Love that We Deserve
VIII
~ "Forgiveness is not about forgetting. It is about letting go of another person's throat" ~ - Wm. Paul Young
Magdalena felt Tyler's hand rub her side and heard a sigh come from behind her. Tyler was still sound asleep and had his arms around her, putting her in a semi-awkward position on the plush king size bed. She took in a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. Her mind was blank, she had nothing to think about, she didn't want to think about anything. So her eyes remained still. Magdalena couldn't put her finger on it, but something in her gave her this off feeling. It was in the back of her mind and she could feel it in her gut.
"Mmm.." Tyler moaned. "Good morning," he said with his husky morning voice.
Magdalena turned over to look at him and his eyes were still shut, but he had the biggest smile on his face.
"...and happy birthday Meg," he whispered. He finally opened his eyes and met Magdalena's own blue eyes looking at him.
"Thanks. And, hi." She smiled.
"I could stare at you forever, you know that?" Tyler smirked as he grabbed both of Magdalena’s fragile hands and kissed them. “God…you’re incredible,” He whispered making Magdalena swoon on the bed. He loved that he could shower her with his affection, instead of restraining all of his feelings.
Upon arriving in Dallas Tyler did anything he possibly could to shield himself away from the thoughts and memory of Magdalena. Throughout the summer it was easy because he was usually intoxicated and with some other girls, but in Dallas he was in a new city. He didn't know enough people to go out, so he was usually stuck in his apartment, alone with his thoughts that were always clouded with Magdalena. Tyler would go for runs, work out, practice hockey; he would do anything possible to get rid of her. Only because when he thought of her she took his breath away, the thought of him hurting her was killing him at the time and if he let it get to him, it would have eaten him alive. It would have been his downfall.
Magdalena could feel her cheeks get warm from smiling so hard, as well as blushing from Tyler’s remarks. After three painful years of watching Tyler chase after other women, and never being sure of how he felt about her, she finally knew. Tyler loved her. No more would she spend nights over thinking their entire friendship-relationship, whatever it was. Seeing Tyler at such a vulnerable state last night was something foreign to her, seeing him cry for her the way he did put her stomach in knots and caused her heart to yearn for him even more.
Tyler sat up and looked behind him on the bed and gazed at how Magdalena perfectly moulded with the cream coloured sheets. He shook his head and chuckled to himself. He would do anything for this girl, he was a fool for her.
“I have something for you,” Tyler got up and smiled at Magdalena as he grabbed her hand and pulled her off of the bed with him.
“If it’s a triple tier chocolate cake, I’ll die,” Magdalena laughed. Tyler chuckled lowly to himself, she was in for a surprise. Tyler led Magdalena to the living room of the small cabin and sat her down, before heading back towards the bedroom he ran his fingers through her hair and played with it, all while admiring her face. He gave her a kiss, and let his lips linger there for a while before pulling away to grab his gift for her. Magdalena remained seated overcome by giddyness and lust. She played with her hands that were on her lap and twirled her ankles in excitement.
“Close your eyes!” Tyler shouted. Magdalena rolled her eyes and couldn’t wipe the goofy smile off of her face as she shut her eyes. Tyler took a deep breath and walked over towards Magdalena strangely carrying his old home Boston Bruins jersey. Tyler’s palms were sweating as he steadily made his way towards the couch and sat next to her.
“Okay open them,” He sighed.
Magdalena, still facing away from where Tyler sat slowly opened her eyes and turned her heads towards her left, where Tyler was. Expecting to meet Tyler’s brown eyed gaze she was stunned to find him looking down at his hands. She finally glanced down and saw what he was holding.
“...I haven’t worn this in so long..this jersey reminds me more of you, than... anything else. I don’t know why, and I don’t think I ever will know why, but..I don’t really know how to put this into words...everything, everything about my time in Boston meant nothing unless you were there, with me. All my games Meg, win or lose, even if I didn’t show it, I loved and appreciated you being there for me, supporting me. I’ll never forget all the moments we shared here, in Boston,” Tyler paused and let out a slow shaky breath. “I also figured that you must of been sick of wearing that cheap shirt I bought you,” Magdalena laughed, the first sound she had made in a while. Tyler handed her the jersey and watched as she clutched onto it.
“I can’t take this,” Magdalena denied shaking her head now.
"I want you to have it." Tyler demanded.
"No, Ty, really I can't... I think all of Boston will hate my guts if they find out I have your jersey," Magdalena joked wiping the tear that formed beneath her eye. Tyler let out a sigh of relief and laughed through it. Tyler lifted his eyes from the jersey and got a look at Magdalena whos blue eyes were puffy and glistening while her cheeks were stained with a fleshy pink. He placed his hand above her knee and moved the jersey away from her. Tyler leaned in and shut his eyes before meeting Magdalenas lips.
Magdalena sighed into the kiss and aggressively grabbed his face, deepening the kiss. She began to feel Tyler breathe hard through his nostrils as they tilted and jerked their heads around, trying to pour whatever they felt into this kiss. She felt Tylers large hands wander and explore her body before his tough biceps wrapped around her, not once breaking the kiss.
Tyler pulled away from Magdalena and nuzzled his face in her collar and left soft pecks at the bottom of her neck. Magdalena rested her chin on his shoulder and hummed.
"Youre so warm," Tyler muttered.
Jen groaned as the sound of the "Opening" tone played causing her to awake from the dream she was having. Assuming it was her alarm she grabbed her cell phone and by habit swiped the screen.
"Jen!!" Jen almost fell off her bed when she heard her phone yell out her own name. "Are you seriously still in bed it's like four in the afternoon!?" Jen finally fully woke up and saw Magdalena's face on her screen, face timing.
