I found myself at her place a few days later, breathing heavily with my hear pounding as I rapped my knuckles gently against the wood of her door, my hand dropping to tap against my leg as I waited for her to answer. I swore, I was gonna say everything when she opened that door — finally make a move and try to work around the whole family thing. How mad could Toews get, seeing me with his little sister? We were close, he could trust me. As long as he didn't judge based upon my track record, seeing as most of my drunken conquests had been alongside Toews, who simply played the wingman seeing as he was taken.

I heard the click of heels approach the door, an absence of voices from between me and the door, reassuring that she was probably alone. As she pulled open the door to reveal the familiar beauty I'd been thinking of for the past 48 hours, I burst out into his rant without letting her question why I was there in the first place.

"I want to do this," I started off, watching her expression shift from confusion to a curiosity. "I want to go on dates without having to worry that your brother'll find out." She tried to interrupt, but I continued, "I mean it — I'm not just fucking around - no pun intended - with you. No closets - unless you're into that - and no freaking parking lot moments. Nothing hidden. Just starting over out in the open." I finished off, her expression having shifted to one more of fear.

"I... I don't know ——."

I held out my hand, trying to curl a convincing smirk onto my mouth, "Hey, I'm Patrick; nice to re-meet you."

She looked back briefly, looking back even more terrified than originally. "Oh, god, this was not a good idea ——"

Before my expression had time to drop, I watched her step aside slightly, opening the door further to reveal Tazer who was standing behind her, arms crossed, now clearly ready to jump out and kill me. Oh no. Oh no. What the hell did I just do. Oh, Jesus...

"Kane."

"Toews...."

---

I was mortified. Honestly, if I could have knocked them both out and ran, I would have. The worst part was that he probably thought I hated him, when I probably would have grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him into bed the second I'd opened the door. Well, maybe not that aggressive, but I was definitely gonna spurt the same speech — I just couldn't find good timing.

But, clearly, neither could he.

"Hey, Jonny, by the way I've been meaning to tell you something —"

"Bad time, Ali, bad time." He was fuming, arms dropping to his side in clenched fists, stepping up to Patrick oddly calm however. There was a moment of silence before he pushed Patrick against the wall in an instant, taking the other by surprise as he also continued to throw right hook to his jaw.

"Jonathan!" I yelled, attempting to grab at his arm as he threw another punch, eventually winding up to throw another before I simply jumped on his back holding his arm as Patrick managed to get up and back away from any corners, holding out a defensive arm as he attempted to begin any sort of explanation.

"I know I should have told you, but—!"

"But what?! Huh? But you were hooking up with my sister! My baby sister — who you denied kissing, by the way!" he'd shaken me off, and I managed to step away from the two, hovering in the middle before they started swinging again.

"It wasn't just his fault!" I defended, turning to my red-faced brother who was surely about to flip once again. "He didn't know the first time... and it wasn't anything serious! I haven't even really seen him since the magazine explosion!"

"Actually, uh, to be completely open here, she kissed me last night..."

"No, you kissed me!"

"Both of you, shut up!" he screamed, stepping back from them both with an indescribable expression. "I —— I can't believe either of you. You should have just fucking told me! Maybe we could have avoided... this! You lied to me! Repeatedly! And even if you didn't know when you first kissed her —"

"Are we still being open, because..."

"I don't want to know! I don't care either way, because it's done. We're done, you're both done, and you're not touching my sister again!"

"Jonathan, that isn't your call..."

"Really, Allison? Fine, then you can deal with the fact that you just tore apart the team, huh?"

My expression blanked, a gradual shock surely setting in — I hadn't even thought about it. But, judging from the stern expression Patrick wore, he clearly had. Could I do it? Know that I ripped Tazer and Kaner apart? That I ruined the team?

"Tazer, c'mon buddy..."

"No, Patrick, he's right. Both of you, get out." They were silent for a moment, both momentarily putting aside their anger to stare at her, "Out! Seriously! Jonny, I'll see you later."

"What ab—"

"Good bye, Patrick," I breathed, glancing up from the floor to meet his hurt glance, clearly shocked by my response.

"All that, and you're just done?"

"You heard him. I'm not ripping the team apart. If you two figure it out, you know I'll be here, Pat. But I can't... I can't do it like this."

---

It was a week later, and I was still replaying this all in my mind. My days consisted of class, sleep, class, food, class, food, Netflix, and occasional tag teaming by Andrew and Hailey who seemed to think that persistent motivational rants would definitely get me out of the house more often.

"He wasn't even that hot! I mean, if I were you, I would just forget about him and try to get into the whole incest thing — your brother is smokin!"

"Seriously? You think that's what she needs to hear right now? Forget about Hailey, you're 'smokin' Allison, just get out and forget about both of them."

They both nudged each other at their comments, gradually smirking at one another as Andrew proceeded to capture her in a headlock, a squeal escaping as she scrambled to get free before he could pull anything.

"How about: you guys go get a room and I stay here and finish this season."

