As the burning intensity in my legs increased I pushed myself harder, lengthening my stride. My body was hurting so good as the runners high kicked in--it was if my body knew I was almost finished. Teenage Wasteland by The Who had just started blasting in my ears, and I was seriously in my happy place. Though, as the lyrics came up, I felt my mood drop.


‘Stupid Crosby,’ I thought my heart sinking.

Jen might have not realized to the extent I had been upset on the phone, however, when I returned to the suite with an obnoxious amount of sushi and frozen yogurt, she she was quite alarmed. Quickly, I had recounted the entire sequence of events. I normally had a very thick skin when it came to criticism; I had to have one. I was criticized all the time for basically everything I did in life: what tricks I pulled, what I did or did not say, what I wore, how much I weighed, literally anything was criticized. But the hostility coming from Crosby was just, completely from the outfield or whatever the damn phrase was. Jen assured me that this Crosby was probably insane, and why the hell was I thinking about him when I could have playtime with a flirty James Neal. I had argued she missed the point. She then had thrown a gob of wasabi at me saying that I was being utterly ridiculous by taking offense by the words Crosby had said because obviously I wasn’t using my favorite Russian bear in any manner.

I exhaled deeply as I made a hard push to the end of my run, as well as pushing all of the thoughts of last night to the side. Jen was right, this wasn’t my problem and I hadn’t done anything wrong. I finally slowed down to a walk and checked my phone to see my final time and distance, frowning. The 6 miles was slower than I wanted, but considering I hadn’t had a regular running schedule for the last couple of weeks I would take it.

‘Every run is a good run, some are just better than others,’ the voice chimed in my head. I rolled my eyes thinking about that saying as I started walking to the spot Geno had texted me to meet everyone; I had planned my run to finish near the giant open fields. Jen was going to come, not to actually play, but to bring me a clean shirt, water, and probably take some pictures.

I was considerably regretting agreeing to come play football with the guys. Not only did I have zero hand eye coordination when it came to my attempts to catch flying objects, but I was not a fan of football at all. True, I had only recently turned 21, but I had always been praised for being very mature. But this Crosby was literally turning me into a petty child. ‘Stop thinking about Crosby!’ the sensible part of my brain yelled at me.

When I reached the fields we were supposed to meet, there were already some guys milling about I didn’t recognize, so I decided to plop down in the grass nearby and stretch out my legs as I waited. I moved my legs in a hurdler’s stretch, my hand easily wrapping around my foot. I held for a while before switching, not really paying attention to my surroundings.

“Rivers,” I heard a voice calling my name. I jerked my head up, looking around for the source. I saw the group of people had grown, and now included the Penguins I knew. Geno was motioning for me to come join them. I stood up, brushing grass off of me before trotting over to them. I was relieved to see Jen there with a purse bulging at the seams.

“Good morning,” I remarked politely to everyone when I reached them. I gave a warm smile to Paul Martin and James Neal, ignoring Crosby. Geno went in for a hug.

“Ack, I am disgusting,” I warned him, gesturing at my sweaty clothes and self. Geno paused reassessing me for a moment before deciding not to get my gross all over him.

“You run?” Geno asked confused.

“Like I said last night, some of us have to work out,” I teased before turning to Jen.

“Thanks buttercup,” I said as I reached for the bag. I first took out a water bottle and downed the entire thing in mere seconds. Next, I took out a white tank top that was in there, which had not been the t-shirt I had left out for Jen to bring. Raising an eyebrow, I looked at Jen with a reproachful glare. Jen stood there with a faux innocent look on her face as she talked with Neal. I glanced around the group; the guys all seemed to be busy conversing amongst themselves. I sighed and turned so my back would be facing the group of people before I tugged my shirt up and over my head.

I heard a string of Russian which was way too quick for me to catch any of, and with me just still in my white sports bra, I turned my head to look at Geno, confused.

“What. What. Who?” Geno raged at me. All of the guys near us had stopped talking and were now staring at, well me. Confused, I glanced around to make sure it was me that was the focal point. I then glanced down at my body, and saw the giant purple and yellow bruise covering a major portion of my back and part of my side.

“Oh fuck,” I muttered. I had completely forgotten about that, “No, Geno. Geno, calm down. It is not what you are thinking. I slammed trying a new trick a couple days ago. I over rotated and slammed on the half pipe and bruised the back of my ribs.”

