Goodbye Girl

James heard a heavy breath and he let out his. He'd been calling Emily all day, without much luck since she was ignoring his calls. It been two days since the phone incident.

"Emily! I'm so glad you pi,"

"I don't really want to talk to you so don't waste my time, James." She growled.

"I didn't mean to fucking call you. I accidentally touched 'accept' because of this stupid fucking touch phone. I'm not that much of a dick, Em." He sighed.

She could hear the sincerity in his voice. "I believe you." She rolled her eyes.

"Really?" He piped up.

"Yeah, and regardless, I can't be mad at you if I went and made out with a guy the night after." She smirked.

"Oh my god, speaking of that, I think I found a girl there's potential with." He chimed. "She's really cool, Emily. You'd love her."

"If it's who I'm thinking, she's pretty loud too." Emily stated.

"No, it's the girl you talked to." He laughed.

"Amber? She seemed nice." She shrugged.

"She thinks I'm a total asshole so I'm trying to change her mind." He explained. "It'd be nice if I wasn't a dumb ass and had more to offer than free tickets."

Emily laughed at him. "Fly her out to your next away game." She suggested.

"We're flying out to Washington tonight, should I invite her?" He asked.

"Yeah. Tell her to bring a friend." She nodded.

"I don't know if her friend, Leigh, would fly out. Her boyfriend's really,"

"If she's really a hockey fan, she'll go." She scoffed.

"Okay, I'm gonna call Amber. I'll text you the outcome." He said, a questioning tone in his voice.

"Good, I want to know." She reassured him.

"Oh, Em!" He exclaimed. She put the phone back to her ear. "Tell Tyler I'm sorry about the shit I said and I hope he treats you better than I did."

She smiled. "I will. Good luck, James."

As soon as the call ended, James dialed Amber's number. She answered but it sounded as if he was on speaker.

"I'm driving, talk." She stated.

"Come to Washington tonight with the team and bring Leigh." He blurted out.

"Excuse me?" She yelped.

"Come to Wash,"

"I heard you, but why do you want me to come?" She asked.

"Because you're a dedicated fan and it's against our rival." James spoke like it was the most obvious thing.

"I don't need the tone." She warned. "But I'll talk to Leigh. Even if she isn't up for it, I'll be there."

He exhaled, a grin spreading across his face. "Perfect. I'll come get you around four before I go to the rink." He told her.

"Do I have to look nice for the trip over?" She quizzed.

"You're going to be on a plane full of professional hockey players. Your call." He chuckled.

"We'll see how I feel. Talk to you then."

The call ended and James shot Emily a quick text about everything working out. She sent back that she was happy for him. A knock on her door pulled her from her phone. She looked up as it opened. Tyler walked in with a smile on his face.

"Hey." She greeted.

"Did you talk to James?" He questioned while sitting on the end of her bed. She nodded. "How'd it go?"

"He told me what happened and it made sense so we got to talking and I mentioned how I made out with some guy last night." Her eyes shifted to his. He chuckled. "And then he started talking about this girl he likes, who's the roommate of the girl he fucked."

He shook his head. "At least he's not dwelling on you anymore." Tyler sighed, laying back.

Emily nodded, staring at him. "He knows that it was you. He said he was sorry and hopes you treat me better than he did." She finished.

"I'm going to. I want us to work." He confirmed.

"So there's an us?" She cocked a brow.

"I'm hoping so." He stuck out his bottom lip at her.

She rolled her eyes and leaned forward. She pressed her lips to his, holding onto his face while she did so. She pulled away from him. He glared at her.

"We need to tell Jamie." She stated.

"He's probably downstairs whacking it right now so let's finish this and then go." Tyler said, climbing on top of her.

She laughed as she shoved him away. "You're disgusting and we should tell him now." She said, looking up at him.

He groaned. "Fine." He pecked her lips before climbing off her bed.

She followed behind him. They made their way down the stairs. Tyler kept squeezing Emily's bum, causing her to spin around and smack his chest. Once they reached the living room, the sat on either side of Jamie. He gave them questioning looks. He was suspicious.

"What'd you do?" He eyed them both.

"Made out." "Nothing." They said in sync.

Jamie's head shot to Tyler who had said they made out. Emily was shaking her head at him from behind Jamie. Tyler burst into laughter. Jamie looked at Emily, who head was in her hands.

"What the fuck?" He gasped. "Someone tell me what the fuck is going on!"

Emily rolled her eyes. "When you guys came home last night, I told Ty what happened with James and then we told each how we felt and made out. Nothing big." She shrugged.

Jamie burst into laughter. His plan from the start was to get the toe together. He knew Emily was stubborn as hell and would never admit to having feelings for Tyler to him, but he knew she'd admit them to Tyler.

"You knew what happened with James?" Tyler asked Jamie.

"Yeah. That's why I went to Jordie's, to leave you two alone to fuck or whatever." He explained.

"We didn't 'fuck or whatever'. We made out on the couch for a bit." She shook her head. "So you're okay with it?"

"Yeah. I don't give a shit." Jamie scoffed. "Do what you need to do. I just don't want to see you two fucking or anything."

Emily groaned while Tyler laughed. "You're actually the worst." She kicked Jamie, gently.

"You're actually ugly." Jamie spat back.

"That's so mean." She whined.

"You're a beaut, relax." He slapped her thigh, standing up.