I didn't really get what was so wrong with watching four seasons of Parks and Recreation in one weekend anyway. Besides, it was better to be hanging out in here then out in the real world where I could run into a) Patrick, who I would not be able to resist running back to or b) my brother who would probably just shun me for ignoring him and Patrick, when apparently Patrick was the one clearly at fault. As he'd displayed when he punched the other. Several times. Once on the ice during a practice, too.


That's when I gave up on the whole socially acceptable thing and started to hide out in my apartment.

"Shut up, you baby," Hailey smirked, leaning over against Andrew, who was looking down at her with the same fascination as you'd see in a Nicholas Sparks movie. Honestly, the two were like a love story waiting to unravel, and it wasn't the best thing to watch when you couldn't write your own story with the one you looked at like that.

Not that either of them would actually make a move.

"You're just jealous I made out with Andrew a few times!" I returned, chucking a pillow at her with a reluctant smirk, watching as Hailey's jaw dropped and she hit Andrew with the pillow before launching it back at me.

"If you think that makes me envious of you, you're sorely mistaken," she tried to laugh it off, but it was obvious she was lying as she returned the look Andrew had given her, him now looking at me for some reason.

"Oh, okay, so we're playing the oblivious thing. Fine, whatever, what do you two want to do? Other than makeout, because I'm third wheeling enough with you two just being friendly." They both blushed, Hailey stomping ahead of me and grabbing me by the rest, dragging me into my room and towards my closet.

"Clean up, now! We're going to watch the Chicago vs. Boston game. You've got a half an hour."

---

The tension in the dressing room was evident as the now usual silence creeped over everyone sitting in their stalls, looks continually thrown from me to Toews once the faint whispers died down.

This had been how the changeroom was for the past week.

Silent.

Tense.

Filled with an awkward "I slept with you baby sister and now she's not talking to either of us" vibe.

"Kaner," I heard a mumble, glancing up at Sharpy, who was motioning for me to pass his tape which must have dropped and rolled over.

"Hey, be careful, he might be using your tape behind your back and lying about it," Toews groaned, brushing past me, knocking the tape out of my hand again.

This was gonna be a long night.

---

We were down 4-3 in the third period, neither Jonathan or Patrick having scored yet. "At least Hossa's on a roll," I breathed, leaning over to Hailey, who was holding her face in her hands.

"Neither of the men in your life are doing so hot, bud — wonder why?" Andrew called over, smirking as Hailey slapped his chest, "Hey, I was kidding! Oh, shit, look!" he yelled, pointing up at the jumbo-tron.

"Oh no," I mumbled, trying to force an excited look, my lips curling into a grin as I clapped slightly along with everyone else, pointing to my brother's number on my arm. Clearly, he was amused, because I finally cracked and looked down straight at him, and he smirked, giving me a wave as Patrick Kane lurked behind him. I made it clear who I was staring at and offered a wink, smirking as Hailey nudged me with a laugh. But gradually our picture faded into the players on the ice, displaying a rather irritated looking Jonathan and an amused Patrick.

When the puck dropped, the puck went to Kane, and he carried it through their defence, sliding it over to Saad who waited for him to get good position by the net, sending it back as Patrick pulled it out front, faking a shot before pulling it back to send it bardown with a backhand.

The crowd went wild, and he pointed up at me.

---

We'd won in overtime, Jonathan having scored the game-winning goal, assisted by me.

He'd even managed to set aside his anger for a moment, accepting a bear hug from me, and I managed to slap him on the helmet with a laugh as we all skated over to meet our team.

But not, back in the changeroom, there was still a visible tension between him and I, especially when we both walked out and smiled when we saw Allison waiting there nervously. She smiled at me while Toews pulled her into a hug, hopefully wanting to come see me as Jon trapped her in a hug.

But I knew it wasn't a great idea as I pulled through the crowds of people all hugging and celebrating victories.

I looked back at Toews and smiled, giving a light wave as I continued off, but eventually I felt a tug at my sleeve. I turned around, hoping for Jonathan to give me a good game or something, but I could see him standing alone with arms crossed.

"Good game," Allison mumbled, wrapping her arms around my neck. I'd dropped my bag at my side and eventually I let my stick fall along with it, gently wrapping my arms around her torso. "I'm sorry..." she breathed, her lips hovering tauntingly over my neck, and I wished this didn't have to end.

"I miss you."

"I know." We were stuck there for another moment, one of us eventually letting go of the other, and I offered a gentle smile. "I missed that," she smirked, glancing back at Jonathan who clearly wasn't coming to meet the two. "I should go... see you, I guess."

"Yeah," I reached down to pick up my stick, resting it on the floor as I leaned against it. "Maybe we can... go out sometime."

"I'm sure Jonny would love that..." she laughed, glancing down for a moment before stepping back, "See you, Patrick."

"Bye, Ali."

Notes

this was was kind of weird i know —— i was going to have some more couple-y moments, but honestly, i just had this in my mind and went with it. but, don't worry, next chapter will involve some tazer & kaner make-up hugs.

and some kaner & allison stuff, obviously.

and i threw some hailey and andrew stuff in there too because why not??