"..it’s not even close to four..." Jen scoffed, her voice low and raspy.
"Oh yeah forgot! Time difference..So I'm about to board my flight from Seattle I'll be in Boston around midnight...so nine-ish Boston time, I think?You're still picking me up?"
"Yeah... Yeah I'll be there" Jen assured Magdalena as well as herself. "Your family still isn't coming?"
"No, my mom really wants to stay with my grandpa and stuff, I just can't handle it right now." Magdalena sighed.
"Well I'm glad your coming back, how was your birthday?"
Magdalena smiled and looked over at Tyler who was struggling with the vending machine at the airport. "It was perfect."
"Hm...What'd you do?" Jen questioned, taking note of the fact that Magdalena's grandmother died within days of her birthday and yet she managed to say it was "perfect". She heard Magdalena giggle and the sound of a familiar man on the other end; a fire erupted in her stomach from anger. Tyler Seguin. Magdalena was with Tyler. "Maggie, who are you with?"
"No one..." Magdalena said coyly. "Ok we-I mean I have to go, see-you-soon-bye!" Magdalena quickly said and hung up.
Jen inhaled angrily.What was that jerk doing with her poor Magdalena.
Jen waited impatiently at the airport for Magdalena, and hoped to God that she wasn't with Tyler. But based off of their phone call earlier, it was obvious that Magdalena was with someone, Jen was hoping it would be anyone but Tyler. Their, well Magdalenas flight had been delayed so it was already quarter past ten. Jen took the hood off of her head and leaving her in the Red Sox ball cap that she was sporting. She took a bite from her burger from In n Out and sipped her milkshake. When she heard Magdalena's flight number get called out she stood up quickly and gathered her items and began to walk over to Terminal C, where Magdalena was supposed to come out. Floods of people came out and Jen tried her best to scan the crowd. She watched the families, or couples/friendships reunite, it somewhat brought tears to the brim of her eyes and pulled on her heartstrings; watching families/friends come back together after a while of not being with each other. It was a wonderful sight to watch.
"Oh, sorry," Jen's thoughts were disrupted when she felt a nudge and a low chuckle. She whipped her head back towards the Terminal exit and felt that burn in her stomach again.
"Jen!!" Magdalena's arms wrapped around Jens body before Jen could react to seeing Tyler. The man she dreaded so very much.
"Hey! I missed you so much!!! Happy birthday by the way!" Jen shrieked, forgetting about Tyler for a moment.
The two friends parted and Tyler sighed awkwardly and nervously. He was well aware of how much Jen utterly despised his guts. She had every reason to, well in the past. He wanted to prove to Jen that he had a change of heart, to prove that he now knew the full worth of his relationship with Magdalena.
"Here, I brought you some In n Out, thought you'd be hungry, it might be a little cold," Jen handed Magdalena the white bag that contained fries and a burger. Jen pulled the cap off of her head and pushed her hair back, she made sure to avoid any eye contact with Tyler,he made her sick to her stomach.
"How do you manage to eat that crap and run the Boston Marathon every year," Tyler laughed trying to break the tension between himself and Jen. Jen shot a dirty glare at Tyler and rolled her eyes, neglecting his question.
"Anywhooo...lets go get your luggage, we've gotta go quick, I'm exhausted!" Jen grabbed Magdalena's hand and turned towards the baggage carousel. Before she could even take another step, Tyler stood before her.
"I'll take care of those, you two go ahead and sit down, you must be exhausted" Tyler said and went over to the carousel and searched for their things.
Jen scoffed at his gesture, despite it being polite. Magdalena and Jen watched as Tyler scurried away awkwardly.
"Maggie-"
"I know what you're going to say, but Jen can we save the fighting for another day, I'm super tired and I'm not really down for a Tyler versus Jen fight tonight," Magdalena waived off. Jen raised her eyebrows in astonishment.
"Okay, I'll behave. But if he does anything, or even thinks about hurting you, I'm going to kill him." Jen chuckled, hiding anger she felt towards Tyler. Magdalena smirked at Jen and soon Tyler made his way back hauling his duffle bag and Magdalena's luggage and bags.
They made their way to the parking lot where Jen had her car parked. It was a silent five minute walk, mostly because Jen was knew that she would lash out at Tyler, like the ticking time bomb she was when he was around. Tyler hadn’t said a word, knowing that Jen would have shut him down instantly.
The lights at the airport in the dark brought Tyler back to when he and the Bruins would arrive on late nights like this. Nights when the team would come out of whatever terminal and he would watch as his teammates reunited with their own families. The nights where Tyler would be the last to leave the airport because his ride forgot about him, or when he would have to see if Patrice, or Brad would give him a ride home because he didn’t have anyone to pick him up. Those were the nights when Tyler felt the loneliest, where it really hit him that he hardly ever had anyone to go home to.
"...k I think we're good," Jen sighed as she shut the trunk of her car. Tyler stuffed his hands in his pockets and awkwardly looked down at his duffle bag that Jen had tossed to the cement.
"Uh, I'll call a cab..or look for one or something," Tyler could see the daggers in Jens eyes and he knew that the second she had the chance she would slice him up into a million pieces. He bent down to pick up his bag when Magdalena stopped him.
"No Ty, you're riding with us, right Jen?"
Jen let out a long sigh. "Yeah. Just... Sit in the back with your bag, it wouldn't fit in my trunk," An extremely exasperated Jen opened the drivers door and sat in the seat. She groaned as she put the key in the ignition and slammed the door shut. "Are you guys going to get in or?" She hissed. Tyler looked over at Magdalena for assurance, to which she winked at him, then grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. Magdalena sat in the passenger seat and Tyler sat in the back with his duffle bag.