“She really did, I was there,” Jen added quickly, “We had to go to the hospital and get her checked out and everything. I have never seen her slam so hard. I was crying for hours because I was so scared and she was completely calm. It was ridiculous.”

As Jen babbled, I quickly tugged on the tight, tank to cut off everyone’s stares, “Geno, I swear.”

The rest of the guys slowly started talking amongst themselves. I went up to Geno who was still frowning. I tugged on the bottom of his shirt and gently head butted him, “Hey you, I promise. It was just a slam, you know I fall a lot. It is part of my job description.”

I glanced around, no one seemed fazed by what had happened. James winked at me, Paul had his back towards me, and Crosby was shooting me daggers. ‘Well, that isn’t new,’ I thought to myself.

“I know,” Geno sighed, “I worry.”

I gently head butted him again, “I know you worry, I am really fine. Don’t though, I was back on the snow a couple hours later. I swear, I had completely forgotten about it until just now.”

“Right, let’s get this started,” a guy with red curly hair I didn’t know yelled causing us and everyone else to stop their conversations, “Captains: Me and Toews.”

The name Toews rang a bell, I think he was Canadian? I wasn’t sure, and I wasn’t going to say anything. I didn’t recognize any of the people around other than the Penguins and Jen.

“I want THE Lily Rivers,” the curly haired guy said.

I stiffened, and looked at him, before slowly smiling. I had definitely not expected to go first, more likely last. I was the shortest in the group by far, and despite being a two time Olympic gold medalist, and undefeated world champion snowboarder, I was not stupid enough to think that I was could beat any of these guys in the sport of football. I looked the man, who was grinning, but realized he was not grinning at me, but grinning straight at Geno. I glanced at Geno, who was looking rather put out. I looked confusedly at curly haired man, before looking back at Geno, before I felt someone give my back a little push to propel me towards the man who had called my name.

“Well, hullo,” I said, as I reached him, holding out my hand, “I am sorry, but you seem to have me at a disadvantage.”

“Scott Hartnell, Flyers,” He said shaking my hand firmly with a giant grin. My eyes widened like saucers, my mouth opening slightly and my lips twitching into a grin. I glanced back at the group of Penguins who were all looking quite peeved with Hartnell. I turned back and smiled wider at Hartnell, seeing his play. As a Flyer, would never pick any of the Penguins, and after clearly observing I was here because of Geno, Hartnell knew this could throw Geno off his game, and one of the Penguins off his game could throw the other Penguins off their game.

“Just so you know, I have zero hand eye coordination and I am worthless at football,” I smirked to him.

“I am sure you will be just fine,” he kindly assured me.

Hartnell was oh so wrong; I was useless as I predicted. However, I had a lot of fun with the guys. Hartnell, Giroux, and Briere, the Flyer guys were pretty funny, and very nice (despite everything Geno had told me) as were the other guys on the team. There was a ridiculous amount of chirping between the two teams, and I spent most of the time listening and laughing.

I was chasing around trying to distract the other team when, their quarterback, threw it. I watched the ball, surprised that it was flying sorta in the direction I was darting in. I ran towards it, and in a massive flying leap, in which I meant the ball down, I accidentally caught the football. I gracefully landed in a crouch, and I froze--staring at the football in my hands.

“RUN, RIVERS,” I heard this being yelled at me from all different directions.

I took off. I can’t remember ever running so fast in my life. Despite my run in the morning, and the protest in my legs, I just ran. I sprinted past the guys, who looked dumbfounded that I had jumped up and caught it. ‘Take that. Make you think twice before underestimating a girl,’ I thought smugly as I sprinted towards the endzone. All of a sudden I felt a huge weight on the back of me and I went down hard.
I laid there collecting myself, I had been so close, so damn close. I twisted, sitting up and around to see who had tackled me. I was shocked to see it was my own teammate, Steven Stamkos laying half on me, shaking with laughter.

“Wrong endzone,” he finally said between gasps for air. I looked beyond him, everyone was cracking up. Jen was literally rolling on the ground laughing. Geno was leaning against James and both were laughing so hard, tears might have been coming out of their eyes. I glanced at Crosby, and even he was laughing. His laugh was surprisingly higher pitched than I would ever ever thought and I felt my stomach flipping about strangely.

