Kirsten's POV
I wake up on the opposite side of the bed from Tyler. I look over and see that he is still sleeping, and he is on his side facing me. I can see his Stanley Cup Champion tattoo on his lower ribcage. I watch his chest rise and fall for a minute, and his face is lax. He looks innocent. I check my phone to see the time, and it's just after six. I pause my music, and slide quietly out of bed. I pull on my yoga pants from yesterday, take off Tyler's t-shirt and put on my own. I slip out the bedroom door, and put on my shoes that were near the couch. I go out the door. I think about how I've only snuck out of a guy's house a handful of times before, and it always makes me feel like a ho.

I go down to the parking garage and take my car back to my apartment building. I get there, and ride the elevator up, and when I get up to my apartment, I see Liv on the couch half asleep. "Hey Liv!" I say close to her face. "Wanna run? I have to pack first, but we should." I ask her.

"Yeah, let me have coffee first!" She says getting up off of the couch.

"Get me some! And then come talk to me while I pack!" I say and go to my room. I grab my small suitcase and unzip it. Olivia walks back into the room holding two cups of coffee. "Ahhh! The sweet gift of caffeine! Thanks! And what are you doing up so early?" I question her.

"I have another job interview today. This one's at Parkland Hospital..." She trails. I set my coffee down and start packing.

"How did the last one go?" I ask, because she seemed weird about it.

"Eh, it was just eh. It could've been way better." She tells me, taking a seat on my bed.

"That really sucks. When is yours today?" I ask her grabbing more clothes.

"Nine, but this is my second one, and I only have three. I just really need to get a freaking job! You'd think somewhere would need an RN." She says getting frustrated .

"Clearly they need one Liv! They'd be stupid not to!" I comfort her. "Plus, if this doesn't work out you could always sell a kidney! Or become a prostitute." I say joking.

"Well you know I could fetch a good dollar for all this!" She gestures up and down her tall thin frame. Which is actually taller and skinnier than mine.

"Yeah? I'm sure you'd be some high end shit Liv!" I say still moving around the room packing.

"So Marie and I were talking last night, and she said that you talked about Tyler a little..." I stop packing and look up at her.

"Glad to know you're having late night powwows, talking about me. But what did she say?" I ask, not actually mad about her and Marie talking about me. She knows that.

"She told me you may have real feelings for Tyler. So... Do you?" She asks me, sipping her coffee.

""Oh Liv! It doesn't matter! Whether I do or don't is completely irrelevant, he's an ass, and he'll end up the same way as Brendan and Garret. You know as well as anyone that that was hell for me. I'm done with that shit. So, no, I don't have feelings for Tyler." I say in a long winded response.

"Calm down. I asked if you had feelings for him because I know you. You do stupid shit, you hate liking people, you kick ass at whatever you do. Those are your constants. I'm not saying you have to date him, I'm just saying you should consider it." She says.

"I don't want a fling. I want a relationship that's not going to leave me heartbroken. He's not that. I do have feelings, but you know me. You know me well, so you know that I can't date him. Jesus, you'd think after two hockey players broke my fucking heart, that I might take a clue!" I say exasperatedly.

"Yeah, you'd think. But you don't. You have a type. And that's fine. Personally, I'd go for it, but I haven't been hurt like you have. You say you know Tyler, and you know he'll cheat on you or something, but you don't know until you give him a chance. I don't think you know him as well as you think." She confronts me. Which she can do because I won't get pissed because she's normally the voice of reason.

"Screw that! I'll think about it, but you already know I won't. But let's go run now!" I put on some shorts, and leave my MSU shirt on. I put on my tennis shoes and so does Olivia. She walks out the door right in front of me. We go down the elevator. "Where are we running? Around the block? I can't be gone too long, I have to shower and go to Canada!"

"Around the block sounds good. " She says and we both put our headphones in and start running. I stay just a little behind her, because she's always been faster than me.

We make it back, and we are both sweaty, and I can feel my face is red. We get up to our apartment, and I shower, and get ready to go to Toronto, and drive over to the rink to get stuff ready for the flight, and it's only 8:15. I find Dave, and he orders me around to get stuff until the players show up around 8:45. We get to the plane, and the whole way to the airport, and getting situated on the plane, Tyler doesn't talk to me. It's weird, he just kind of looks past me. We take off, and once we are in the air, I go sit by Tyler. "Hey Ty. What's up?" I ask, and he puts his headphones on right in front of me, and I'm shocked. "Tyler? What the fuck?" I say, and pull out one of his headphones.