"What happened to your Volkswagen?" Tyler smirked, breaking the silence after several minutes of awkward silence. "That was a dude magnet, you know, driving stick and all,"
Jen couldn't help but fight the smile and the slight laughter that escaped from her lips. His smit always got to her and it was always her weakness in their disputes.
"Traded it in, you like?" Jen smiled taking pride in her new BMW sedan. "Always feels good when you trade something shitty that doesn't work like it's supposed to, for something better and useful, right...Ty?" Jen smirked looking at her rear view mirror and making eye contact with Tyler.
"Oh I know, eh?" Tyler retorted, catching onto what Jen was giving him. "Feels better when you get the better end of the deal, you know? When some idiot decides to trade you a sick car for the shit car that you had to offer...thinking that they got the better end of the deal.. But I wouldn't know.." Tyler threw shade right back at her.
"Hm, you got me on that one," Jen fake smiled.
Magdalena sat in the passenger seat awkwardly listening to the two of the try to oneup each other in this ridiculous discussion. She glanced over her shoulder and noticed the bright light in Tylers face as he scrolled on whatever feed he was on; on his phone. Magdalena nudged Jen, and gave her a look. Jen rolled her eyes and continued to drive.
The half hour drive was silent the rest of the way, all while the tension grew more and more palpable for every mile Jen drove closer to their North End Brownstone.
"We're here," Jen sighed, sounding even more tired. She let out an exaggerated yawn and sluggishly got out of the car. "Maggie, let's worry about the bags tomorrow, I just wanted to sleep?" Jen insisted. Tyler stepped out of the car and shivered.
"I forgot how cold it was in Boston," he laughed.
"Yeah." Jen scoffed as she rolled her eyes and locked her car.
"I can bring in your bags for you, Meg."
"Yeah sure, only if Jens okay with it," Magdalena joked.
"Yeah, wow you were actually smart for once," Jen joked as she grabbed Magdalena's hand and led her up the stairs. Once they got to the door, Jen popped the trunk of her car open for Tyler and turned around to put her key in the lock and slowly unlocked the door. Once the door was opened a large flash of lights beamed in Magdalena's eyes and a boom of voices erupted shouting:
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAGGIE!!!"
"Oh my god!" Magdalena gasped running towards all of her friends that gathered in her home. She took them in for one big group hug, despite her arms not being long enough for everyone. Jen walked around the circle and smirked to herself, arms crossed against her chest and impressed with her planning. A bunch of chatter came up as everyone asked Magdalena questions and then Rachel came out bearing a cake with 21 candles lit up just for Magdalena. Magdalena watched her friend carefully walking towards her and felt her eyes well up. Everyone began to sing a horribly harmonized version of Happy Birthday while Magdalena wiped the tears in her eyes. When it was time for Magdalena to blow out the candles everything stopped for a moment.
Click
It happened slowly at first. First,the door handle moved and the door swung open and then Tyler Seguin walked in. Everyone's heads shot towards the front door and there was a hush within the townhouse..
"Is that.." One girl whispered.
Tyler unbeknownst to what was going on pulled and carried in all the bags and shut the front door behind him. His eyes hung low as he dropped off everything in front the door and eventually he looked up to see a few of his ex teammates, his friends from Boston [some of which were supposed to be in Cabo] and tons of other people. His eyes grew wide, flabbergasted at the sight before him.
"TYLER!?" Rachel shouted as she ran up to him and gave him a hug. The rest of the crowd rushed over toward Tyler before he could even say a word. Magdalena remained at the table and watched, as did Jen and Dougie.
"Had no idea you were coming up bro!" Freddy laughed.
"Had no idea there was a party!" Tyler exclaimed in the midst of hugging and highfiving everyone.
"Maggie, can we go talk somewhere private.." Dougie politely asked as he came up behind Magdalena and placed a hand on her shoulder. Magdalena’s eyes remained still, facing forwards towards Tyler. She watched as everyone embraced Tyler and surrounded him. She laughed in her head at his ridiculous expression, eyebrows raised and his mouth unable to shut with that big smile on his face.
“Maggie...Magdalena..” Dougie shook Magdalena. Magdalena turned around to face him, slightly annoyed.
“Yes Doug,” She answered, irritated.
“Can we...talk?” He muttered bashfully.
Magdalena looked up at Dougie through her brown eyelashes. She had completely forgotten about wherever they stood; were they still dating? Had they broken up?
Magdalena let out a breath through her nose and nodded. Dougie walked her upstairs to her bedroom where he sat her down on her still perfectly made bed.
“I take it you’re back to square one with Tyler, huh?”
“If that’s what you wanted to talk about Dougie, then-”
“Look, I liked you, I’ve always liked you. But, I realized something when Tyler came back into town and when I saw the way you guys looked at each other; you were never over him. Maggie, I wanted to believe you were, I wanted you to believe you were, but we both knew that you really weren’t. I guess I just wanted to just have you, you know..to myself or something. I kind of feel bad, because I feel like you only went out with me because you either felt sorry for me, or you were like, trying to get over Tyler? Maybe both? I dunno, Magdalena, I’m just rambling now. I had some time to think about it all, Maggie you never really liked me the same way did you?” Dougie said as he paced around her room.
Magdalena opened her mouth to say something but let out a sigh and shook her head no.
“Dougie! Baby where are you!” A tipsy-like feminine voice called out from outside of Magdalenas room. Magdalena’s eyes grew wide in astonishment.
“Baby?” Magdalena asked as she cocked an eyebrow up.
