The Tandem

"Miss? Are you awake?", a woman with curly blonde hair leans over my face, blocking the light. I blink and nod, looking around the small white room I'm in.

"What happened to me? Where am I?", I say in a raspy voice, I guess I haven't been talking lately.

There is a huge chunk missing from my memory, the last year or two at least. What happened to me? As the woman bustles around the room, checking the machines beside me and scribbling on a clipboard, I try to piece together what happened.

"Sweetie, you were in a bad fight", is all she says before exiting the room and firmly shutting the door. A fight? I don't think that I fight, at all. My scrambled thoughts are further screwed up and interrupted by a tall black haired man wearing jeans and a hoodie with a logo on it, a Canadiens logo if I'm not mistaken, bursting into the room.

"Jesse oh Jesse, you're awake", he says in relief, hugging me tightly. Who the hell is this guy and why is he hugging me? And who is Jesse? I'm Jocelyn, not Jesse. My middle name is Jesse.

"Umm who are you and why are you touching me?", I asks, looking at him with slightly bewilderment. He must have the wrong room. The Jesse person must be a girlfriend, wife, or sibling.

"Jesse don't you remember me? I'm Carey, your boyfriend. And listen I'm so sorry about our fight before the game. It was stupid and I shouldn't have gone ther-", the man, I take it his name is Carey, rambles until I cut him off. He kinda looks familiar, like I've seen his face on TV or something. Good hockey player maybe?

"I'm sorry, you must have the wrong room. I don't know any Jesse or Carey and I don't know what game or fight you're talking about", I apologize, I feel bad now. He's obviously very frantic about this Jesse person and I hope he finds her.

"Mr. Price, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the room.", the stern voice of the woman from before is a relief to myself because this man is making me uncomfortable. Oh shit, that's Carey Price.

"She doesn't remember me.", he mutters in dark disappointment as he shuffles out of the room. The woman shakes her head and opens the door further to let another man in, this time the man is wearing a white lab coat. He pulls a chair up to the side of my bed and squints at his clipboard while the woman exits the room.

"Miss, I'm glad to see that you're awake. My name is Doctor Jones and the nurse is Charlene", the man, Doctor Jones, smiles one of those tight lipped ones that say 'I don't get paid enough to deal with this'.

"What happened to me?", I ask again. Still haven't gotten a straight answer. He squints at his clipboard more closely.

"Jocelyn, I believe you had your head slammed into the crossbar of a hockey goal and then had your head smashed into the ice, further damaging the vulnerable part of the back of your skull. Luckily, the Bruins and Canadiens both have excellent medics and your teammates have been camping out in the waiting room ever since", he makes a gesture to the end of the little mini story.

"Am I clear to go home?", I ask hopefully. I hate hospitals with a burning passion. Yet again, he squints at the clipboard, someone get this man better glasses!

"Yes, I believe so. A Mr. Rask is going to be escorting you home in the next hour or so.", he gives me another one of those creepy smiles and exits the room, leaving me to piece my life together. Tuukka Rask is driving me home? Last I checked, I was playing at BC and we were in the playoffs and what's this doctor talking about with the Bruins and Canadiens? I'm in my last year of college, I'm only 22.

Charlene drops off my clothes for me about half an hour later. I was brought a pair of yoga pants, a Canadiens shirt, sneakers, and a Bruins hoodie with a 40 on it.

Once I have changed, I study the room, noting every detail. I also take note of the fifteen stitches in the back of my head, beneath my now shoulder length hair.

A soft knock at the door startles me and it creaks open, a guy with short brown hair and an easy smile sticks his head in.

"Thank goodness you're clothed!", he exclaims in an over exaggerated manner, causing me to giggle.

"You're Mr. Rask?", I say cautiously. He nods vigorously.

"Tuukka Rask at your service!", he takes a comical bow. "Jocelyn Williams right?"

"Yep", I nod, getting up from the bed.

"Ready to go Jocelyn?"

"Yes! I hate hospitals, let's go", he offers his arm and I loop mine through his. He smiles and leads the way to a very nice SUV. Too nice for me to afford. He puts it in drive and starts driving in the opposite direction of BC.

"Hey, I live over there. At BC, can you turn around? I'm going to be late for practice!", I say frantically, I've never been late to a practice. Tuukka chuckles, leaving me to gape at him. He continues towards the inner city suburbs.

"Jocelyn, you're not in college anymore. You're 23 and more annoying than usual", he smiles. I scoff at his statement.

"How the hell do you know that?", I cross my arms in frustration.

"Because I lived with you for an entire season for the Bruins. I know that you love reading and Mexican food and hate bell peppers. You love to dye your hair and make up really stupid jokes. You love to smile and laugh and play soccer and hockey. You hate being embarrassed and doing things out of your comfort zone. When you are in disbelief, you cross your arms and make the face you're making now. I know all of that and more because I'm your...", he trails off at the end, leaving me surprised.

"You're my what?", I ask, now intrigued. So this guy knows me better than I know myself, well then. He thinks about my question for a minute, mulling it over in his head.

"Nothing", he replies. Boys these days, confusing as hell. We eventually pull up to a decent sized house, big enough for six people at least.

"And we're here!", he does jazz hands at the front door, making me laugh. The door opens abruptly and two arms engulf me.

"Lyn, we've missed you so much", the owner of the arms says in a heavy Czech accent. I smile and hug the dude back. If I'm not mistaken, it's David Krejci.

"Welcome! Mi casa es su casa!", another guy yells from inside.

The boys lead the way into the living room and connecting kitchen, me following behind slowly. The two guys, along with Tuukka give me a guided tour of the house before peeling off into their own rooms, leaving me with Tuukka in front of a big white door.

