at a hockey game after all, might as well enjoy it.

'I love this!' Lily says as she was cheering for the Wings.

'You do realize that you're the only Wings fan in this section.' I said as I looked around, one more time, to be sure.

'Yep. Just you.'

'GO REDWINGS!' She shouts. I started laughing. This girl has some serious guts.

'You're hilarious!' I start laughing hysterically as I cover my face.

'Please...if you tell people you're a Bruins fan, they'll hate you more than me right now.'

'That's very true. I'll just sit here and be quiet.' I say as I take a few deep breathes, trying to contain my laughter.

The Redwings were up the whole game, causing Lily to get a lot of angry and disgusted faces aimed at her. Not to mention the constant boos.

'Wrong city sweetheart!' This guy who was behind us, in his mid twenties, shouted.

'No shit Sherlock. Back off.' I yelled as I looked back at him.

He threw some on his peanuts towards our direction. I quickly stand up and face him.

'Are you kidding me? What are you? 15? Throw one more and see what fucking happens!'

He shakes his head and looks away.

'That's what I thought' as I sit back down and grab her beanie and place it on my head.

'Thank you!'

'What are friends for?' I said as I squeezed her hand.

'He picked the wrong person to pick on tonight. Not in the mood for bullshit.' I say as I look at her. She starts laughing.

Detroit ended up winning the game. Lily was ecstatic. We decided to hit the bars afterwards. It took a while because all of the main bars were crowded. It was NYC after all, it didn't surprise me.

We went to a low key bar located at the corner of the street. It had a few empty tables so we headed inside. It had massive windows facing the street, letting in the right amount of crispy October air. Surprisingly there was not many people inside, maybe because it was still early.

We both ordered a few beers. We were talking when I noticed Lily had her focus somewhere else, or someone I should say.

'Go talk to him!' Lily had not broken eye contact with this guy who was standing near the bar ever since we got here.

'Oh gosh! I can't. I'm too nervous!' She said as she blushed.

I turn around the see him. It seemed as if he was waiting for someone.

'He's cute! He has a suit on and everything. Want me to invite him over?'

'No! Don't you dare missy.'

'Okay if that's what you want...' I chuckled as I look a sip of my beer.

'Oh he brought friends! They're all dressed in suits. God, I love New York.' As she fans her face.

'Can you try and not look so obvious...' I tease her as she gets beet red.

'Whatever, I'm over it.' Lily says as she exhales.

We didn't end up staying long, and it was getting pretty late.

'I'm going to head to restroom before we leave. Can you hold my stuff?' Lily says.

'Of course, I'll wait out here.' I was standing by the doors of the bathroom, I see a few of the guys in suits. Some looked familiar? Maybe.

Don't be crazy, this so your first time in New York.

They were all sitting around a couple of tables that they joined together. You could not miss them. I decided to stop looking over at them, since it was starting to get awkward. I look down and check my phone, trying to make myself seem occupied.

'Looks like we have a Redwings fan in the house' I heard one of them shout. I slowly look over. Okay. Look away. They all turn around to face me as I feel their eyes on me. Hurry up Lily!

'Emma?' I immediately look up.

No. It can't be...

'Brendan?' I say in a whisper.

At that moment Lily comes out of the bathroom. I grab her arm and head towards the door.

'Emma! Wait up!' He says as he gets up and follows us.

'Who is that guy calling after you?' Lily said as we continue towards the door.

'Emma! Please stop.' I slow down and turn around to face him.

'Wait, you're Brendan Smith! I'm such a huge fan!' Lily says after she gets a closer look at him, with the biggest smile on her face.

'I really appreciate that-' He says as he waits for her name.

'Lily' I say.

'Ah Lily, Yes. Well thank you Lily! I'm assuming all this Redwings gear is yours? For a second there I thought you finally changed teams Emma?' He says with a smirk on his face. Lily started laughing.

'I tried and failed...' Lily said in defeat.

'I know how stubborn this girl can be when it comes to her hockey' he says as he quickly looks at me. That statement brought back so many memories.

'Bostonians...' She says as she shakes her head and laughs.

'Exactly. I don't get it either' he says as Lily lifts her shoulders and put them down, chuckling.

'Its funny though, she doesn't watch her Bruins that often anymore though. I'm a bit shocked.'

'Is that so?' He says as he looks at me. I quickly break eye contact with him.

'Lily, would you mind talking to my friends for a few minutes, while I talk to Emma? It's important. Please.'

'Of course!' Lily says with a smile in her.

'You going to be okay?' She says as she grabs my arm.

'Yes. This shouldn't take long' I smile as she leaves.

We sit in an empty table away from the group.

'What a lovely friend you got there.' He says trying to ease into the conversation. I wanted to get straight to the point.

'Yeah, she's a sweetheart.'