“Yeah..about that,” Dougie chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his neck. “I wasn’t sure if you and I had broken up, but I started seeing other people… thats why I wanted to talk to you,”
Magdalena rolled her eyes, Dougie’s immaturity was beginning to ooze out and that’s what bothered her the most about him. He was evidently not serious about anything, not that she wanted him to with their relationship, but had she been invested in Dougie the way she was with Tyler, she would have been crying out a river at this point.
“There you are sweetie!” In came a dark auburn haired girl with skin that was flawlessly shimmering. She practically tackled Dougie and began to kiss him roughly.
Magdalena looked around awkwardly and pissed off. Who was this girl? And why was she in her bedroom, at her birthday party.
“Oh hi!” The girl shouted, obviously drunk. Dougie gave Magdalena an awkward smile as he wrapped his arm around the girl. “I’m Morgan!” She said as she reached out a hand to Magdalena.
“Hi,” Magdalena said as she shook the girls cold hand.
“We should, uh, get going,” Dougie said.
“Yeah! We were just stopping by to say Happy Birthday! It’s so nice to meet you..Maggie?” Morgan pipped in, being as irrelevant as possible.
“Yeah,” Magdalena sighed as she stood up and gave Dougie a glare that suggested that he leave at that instant.
“Are we good?” Dougie mouth to Magdalena before exiting. Magdalena nodded and waved goodbye to the two of them, annoyed.
Downstairs, Tyler was still surrounded by several people, listening to his stories about his time in Dallas so far. Jen watched angrily as she picked out the candles from the cake that Magdalena never got to blow out. Magdalena’s surprise birthday party that she [Jen] had planned for her [Magdalena] had turned into a ‘Welcome back Tyler’ party. Jen just wanted to kick everyone out of her house and throw every plate that sat on the table at Tyler.
Tyler finally got a break from talking when other topics began to get brought up. He looked around the room and noticed that Magdalena was no where to be found. He looked over his right shoulder at Jen, who stood by the dining table giving him the dirtiest glare. He swallowed hard and stood up and approached her.
“Where’s Meg?” Tyler made a gutsy move and asked.
“She went upstairs a while ago,” Jen coldly responded, breaking eye contact immediately and taking the plates off the table and heading towards the kitchen.
Tyler nodded to himself and headed upstairs, and made the right to Magdalena’s room. He thought about knocking, but instead opened the door; what was the worst that could happen? she’d be naked? Not like he hadn’t seen her already. Tyler smirked to himself at that thought and creeped into the dark room. Magdalena had passed out over top of her sheets and was sleeping soundly. Tyler sat on the edge of her bed, next to head and ran his palm over her head. He leaned down uncomfortably and placed a kiss on her forehead.
“Ty,” Magdalena whimpered, still sleepy.
“Hey,” Tyler whispered, playing with Magdalena’s hair.
“Mmm.. I fell asleep,” Magdalena sighed.
“I know,” Tyler chuckled. He stretched himself onto Magdalenas bed and pulled himself closer to her as she curled up under his arm.
“You smell good,” Magdalena smiled.
“It’s my hair,” Tyler laughed.
2:56am
The vast majority of the guests had cleared out at around one in the morning. Freddy, Jen and Rachel all sat at the dinner table eating the cake that hadn’t been touched.
“Rachel are you going to eat that?” Freddy asked mouth still full and pointed to the frosting of Rachel's cake that she had neglected on eating.
“Nah,” Rachel said as she watched Freddy grab the plate and add her frosting to his own large piece of chocolate cake. Jen laughed and took a sip of her water.
“This feels really nice,” Rachel sighed. “I’m happy for Maggie,”
“Sorta, it feels weird without the guys,” Freddy said after taking a large gulp of water to wash down the cake that was stuffed in his mouth. “...or Shannon,” Freddy grinned from ear to ear.
Jen, Rachel, and Magdalena weren’t always a trio; Shannon used to be the fourth of their small circle. After their first encounter with Tyler and his friends, Shannon and Tyler had been seeing each other for a very short amount of time. Things didn’t end well when Tyler tried to break things off and Shannon had broken down and completely destroyed his truck, in anger. Prior to Tyler ending things, Shannon had completely prioritized him and cut off all of her friends, Jen, Magdalena, and Rachel included. Evidently, she was no longer in their lives and had left Boston for the better.
“We do not speak of her..” Jen sternly stated, slightly in a joking manner.
“Jen give her a break! You’re so cold,” Rachel laughed as she stood up to put her plate away.
“She was such a whore, give me a break! You’re always so defensive of everyone Rach,”
“Like I always say, sue me!” Rachel cackled on her own.
“She was nice!” Freddy defended. “..And hot, can’t lie. That bod. Goddamn, Tyler was a lucky man,” Freddy oogled.
“Yeah, for like two weeks,” Jen laughed. “I’m surprised Tyler stuck with her after their first night,”
“She was hot, can’t blame him for trying,” Freddy shrugged.
“She was insane, Tyler clearly has terrible taste in women,” Jen dismissed.
“Funny you say that when you slept with him too, guess you’re pretty bad too eh?” Freddy boldly laughed. Jen’s eyes grew wide as Rachel dropped her plate in shock of what had just escaped Freddy’s mouth. Before Jen could reach over the table and smack Freddy, the sound of Magdalena’s voice boomed within the home.
Tyler and Magdalena had crept down the stairs to join their friends with the cake eating but their initial plans were cancelled due to the breaking news.
“You what!?” Magdalena shouted as she dropped Tylers hand from her own. She turned to face him, her face turning red and making a fist with her hands. Tyler stood before her, lost for words, unable to explain what had just been exposed.
Fuck.