"Leave me alone, I want to sleep." He says and just puts his headphone back in. I go back to my seat, and put my own headphones in.

We land in Toronto, and it's around three in the afternoon with the time change. We go out to eat, because it would be about lunch time in Dallas. We go to a nice restaurant, and I see three people that look like they're waiting for us, but I don't recognize them. There is blonde older woman with glasses, a girl probably a little bit younger than me who is bleach blonde, and another young teenage girl. Their faces all light up at something I must miss. But then I see Tyler walk over quickly. He hugs who I'm assuming must be his mother, and then hugs his two sisters. Normally I feel like he would introduce me, but apparently he's not talking to me at the moment. He sits next to them at the table, and I go sit by Jamie. Once we finish eating, I decide that I need to talk to Tyler and figure out what his problem is.

I stand up, and when there's a break in the conversation, I tap his shoulder. He looks over at me, and says, "I don't want to talk to you right now." He says and tries to get back into the conversation at the table, but his mom is looking at him in disbelief.

"Hi honey, do you need to talk to Tyler? Because I'm sure he would be just fine with that. " She says and stands up. After she stands up, so does Tyler. His mom walks back to the bathroom, and it looks quieter back there, so we go down that hallway, too.


"Tyler, what is your problem? Why haven't you talked to me all day? What did I do?" I ask him, touching his elbow.

"You snuck out of my apartment like it was some drunken, shitty one-night stand! Like I mean nothing to you!" He raises his voice.

"Calm down! Please don't shout, because not everybody need to know you're a little bitch! Ty, I snuck out because I wanted to run, and I didn't want to wake you up. You're not my boyfriend. So get over your little bitch fit and stop expecting me to act like your girlfriend." Just then his mom walks out of the girls' bathroom. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine. I really want to know what's going on here, but I think I actually get the gist of it. Are you having sex with Tyler, but you aren't his girlfriend, and he wants you to be his girlfriend, but you don't want to be?" She says in one breath.

"Wow, that was surprisingly accurate." I say, not even trying to hide it.

"Mom, it's no big deal. But yeah you're right." Tyler says.

"I know it's not a big deal. But really Tyler? You know better than that." She turns to me, "I don't know why you won't date him, but I'm sure you have your reasons. This is nothing against you. And, what is your name?"

"Kirsten. And you're right, I do have my reasons." I say, and walk away back to the table, where everyone is getting ready to leave. I get on the bus with everyone else, really embarrassed about the fact that Tyler's mother knew about us sleeping together. Tyler sits next to me, and I'm really surprised.

"Sorry I got so mad, but you couldn't even be bothered to leave a note." He says, and I can't believe he's so mad about this.

"Why is it a big deal Ty? Sorry, but I had shit to do! It's not anything against you!" I say trying to explain.

"Yeah, I know. And it's not as big of a deal as I was making it. And I'm sorry my mom found out. That's not how I wanted you to meet her." He tells me, and I'm glad he's over it.

"Yeah, that's not how I wanted to meet her either." I say, and then I get a gut check. I crawl over Tyler, holding my hand over my mouth. He grabs my waist to steady me and I run up to the garbage can and throw up. When I finish throwing up, I stand up. "Great. Food poisoning. It has to be." I sit down on the seat closest to the garbage can.

We get to the hotel, and I only threw up the one time. I stumble out of the bus, because my stomach is still cramping. Tyler grabs my bag, and wraps his hand around my waist to help steady me while we get our room keys and go upstairs. Tyler comes to my room, and drops my stuff off. "Okay Tyler, you can go away now. Please leave me alone. I feel like shit, and I just want to sleep." I say dismissing him.

"No, I shouldn't leave you alone." He insists.

"Please? Just come check on me later or something." I go flop down on the bed.

"Fine, I'll be back in a little bit." he says, and walks out. The door shuts and I groan. I put on gray sweatpants and a big baggy t-shirt. I lay down under the covers, and fall asleep. I hear a knock on the door, and I get up groggily. I open the door, and it's Tyler. "How are you?" He asks, and I run in the bathroom, and puke again.

"Standing up is a bad idea." I say and go back to the bed. He climbs in with me, and wraps his arm around me. I fall asleep again. I guess he just stayed with me.

Notes