Arielle's POV

I walked out of the terminal into the cold lobby. It seemed like I walked forever around O'Hare's long halls to where my bags would arrive. I could see the digital sign reading Flight 327 Baggage and I looked for my bags as they began to tumble onto the belt. I easily spotted the Burberry suitcase Sidney bought me. I grabbed it and looked down at my phone. Pat said he'd be at Gate 14. I was at gate 8 so I mentally prepped for the long walk. I stopped for a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte at Gate 13. I probably shouldn't have. It was 11:15 at night and It'd keep me up, but I didn't care. I wanted the warmth and comfort. The flight wasn't terrible, but it also wasn't the greatest. It was a bumpy and I was nervous flying alone. I kept walking and saw Pat soon enough. He was wearing a black V-neck and jeans with a red Blackhawks hat. His ocean blue eyes lit up when he saw me.

"Patrick!" I said hugging him. He picked me up and nuzzled into my neck.

"Arielle!" I could feel his scruff scratching the skin above my collarbone.

"I missed you" he continued setting me down.

"I missed you too" I said. He rolled my bag behind us and held me around my shoulders. It was comforting, but not crossing the line.

When we got outside he opened the door to his huge black hummer for me an helped me in before setting my suitcase in the back.

"How have you been?" He asked. I picked at my cuticles anxiously to his reaction when I told him about the past couple months.

"Honestly not too well." I frowned.

"Did Sidney do something?" he asked, his voice rising. It was the other way around and I just felt more sad.

"No. I did." I kept tight lipped even though I wanted to tell him everything. I was just afraid it would come out in a massive heap of word vomit and he wouldn't understand a thing.

"Just tell me" he said putting his hand over mine and he drove with his left hand.

"I cheated on Sid this summer" I whispered staring out the window.

"Woah. Have you told him?"

"No, it's killing me"

"It's okay." I could hear Patrick sigh heavily as we pulled up to his loft.

"Arielle, I can't stand the guy, but you love him and you have to tell him. And if he really loves you, he'll forgive you." He said nonchalantly getting my things. The elevator ride was silent and I kept getting the feeling he wanted to tell me something. I took a deep breath and tried to keep calm. When we got up to Kaner's flat I was nothing short of impressed. It was beautiful. Pat deserved it.

He always worked hard. He practiced and yes, he liked to have fun, but his game hasn't suffered from it. What people forget is that he's young and he's going to fuck up. A lot. Get over it. I just hated seeing how the media made him look like this irresponsible bad boy when he's still--a kid.

Everyone thinks he's a dirty, womanizer, but he's got a soft side. That's the side I fell in love with. We were each other's high school sweethearts, even though we lived 400 miles and 7 hours away until our senior year. My grandpa on my dad's side had a farm in Buffalo. Every summer my brother and I would be up there helping out. Kane and I met when I was 13. We were summer friends and kept in touch via telephone during the school year. We were close, but not incredibly.

When I got my first car at 17, I'd lie to my parents and say I was spending the weekend at my friends', but I'd drive all the way to Buffalo to see him. We'd sneak into Pop Pop's the barn and spend the night cuddling.

Patrick and I were each other's first loves. We lost our virginity to each other. His sisters always told me he became the guy he is today because we ended things so abruptly. They said he was depressed for a few months then he just started fucking anything with legs. When we were younger he was loving, kind and the sweetest person I'd ever met. According to his sister Jessica he hasn't had a real relationship since. Just strings of one night stands. Despite that, he was a beast on the ice. And with me he was always a gentleman.

When we waked in I was in shock at how nice it was. He obviously didn't pick out anything in here, must've been his mom and sisters' doing. His place was huge with shiny hardwood floors and stainless steel everything. He probably doesn't even use his kitchen. In the living room there was a humongous TV on the wall with a extravagant entertainment center around it. He had a PS3, XBOX, Wii, and all the games any boy could imagine. His couch took up half of the room though. It looked so comfortable I wanted to crash right there on it, but Patrick rolled the suitcase into his bedroom. No offering to sleep on the couch, we were sleeping in the same bed. His room was almost as big as the living room. He even had a giant fireplace in it.

