Tongue Tied

"Game one. Summarize it." Alex sighed through the phone.

Nathan laid down on the bed in his hotel room. He was in Saskatoon while Alex was back home. She was laying on Bridgette's couch while her friends sat around her. She met Leah's glance, who was frowning. Leah had just started talking to Jo and now he was gone for nine days. Alex matched her expression as she waited for

Nathan to talk.He took a deep breath. "Well, we won."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but, like, goals, fights, penalties?" She listed. "What was the score?"

"Seven to four." He said. "Uh, Martin scored and I assisted, Jo scored and Trey assisted,"

"Leah, Jo scored." Alex cut him off.

"Are you with friends?" He asked.

"Yeah, we're all at Brig's." She explained. "Continue with the game."

"I scored and Brendan assisted it, Luca scored from Darcy and Mack, I scored again from Konny and Mack,"

"Holy shit, Nathan!" She exclaimed.

"I ended the game with a hat trick." He shrugged.

"Babe, I'm so proud of you! Oh my god!" She smiled.

"Stef also got one." Nathan added.

"I can't fucking believe I missed that! My mom is such a bitch." She hissed.

"Hey, it's okay. You're with your friends." He chuckled.

"Yeah, friends are cool but I would have rather saw your hat trick." She whined.

"I think all of us would have rather seen our hockey playing boyfriend's hat trick than hang out with friends." Dana stated.

"But we're all fucking single!" Denise shouted.

Alex, Leah, and Marina fell silent. Bridgette did as well. They all eyed her. She grinned, sitting up straight. She cleared her throat dramatically as she crossed her legs. They all watched her.

"I may or may not be seeing Cameron." She said.

"What?" Nathan gasped before anyone else could.

Alex laughed, putting him on speaker. "You're on speaker so keep the dirty talk to a minimum." She instructed.

"Isn't Cam in New Brunswick?" Nathan yelped.

"Yeah, but I graduate this year and I was planning on going there anyway." Bridgette explained. "He came home last month and we ran into each other. He remembered me and I don't know."

"I'm happy for you." Alex smiled, tapping her thigh.

"I always forget you're my age, Brig." Nathan chuckled. "You're just so tiny."

"Holy fuck." Leah blurted. "All of you graduate this year and it's the guys' draft year."

Alex frowned. Her and Leah were the babies of the group. For a while, the girls only talked to Zach. He had taken a course that was mostly girls, and that's how they met. He answered all of Leah, Bridgette and Alex's questions about Jo, Cameron, and Nathan. He told them to come to the game that Nathan first locked eyes on Alex.

"Holy fuck, how am I gonna go a year without Zach in my classes?" Alex shot out.

"What about your boyfriend?" Dana mentioned, gesturing to the phone.

"Well, obviously I'll miss Nate but I've never had a semester without Zach." Alex frowned.

"More than just Zach is leaving, babe." Nathan laughed. She frowned harder at that. "I have to go. I'll call you soon."

"Okay. I love you and I'm proud of you." She sang.

"I love you too and thank you." He chimed.

Alex exhaled as she laid back. All the girls chatted. She just sat, listening to them. She didn't realize how many people were leaving her. She thought about all the girls first. Bridgette, Marina, Dana, and Denise would all be graduating this year. That meant it was only Leah and herself left. It was sad to think that the girls she had known all her life would soon be parting from her.

Next, she thought of all the guys. Stefan was a free agent who was bound to get signed. Brent was going to Nashville, Martin was going to Detroit, and a lot of the guys would be leaving the team. She knew the three guys she was closest to would be drafted this year. Jo was obviously in the top ten at the least, and Zach was one of the highest ranked goalies. Nathan was a different story. Nathan was the expected first overall.

Alex was more than happy for him. She was ecstatic. She just knew the first overall was always called up instantly. She was also worried he was going to end up somewhere far like Florida. She was praying none of them ended up that far. She wished they could all play for the same team, nice and close. She felt the same about her friends.

The next day, Alex and the girls went out for the day. She sent Nathan a good luck text, knowing he had a game and that her phone would be dead at some point. It had been five hours and Alex's phone had been dead for two. She knew his game was over in Saskatoon since it was near one in the morning where she was.

"Lee, do you think I could call Nathan on your phone?" She asked.

Leah nodded, handing it to her. Alex thanked her as she walked off. Denise rolled her eyes and Bridgette scoffed. Leah furrowed her brows at them. They have each other looked before they turned back to their phones. Dana had taken off to pull up her car for them since the parking lot at the movie theatre was insane.

"What was that?" Leah spoke.

They both looked up. Marina looked over in confusion. Bridgette looked to Denise before they looked at Leah. Leah's arms were crossed over her chest. She was annoyed. Denise shook her head and went back to her phone. Leah rolled her eyes. Bridgette chuckled a bit.

"It's just a joke that we finally get some time with Alex and not Nathan and she's still more worried about him than us." Bridgette spat.

"That's dumb." Leah shook her head.

"She hasn't talked to him at all today. She texted him good luck and now she's checking on how he did. Someone's bitter." Marina rolled her eyes.