Magdalena felt Tyler's hand rub her side and heard a sigh come from behind her. Tyler was still sound asleep and had his arms around her, putting her in a semi-awkward position on the plush king size bed. She took in a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. Her mind was blank, she had nothing to think about, she didn't want to think about anything. So her eyes remained still. Magdalena couldn't put her finger on it, but something in her gave her this off feeling. It was in the back of her mind and she could feel it in her gut.
"Mmm.." Tyler moaned. "Good morning," he said with his husky morning voice.
Magdalena turned over to look at him and his eyes were still shut, but he had the biggest smile on his face.
"...and happy birthday Meg," he whispered. He finally opened his eyes and met Magdalena's own blue eyes looking at him.
"Thanks. And, hi." She smiled.
"I could stare at you forever, you know that?" Tyler smirked as he grabbed both of Magdalena’s fragile hands and kissed them. “God…you’re incredible,” He whispered making Magdalena swoon on the bed. He loved that he could shower her with his affection, instead of restraining all of his feelings.
Upon arriving in Dallas Tyler did anything he possibly could to shield himself away from the thoughts and memory of Magdalena. Throughout the summer it was easy because he was usually intoxicated and with some other girls, but in Dallas he was in a new city. He didn't know enough people to go out, so he was usually stuck in his apartment, alone with his thoughts that were always clouded with Magdalena. Tyler would go for runs, work out, practice hockey; he would do anything possible to get rid of her. Only because when he thought of her she took his breath away, the thought of him hurting her was killing him at the time and if he let it get to him, it would have eaten him alive. It would have been his downfall.
Magdalena could feel her cheeks get warm from smiling so hard, as well as blushing from Tyler’s remarks. After three painful years of watching Tyler chase after other women, and never being sure of how he felt about her, she finally knew. Tyler loved her. No more would she spend nights over thinking their entire friendship-relationship, whatever it was. Seeing Tyler at such a vulnerable state last night was something foreign to her, seeing him cry for her the way he did put her stomach in knots and caused her heart to yearn for him even more.
Tyler sat up and looked behind him on the bed and gazed at how Magdalena perfectly moulded with the cream coloured sheets. He shook his head and chuckled to himself. He would do anything for this girl, he was a fool for her.
“I have something for you,” Tyler got up and smiled at Magdalena as he grabbed her hand and pulled her off of the bed with him.
“If it’s a triple tier chocolate cake, I’ll die,” Magdalena laughed. Tyler chuckled lowly to himself, she was in for a surprise. Tyler led Magdalena to the living room of the small cabin and sat her down, before heading back towards the bedroom he ran his fingers through her hair and played with it, all while admiring her face. He gave her a kiss, and let his lips linger there for a while before pulling away to grab his gift for her. Magdalena remained seated overcome by giddyness and lust. She played with her hands that were on her lap and twirled her ankles in excitement.
“Close your eyes!” Tyler shouted. Magdalena rolled her eyes and couldn’t wipe the goofy smile off of her face as she shut her eyes. Tyler took a deep breath and walked over towards Magdalena strangely carrying his old home Boston Bruins jersey. Tyler’s palms were sweating as he steadily made his way towards the couch and sat next to her.
“Okay open them,” He sighed.
Magdalena, still facing away from where Tyler sat slowly opened her eyes and turned her heads towards her left, where Tyler was. Expecting to meet Tyler’s brown eyed gaze she was stunned to find him looking down at his hands. She finally glanced down and saw what he was holding.
“...I haven’t worn this in so long..this jersey reminds me more of you, than... anything else. I don’t know why, and I don’t think I ever will know why, but..I don’t really know how to put this into words...everything, everything about my time in Boston meant nothing unless you were there, with me. All my games Meg, win or lose, even if I didn’t show it, I loved and appreciated you being there for me, supporting me. I’ll never forget all the moments we shared here, in Boston,” Tyler paused and let out a slow shaky breath. “I also figured that you must of been sick of wearing that cheap shirt I bought you,” Magdalena laughed, the first sound she had made in a while. Tyler handed her the jersey and watched as she clutched onto it.
“I can’t take this,” Magdalena denied shaking her head now.
"I want you to have it." Tyler demanded.
"No, Ty, really I can't... I think all of Boston will hate my guts if they find out I have your jersey," Magdalena joked wiping the tear that formed beneath her eye. Tyler let out a sigh of relief and laughed through it. Tyler lifted his eyes from the jersey and got a look at Magdalena whos blue eyes were puffy and glistening while her cheeks were stained with a fleshy pink. He placed his hand above her knee and moved the jersey away from her. Tyler leaned in and shut his eyes before meeting Magdalenas lips.
Magdalena sighed into the kiss and aggressively grabbed his face, deepening the kiss. She began to feel Tyler breathe hard through his nostrils as they tilted and jerked their heads around, trying to pour whatever they felt into this kiss. She felt Tylers large hands wander and explore her body before his tough biceps wrapped around her, not once breaking the kiss.
Tyler pulled away from Magdalena and nuzzled his face in her collar and left soft pecks at the bottom of her neck. Magdalena rested her chin on his shoulder and hummed.
"Youre so warm," Tyler muttered.
Jen groaned as the sound of the "Opening" tone played causing her to awake from the dream she was having. Assuming it was her alarm she grabbed her cell phone and by habit swiped the screen.
"Jen!!" Jen almost fell off her bed when she heard her phone yell out her own name. "Are you seriously still in bed it's like four in the afternoon!?" Jen finally fully woke up and saw Magdalena's face on her screen, face timing.
"..it’s not even close to four..." Jen scoffed, her voice low and raspy.