I started laughing myself and I laid back down wishing I could melt into the earth.

---

“I wish to GOD I would have been recording that,” Jen said for the billionth time later that night as we were leaving the hotel.

I rolled my eyes, I was over it. The football moment was not my proudest moment, but let’s be honest, I’ve done stupider things before.

“I still think you should have worn the other dress. And at least the heels,” Jen added and I rolled my eyes even more. I swear, one of these days my eyes were going to get stuck in the back of my head. I was in a tight blue dress and a of flats; not the most orthodox pairing, but alcohol and heels never worked out for me.

I had unwillingly agreed to meet a group of the players at a club, mostly for Jen’s benefit and because Geno had asked. What I really wanted to do, was curl up in bed and watch a movie with pair of them; James could come, Paul Martin too. I didn’t really think of myself as a homebody, but I was never really into the club scene. The loud music, stupid drunk people I didn’t know, and random people taking pictures all the time of me and people I were going to be with were not my thing.

Kenny dropped us off in front of the club, which was insanely crowded, people lined down the block. I grimaced, another reason I hated coming out, I hated to cut the lines even though it was incredibly convenient, as Jen and I walked right up to the bouncer. The bouncer, did a double take at me and motioned for us to walk in. I looked at my phone, to text Geno that we had arrived and entered the club without a hitch.

The place was packed and the music was deafening. My phone buzzed, ‘VIP tables’. I groaned, knowing the invisibility I enjoyed would be non-existent tonight. I grabbed Jen’s hand as not to lose her and charged on ahead in search of these guys.

The VIP tables were pretty easy to find for they were raised and in the middle of everything. There was another bouncer who once again, took one look at me, and just let us pass. I smiled, and we walked towards the group of hockey players.

“RIVERS,” a Russian accent yelled as I was caught in a tight hug. I smelled vodka, sex, and an over powering cologne, and didn’t even need to look to see who it was.

“Ovi, I was wondering when I was going to see you,” I yelled back over the music. This was the other Russian in my life. Though, I certainly wasn’t nearly as close to Alexander Ovechkin as I was to Geno, I had a soft spot for this insane caveman-like Russian.

“You need vodka,” he said handing me a shot, “To you! And me!”

I laughed, and took the shot quickly, “Thanks,”

Looking around him, I saw Geno watching us laughing. I shook my head and went to sit next to him. Jen was already in a conversation with some blond guy, and I saw Neal and Martin with some girls. I grinned as I realized Crosby was nowhere to be seen. I felt a bit of a thrill run through me.

“Drink?” Geno asked.

“Shots?” I grinned.

Geno’s eyes widened, “We have that sort of night?”

“Why not, we have two Russians and me? Plus, I am not wearing heels this time” I plainly stated and pointed at my feet. I knew we wouldn’t get as crazy as we do in Russia, but we could have a little bit of fun. I needed not to be a Grinch, and with Crosby not around, I didn’t have to worry about little daggers being shot at me all night long.

Geno said something in Russian to Ovi quickly which I didn’t catch. And soon there were three more shots of vodka in front of us.

“To Russia night,” I said in my very best Russian, clinking my shot glass against the guys, before we all took our shots.

“We are doing this?” Ovi asked grinning at me. I nodded my head as I watched Geno start to pour some more shots.

“ Yes and please and thank you,” I yelled in Russian. The Russians laughed, and we took the shots.

“To KHL” that was Ovechkin and we took shots.

“To speaking Russian all night,” Geno boomed in Russian. Another shot.

---

“I dance want,” my Russian sounded perfect as I said that. I smiled happily, proud of my improvement in the language over the course of the night. The Bear and the caveman both looked at me smiling, though I couldn’t tell if it was because they were so proud or because I had said something funny. I blinked at the table. What had happened to our shot glasses? When had we switched to something else? I rubbed my itching nose with my entire hand.

“You and Jen go dance,” Geno was so kind when he spoke Russian to me. So kind. He spoke such simple sentences, and so slowly.

“So smart,” I kissed his head, “Best friend.”

I started to walk over to Jen, but froze. I whipped back around and hurried over to Ovi before giving him a big hug, which I didn’t think was awkward even though he was sitting and I was standing, so my breasts were sorta, kinda in his face a bit.

