It was awkward. It was going to be awkward. He couldn’t think him just coming back to Hastings after everything wasn’t going to be a little awkward for everyone involved. They just stood there in the lobby staring at each other like they were strangers. Ryan standing in between them like a divider. He wanted to talk to her but he knew this wasn’t the time or the place to have a deep hurtful discussion about their relationship.

She broke the silence first; she was always the first at everything. “I am sorry I couldn’t make it down to New York for the parade, it’s just been a crazy couple weeks. But I am really proud of you guys, it’s really great for Hastings and Minnesota to have you guys win the cup.” He nodded. He knew she was talking to Ryan directly not wanting to show any emotion to Derek. “We know, thanks for the support Kend, we’re proud of you too. Canadian Women’s Hockey League Champs. That’s huge!” When Ryan said that, Derek cringed. That was one of the reasons they weren’t Derek and Kendall anymore. He nodded. “Yeah congrats Kendall that’s amazing.” Ryan elbowed him in the stomach and glared at him. Ryan wanted him to talk to her now but he wasn’t going to give into his friends annoying requests. “Well we should get to the locker room the boys are probably in there.” Kendall looked at him. “Yeah you guys should, I’ll see you out there.” He wished he thought coming back home through a little more. He could be chilling in his apartment in New York City training everyday at the practice facility with Henrik Lundqvist and avoiding all his responsibilities and problems but his parents and Ryan guilted him into coming back.

She walked away from them and Ryan glared again at him, he perfected his glare over the past season being the Captain of the Rangers, it was his Nathan Scott look. “Stop doing that to me we are not on an episode of One Tree hill.” Ryan just shook his head at him as they entered the rink. “She’s here, you’re here. You guys need to talk eventually. You are not going to run away from her all summer Derek.” Running away from her and avoiding her seemed like a really great choice but he knew everyone including his sister Josie wasn’t going to let him. “Fine, fine. I’ll handle the situation by tomorrow. Is that okay with you captain?” He muttered as he walked into the locker room. “Yes actually, I am very happy.” The break up didn’t affect just Kendall and Derek it affected their families, friends and Ryan and Kaylee who were in the middle of it not wanting to pick sides. If anyone wanted to have an enjoyable summer they needed to talk sooner rather then later.

---

“Look who showed up!” Jake Gardiner announced as they threw their bags down. “We didn’t think two Stanley cup winners were going to be home so quickly. Shouldn’t you guys be like drinking champagne out of the cup and regretting Snapchats that you took the night before?” Zach Parise said chirping at them. “Been there done that, we’re just happy to be home. And I can’t look at another bottle of Dom or Veuve Cliquot for a while.” Ryan responded as he started taking off his street clothes. “So Derek have you seen Kendall yet?” Ryan Suter asked. Derek nodded his head. “A couple minutes ago.” Suter stared at him intently. “So are you going to tell us anything?” Derek hated this, being barraged by friends and teammates who knew only Derek with Kendall, they didn’t know single Derek, Derek didn’t even remember single Derek. “There’s nothing to tell. We broke up almost a year ago. It is what it is.” Jake shook his head at him. “If me and Lucy broke up you would be giving me the fifth degree right now Steps. You have to get where we’re coming from. We were prepared to have a wedding this summer, it’s weird for us.”

Derek hadn’t dealt with his feelings at all about the breakup since it happened. He shoved them away deep inside and was a warrior during the season only caring about Hockey and his teammates, involving himself in their lives, throwing himself into the Rangers charity work, but not even being home for a couple hours he was now forced to deal with them. “I get it, I still haven’t processed it yet myself. Just let me deal with it and once I have I’ll talk about with you boys.” Zach gave his head a nod. “That makes sense. So lay off the kid guys.” He grabbed his helmet. “And be on the ice in a couple.” Derek and Ryan hadn’t been on the ice since the confetti fell from Madison Square Garden and they won the cup, two weeks ago. They were not prepared for this at all. “Why are we doing this?” Ryan whispered. Derek laughed. “Because it’s our job. We have the whole summer to sit on our Asses.” Derek laced up his skates, grabbed his stick, and put on his helmet. He breathed in knowing that once he left this locker room and stepped onto the fresh ice Kendall was going to be there and he knew it wasn’t going to be an easy hour. “I got your back bro.” Ryan’s voice broke his trance. He could read Derek’s mind, they jokingly called it Best Bro Telepathy. “I know you do.” They walked out together, and filed onto the ice.