"Oh yeah forgot! Time difference..So I'm about to board my flight from Seattle I'll be in Boston around midnight...so nine-ish Boston time, I think?You're still picking me up?"
"Yeah... Yeah I'll be there" Jen assured Magdalena as well as herself. "Your family still isn't coming?"
"No, my mom really wants to stay with my grandpa and stuff, I just can't handle it right now." Magdalena sighed.
"Well I'm glad your coming back, how was your birthday?"
Magdalena smiled and looked over at Tyler who was struggling with the vending machine at the airport. "It was perfect."
"Hm...What'd you do?" Jen questioned, taking note of the fact that Magdalena's grandmother died within days of her birthday and yet she managed to say it was "perfect". She heard Magdalena giggle and the sound of a familiar man on the other end; a fire erupted in her stomach from anger. Tyler Seguin. Magdalena was with Tyler. "Maggie, who are you with?"
"No one..." Magdalena said coyly. "Ok we-I mean I have to go, see-you-soon-bye!" Magdalena quickly said and hung up.
Jen inhaled angrily.What was that jerk doing with her poor Magdalena.
Jen waited impatiently at the airport for Magdalena, and hoped to God that she wasn't with Tyler. But based off of their phone call earlier, it was obvious that Magdalena was with someone, Jen was hoping it would be anyone but Tyler. Their, well Magdalenas flight had been delayed so it was already quarter past ten. Jen took the hood off of her head and leaving her in the Red Sox ball cap that she was sporting. She took a bite from her burger from In n Out and sipped her milkshake. When she heard Magdalena's flight number get called out she stood up quickly and gathered her items and began to walk over to Terminal C, where Magdalena was supposed to come out. Floods of people came out and Jen tried her best to scan the crowd. She watched the families, or couples/friendships reunite, it somewhat brought tears to the brim of her eyes and pulled on her heartstrings; watching families/friends come back together after a while of not being with each other. It was a wonderful sight to watch.
"Oh, sorry," Jen's thoughts were disrupted when she felt a nudge and a low chuckle. She whipped her head back towards the Terminal exit and felt that burn in her stomach again.
"Jen!!" Magdalena's arms wrapped around Jens body before Jen could react to seeing Tyler. The man she dreaded so very much.
"Hey! I missed you so much!!! Happy birthday by the way!" Jen shrieked, forgetting about Tyler for a moment.
The two friends parted and Tyler sighed awkwardly and nervously. He was well aware of how much Jen utterly despised his guts. She had every reason to, well in the past. He wanted to prove to Jen that he had a change of heart, to prove that he now knew the full worth of his relationship with Magdalena.
"Here, I brought you some In n Out, thought you'd be hungry, it might be a little cold," Jen handed Magdalena the white bag that contained fries and a burger. Jen pulled the cap off of her head and pushed her hair back, she made sure to avoid any eye contact with Tyler,he made her sick to her stomach.
"How do you manage to eat that crap and run the Boston Marathon every year," Tyler laughed trying to break the tension between himself and Jen. Jen shot a dirty glare at Tyler and rolled her eyes, neglecting his question.
"Anywhooo...lets go get your luggage, we've gotta go quick, I'm exhausted!" Jen grabbed Magdalena's hand and turned towards the baggage carousel. Before she could even take another step, Tyler stood before her.
"I'll take care of those, you two go ahead and sit down, you must be exhausted" Tyler said and went over to the carousel and searched for their things.
Jen scoffed at his gesture, despite it being polite. Magdalena and Jen watched as Tyler scurried away awkwardly.
"Maggie-"
"I know what you're going to say, but Jen can we save the fighting for another day, I'm super tired and I'm not really down for a Tyler versus Jen fight tonight," Magdalena waived off. Jen raised her eyebrows in astonishment.
"Okay, I'll behave. But if he does anything, or even thinks about hurting you, I'm going to kill him." Jen chuckled, hiding anger she felt towards Tyler. Magdalena smirked at Jen and soon Tyler made his way back hauling his duffle bag and Magdalena's luggage and bags.
They made their way to the parking lot where Jen had her car parked. It was a silent five minute walk, mostly because Jen was knew that she would lash out at Tyler, like the ticking time bomb she was when he was around. Tyler hadn’t said a word, knowing that Jen would have shut him down instantly.
The lights at the airport in the dark brought Tyler back to when he and the Bruins would arrive on late nights like this. Nights when the team would come out of whatever terminal and he would watch as his teammates reunited with their own families. The nights where Tyler would be the last to leave the airport because his ride forgot about him, or when he would have to see if Patrice, or Brad would give him a ride home because he didn’t have anyone to pick him up. Those were the nights when Tyler felt the loneliest, where it really hit him that he hardly ever had anyone to go home to.
"...k I think we're good," Jen sighed as she shut the trunk of her car. Tyler stuffed his hands in his pockets and awkwardly looked down at his duffle bag that Jen had tossed to the cement.
"Uh, I'll call a cab..or look for one or something," Tyler could see the daggers in Jens eyes and he knew that the second she had the chance she would slice him up into a million pieces. He bent down to pick up his bag when Magdalena stopped him.
"No Ty, you're riding with us, right Jen?"
Jen let out a long sigh. "Yeah. Just... Sit in the back with your bag, it wouldn't fit in my trunk," An extremely exasperated Jen opened the drivers door and sat in the seat. She groaned as she put the key in the ignition and slammed the door shut. "Are you guys going to get in or?" She hissed. Tyler looked over at Magdalena for assurance, to which she winked at him, then grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. Magdalena sat in the passenger seat and Tyler sat in the back with his duffle bag.