He walked into the kitchen. Emily stared at Tyler. He was pretending not to notice her. She glared before crawling over to her. She cuddled into him.

"Oh, hey!" He chimed, wrapping an arm around her.

"Shut up." She frowned.

He laughed lightly, kissing the top of her head. Jamie watched from the kitchen, smiling to himself. He was glad to see Emily with someone that wasn't causing her to constantly stress out. He was also glad to see Tyler with a girl who wouldn't let him fuck around.

Emily's phone beeped, indicating she had a text. She unlocked her phone and read what James had said.

J: omw to pick amber up, I'll tell u how it goes after

James read Emily's reply.

E: I am so happy for you!

He smiled at that message. He was glad they had both moved on. Emily would always have a part of his heart, but he was tired of dwelling on her. He put on a pair of grey UnderArmour sweats with a black 'Penguins Hockey' shirt. He slid on his Reebok zigs on before grabbing his small bag.

He drove to Amber's apartment. She was out a second after he pulled to a stop. She ran over with a purple gym bag slung over her and a Michael Korrs purse on her shoulder. She climbed into his passenger's seat, quickly buckling up.

"Leigh couldn't go and I didn't want to deal with Alex so I said I was going to my parents'. Please drive before she looks outside and sees you." Amber explained.

James took off, laughing at her. She glared at him. Her hand reached for the stereo. She pushed 'on' and heard some rap. She let out a groan before pulling out her phone. She turned her Bluetooth on and connected to his stereo.

"Excuse me?" He looked at her.

"Oh, come on. Let me play some good music." She pleaded.

He shook his head. He liked his music but he was trying to impress Amber so he'd figure he'd let her pick it. She finally decided on a song. Royals began to play through his car.

"Do you know this song?" She looked at James.

He scoffed. "Everyone knows this song, Amber." He sassed. "Put on something I don't know."

She pushed next and Island In The Sun began. James tapped along to it. She watched him. He didn't realize he was rocking out to the song before he caught Amber recording him. He glared at her while she laughed and ended the recording.

"Who sings this?" James asked.

"Weezer. I have more by them." She told him.

"Just let your music play. I'm liking it." He grinned at her.

A few more indie artists came on before the beat of a country song started. Amber didn't even take it into account. She listened to all sorts of music and assumed James was all rap. The volume increased. She looked to find James turning it up.

"I love this song." He explained as he got ready to sing along. "It don't matter what plans I got, I can break 'em. Yeah, I can turn this thing around at the next red light." He stopped at a red light. Amber laughed at the irony, earning a smirk from him. "And I don’t mind telling all the guys I can’t meet ‘em. Hell, we can all go raise some hell on any other night."

Amber started laughing at James. He glared at her and turned the volume down before the song got to the chorus, aka, his favourite part.

"Why are you laughing?" He pestered.

"Because I didn't take you for the Luke Bryan type."

"Oh, I love him." He confessed. She held back a laugh. "I didn't think you'd like him. You seem all dark and the type to listen to Korn and shit."

Amber let out a single laugh. "That's only when I'm alone." She went serious. James gave her a dirty look before she cracked, smiling at him. "I'm kidding. I listen to basically anything."

"But you're too good for rap?" He picked at her.

"I like some rap but what you were listening to is disgusting." She expressed.

He rolled his eyes, turning the volume back up. "If you wanna call me, call me, call me. You don’t have to worry ‘bout it baby. You can wake me up in the dead of the night; wreck my plans, baby that’s alright." He sang at the top of his lungs.

"This is a drop everything kind of thing. Swing on by, I'll pour you a drink. The door’s unlocked. I’ll leave on the lights." They both sang, well, screamed, along.

"Baby,you can crash my party anytime." James finished, looking right at Amber.

She was smiling while staring out the window. She had her feet up on the dash. That's when James realized those lyrics were exactly what he wanted to be with her.

She was in black Adidas tear-aways, that he didn't believe were still being made, and a black 'Penguins' sweater. On her feet were Nike sandals with socks. He shook his head a bit. She looked over while he did that.

"What?" She called him out.

"Socks with sandals? Wow." He made a face to mock her.

"Shut up." She spat back. "You told me to dress comfortably."

"No, you asked if you should. I didn't give a straight answer." He argued. "Where'd you even find tear-aways? I thought this was the twenty first century."

"Do you want me to change in your car, right fucking now?" She shot.

James burst into laughter. "I was kidding around. Settle, Tiger." He tapped her thigh.

"You piss me off." She hissed.

"Well, tonight and tomorrow are just gonna be a hoot then, huh?" He gave her a shit eating grin.

She groaned. "Just leave me alone, or I'll get G to kick your ass." She threatened.

"I'm not scared of that big, Russian bastard." James scoffed. "And how can I leave you alone if you're rooming with me and Nisky?"

Amber's jaw dropped. "Oh, I'm pissed." She crossed her arms and pouted like a child. "I'd rather room with Beau than you."

"I could make that happen." He shrugged.

"Don't you dare!" She gasped.

James let out a laugh. A genuine laugh. He felt as if it was something he hadn't done in a long time. It felt good. He really felt happy. He looked over at Amber, who's head was back against the seat while her hair pooled around her face and over her shoulders. She gave him a side-eyed glare. He smiled, giving her a side-eyed glance. She rolled her eyes but smiled.

Notes