“I sorry!” I sobbed, “I not hurt you. You best friend too”

“You aren’t hurting my feelings,” Ovi said seriously trying not to laugh. Geno was also trying to hold back a laugh. These guys were so nice to me. Though, I smiled slowly, confused about what was funny and why they were trying not to laugh.

I swayed a little, before going back to Geno for one more hug and quietly whispered in his ear, still in Russian, “You my favorite. Shhh.”

And then I was off to Jen, who was still with the very attractive blond guy. They were sitting pretty close together, chatting away. I smiled at her and gave her a big wink.

“Come dance,” I yelled in Russian.

“You know, I had to explain to everyone why you are only speaking in Russian,” Jen said in english laughing.

“Come dance,” I repeated, swaying a little. Jen didn’t need to speak Russian to know what I wanted. The only times I would willingly dance was after a few drinks. She turned smiling to the guy she was talking to, said something I couldn’t hear before standing up and taking me to the dance floor.

Jen had dance moves, I did not. We danced for a while, laughing like idiots but had a fantastic time. Eventually, Jen started to tug me back towards the VIP tables, and I followed her like a puppy. Jen went back to the cute blond, and I headed back to the Russians.

“Pro dance,” I announced as I proudly coming back grinning, looking at Ovi, Geno, and then Crosby. I blinked several times thinking something was not right. I looked at Ovi, Geno, and Crosby again. ‘Something is not the same as the rest,‘ my brain slowly processed. I bit my lip, realizing what was not the same.

“Don’t understand,” I sighed, my happy mood seeming to plummet down past my feet. As I settled in the empty seat across from Geno next to Crosby.

“We speech english now,” Geno supplied, “Not understand what?”

I sighed heavily, and reached for my clutch by Geno, taking out my phone to look at the time. I blinked several times, my vision was a little blurry, but it seriously couldn’t be 2am already? Could it? My vision focused a little, it was definitely 2:13am.

“Oh shit,” I cursed as I stood back up quickly.

I immediately regretted moving that fast, feeling my stomach drop. How much had I actually drank? I brought my hand up to my head trying to get the world to stop spinning, why was the world spinning?

“Lots of shots! Plus several mixed drinks. And world always spinning silly,” Ovi said looking at me worried. I blushed, apparently I had been saying that out loud.

“I need to get back. I have a meeting in the morning,” was what I was intending to say in English, to sound as sober as I could. What I actually said, came out sounding something like, “I get havmeeting morning goback,”

I took a couple of steps stumbling a little, I glanced over at Jen, who I saw was cuddling up with the blond. I bit my lip, deciding better not to disturb her, again, and I would just catch the cab by myself. I turned to Geno, pointing at Jen and the blond and gave what I perceived a subtle wink.

I heard Crosby say something, which I pointedly ignored as I went over to pay for all the drinks the Russians and I had been up until this point. Whenever I was in Russia, the boys never let me buy drinks when we went out, so now that we were on US soil, it was my turn. I gave a generous tip to the bartender, and almost tripped on my way back to the group.

“Farewell my loves,” I said dramatically saluting.

“I’m going to turn in guys,” Crosby said suddenly, “We can share a cab.”

Again, I blinked several times, very confused because I thought he had directed this last part of the sentence at me. I scrunched my eyes peering at Ovi and Geno confused, but the pair who had bade me goodbye were already speaking rapidly in Russian at each other. I glanced back at Crosby, who was looking at me expectantly.

“Are you talking to me?” I yelled over the music, my head was buzzing. He nodded, his face impassive. I opened my mouth, tilting my head completely flummoxed.

“Shall we?” he yelled back over the music. I spun on my heal, and marched towards the exit, vainly hoping I would lose him in the crowd.

My lungs rejoiced as they inhaled fresh air as I excited the club. I pushed back some sweaty hair that was in my face and turned to see if I had lost Crosby, which I hadn’t. I glared up at the man, who I couldn’t help but notice was wearing a pair of dark denim jeans and button-up short-sleeved shirt which he filled out in all the right places. I blinked several times, trying not to think about this not nice guy’s muscles or body or anything.

“What did you say?” he asked his lips twitching into a smile.

“Nothing!” I almost shrieked. I looked around for a cab mortified, biting my lip not letting my stupid lips move.