"What happened to your Volkswagen?" Tyler smirked, breaking the silence after several minutes of awkward silence. "That was a dude magnet, you know, driving stick and all,"
Jen couldn't help but fight the smile and the slight laughter that escaped from her lips. His smit always got to her and it was always her weakness in their disputes.
"Traded it in, you like?" Jen smiled taking pride in her new BMW sedan. "Always feels good when you trade something shitty that doesn't work like it's supposed to, for something better and useful, right...Ty?" Jen smirked looking at her rear view mirror and making eye contact with Tyler.
"Oh I know, eh?" Tyler retorted, catching onto what Jen was giving him. "Feels better when you get the better end of the deal, you know? When some idiot decides to trade you a sick car for the shit car that you had to offer...thinking that they got the better end of the deal.. But I wouldn't know.." Tyler threw shade right back at her.
"Hm, you got me on that one," Jen fake smiled.
Magdalena sat in the passenger seat awkwardly listening to the two of the try to oneup each other in this ridiculous discussion. She glanced over her shoulder and noticed the bright light in Tylers face as he scrolled on whatever feed he was on; on his phone. Magdalena nudged Jen, and gave her a look. Jen rolled her eyes and continued to drive.
The half hour drive was silent the rest of the way, all while the tension grew more and more palpable for every mile Jen drove closer to their North End Brownstone.
"We're here," Jen sighed, sounding even more tired. She let out an exaggerated yawn and sluggishly got out of the car. "Maggie, let's worry about the bags tomorrow, I just wanted to sleep?" Jen insisted. Tyler stepped out of the car and shivered.
"I forgot how cold it was in Boston," he laughed.
"Yeah." Jen scoffed as she rolled her eyes and locked her car.
"I can bring in your bags for you, Meg."
"Yeah sure, only if Jens okay with it," Magdalena joked.
"Yeah, wow you were actually smart for once," Jen joked as she grabbed Magdalena's hand and led her up the stairs. Once they got to the door, Jen popped the trunk of her car open for Tyler and turned around to put her key in the lock and slowly unlocked the door. Once the door was opened a large flash of lights beamed in Magdalena's eyes and a boom of voices erupted shouting:
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAGGIE!!!"
"Oh my god!" Magdalena gasped running towards all of her friends that gathered in her home. She took them in for one big group hug, despite her arms not being long enough for everyone. Jen walked around the circle and smirked to herself, arms crossed against her chest and impressed with her planning. A bunch of chatter came up as everyone asked Magdalena questions and then Rachel came out bearing a cake with 21 candles lit up just for Magdalena. Magdalena watched her friend carefully walking towards her and felt her eyes well up. Everyone began to sing a horribly harmonized version of Happy Birthday while Magdalena wiped the tears in her eyes. When it was time for Magdalena to blow out the candles everything stopped for a moment.
Click
It happened slowly at first. First,the door handle moved and the door swung open and then Tyler Seguin walked in. Everyone's heads shot towards the front door and there was a hush within the townhouse..
"Is that.." One girl whispered.
Tyler unbeknownst to what was going on pulled and carried in all the bags and shut the front door behind him. His eyes hung low as he dropped off everything in front the door and eventually he looked up to see a few of his ex teammates, his friends from Boston [some of which were supposed to be in Cabo] and tons of other people. His eyes grew wide, flabbergasted at the sight before him.
"TYLER!?" Rachel shouted as she ran up to him and gave him a hug. The rest of the crowd rushed over toward Tyler before he could even say a word. Magdalena remained at the table and watched, as did Jen and Dougie.
"Had no idea you were coming up bro!" Freddy laughed.
"Had no idea there was a party!" Tyler exclaimed in the midst of hugging and highfiving everyone.
"Maggie, can we go talk somewhere private.." Dougie politely asked as he came up behind Magdalena and placed a hand on her shoulder. Magdalena’s eyes remained still, facing forwards towards Tyler. She watched as everyone embraced Tyler and surrounded him. She laughed in her head at his ridiculous expression, eyebrows raised and his mouth unable to shut with that big smile on his face.
“Maggie...Magdalena..” Dougie shook Magdalena. Magdalena turned around to face him, slightly annoyed.
“Yes Doug,” She answered, irritated.
“Can we...talk?” He muttered bashfully.
Magdalena looked up at Dougie through her brown eyelashes. She had completely forgotten about wherever they stood; were they still dating? Had they broken up?
Magdalena let out a breath through her nose and nodded. Dougie walked her upstairs to her bedroom where he sat her down on her still perfectly made bed.
“I take it you’re back to square one with Tyler, huh?”
“If that’s what you wanted to talk about Dougie, then-”
“Look, I liked you, I’ve always liked you. But, I realized something when Tyler came back into town and when I saw the way you guys looked at each other; you were never over him. Maggie, I wanted to believe you were, I wanted you to believe you were, but we both knew that you really weren’t. I guess I just wanted to just have you, you know..to myself or something. I kind of feel bad, because I feel like you only went out with me because you either felt sorry for me, or you were like, trying to get over Tyler? Maybe both? I dunno, Magdalena, I’m just rambling now. I had some time to think about it all, Maggie you never really liked me the same way did you?” Dougie said as he paced around her room.
Magdalena opened her mouth to say something but let out a sigh and shook her head no.
“Dougie! Baby where are you!” A tipsy-like feminine voice called out from outside of Magdalenas room. Magdalena’s eyes grew wide in astonishment.
“Baby?” Magdalena asked as she cocked an eyebrow up.