"And this is your room", he says, opening the door. My jaw nearly drops to the floor. The past me, what do they call her?, had some good taste. It's very simple with a blue rug on the floor, a brass bed in the corner covered with blue sheets, a nice white desk against the wall, at least two book shelves, and the most stunning feature of all: a huge print of this beautiful sunset hung up on the wall behind the bed. Yep, I had good taste.

"Like it?", Tuukka asks from the doorway, reminding me that he's here.

"Like it? You mean love it right?", I say with a laugh, finally flopping onto the bed.

"IKEA is pretty damn amazing, I have to say."

"Sure is."

He, by that point, had sat on the bed next to me. I turn to him, a questioning look on my face.

"So tell me about me."

He takes a deep breath and smiles.

"Well you used to only go by Jesse or Jess. The guys are starting to get used to you being called Jocelyn. You always had the weirdest pregame rituals, a nap and such. You rambled on and on all about Anabel, she is seriously cool though. You always stayed up until 1AM every Saturday night talking to her on my laptop. You love talking to your cousin Claire and your younger brother Jay, his actual name is Jeremie, and you get along great with everyone. You're an amazing goalie and used to play for the Bruins, now you play for the Canadiens. But since you sustained a big injury, Montreal has given you back to us! Tyler was traded a few days ago and the house seems empty without him, but you're back now and that's all that matters", he says in a confident manner.

"The old me sounds cool. Too bad that she kinda disappeared in that 'accident'", I say with a sad smile. He puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry, I think Jocelyn is cooler than Jesse", he laughs and gets up from the bed, offering a hand to me.

"How does lunch sound?", he asks and my stomach growls in response, causing us to laugh.

"Fantastic actually", I laugh as we walk down the staircase.

As soon as we hit the bottom step, a tall girl with long brown hair shrieks and hugs me tightly. I can barely breathe.

"Joce, you lived!", my best friend, the crazy Canadian herself, Anabel screams and tugs me to the couch.

"Of course I did Ana, why are you in Boston? I though you were still in Montreal", I say happily, but kinda confused. Well, I'm confused a lot these days.

"They didn't tell you? I've been transferred to the Providence Bruins! Guess you're not the only girl in the NHL or AHL now, eh hotshot", she says proudly, nudging me with her shoulder.

"That's awesome and knowing you, they'll sign you to the Bruins. I think after I'm all healed and crap, I'll be back on the Bruins.", I laugh.

We both sit and talk for hours about everything. God I love my best friend, it's rare when we actually get to see each other in person. Tuukka, the nice guy he is, brings us takeout and we sit and talk about anything but hockey.

Sadly, Anabel had to go back to Providence because they had a game tomorrow. Them and their playoffs.

So it was just Tuukka and I for the rest of the afternoon. The other two guys were out and about, they promised that they'd be back by 8.
In the middle of the really shitty action movie that we were stuck watching, Tuukka turns to me.

"You know what we should do?", he says out of the blue.

"What?", I reply, surprised.

"We should go get you a dog."

"Now? It's 7:30 at night."

"Why not?", he says with a smile and we both hop in his car, off to a local rescue.

In the car, I turn to him.

"A dog? Seriously?", I say.

"Yeah what's the matter with that?"

"Why can't we get a cat or something!"

"Are you like one of those weird cat ladies? You are not living with us if you are a crazy cat lady. Nope, no way that's happening."

"I'm not a cat lady of any kind! Wait, was I?"

"No... But we are converting you to a dog person. No buts, we're getting you a dog."

I give him the finger and he laughs as we pull into the parking lot.

With the two of us, we can't just pick one dog. Yeah, we're idiots. So we got not two, but three dogs. Let's just say that the other two guys in the house were surprised, and that's an understatement. Just imagine coming home from a party with family and friends to be greeted by a German shepherd, an Australian shepherd, and a lab with Tuukka and I cracking up on the couch. Yep, surprised.

"Are you shitting me Lyn?", David says in disbelief, trying not to laugh.

"Not at all Krej, I love doggies", I laugh and pull the Aussie on the couch next to me.

Dougie throws his hands in the air. "I give up! I'm going to bed, night guys."

We all laugh at his reaction.

"I'm in the same boat as Doug, night Lyn and Tuukk", David gives me a quick hug before him and Dougie head upstairs.

We sit in silence with the dogs for a few minutes until Tuukka's phone suddenly rings. He looks at the ID and smiles. He never smiles at me like that.

"Hey babe. Yeah sure, feel free to come over. You know I love you right? Okay babe, see you soon. Bye.", his face glows from the conversation.

"Girlfriend?", I ask, snapping him out of his trance.

"Whaa... I mean uh no she's a friend", he smiles nervously and rubs his neck. I raise an eyebrow but don't question it.

The doorbell rings and Tuukka practically skips to open it. It opens, revealing a short woman with long red hair with six inch heels at least and a very very revealing dress. She glances at me, smirks and envelops Tuukka in a deep kiss. Woah there friend, slow the fuck down.

Even though she seems like a bitch, I attempt friendliness.

"Hi I'm Jocelyn. Nice to meet you", I extend a hand in the woman's direction and she scoffs at it, making my hand seem like a dead fish. Well then. She narrows her eyes at me in a threatening manner.

"The name is Jackie and stay away from my boyfriend."

Notes

I FINALLY UPDATED OH MY LORD I FEEL SO BAD FOR NOT UPDATING IN A WHILE IVE BEEN BUSY AND MY PHONE AND TABLET ARE ASSHOLES AND I WRITE EVERYTHING ON MY PHONE SO I HAVE TO TRANSFER CRAP EVERYWHERE

again, so sorry ahaha
hope you like this chapter
-Es