“I’ll get it, I think I am more sober than you,” he said moving out in the street a little and waving his hand flagging down a cab quickly.

As he did this, I glared at him, my mouth re-opening, my inhibitions really gone “Are you seriously serious right now? It’s not a contest.”

“You are drunk,” he shrugged, opening the door and motioning for me to get into the back of the cab. I scowled debating whether or not I really wanted to get in or not. I could walk...

“Rivers, get in the cab,” Crosby said crossly. I childishly glared at him, he was not the boss of me.

“Rivers, get in the damn cab,” Crosby repeated pointing to the open cab.

Pouting as I got in, I slide across the seats before Crosby got in behind me, shutting the door loudly. Crosby told the driver an address, the address to my hotel. I turned towards him, glaring at him. Why did he know the address of my hotel? What the hell was he playing at? I sat there glaring at him as he exchanged some simple pleasantries with the cab driver, but the car soon fell silent. Crosby noticed me glaring at him, and he exchanged the glare. The tension between us quickly grew, filling the car. I noticed the cab driver looking at us briefly, before turning on his radio softly.

I scowled at Crosby once again. I started to feel dizzy, something in the car smelled intoxicating, and I couldn’t focus. I had a terrible feeling it was Crosby, and it was just making me more angry.

“What?” I finally had it.

“What, what?” he snapped back.

“You are looking at me.” I pointed out the obvious.
“Because you were looking at me.”
“I was looking at you because you were looking at me!”
“I was looking at you because you are insane!”
I stared at him icily, “What the hell is your problem?”
“I don’t have a problem.”
“Uh, yesterday and then you showed up tonight. And why are you even here?” I motioned to the cab.
“You are drunk, I’m making sure you get back safely.” Crosby replied calmly.
“What? I am not wasted,” I gave him a reproachful look, “I would perfectly be able to get myself back perfectly. Wait”

“Sure, you are completely functional right now,” he scoffed. I exhaled loudly, and took a deep breath in, which turned out to be a major mistake. That smell was driving me insane, Crosby was driving me insane.
“Pull over,” I loudly demanded to the cab driver.

“We aren’t to the stop yet,” the cabbie replied.

“I am going to throw up?” I posed this more as a question than as statement.

“Not in here you ain’t” and the cabbie quickly pulled over. I saw the amount was up to 24.35 dollars, so I passed him 30 dollars in cash and hopped out of the cab. I took out my phone, and entered in the address of the hotel to the gps. I grinned proudly at myself, seeing that it was just several blocks away, and in just a straight line.

“What for fucks sake are you doing?” a voice called after me.

I frowned, turning around and seeing Crosby had followed me out of the cab.

“What the hell are you doing?” I challenged him back, staring up at him. I was now just standing very close to him. I was surprised that he was only about 3 inches taller than me, though he was much wider and thicker. However, I wasn’t about to back down this time, thanks to my friend Vodka and the unknown quantity I had drank this night.

“You can’t just drunkenly wander the streets of New York at 2:30 in the morning,” Crosby said running his hand throw hair. I stared at this movement and his very pretty hair, my response momentarily delayed at this distraction.

“I wasn’t, until you made me.” I retorted, “And I am not wandering, I know exactly where I am going.”

I started marching down the street, I was about half way down the block, before I turned around and started marching back the way I had come. I had been following the little arrow the wrong way. I walked past Crosby, who had not moved from the place I had just left him. I couldn’t look at him as passed him, knowing that damn smile would be on his face. He didn’t say anything, but I could hear him walking behind me.

Once again, I just felt myself getting angrier. A small logical part of my brain tried to reason that Crosby was actually kinda being a really good person--he didn’t have to go through this much trouble to make sure I got back safely. This fleeting thought was crushed quickly--I wouldn’t be in this fucking predicament if this damn Sidney Crosby hadn’t acted like an asshole yesterday, causing me to play football, and go to a club, drink to much, and now be walking on a street probably being mistaken for a prostitute by people driving past.

“Rivers,” I ignored him.
“Rivers.” I ignored him again.
“Lily.”

