I found myself sitting alone on the plane, heading towards Denver, Colorado. Tyler had seemed to be avoiding me a little; only furthering my suspicions; he and Haley were indeed dating. I saw the way they both looked like they had seen a ghost when I walked in on the conversation they were having the night before last. I saw the way he pulled her from the apartment yesterday morning, when I had come into the room with Francine.
Ugh; Francine I thought to myself with a shiver.

To be honest I had no idea why I even let her come home with me. I guess I let my emotions get the better of me. The thought of Tyler being with the one girl I loved more than anything; and the thought of Haley hiding it from me caused me to lose control; in a bad way.

I had a lot to drink before she introduced herself. She didn't know anything about hockey; she just knew I played, and I was captain of the local NHL team. She pretended to care about anything I had to say; she was your typical puck bunny.

But I was hurt; so I took her home. However, I'd be lying if I said I didn't imagine the girl in my bed being my best friend. I'd be lying if I said my mind didn't wander to her the entire night. I regretted it; almost as much as I regretted snapping at her this morning.

I was hurt; that much was obvious. The pair of them were obviously hiding something. I could have found out; but instead I let my anger get the better of me. I freaked out, her and Tyler left, an I hadn't spoken to either of them since. The drive over here was awkward; Tyler wouldn't even look in my direction.

Once thing was for sure; we needed to fix this. These were some of the most important games of the season and of the playoffs; it was extremely important our on ice chemistry wasn't affected by all this bullshit that seemed to bestow us all of a sudden.

Sucking up my pride, I took the plunge and got up from my seat, taking the empty seat next to Tyler. At He took out his head phones and looked to me expectantly; waiting for me to break the silence.

"Can I help you?" Tyler asked after a few moments of awkward silence.

"Uh- yeah" I murmured, pursing my lips, debating to myself what I was going to say. "I just wanted to apologize for my outburst" I settled on saying.

"Which one?" Tyler asked, genuine confusion seen in his eyes.

"Both" I replied with a heavy sigh. "If she trusted to tell you whatever it was, there's no reason I should be mad at you for keeping your promise" I told him honestly. Sure, I was furious neither of them would tell me. But this wasn’t Tyler's secret to tell; it was Haley's. It was the same situation with Derek cheating on her; it wasn't for me to tell her, it was up to Derek.

"What the hell got into you?" Tyler asked, concern evident in his voice. "I've never seen you so- so" he paused, trying to find the right word to describe how I had been acting lately. "Angry" he added softly, for lack of a better word.

I sat in my seat, in silence. I wasn't sure what to tell him.

"Can you be honest with me?" I asked. I had to know if there was truly something going on between the pair of them. I deserved to know that, right?

"Shoot"

"Is there something going on between you and Haley?" I let the question roll off my tongue before I had a chance to chicken out and change my mind about asking him.

"Absolutely not" he replied without a second thought. "Jamie, you're my best friend. You helped me when I came to this city, took me under your wing..." he trailed off. "I know how you feel about her. I'd never do something like that" since when was he so sincere?

"I'm sorry I doubted that" I answered back, feeling pretty stupid to say the least. I should have known; Tyler was nothing like the media made him out to be in Boston; I wasn't sure why I chose to believe media gossip instead of my own experiences.

"It's fine" he grumbled with a small smirk. "But who was that chick yesterday? I thought you were done with puck sluts?" I knew he was going to ask; and I had been dreading it.

"I went out, I drank too much, I was hurt..." I trailed off with a sigh. "It was stupid, and I regret taking her home. Almost as much as how I snapped at Haley the next morning" I added in a near whisper. It was most definitely not one of my finer moments, that is for sure.

"She's really upset, you know" Tyler informed me; but I already figured that. The look on her face when I snapped said it all.

"I know" I sighed heavily. "I don't know what came over me"

"She's going to give you space" Tyler informed me. "She doesn't want to take your mind off the next few days; she knows how important these next few games are to you" his words made me feel even damn worse.

"I screwed up" I muttered. Even though she was hurting, she was still thinking of me. She was keeping her distance, regardless of how hard it was for her, so I could keep my damn head in the game. The best thing I could do right now was focus.

"I know" he shrugged. "But hey, we've got a pretty damn important game coming up" he reminded me, a serious look appearing on his face. "If we win this series, we could be going for the Cup!" he added with a sense of excitement.

"I can't even express how nervous I am" I told him nervously, running my hand through my hair. I knew how hard it would be to shake the thoughts of Haley from my mind. "So- do I talk to her? Or do I wait until we get back to Dallas?" the situation was killing me. What would happen to our friendship if I waited too long?

"She's okay with waiting until we get back" he told me. "We've really got to focus if we want to make it through; we need our captain's head in the game"

"You're right" I decided. "Let's kick some fucking ass"

Notes