"Pat, what if he doesn't forgive me?" I asked sitting on the end of the California King bed adorned with maroon sheets. He sat next to me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"He will. If he loves you he will" I smiled into his shoulder before excusing myself. I fumbled through my suitcase for some pjs. I changed in the bathroom and brushed my teeth. When I walked back into the room Pat was just in his boxers, in the same spot I'd left him in.

"There you are beautiful as ever" he said. I smiled as he pulled me into him. He looked up at me, but I couldn't give him what he wanted.

"Thanks Pat." I said, crawling over him and underneath the covers. The fan was humming slightly and made getting under the covers an amazing feeling.

He joined me and we both laid on our backs. He took a frustrated sigh.

"Why did we ever break up anyway?" he asked solemnly.

"Because you got drafted and I was starting school." We could sneak back and forth from Buffalo to NYC, but we didn't have the money to fly out back and forth from Chicago. We were going to be too busy anyway I slowly started to think that we weren't such a bad couple. We just had bad timing.

Then, it just wasn't possible for us.

It was quiet for a moment and I thought Patrick had fallen asleep.

"Pat?" I whispered?

"Hmmmm?" he said groggily.

"Will you tell Sid for me?" I whispered when he pulled me into him. He laughed so hard I could hear feel the vibrations surround me.

"As much as I'd love to, I can't. Did you see him beat the shit out of me and board me the first game we had against each other after you told him we dated? Yeah he doesn't exactly like me either"

"It's because he doesn't know you like I do." I said grinning stupidly up at Kane, in hopes it'd change his mind.

"Nobody does." He said quietly before falling asleep. I had trouble sleeping due to the coffee. I knew I'd regret it. I tossed and turned, or at least attempted to. Pat didn't budge however. I looked over at the glowing clock on the nightstand. It was just after one and I knew I should try to sleep. I closed my eyes and forced myself into slumber.

Patrick's POV

I held tight until Arielle fell asleep. It hurt knowing that she didm't want to get back together with me. It hurt knowing that she wanted to to just be her friend. She was the first girl I really liked. The only one too I guess. Some girls I've been with I liked, like Grace, Ashleigh, and Kelly, but none I really wanted to date. I would--I would marry Arielle. When I was with her I didn't look at other girls. I looked for ways to show her how much I cared about her. There was always a certain Je ne sais quoi. about her.

I woke up with the sun peeking in through the wooden blinds. Arielle was sleeping deeply and snoring lightly. I know it was creepy, but I couldn't help but watch her sleep. She wore a small smile and her dark hair was wavy, falling over the pillows. After a few minutes she began to stir. She groaned and rolled over to face me.

"Morning" I said. I couldn't help but grin seeing her.

"Morning" she smiled.

"Do you want to go get breakfast?" I asked rubbing her arm lightly.

Arielle's POV

"Sure" I smiled. I felt Patrick roll over when his phone vibrated on the nightstand.

"Hello?" he said into the phone.

I walked to the bathroom and decided to get ready for the day. The warm water running over me felt amazing. I heard the bathroom door creak open.

"Hey, Pat. Can you do me a favor and grab my soap out of my suitcase?" I asked over the running water.

"Sure-" he made out though swishes while brushing his teeth. He made it back and slipped my body wash through the shower curtain, careful not to intrude.

"Who called this morning?" I asked turning off the water.

"Jon, he want's to hang out tomorrow. Is that cool?"

"Of course it is." I said stepping out with his navy towel around me.

"Stop staring" I joked hitting his arm.

"I haven't seen you in years, give me a break" he said putting a little gel in his hair. Once we were dressed we headed to Marcie's, Pat's favorite place in Chicago.

We were seated by a pretty blonde and ordered. The table was a nice dark oak and the sun was beaming in warming us. It was a beautiful morning and the city was beginning to wake up. Pat got the Deluxe breakfast platter and I got the Michael Jordan Usual.

"Have you ever been here before?" He asked, unfolding his utensils.

"Nope. Can you believe I've actually never been to Chicago before now?" I said setting my purse beside me.

"Yeah, so what happened a few years back? You said you would come visit, but never did." He said nursing his water.

"That's when Sid and I started seeing each other. I was at a bunch of his games and I got to meet his family when they had a couple days off." I said. I felt really bad for never fulfilling my promise, but I was trying to change. Mostly in the honesty department.