He was stretching out on the opposite side of the ice away from her but he could hear her laugh. He looked up and saw her joking around with Gardiner. He hadn’t heard her laugh in almost a year and felt like a punch to the stomach.

---

He didn’t know how he made it through the first ice session of the summer, with Kendall giving him the silent treatment, their trainer screaming at him to pick up his legs and Ryan and him trying not to throw up he was surprised he hadn’t passed out. “Everything hurts.” Ryan murmured as he lay flat on the bench in the locker room he shared with Derek. Derek slumped down on the ground and let out a sigh. “Same Mac, same.” The rest of the guys were perfectly fine, laughing and dancing to some new pop song on Jake’s iPhone he hooked u to the room. “How are you guys not dying right now?” Ryan asked them. “We didn’t play in the playoffs as long as you guys…” Derek and Ryan looked at each other. “Oh right.” They said at the same time laughing.

It took them forty-five minutes to get dressed, moving ever so slowly they were after all the last guys out of the room. Derek slid on his Bauer slides and grabbed his sticks, slumping his hockey bag onto his shoulder. “Want to come over to the house tonight? The twins are playing, we can cook steaks on the grill, have some beers chill out?” Derek jumped on the opportunity. “Yes anything to get out of having my mom question me about Kendall for the thousandth time.” Ryan fist bumped him as they left the ice Pavilion. “Come around eight.” Derek nodded.

Ryan walked off over to his Range Rover as Derek walked over to his truck. Kendall was standing by it. “What took you guys so long? Jake and the guys walked out of here like thirty minutes ago.” Derek just stared at her, surprised she was even talking to him much less standing around waiting for him. “We were sore, too much champagne and celebrating the last couple weeks.” He walked by her, and opened the truck throwing his hockey bag and sticks in the backseat. “Why are you here Kendall?” He asked her. “What do you mean?” She glared at him. “I mean why are you standing around waiting for me. We haven’t talked since that day. So I am just wondering. I thought you wanted nothing to do with me.” She shook her head. “I do want nothing to do with you since you stomped on my heart last August. But I thought for the sake of this summer and our friends and families we should talk.” He opened the drivers seat door and got in, starting the car and rolling down the window to continue talking to her. “Come by my…the house tomorrow.” She nodded. “Sure.” She gave him a half smile, he did the same. He was scared to talk to her, scared to dish out everything that had happened. But they both needed to do it and get it over with.

He drove home slow, pulling into the house they were supposed to move into together this summer. He sat in the driveway, the car shut off for a while not making a movement or sound. He hit his head a couple times up against the steering wheel. His life was a complete bumble fuck at the moment.

He grabbed his gear and headed into the empty house. His mom had furnished it for him when he was gone, but it didn’t feel like his. It felt like someone else’s. He walked into the kitchen, with the open floor plan it led right into the huge living room. Kendall loved this house, it was her dream house. He felt weird living in it without her. He saw a note on the kitchen island. “Call me when you get settled in. I bought groceries for you. And I found this in your room this morning when your dad and I were moving boxes to the house. I don’t know what you want me to do with it.” It was a note from his mom, and next to the note sat a little black box. He didn’t have to open it to know what was inside, Kendall’s engagement ring from tiffany’s.

He wasn’t touching it. “Fucking Eh.” He yelled. It wasn’t like anyone was going to hear him, he was alone. Utterly alone. So far away from the guy he was this time last year. He reached for his phone in his shorts pocket and texted a picture of the ring box to Ryan. It didn’t take long for him to answer, his phone beeped. “Fucking eh dude, come over now. You need to drown your sorrows.” They really needed to stop hanging around their Canadian teammates before they became them. “Coming over now.”

Notes

The first two chapters were more from Derek's perspective. The next chapter will be centered around the two of them coming together for the first time since their relationship ended and you'll see Kendall's perspective and her story!