“Yeah..about that,” Dougie chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his neck. “I wasn’t sure if you and I had broken up, but I started seeing other people… thats why I wanted to talk to you,”
Magdalena rolled her eyes, Dougie’s immaturity was beginning to ooze out and that’s what bothered her the most about him. He was evidently not serious about anything, not that she wanted him to with their relationship, but had she been invested in Dougie the way she was with Tyler, she would have been crying out a river at this point.
“There you are sweetie!” In came a dark auburn haired girl with skin that was flawlessly shimmering. She practically tackled Dougie and began to kiss him roughly.
Magdalena looked around awkwardly and pissed off. Who was this girl? And why was she in her bedroom, at her birthday party.
“Oh hi!” The girl shouted, obviously drunk. Dougie gave Magdalena an awkward smile as he wrapped his arm around the girl. “I’m Morgan!” She said as she reached out a hand to Magdalena.
“Hi,” Magdalena said as she shook the girls cold hand.
“We should, uh, get going,” Dougie said.
“Yeah! We were just stopping by to say Happy Birthday! It’s so nice to meet you..Maggie?” Morgan pipped in, being as irrelevant as possible.
“Yeah,” Magdalena sighed as she stood up and gave Dougie a glare that suggested that he leave at that instant.
“Are we good?” Dougie mouth to Magdalena before exiting. Magdalena nodded and waved goodbye to the two of them, annoyed.
Downstairs, Tyler was still surrounded by several people, listening to his stories about his time in Dallas so far. Jen watched angrily as she picked out the candles from the cake that Magdalena never got to blow out. Magdalena’s surprise birthday party that she [Jen] had planned for her [Magdalena] had turned into a ‘Welcome back Tyler’ party. Jen just wanted to kick everyone out of her house and throw every plate that sat on the table at Tyler.
Tyler finally got a break from talking when other topics began to get brought up. He looked around the room and noticed that Magdalena was no where to be found. He looked over his right shoulder at Jen, who stood by the dining table giving him the dirtiest glare. He swallowed hard and stood up and approached her.
“Where’s Meg?” Tyler made a gutsy move and asked.
“She went upstairs a while ago,” Jen coldly responded, breaking eye contact immediately and taking the plates off the table and heading towards the kitchen.
Tyler nodded to himself and headed upstairs, and made the right to Magdalena’s room. He thought about knocking, but instead opened the door; what was the worst that could happen? she’d be naked? Not like he hadn’t seen her already. Tyler smirked to himself at that thought and creeped into the dark room. Magdalena had passed out over top of her sheets and was sleeping soundly. Tyler sat on the edge of her bed, next to head and ran his palm over her head. He leaned down uncomfortably and placed a kiss on her forehead.
“Ty,” Magdalena whimpered, still sleepy.
“Hey,” Tyler whispered, playing with Magdalena’s hair.
“Mmm.. I fell asleep,” Magdalena sighed.
“I know,” Tyler chuckled. He stretched himself onto Magdalenas bed and pulled himself closer to her as she curled up under his arm.
“You smell good,” Magdalena smiled.
“It’s my hair,” Tyler laughed.
2:56am
The vast majority of the guests had cleared out at around one in the morning. Freddy, Jen and Rachel all sat at the dinner table eating the cake that hadn’t been touched.
“Rachel are you going to eat that?” Freddy asked mouth still full and pointed to the frosting of Rachel's cake that she had neglected on eating.
“Nah,” Rachel said as she watched Freddy grab the plate and add her frosting to his own large piece of chocolate cake. Jen laughed and took a sip of her water.
“This feels really nice,” Rachel sighed. “I’m happy for Maggie,”
“Sorta, it feels weird without the guys,” Freddy said after taking a large gulp of water to wash down the cake that was stuffed in his mouth. “...or Shannon,” Freddy grinned from ear to ear.
Jen, Rachel, and Magdalena weren’t always a trio; Shannon used to be the fourth of their small circle. After their first encounter with Tyler and his friends, Shannon and Tyler had been seeing each other for a very short amount of time. Things didn’t end well when Tyler tried to break things off and Shannon had broken down and completely destroyed his truck, in anger. Prior to Tyler ending things, Shannon had completely prioritized him and cut off all of her friends, Jen, Magdalena, and Rachel included. Evidently, she was no longer in their lives and had left Boston for the better.
“We do not speak of her..” Jen sternly stated, slightly in a joking manner.
“Jen give her a break! You’re so cold,” Rachel laughed as she stood up to put her plate away.
“She was such a whore, give me a break! You’re always so defensive of everyone Rach,”
“Like I always say, sue me!” Rachel cackled on her own.
“She was nice!” Freddy defended. “..And hot, can’t lie. That bod. Goddamn, Tyler was a lucky man,” Freddy oogled.
“Yeah, for like two weeks,” Jen laughed. “I’m surprised Tyler stuck with her after their first night,”
“She was hot, can’t blame him for trying,” Freddy shrugged.
“She was insane, Tyler clearly has terrible taste in women,” Jen dismissed.
“Funny you say that when you slept with him too, guess you’re pretty bad too eh?” Freddy boldly laughed. Jen’s eyes grew wide as Rachel dropped her plate in shock of what had just escaped Freddy’s mouth. Before Jen could reach over the table and smack Freddy, the sound of Magdalena’s voice boomed within the home.
Tyler and Magdalena had crept down the stairs to join their friends with the cake eating but their initial plans were cancelled due to the breaking news.
“You what!?” Magdalena shouted as she dropped Tylers hand from her own. She turned to face him, her face turning red and making a fist with her hands. Tyler stood before her, lost for words, unable to explain what had just been exposed.
Fuck.
Notes
Dun, Dun, Dun...Sorry for the long wait, been busy. But here's chapter eight :) Hope you enjoy.
Please update soon!!!
11/12/15