As soon as Isaac opened the door, I was the first one in the locker room. My parents and the Schenns were waiting in the family room, but I went ahead, wanting to see Brayden before them. Apparently the press had been ridiculous, because it took extra long for them to let us in.

Brayden saw me before I saw him, and was nearly running through the locker room to scoop me up in his arms.

"You were amazing." I whispered in his ear. He leaned in to give me a chaste kiss, probably because we both wanted to ahead to hooting and hollering.

"Get a room!" Simmonds shouted, and soon a bunch of them were ragging on us anyways.

"I'll meet you back up in the family room." I told him once he set me back down on the ground. He nodded and went back to finish dressing. I was going to go congratulate my brother, but him and Georgie seemed to be stuck in a pretty heated make out session.

"Why don't you guys pick on him?" I yelled, pointing at my foolish brother who had his padding on his lower body, one sock on, and no shirt. He was still sweaty and gross and his hair his was becoming more and more ruffled by the second, courtesy of Georgie.

"Cosey! No sex in the locker room!" Claude yelled at him. Gavin detached his face from Georgie's and looked a bit flustered by Claude's comment. Georgie whispered something in Gavin's ear and then captured me in a hug.

"Where were you?" I asked through laughter.

"Had to work, but I caught the end of the game!" She seemed excited, very excited, and I can only wonder why!

"Let your boyfriend go bathe. He smells." I pulled her away, and we went back upstairs to the family room. Mom and Dad both greeted Georgie, and of course she didn't escape Mom's clutches without a hug.

The Briere boys ran at me all at once, talking excitedly about the game.

"Hey boys." I said warmly, trying to balance the weight of all of them at once.

"Your boyfriend did great tonight." Caelan said smugly, and the other two troublemakers joined in on his side, smirking and giggling.

"Shut up, fool." I ruffled his hair, but unfortunately, he was about the same height as me now!

"Hey!" He complained, and shook his head to get his hair back to its original position.

"I'll see you kids later." I grinned at all of them, and the minute I turned away, they went to attack their father with hugs.

I went back to join my parents and the Schenns. Luke and Brayden were just coming in the room, and our parents were discussing if we should go out to eat. Of course the boys were starving and ultimately said that they needed food right away, or they were leaving us to go find some!

We all agreed on Osteria. It was my personal favorite Italian place in the city. Georgie and Gavin also joined us, but I had a feeling they would probably go out clubbing afterwards.

The restaurant was relatively empty when we arrived.

The mood that filled the air was light and joyous. The boys were beyond happy, and laughter continuously filled the room.


When dinner came to an end, we went our separate ways. Luke agreed to sleep at Brayden and Claude's tonight, because the girls were already sleeping in their seats, and Luke wanted to go out and celebrate with the team. The apartment building was much closer, at least thirty minutes closer, than my house.

I had barely shut Brayden's apartment door when he put his lips on mine. They molded to mine, moving perfectly.

"I've wanted to do that since you walked in the locker room." Brayden rested his forehead against mine, with the same uncontrollable smile on his face as on mine.

"Alli," He paused, like he was thinking about it words. "I'm super tired." I let out a laugh, as did Brayden.

"You just want to cuddle and be close to me." I teased in his ear. But before I knew it, Brayden was grabbing the undersides of my legs and carrying me to his bedroom.

"Always." He whispered in my ear. "I always want to be close to you."

****

Brayden and I both sat straight up in bed when we heard clanging and loud banging noises coming from the kitchen.

"Luke likes to try to cook when he's drunk." Brayden said bluntly. The alarm clock said that it was close to four in the morning. "I'll take care of it." Brayden gave me a light kiss on the forehead before getting out of bed.

"I at least wanna watch." I grabbed a pair of Brayden's boxers that were lying on top of his dresser, and stood in the bedroom doorway.

"Luke, go to fucking bed. You're drunk." Brayden grabbed his shirt, and pulled Luke away from the fridge.

"Oh." Luke sounded like a confused four year old. "Yeah I'm tired. Nighty night Bray." He walked out of the kitchen and back to the living room.

"Have you been doing nasty business with Alli?" Luke wiggled his eyebrows at Brayden. I was having a hard time keeping my laughter at bay with those two.

