Chapter Sixty Six
-Mike-
“Dude! Check this out!” Marcus yelled as he ran into the locker room before morning skate and ran for the computer, typed in the NHL website and then plugged in the HDMI cable so that we could watch it on the TV screen, “I was checking out the highlights for last night games and watch.”

Marcus hit play and all looked up at the screen to see the two reporters talking about how Boston beat Toronto last night; however, most of it was about the fight that everyone knew was coming. We all watched as Alyssa was fighting this new female player Veroinka Menshikov. Punches from both players were thrown and I watched surprised how much better at fighting she had gotten. By the end of the fight, both players were blood and when they camera got a good shot at Alyssa, I saw that she was angry, proud, hurting and tired.

“She totally just kicked her ass,” I heard a rookie say and I smirked and nodded my head.

“Guess she’s been practicing,” I heard Alex say and I sighed, “Looks like Menshikov’s pretty hurt.”

“Same with Alyssa,” I said and Alex sighed and then turned his head and headed out towards the ice for morning skate to prepare us for our game against the Penguins tonight. I looked back at the screen and saw that it was frozen on Alyssa’s face after being ejected from the game,
‘…Don’t get yourself hurt, Alyssa…’

-Sidney-
I had just finished watching the highlights of the Leafs and Bruins game from last night. I was hoping that Alyssa was all right, but was happy that she won her fight. I sat in my hotel room with some of the guys who wanted to watch it as well. Geno looked at me and then pulled out his phone, most likely going to text Alyssa. I looked over towards Kris and James and saw that they were doing the same thing, I knew that they were pretty good friends with her after the All Star game last season.

I grabbed my phone and then walked out of the room and headed towards the little sitting area at the end of the hallway. I searched through my contacts for her name and pushed call. I collapsed onto the couch and took a deep breath. I sighed when it went to voicemail, ‘…She must be in the air or something…’

“Hey Red, it’s Sid, caught the fight last night, you looked awesome! Hope you’re feeling all right, so yeah, um, talk to you later,” I said awkwardly and then hung up the phone, groaned and then leaned back on the couch.

“You like her?” I heard and snapped my head around to see Pascal standing there leaning against the wall.

“Alyssa?”

“Who else dip shit?!” he said and then walked closer towards me, “You like her.”

“Not like-“

“Dude, I know that look!” he said and then sat next to me, “That sad look that when she didn’t answer the phone because all you wanted to do was hear her voice. You’re in love with her.”

“How’d you guess?” I asked feeling defeated that he found out my secret.

“It wasn’t that hard, Sid, you kind of suck at hiding things when it comes to girls,” Pascal laughed and I rolled my eyes, “She’s with Lucic though, right?”

“Yeah,” I said and he sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

“Sucks man,” he said and I nodded my head, “Just be a good friend to her.”

“I have been, for twenty years we’ve known each other,” I said and then sighed, “I think the day she asked me for help because she wanted to play hockey, that’s when the feelings started.”

“That’s a long time to hold those feelings,” Pascal said and I nodded my head, “Don’t give up hope, Sid, you never know what’ll happen,” my phone started going off and I looked down to see Alyssa’s face on the screen, it was a picture of the two of us at the awards this past June. I smirked and stared at the name, “You better answer that.”

I nodded my head and then watched as Pascal stood up and walked away. I looked back at my phone and hit ‘answer’ and then placed the phone to my ear, “Hey!”

“Hey Sid!” she said happily and I smiled and thought about what Pascal said about wanting to hear her voice.

“How are you feeling? Bet you’re pretty sore, huh?” I chuckled.

“I am! But it’s a good kind of sore! It’s the pain of knowing that I kicked that bitch’s ass!” she said and I started to laugh.

‘…God I hate my laugh…’

“Oh my god Sid! I love your laugh, it’s so cute!” she laughed and I felt my face heat up.

I groaned and covered my face and shook my head, “Shut up, I hate it.”

“Why?!” she whined and I felt butterflies in my stomach, “It’s so funny.”

“That’s why I hate it!” I said and she giggled.

“So you play the Caps tonight?”

“Yeah, any requests?” I asked and she giggled.

“Yeah, don’t lose!” she said and I smiled brightly.