"Oh." he said sadly.

"I'm sorry Patrick. I knew that if we saw each other we'd want to get back together. And long-distance relationships never work." I frowned.

"They did when we were younger" he retorted. I sighed.

"We were kids. We didn't have a care in the world. I had went off to college, and you had were a rookie. You needed to focus." I said looking down at my napkin. It reminded me of what Sidney told me at Diesel.

"But you broke up with me. You didn't want to make things work. They could have, but you didn't want to try." he said obviously still hurt over the matter.

"I did. I did, Pat, but it would have been so hard. I barely passed my classes even though I was working my ass off. We would have had to coordinate what weekends you were even in town, the weekends I didn't have a test to study for, and if you had practice or not." I defended.

"Then why not now?" he asked quietly.

"Patrick, I still love you, but we've never really had good timing when you think about it."

"You keep saying this whole bad timing thing like we don't have the rest of our lives to be together." He slammed his glass down on the table frustrated. I jumped back a little in shock. Not only at his actions, but was he really saying the whole 'rest of our lives together' like in a marriage sort of way. He couldn't have meant it like that.

"I'm with Sidney now" I whispered to the table.

"But you were with me [i]first[/i]. [i] I[/i] was your first kiss. [i]I[/i] was the one you lost your virginity to. Not him. [i]I[/i] was there for you when your parents-"

"Don't." I warned.

I hated talking about my parents. I hated that when I got to college that's all people asked about. Where do they live? How old are they? It was just so awkward bringing up the whole murder-suicide thing.

"I'm sorry, but cant you see how badly I want us to be back together. You're my first love and only love. I'd give up my whole career to be back with you. What do you want me to do? I'll quit. I'll quit hockey and move to Pittsburgh if that's what you want. I'll work at a car dealership or whatever. I just want you." he said rather emotionally.

"Stop it!" I hushed him. What the hell did I do to make every man turn to mush? He was an emotional mess and spiraling downwards at an alarming rate.

"I don't want any of that. I just want you to be my god damned friend. Is that so hard for you? You can't just be friends with me? You just want to fuck me? What's wrong with you?" I said tearing up.

"It's not about having sex with you. It's the way you make me feel when we're together. You make me feel special. Like I'm the only guy you care about. You make me feel like no matter how badly I've fucked up, you'll still be there for me. You care more about me that my own family. You used to call or text me every day. Like how my day went actually mattered to you. You always put me first, even when you didn't have to. You know about my track record, I'm sure my sisters have told you, but that doesn't bother you." he said holding my hands on the table.

"It doesn't bother me because we're just friends."

"Fine. If that's all we are--- then I'd rather have that than nothing." He ceded. I forced a smile and he leaned over the table and kissed me on the cheek.

~Four Days Later

Sidney's POV

I was a little bummed that Arielle wasn't home yet, but she had to do what she had to do. I was nervous because she'd probably arrive to an empty home. The guys and I were just headed out on a three day road trip to Florida and Dallas. I took my usual seat up front next to Flower and we all pulled out our PSP's. I noticed they were a little quieter in the back than usual, but it was better. I could focus on kicking Lovejoy's ass.

"Uh, hey Sid?" rookie Dustin Jeffrey said from behind me.

"Huh?" I replied trying to keep my eyes on the little screen.

"So when I was packing I accidentally took my girlfriends iPad instead of mine and--uh--well----look." he said nervously. He held the screen in front of my face and I glanced too look at it for only a moment.

"Okay, so are you telling me your guilty pleasure is reading People magazine? Since when?" I joked blowing him off a little bit.

"Look who's on the cover" he said a little more forcefully than the last. I looked over for merely a second more before seeing Patrick Kane.

"What are you getting at? You insisting I should be on the cover instead of Kane"

"Look at what he's doing!" I've never heard Jeffrey get mad, but I guess I shouldn't have blown him off. I let one of the guys kill me on Call of Duty and set my PSP down. I threw a Reese's Piece into my mouth and I nearly choked when he handed me his iPad. I thought my eyes were going to dislodge from their sockets.

There it was in all it's LCD glory. Patrick Kane was making out with [i]my[/i] girlfriend on the cover of a magazine.

[i]Patrick Kane's New Girl[/i]