“No! You don’t get to Lily, me!” I stopped walking turning to face him again, “First you attacked my intelligence, which I let slip because I ignore all the stupid people’s stereotypes of snowboarders. I would love to see you attempt to run the charities or the campaigns I have organized. In addition, I essentially built up my career by myself. Then you attacked my friendship with Geno, which you were right yesterday, you don’t have a fucking clue about any of it. Sure, I guess Geno has been showing some stupid pictures of what we have done, God only knows what the pictures are of. But I hardly think he would actually tell you anything of what has gone on in my life in detail. And speaking about his life, and where I have been in it, I don’t think you are one to talk. Where the fuck were you during his knee rehab last summer, huh? Not in Magnitogorsk, I know that for sure.”

By the end, I was basically yelling. I also had tears streaming down my face. I wasn’t very good at being mad; it was very rare that I was this angry. When I was angry, I tended to cry because my body didn’t know how else to handle the emotion. It was really embarrassing doing so now in front of Crosby. I wiped my face, turned around, and marched onwards.

I could hear him walking behind me, but he didn’t say a word the rest of the walk to the hotel. As we parted ways, I didn’t turn around or even say goodbye as I walked into the brightly lit hotel.

---

Unfortunately, or mayhap fortunately there were no plans to see any of the hockey players the day after the club nor the following day. The negotiations were not going very well and it seemed a lockout was imminent.

The day after the big fight, I just had one last meeting to go to; with my favorite group, Burton. The Burton offices was much different than the Nike offices, or any of my other sponsors. I had been involved with the Burton brand since the start. Plus, unlike the other meetings I had been attending, I was just there to pick up some new equipment.

Everyone was super friendly, recognizing me instantly as I came in. It wasn’t a fake or ‘oh god someone famous’ kinda thing, these were my people, they got the sport, and after the second incident with Crosby, it felt nice to be around snowboarders.

I was there a little under an hour, but picked up two new awesome boards, one for freestyle slope and one for half pipe, as well getting bindings, and another helmet.
Leaving, I texted Jen letting her know I was coming back. I checked the schedule realizing that essentially, nothing was really holding me to NYC. I bit my lip thinking about what the next logical move would be.

---

“What do you mean you want to leave early?” Jen repeated the question for the third time.

“Look, all the work stuff is finished, so there isn’t really anything left for us in the city,” I stated neutrally. Rearranging my boards, trying to fit everything in the boardbag. “I mean, wouldn’t it be nice to be in Colorado for a little extra time for once?”

Jen gave me a look like I was insane, “And what would you do in Colorado? There is no snow, none of the boarders are there, your next trip which is to Canada isn’t for like, another month and a half.”

I just shrugged my shoulders, looking down.

“Oh dear lord, he has effected you, hasn’t he?” Jen asked dumbfounded.

My lip trembled slightly, before I could bite down on it. I hadn’t told Jen the specifics about the second fight with Crosby. I hadn’t even seen her until we were out to dinner later that day after the fight, so I just briefly told her that Crosby had made sure I got back to the hotel and we got into a philosophical disagreement on the way. I hadn’t really processed all that had went on, but I felt kind of embarrassed about the situation.

Jen opened her mouth and shut it several times, not saying a word. I forced a laugh, “I made you speechless, this is a first.”

Jen gave me a tight hug, “Let’s go home.”

---

BANG BANG BANG.

I exited my room, confused who could be attempting to destroy the door to our suite. Arriving to the front door, I looked through the peephole and slightly gasped to see the Russian Bear at the door. Quickly, I opened it before any permanent damage could be caused.

“Why you leave?” Geno pouted as he pushed his way past me into the room looking rather upset.

“I need to go home Geno,” I sighed.

“But why leave early?” Geno glared,

“Geno, I need to get home. I need a break, reset before all the crazy starts of my season.”

“Promise come to Pittsburgh?”

“When?” I sighed.

“September. Lockout happen probably and I go back to Russia. So, you come visit before I go to Russia. Before you start season.”

I looked up at the Russian bear. The big man looked oddly sad, and vulnerable. I nodded, “Alright.”

“No, you must,” he started to argue with me, “Wait, alright?”

“Yes, you silly Russian, I said I would. Now, we have to be at the airport in an hour, so are you going to help me pack?”

Notes

Hi friends!!! That was a busy chapter and much longer than I had intended.

I cannot tell you all how much your comments/ratings/the fact this is actually being read means to me. Thank you all so incredibly much!!!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!!!! The next chapter will be up within the next couple of days!