He chuckles and nods as he stares at me.

'What do you want Brendan?'

'I wanted to see how you were doing. I kind of heard what happened.'

'I'm good, thank you for asking.’

‘Good’

‘Uh, what do you mean by 'kind of'?'

I stop him before he has a chance to respond.

'Never mind, I'm sorry. You don't have to tell me.'

'Emma-'

'Look Brendan, I appreciate what you're doing here, I really do. And I know what you want to talk to me about, I just don't want you making excuses for him. He made it crystal clear what his true feelings were and that's all I wanted to know. Now I can finally move on.'

'Oh come on. You actually believed him? I though you were smarter than that Emma.'

I gave him a questionable look.

'Look, I'm sure he said some things he didn't mean and probably regrets right now. But-'

'That's for damn sure.'

'Look I didn't pull you aside to make excuses for him. I heard what he said and I couldn't be any more disappointed. He's a mess Emma. I don’t know if you’ve seen him play but somethings off. He got resigned recently, so before that happened, the whole summer was rough for him. I have never seen him like this before. I haven't talked to him in about two months now.'

'How come?' Two months?

'He told me what happened, not in great detail though, so I sort of went off on him and told him what an coward he was and how he lost the best thing that ever happened to him and all that. Something along those lines and he hung up and hasn't returned any of my calls since.'

I just stare at him and digest about what he just said. Brendan said that? Best thing that ever happened to him? Brendan? About me?

'You two aren't talking because of me? I'm sorry Brendan, I never meant to get in between your relationship with your brother. To be honest, I'm a little surprised you said that, I thought you'd be happy things ended...'

'Don’t apologize, I don't blame you. He's the one who pushed you away. And I said I was sorry for that night. It was a rough night for me. If I didn't think you were right for my brother, would I have come up to you just now? And at dinner, I would had totally ignored your presence if that were the case. I really liked you together Emma. He was in a good place; positive, happy, excited, all of that lovey dovey crap.'

Please keep it together.

'Look these past few months haven’t been easy for me either. You don't even know what I've been going through. I don't want to go home because everything around me reminds me of him. I'm so homesick that I go to bed in tears every night because when I eventually go back nothing will ever be the same. The best thing for me is to stay here. Hell, I can't even turn on the TV and watch a hockey game because he is all I can think about...I didn't even want to come here tonight because seeing you would remind me of him-' tears started coming down my face.

'I can't forgive him Brendan. Maybe in the long run but not'

He shakes his head as he exhales.

'Emma, I'm so sorry. Come here.' He says as he slides his chair over and pulls me into a hug.

'I can't go thought all of that again. I can't.' After a few minutes,

'I know. He just wanted what was best for you Emma, that's why he pushed you away. I just don't agree with the way he handled it.'

‘I don’t know what he exactly told you but saying that he didn’t see this relationship going anywhere, and that I’m no different than the other ‘puckbunnies’ out there, kind of ruins every chance of us ever being together-.’

‘He said WHAT?’

‘He definitely didn’t mention that. But that doesn’t sound like him at all. He loves you Emma.’

'If his plan was to push me away so I could come to New York, it definitely worked. If his plan was for me to hate him, that definitely worked as well.'

He placed his hand on my back.

'Wow, I'm so sorry for this. I should go.' I get up as I wipe my tears.

'Lily, ready?' I said after I cleared my throat. She quickly gets up.

'It was really nice seeing you Brendan.' I say as I give him another hug.

'Can we keep this conversation between us? Please.' I whisper in his ear.

‘Of course’ He nods his head.

'Are you going to be okay?' He asks.

'I will be.'

'Okay you have my number if you ever want to talk. Don't hesitate.'

'I appreciated it.' I say as me and Lily head out of the bar.

'That was awesome! I'm practically best friends with them!' She says as I softly chuckle.

'I'm glad' I add.

'How do you know Brendan? If you don't mind me asking.' Lily asked.

Before I could say anything,

'Oh right! Doesn't his younger brother play for Boston?'

I nod my head.

'Hm...what's his name? Totally blanking right now.’ She couldn't put her finger on it.

'Reilly' I whisper as we walked.

'Right! Reilly Smith!'

A seconds later,

'Shit. The guy who messaged you on Facebook...' She says slowly,

'Oh crap! Emma I'm so sorry. If I had known, I wouldn't have gotten the tickets.'

'What? No! Its okay. I'm glad we went today. I reminded me how much I love this sport! So I should be thanking you! Thank you.' I laugh.

'Anytime.' She says.

'TAXI!' I say as we cross the street.

She gives me a hug. 'Let's go it's freezing out!'

Notes

Hey Hey! What did you guys think? Halloween is coming up soon and guess who is heading home?! Stay tuned! :)

Love,

R