Man Behind the Mask

Thanks to the alcohol, Vivienne felt more confident in herself, but she could see some of the ladies talking amongst each other. Monica noticed too, and made rounds to butt in and stand up for her friend when it was needed. Most of the women weren’t actually being rude, and the entire night had treated Vivienne and Monica nicely, inviting them to join the ladies’ groups here and there. Still, Monica wanted to look out for Vivienne just in case, because if they were to see these people again, both would rather be on friendly terms rather than awkward acquaintances.
TK and Vivienne lost. They had to kiss a total of three times before the game was over. It wasn’t so bad; they both developed a lot of respect for each other in the few hours they’d been acquainted. Their kisses were quick but not uncomfortable.
“It was nice playing with you,” TK said, shaking her hand.
Vivienne smiled and handed him his shirt. “You too. You were a great partner. Too bad our opposition defeated us. We make a good team. We should definitely practice some plays and techniques before our next match.”
“Hopefully next time we play, the house rules wont be so fucking demanding,” he said loud enough for Pascal, a few people away, to hear. They looked at him and he looked at them. The three laughed.
Vivienne joined Alvin and Monica as they watched the other match finish up. Marc-Andre and Vero were winning. “Do you think its weird that Vero is having them take clothes off instead of kissing him?” Monica asked.
“We don’t know their relationship. Maybe they aren’t an affectionate couple,” Alvin suggested. Vivienne stayed quiet.
“I don’t know. I think she is mad at him. I’m gonna do some fishing to find out,” Monica said and walked off.
Alvin and Vivienne exchanged glances. “Normally, I’d be more than happy to creep with Monica, but I don’t know if this is the right circumstances. Lets sit this one out, shall we?” advised Vivienne.
“Agreed.” The two watched their friend walk over to a group of women. Their significant others included Cooke, Letang, Lovejoy, and Neal. Alvin and Vivienne could see Monica start off with small talk, enjoying a drink and limited conversation about shopping (it was easy to see the women get excited at the word “sale” that Vivienne could read off of Matt’s wife’s lips) before the two observers noticed Monica say “they look cute together”. About ten minutes later, Monica moved on to another group as Alvin and Vivienne engaged in conversation with Gronk.
While Monica walked around, Vivienne and Alvin did, too. Once the Fleurys were out of the tournament, the four mingled. Vero was being more pleasant to Vivienne than she had been during their previous encounter.
Marc-Andre started the conversation. “You and TK did pretty well at beer pong. Looks like you have a lot of experience…”
Alvin laughed. “Viv? No way. She just gets lucky.”
“Hey! Not necessarily true. I’m not too bad with the whole hand-eye coordination thing.” Alvin rolled his eyes. “I play enough beer pong to be decent.”
“TK totally carried you.”
“From what I saw, I agree with Alvin. Nothing against you or anything,” Vero said. “Though he and Monica didn’t get far either.”
“Vero, we didn’t win the tournament. You’re being too competitive.”
“Says the goalie who gets upset with himself after most of the Pens loses?” This was Vivienne’s comment. “I watch almost every game,” she said defensively. “It is hard not to notice how you feel. You wear your emotions on your jersey. When you’re pleased with the game, you and Kris do that handshake thing, and then when they interview you, you have a hard time not smiling very big. Sid, he usually sees the good and the bad. He is never completely happy with a win, and usually not completely upset with a loss. But you, you are one way or the other. I watch a lot of post-game shows…” Vivienne was now feeling self conscious; she didn’t want them to think she stalked him or “loved” him or something weird (even though she did always wait to see if he would get interviewed after the game). It was easy to see that Vero was uncomfortable with this, and that Marc-Andre seemed flattered that Vivienne noticed the obvious.
Conversation turned away from the awkwardness. “I guess we really haven’t had the opportunity to learn about each other,” Vero started out. With sincerity, she asked, “What do you guys do for a living, if you don’t mind me asking…”
“Not at all! Have you heard of _not being creative today_? The are a company that started here in Pittsburgh that has branched out to a few other major cities. I am the art director. I pretty much am in charge of the appearance of our marketing sector. I also make sure the website is appealing and I direct the images used in all of our meetings with clients and other companies.”
“That’s very interesting. I’m sure you get very busy.”
“It depends. If _I’m a lazy ass_ has a big project then yes, it can become overwhelming, but it usually isn’t so bad. And I have a team of people directly below me that work with the people below them in the other cities.”
Marc-Andre asked, “Is it a lot of hours?”
“Nope. Nine to five, Monday through Friday. I pick.” She smiled. “But I do my own art on my own time. When my crew is busy, I always find something to do.”
“I’d love to see your work some time,” the hockey player told her. Vivienne was more than delighted to oblige. “I don’t always understand art, but I think its amazing when people do. What kind of art do you do? Do you paint?”
“Usually with oils. But recently I’ve been into some weird stuff…”
“Like what?”
“Ceramic and plaster masks and painted faces. Like those French mimes. You know what I’m talking about?”
“Yea. They kind of creep me out…Speaking of masks though, you should design for a goalie mask. Maybe I can display your work during the playoffs or next season. I guess I should see what your…style?” he looked for encouragement before continuing, “ is before requesting you do that, but you obviously are a good artist with the job you have so…” He asked various questions and the girl answered all of them. They started having their own conversation until Vero “coughed”.