“Didn’t plan on it.”

-Alyssa-
A little over a month had passed and the Bruins were doing really well. After the game against the Maple Leafs, both Menshikov and I were suspended for a game. We played an away game against the Canadiens and Sabres and won, a home game against the Rangers and lost, and away game against the Sabres, Jets, Lightning, Panthers, Islanders and won. On Saturday March 2nd, we won our home game against the Lightning, and the next day we won against the
Canadiens.

It was Monday, March 4th, and the team was traveling down to DC to prepare ourselves for tomorrow tonight’s game against the Capitals, my old team. I was a little nervous because this was the first time I was going to be playing against them as a Bruin, but I knew that we were going to be just fine, at least, that’s what I was trying to tell myself.

I felt a hand on my knee as we were on the plane fly throughout the night. I looked over and saw Milan and Brad looking at me worriedly, “Yeah?”

“You were doing your nervous tick? Everything all right?” Brad asked and I nodded my head and then looked back out the window, “Red?”

“Marshy, I’m fine,” I said and then looked at Milan, “I’m fine all right, just a little nervous to pay against my old team, I didn’t exactly leave under the best terms with them.”

“It’ll be all right,” Milan said and I sighed and nodded my head.

‘…I hope you’re right…’

-Milan-
Everyone knew that Alyssa was nervous over the game against the Capitals. We were all telling her that everything was going to be all right and that we were going to win. We were all sad when we lost against the Capitals in overtime. Alyssa honestly did try her hardest during the game, but I was surprised to see that Washington was pretty good this game.

“Next time, AJ,” Tyler told her and she nodded her head and quietly got out of her gear and sulked towards the showers.

‘…Alyssa…’ I sighed and then looked towards Brad to see that he was looking at her sadly too.
“She needed this win,” Chara said and I looked at him and nodded my head.

“Beating Menshikov wasn’t enough?” McQuaid asked and I sighed.

“No, it wasn’t enough,” I stated as one by one we started to head towards the showers.

Never did I think that this loss would affect her so much. We headed home the next day, and then the day after that we had a home game against the Leafs. None of us knew what was going to happen. Alyssa didn’t even talk to me as I drove her home. I didn’t see her or even talk to her until she got to the arena for the game.

“How are you feeling today, AJ?” Ference asked Alyssa and I looked at him and then sighed.
She muttered something to him and then looked back towards her skated. Ference looked at me and then shrugged his shoulders and went back to getting his gear on.

“Alyssa,” I said and she looked over towards me, but the look in her eyes were different, it was as if I was bothering her, “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, Milan,” she snipped and then finished lacing up her skates, stood up, and then headed out of the locker room for warm up.

I sighed and then rubbed my face, ‘…What is going on with her?...’

“Yo Looch?!” I heard and looked to the side to see Ference looking at me, “What’s wrong with her?”

“Don’t know, I think the loss against the Caps is still eatin’ her,” I said and he sighed.

“I wouldn’t say that,” McQuaid said and we looked at him.

“Why? What do you know?” Brad asked and he stood.

“After she left, I finished up and headed to the bus, I saw Green and Ovechkin pull her to the side and they said something to her.

“What?!” I asked surprised because I didn’t know that this happened, “And you didn’t help her?!”

“She’s not my responsibility,” he said and I glared.

“No, she’s not,” Chara said as he stood, “But she’s your teammate!”

“Sorry, but she looked like she was handling herself just fine,” he said and rolled his eyes, “I would have stepped in if it got physical, but all they were doing was talking.”

“Doesn’t matter,” I growled and then finished up with my gear and headed out towards the ice to try and talk to Alyssa.

As some of us headed out towards the ice, we could hear whistles blowing, fans cheering and people yelling. Brad asked what was going on and we hurried towards the ice to see that there was a mix of black and gold and white and blue. I cursed and jumped onto the ice after seeing that Alyssa was chest and chest with Menshikov while Nathan was fighting Dio Phaneuf and Ference was fighting Mikhail Grabovski. Alyssa and Menshikov were arguing. Refs were trying to get in-between them to stop them from starting to fight, but when Menshikov shoved Alyssa so hard, she flew back and skidded on the ice, it was all over.

‘…Fuck…’