"Bitter? As if! God forbid I want some time with my best friend!" Bridgette yelped.

"And you have it." Alex said from behind the group. She walked over, handed Leah her phone. "He told me it was a bad game and I told him we'd talk tomorrow since I was with you guys. Sorry I wanted to check on him."

"Please, do not act like you're always here." Bridgette scoffed.

"I'm fully aware that I'm not but I haven't missed anything. I still take time out of my day to message all of you regularly." Alex defended. "I know I'm caught up in Nathan but you're supposed to be supportive as my best friend."

Bridgette fell silent. Alex shook her head. She crossed her arms and walked away from the group. Dana pulled up and Alex climbed into the front. She was silent the entire ride back to her house. Dana looked at her friends, wanting an explanation, but she received nothing. She frowned at Alex before her eyes went back to the road. They got to her house quickly. She was out of the car and inside in no time. The girls followed.

Alex told them to have get comfortable downstairs while she went up to her room. She changed and spotted her laptop. She bit her lip before she opened it. She FaceTimed Nathan from her mac. He answered on the second ring. He smiled when he answered. She frowned before she broke down. He sat up as she cried.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He called out.

"My friends hate me and I miss you." She blubbered.

"What's happening?" He tried decipher what she had said.

"Bridgette hates me because I spend so much time with you." She sobbed. "They're all mad but I haven't missed anything with them!"

"Maybe you need to spend more time with them." He suggested.

She wiped her face, frowning. "They make me feel like shit. It's hard to spend time with them." She confessed. "I probably shouldn't say this while they're downstairs."

"Probably not." He nodded.

"How was the game though?" She cocked a brow. "Asides from you losing."

"I don't know. I got a goal." He shrugged.

"So that's four?" She smirked.

He rolled his eyes. "Babe, go hang out with them. We can talk tomorrow when you're alone." He told her. "I love you and I miss you more."

"I love you. Thank you for letting me blubber." She smiled a bit.

"I'm always here for you." He reassured her. "Go have fun! Goodnight."

"Night." She sighed as she closed her laptop.

She changed into a pair of shorts and one of Nathan's shirts. She was mad. She had spent no time through the night worrying about Nathan. She only called him while they were leaving so she wouldn't have to later on, and he would be able to sleep early. She stomped downstairs with her laptop, charger, phone, and phone charger.

"Why do you look stoned?" Marina mocked, laughing as Alex walked into the room.

"I am." Alex replied, dropping onto the couch.

"You look like you just cried your eyes out." Dana added.

Alex shrugged her shoulders as she pulled open her laptop. Her friends looked amongst each other as she typed on the keyboard. She looked up, her eyes glancing from one to another. Her eyes met Marina's and she smiled.

"So Mar, what's the name of that boy from Cape?" Alex sang.

Everyone turned to Marina, her face flushed. She told the name and that's where the night started. The girls spent the rest of the night looking up guys and lurking the ones they already knew. Alex showed everyone the album on Kathy's Facebook of Nathan as a kid, not that they hadn't known him. She also took the liberty of showing embarrassing photos of Jo, Zach, and anyone else from the team who's parents were friends with Alex. It turned into a good night.

Alex woke up, cuddling Leah on the couch. She laughed a bit, knowing it was out of habit. She sat up, looking at her other four friends. Denise and Bridgette were sharing the smaller couch while Dana and Marina had the futon. Alex climbed over Leah, grabbing her laptop as she walked upstairs. She FaceTimed Nathan off of it again as she began cooking for her friends. He answered to a view of her butt.

"Well, what a nice view." He spoke. "Is that my shirt?"

She laughed as she turned to face him. She just smiled. He acted the same way. They chatted about his day off as she cooked. He asked if everything was okay with the girls, and she said as good as it could be. She heard the basement door open as the five emerged from downstairs. They all said hellos to Nathan as they sat around the island in her kitchen.

"What are you making?" Denise asked.

"Food." Alex shrugged.

"Asshole." Leah spat.

Marina pulled the laptop over to her. "Hi, Nate." She greeted. "Sorry the view has changed from Alex's big booty to my face."

"He's gotten a live show of that booty before, he's fine." Leah rolled her eyes.

Nathan laughed. Alex spun around and glared at her friends. She was the only one out of her friends that had sex. Nathan was her first and only. The girls lived to make references to it. Alex wasn't embarrassed, she just liked to pretend to be.

She finished cooking and served the girls. Her and Nathan eventually finished talking and ended their FaceTime. The girls went home and Alex was alone. She was basically alone for the rest of the week. She talked to Nathan after his game and practice, but the girls were always working or busy with their other friends, so Alex was alone.

In the third game, the Mooseheads pulled out a win. A large one. The final score was 9-2 against the London Knights. Nathan finished with three assists that game. They talked on the phone until they both fell asleep. Nathan was asleep first, so Alex just sat and listened to his breathing as she dozed off. She woke up the next morning with a text saying he'd be caught up for the day, which caused her to frown.

Notes