Vero looked to Alvin, encouraging him to get the attention away from Vivienne and Marc-Andre. “I’m an architect. I help design a lot of new buildings that go into the city. I interned on Consol, actually. I worked under one of the architects and learned a lot from him. I’m currently working on the North Shore Connector. If the people of Pittsburgh show interest in its use and commute by it often, we will expand it to another part of the city, adding more stops and requiring a lot more use for people like me,” he told her proudly. “The plan is to make Pittsburgh like other major cities with major underground railways. With the Port Authority, this city really needs reliable transportation, since no one can depend on the buses.”
“You two seem to be successful young people. Those jobs make decent money, no?” Vero commented. Vivienne realized this was Vero’s way of telling if they were gold digging. “What does Monica do?”
“My girlfriend does something in the hospitals. She works over at St. Margaret’s. Its hard to explain her job. She’s explained it to us…a million times, yet neither of us knows what she does.”
Marc-Andre’s eyes lit up when Alvin mentioned the hospital’s name. “That’s the one I usually go to. I’ll have to ask around for her next time I’m there.”
The group made some more small talk before Catherine pulled Marc-Andre and Vero away.
After they, Monica made her way back over. “I’ve got gossip!!!”
“Shh! Don’t be too loud!” Alvin scolded her. “Let’s not talk about it here. We can listen to whatever things you learned when we get back to Viv’s.” Monica agreed.
The next hour or so was spent with everyone trying to sober up to drive home. Once Marc-Andre felt he only had a small amount of alcohol left in his system and that he could handle driving without any issues, the group of five left the Dupuis’ house. The car ride home was entertaining. Marc-Andre remembered the conversation about music from the coffee shop and had made a play list of what the two talked about. A song Vivienne and Marc-Andre both loved came on and the two, much to the three others’ protests, sang loud and obnoxiously. They were like old friends. When the destination had finally been reached, everyone exchanged pleasant goodbyes.
The three walked into Vivienne’s apartment, crashing on the couch. “Want anything to drink?” Vivienne played hostess.
“I’ll have a jagerbomb,” Alvin joked.
“Oh you hush. Anyway, according to ___, Vero has been annoyed with Marc-Andre for a few months now. He is still completely enamored with her, but she has been getting tired of changing her life around him. There are things she wanted to do but gave up for him, but she feels like he hasn’t given up as much and its been taking its toll for a while. Recently she just snapped, and is waiting for the right moment to give him the ‘change or I’m leaving’ talk.”
“Wow, really?”
“That, and she is jealous of you.”
Alvin started laughing, and in response both women hit him. “Ow! Look, it wasn’t supposed to be derogatory towards you,” he directed at Vivienne. “I just mean, she’s got everything: good looks, famous man, money…”
“Well, Vivienne entered the picture, and she’s new. New is threatening. Vero is old news. She’s been with him for a long time. Normally, that wouldn’t be an issue, but because they are high school sweethearts and haven’t dated anyone else since before they could drive, new, attractive, intelligent women are not welcome in the picture.”
“Its just like you said though: they are high school sweethearts. He wouldn’t leave her for me. That’s just stupid,” Vivienne commented. “But anyway, what does she expect he will change? He is a hockey player. All the money he has is only there if he plays games. He can’t just say ‘Hey Coach, Vero wants me home tomorrow night.’ and expect to get the night off.”
“Yea, but think about it. She moved away to Pittsburgh with him when they picked him up, leaving everything she was doing behind. What if she wanted to get a real job? Like, teaching, or being a business woman? She never can because everyone would be, ‘Mrs. Fleury, Mrs. Fleury! Can I have your husband’s autograph??’ all of the time. That isn’t fair. And she has to live around his work schedule. She probably rarely sees him during hockey season. Probably spends more time watching him on TV than she does being in the same room as him.”
Vivienne tried to understand what Monica was saying, but it still didn’t make sense to her. How could someone feel that way when they knew what they were getting into? She was sure that after a while it might get a little annoying, but since it was to be expected, it was something that should be dealt with. It didn’t really matter. “Whatever. It really isn’t my business. Or anyone else’s for that matter.”
Alvin nodded in agreement. “I’m just trying to help you. Its been a while since you’ve been laid…” Monica trailed off.
“Monica! That was not necessary.”
Alvin snickered, looking between the two. “Its true though. We go out to the bar like, once a week, and you never accept anyone’s advances. You haven’t dated in almost six months, and of the ones you did date in the last year, you only went on one or two dates with each of them, turning them away almost immediately.”
“Meh meh. Stay out of my sex life Monica!”
“Lets stop this discussion,” Alvin stepped in. Vivienne smiled in thanks, and Monica gave him disappointed face. “Mind if we crash here?”
“No, not at all. Let me pull the couch bed out. Get up,” she commanded them.

Notes

Sorry for the wait! I kind of forgot about this. If you are looking/waiting for more on here, check me out on Mibba. I plan on adding to that too! Sorry!!!!! I graduated college since my last post, so now I have so much free time to write while I job hunt so....expect more!