"Shut up Luke!" Brayden growled at his brother.

"Oh hey! Look! Everyone's still awake!" Claude just came in the door, looking quite happy.

"Don't tell me you're drunk too." Brayden groaned.

"Nah. I'm really fine. I drove back." Much to my surprise, Claude actually seemed really sober. "We still have practice tomorrow, and Lavy would be pissed if I had really made a night of it." Claude smirked, and I can only imagine what he meant by that.

"Alli, your brother is absolutely piss drunk, and so is his girlfriend." Claude informed me with a grin. I chuckled a bit, looking forward to seeing those two in the morning.

"Oh, and your brother was going on and on about marriage and children, but it was hilarious. Luke could tell you more, but uh, maybe not now." Luke was passed out now, and I was praying that he doesn't snore!

"Well, good night you two. Try and keep the noise down, please and thank you!" And with that, Claude's bedroom door shut and that was the last we heard from him!

"Yes Bray, you should probably keep the noise down." I told him teasingly. Brayden smiled at me, tipping his head one way.

"Let's go back to bed." He said warmly. He lifted me up bridal style, laying us both back down on the bed, and I fell back to sleep in his arms.

••••

In past years, I've never minded road trips too much. I used to notice how empty the house would seem, but I would generally go back to New York with my parents.

Now, Georgie and I are sitting in the living room, cuddled up, watching Mean Girls, like we used in our teenage years.

"Three more hours." Georgie said after glancing at the clock. The boys' plane would arrive in three hours.

"Thank god I have you, or else I would've gone stir-crazy." The boys lost to the Rangers. It was really unfortunate, but it was one of those nights that you could see it right when they came out onto the ice. It was disappointing to both Georgie and I. Truly, I was contemplating if I wanted to go see Brayden or not. If he was in an extremely bad mood, which I had yet to see him in, then I knew it was better to just let him cool off. Gavin got very clingy when he was upset and angry. Georgie was prepared for this, and I knew it was best to give my brother a hug and move on from it.


'I'm coming over' That was all I got from Brayden in a text. The fridge was full of Ben & Jerry's, several kinds including Brayden's favorite, Strawberry Frozen Yogurt.

When they walked through the door, Gavin literally threw his hockey bag and sunk into a hug from Georgie. They slowly made it out of the room.

Brayden's head hung, while he was untying his sneakers.

"Hey Bray?" He looked up at me, with such an innocent face, that all I wanted to do was hold him in my arms. "I have Ben & Jerry's Fro-yo." He cracked a smile, though small, it was still his smile.

****

"I like sleeping in your bed." Brayden whispered to me in the darkness.

"And why is that?" He placed a kiss on my lips.

"Because it's comfier than mine." He said simply, and kissed me again.

"Gavin and Georgie are seriously too loud." We could hear their moans and groans even when they were several doors down.

"You're right about that." Brayden chuckled, and I could feel his stomach rumbling as my body was pressed against his. "Thanks, Alli, for taking my mind off the game." Even though it was dark, I knew the smile that would be sitting on his face.

"I will always be here to do that." I kissed him, and felt his arms tighten around me. "Have the guys, eh um, picked on you?" I asked him carefully.

"About what?" He asked, sounding confused.

"Because we haven't..." I trailed off, because I had absolutely no idea how to approach this topic.

"Had sex?" Brayden said bluntly. "No, and they don't need to say anything. It's our business and only our business." This is why I fell for this man, because he always had the right answers.

"You're the best, Bray." I squeezed him, snuggling my head deeper into his chest.

"I'm smart enough to not bring it up too, Alli. I mean, your brother is on the team, and a lot of the guys say that they're your brothers too. I don't think they are all that interested in our sex life, except maybe Rinny, because he's a perv." Again, he brought up a valuable point.

"Very, very true. How do you always know the right thing to say?" I asked him teasingly.

"I read that book, How to be Romantic for Dummies." He teased back.

"I'm sure that you did." I rolled my eyes at his remark.

"Okay, maybe I skimmed it." He chuckled as I giggled like little schoolgirl.

"You're a goof." I said to him while laughing.

"But I'm your goof!"