What Are Best Friends For

"Y'know that I actually have feelings, right!", I shout frustratedly at my soon to be ex Ryan, who is drunk as usual. "Nah, you're just a stupid stupid bitch. You aren't even pretty, you're ugly as hell", he slurs his speech and his words make my eyes water. I smack the hand reaching for another beer.
"If you want to keep your head up your ass, don't let me stop you. I'm leaving, don't call or anything.", I sniffle, refusing to cry, and walk out the door of Ryan's apartment. Heart at the bottom of my stomach, I call a cab and tell the driver the address of my condo. The driver nods and I stare at my phone, a war raging inside of my mind on whether to call the number displayed on the screen or not.
When the cab finally screeches to a stop in front of the Harbor Towers, I get out and walk into the lobby of Tower Two. The lady behind the desk, Denise, smiles at me.
"How are you Anne?", she asks, forcing me to look up and get out of my glum mood.
"Not so good Denise, Ryan again.", I reply, eyes watering at the memory of my now ex boyfriend throwing hateful phrases at my fragile self. A sympathetic look washes over Denise's face.
"I'll let him up, I'm on until 3AM. Have a good night Anne." "Thanks Denise", I say quietly and trudge through the open elevator doors. I slump in the corner and let the past thirty minutes wash over my tired mind. The elevator dings and the doors open to reveal the 20th floor. I slowly make my way to the joined A and B condos, sifting through the key ring and selecting the slender key to my condo.
Upon letting myself in, I collapse on the giant couch and sob my eyes out. Figuratively, but I sobbed a lot. After soaking my spot on the couch, I grab my phone and call the only person I trust with everything. The agonizing wait for the rings to stop ends when a deep voice ringed with a Finnish accent answers on the other line.
"Yes Anne? You know that I don't take calls before long road trips, c'mon this better b-" I cut him off with suddenly sobbing loudly.
"Anne? Hello? Are you there? Please talk to me.", he says, sounded panicked.
"Ryan." I manage to croak out that one word before I start sobbing again.
"I'll be there in two minut-", someone yells at him in the background. "Hey Z, tell coach I can't go on the trip. Something big just came up."
At this point I can't hear anything but my own sobbing. Soon enough, the line goes dead, but I don't notice. A few minutes later, I faintly hear the door to my condo creak open. He used the spare. I look up at him and he sits next to me on the couch.
"You called," he states, hiding a small smile. I sniffle and wipe my eyes.
"I guess I did, who else would I call? I though you had a road trip." I look down, he hates missing games. He doesn't even talk to his family on big trips, goalie superstitions are real weird. I'm kinda embarrassed that I'm such a little wimp and am making him miss out on a 6 game road trip.
"Hey, come over here," he opens his arms and I scoot closer, myself leaning against his hard chest and his placing his chin on the top of my head. We stay like this for a while, he knows that it calms me down.
"But Tuukka, I don't want you to miss any games. It makes me feel bad when I do, I'm sorry that I fell ap-," I start to apologize, but Tuukka cuts me off.
"Anne c'mon don't do this to yourself! Your asshole of a boyfriend is being, well, an asshole and I'm not going to get on that plane when I know that you're being yelled and sworn at by that piece of shit of a person. I'm not a dick like that. I care about you Anne, actually I like you. A lot. That's why I'm here and I'm probably gonna get yelled at by Claude when I eventually join the team again. I don't care, I'm with you and that's all that matters. I love you Anne Hollows and I don't care if you still love him, but I love you and I want you to know that.", Tuukka takes a deep breath out of nervousness as I stiffen at his sudden declaration. I pull back out of the embrace.
"This is a sick joke, you've got to be kidding!", I shake my head and begin pacing the room. Tuukka just looks at me from the couch. "You're not supposed to love me. I'm just a girl that no one has even heard of and every Bruins fab worships the ground you walk on. You just can't love me." "Why can't I love you? Please enlighten me.", Tuukka sighs frustratedly, gets up from the couch and grabs my shoulders. I brush him off and continue pacing.
"Because no one loves me. There's none of me left to love. I love too much and no one loves me back.", I say hurriedly. There's a moment of quiet. Then Tuukka bursts out laughing. I turn to glare at him, but end up smiling at him. Just his face and how adorable he is.
"What?", I say.
"You're joking, right? I love you. I love how your face lights up when you're happy. I love how you get frustrated and throw yourself on the couch. I love how you actually treat me like a normal person, not a star goalie. I love everything about you Anne. I love you.", Tuukka confesses and stands in front of me. I look at him, hands on hips in defiance. Tuukka leans in and presses his lips to mine. I don't pull away. We break apart a moment later. Not knowing what to say, I walk into the kitchen speechless.
He just kissed me.
Tuukka, the boy that I liked since the moment he spoke to me on the commuter rail, kissed me. He told me that he loves me. I hear footsteps and turn to see Tuukka leaning against the doorway.
"Speechless eh? That's a first", he laughs and opens my fridge to get some soda.
"Well you surprised me there Tuukks", I grab a Coke from the fridge. "And I love you too." The last part comes out as a low whisper and I swear he has the hearing of a bat because his head whipped around so fast, I thought he would hurt himself. "Say it again, I didn't hear you the first time.", he points the Coke at me. Jokingly, I cross my arms and pretend to be stubborn.
"Why should I?"
"Because I confessed my undying love and affection for you. It's only fair if you do too", he replied, eyebrows raised cockily. "Fineeeeeeee", I drag the 'e' and take a sip of my Coke. "I've loved you ever since you asked to sit next to me on the commuter rail. I love how you didn't force your hockey religion on me and that you respected me, not take advantage of a girl new to Boston. I love you."
He smiles and wraps me up in a big hug, drinks forgotten. "Now you can't get rid of me at all!", he laughs lightly and rests his chin on my head.
"Not that I'd want to, Tuukks", I reply, smiling as well.
"We never got to the part where I give you the lecture on your terrible taste in guys, but I think I can let that slide tonight", he says smugly. I laugh out loud.
"Gosh Tuukks, what are best friends for!", I say, faking offense to his comment.
"What are best friends for.", Tuukka repeats our special saying.

Notes

I just fooled around and wrote this one shot! I'm a sucker for adorableness, so y'all got some adorableness!