It was two in the morning when I hear a door open to my apartment and loudly shut. Brendan is on a road trip so there is no way it could be him and Sara has left to gone live with Dustin for her winter break so I am home alone with someone breaking and entering my apartment. I slowly get up and walk to my doorway in my room looking if I can see anything…. I see nothing. I am gonna die the night before I leave to go to the Winter Classic, awesome.

I hear a loud crash and some female swearing in french. I KNOW THAT VOICE. I’m so confused. I turn on the flashlight on my phone and slowly walk into the hallway to be bulldozed by someone.

“Lydia? What the fuck?” Sara screeches.

“SARA? WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?” I ask Sara quickly standing up and turning on the light in the hallway. I turn to see Sara and I see her knotty hair, bloodshot eyes, and tears still running down her face. She looked like shit.

Sara doesn’t say anything but wrap her arms around my body and breaks down into sobs. I quickly try and lead her back into my room and onto my bed. Sara’s body is shaking under my touch and when we reach the bed she curls into a ball under the covers. Sara still hasn’t said anything.

“Talk to me Sara.” I tell her as I turn out the hallway light and my phone flashlight and crawling into my bed beside Sara.

“Its Dustin…..” muffled words and sobs refrain me from hearing what she is saying. “Fuck this city.” I hear her and instantly my body goes rigid. Its happening, every hockey WAGS nightmare. Dustin either cheated or he was traded. I imagine it is the latter idea by the way she talked about Montreal.

“Traded?” I question the words almost making me throw up when they come out of my mouth.

Sara doesn’t say anything but she tenses up as I say that and I know I have gotten my answer.

“To where?” I whisper.

“Fucking Anaheim. ACROSS THE WHOLE MOTHER FUCKING CONTINENT.” I feel so bad for my best friend, we hadn’t spoken since our fight about the Winter Classic and I had missed her beyond belief but I could never tell Sara that. I’m too stubborn.

“Where is he now?” I ask.

“On his way back to St. John’s to pack. He sent me home. Booked me a flight and sent me packing just like this bullshit Canadien Organization did to him.” She goes on and some of her words are muffled from her hiccups left over from her meltdown.

“What did he say?” I am walking on eggshells around her not wanting to upset her further but also get the truth out of her.
“He said that there was no way we could do a long distance relationship in different countries when we could barely keep our relationship going when he was in St. John’s.” Sara starts to cry again… just when I thought she had stopped. “What do I do?” I hear Sara’a voice crack at that and my heart breaks listening to my bestfriend. I am going to strangle Dustin with my bare hands and I don’t care if I need to buy a plane ticket to do it.

“I didn’t realize when he was in St. John’s how bad your relationship was.” I tell her.

“It was the usual, we fought a lot. We always fight.” She says and turns to face me and wrap her arms around my stomach and laid her head on my shoulder.

“Do you want to hear what you want to hear or what you need to hear?” I ask Sara, knowing she will probably want me to tell her what she wants to hear but deep down she needs to hear what I have to say.

“Both.” Sara croaks out.

“Well what you want me to say is that Dustin is just upset about the trade and that once he cools off, he will realize how big of a mistake he made. But what you need to hear is that you have been with Dustin and only Dustin for the past two years. If you think he is the one, then you need to fight for him but if all these tears and heart breaks are for nothing, then what have you been spending the last two years doing with him. If he just brings you sadness then you need to get out and try to get over him. If you love something set it free, if it really loved you it will come back for you.” I tell Sara while rubbing her back.

“You always know what to say.” Sara says.

“How about we go on a vacation somewhere warm? Once I get back from Boston lets go to the Bahamas and drink our asses off and lay in the sun and dance at night. I think it would be good for us to do that.” I smile hoping Sara will want to do this. We don’t go back to school until something like the 14th anyways and they can go for a week in the sunshine and paradise.

“What about Brendan?” Sara asks a little sad.

“He will be fine. We need to do this. I leave tomorrow for Boston. Do you want to come?” I ask knowing she probably will not want to.

“No, I think I need to go home and spend time with my family.” Sara states with a sigh. “You need to go spend time with Brendan and I wouldn’t want to impose. Plus I hate that team with a burning passion right now.”

“So Bahamas?” I ask her smiling.

“Bahamas.” Sara replies smiling.

_____

“We will be descending in five minutes. Can you please put your seatbelts on now.” I hear the flight attendant say over the over comm on the plane to Boston. My flight from Montreal to Boston Logan International is only about an hour and a half and then I have to take a 45 minute bus ride to Foxboro, Massachusetts where Brendan and the Winter Classic are. I am not excited for the long bus ride I have ahead of me but I can’t wait to spend a couple days with Brendan especially New Years Eve. I had to leave at 6 this morning to be ready for my flight at 8 and be able to get to Foxboro around 11 so I have time for the family skate with Brendan’s parents and three siblings. I am going to be meeting Nolan, Erin, and Breanne Gallagher for the first time which I am a little nervous about because they seem pretty intimidating.

Once we landed, I quickly grabbed my carry on before leaving quickly to try and get ahead of the rush from the rest of our flight.

I found my luggage quite easily as it wasn’t hard to find a bright purple suit case and I’m on my way to the line of buses parked outside Boston Logan International and find the one that says Foxboro on it. I guess so other people were traveling to the Winter Classic also as I see many people on the bus with Montreal and Boston logos on them. I try to see if I recognize any of the people on the bus, but I do not. I find the first open seat and sit down in it taking out my phone to text Brendan.

‘hi, just got on the bus. see u soon xx’
‘text me when ur close, i will pick u up. can't wait to see u’ Brendan replies.
‘what r u up to?’ I text Brendan hoping we can talk for awhile to pass the time.
‘getting ready for breakfast with Nolan.’
‘how’s ur family?’
‘excited to see u, Nolan made me show him ur insta. I think he followed u’
‘hahaha what really? i dont know what to say’
‘well he asked if u had any single friends’
‘well sara’
‘what??’
‘dustin got traded and they got into a big fight. she came home last night sobbing and she slept with me. so we planned a trip to bahamas’
‘when were u gonna tell me this’
‘i just did, it happened last night at 2:30. u will be on a road trip’
‘i thought we were going on a trip during the all-star break’
‘i thought u were going with nate and chucky’
‘and our girlfriends’
‘im not ur girlfriend, also i have school’
‘yet…cant you miss like 4 days of class’
‘i doubt it.’ I ignore the “yet” comment because Brendan is just talking nonsense. He never told me about the all-star break trip except for the time when Nate and Alex were talking to him about it with me around.
‘we will talk about it when u get here’
‘that makes it sound like u r mad at me’
‘im not, i just thought u were coming with me’
‘u never asked me’
‘nevermind. has the bus left?’
‘ya, around 15 minutes ago.’
‘ok so sara was upset?’
‘yes very she couldn't even talk for almost five minutes’
‘does dustin know?’
‘i’m gonna text him’
‘be careful, i wouldn’t get too deep in their problems’
‘shes my best friend i need him to know i want to rip his balls off’
‘ur a firecracker lol’
‘well im gonna take a nap. we have about 20 minutes away’
‘i will be waiting, so glad u r coming’
‘im super excited for this’

Before I close my eyes, I find Dustin’s contact in my phone and decide to text him.
‘i hope u realize ur an idiot, im sorry about the trade dust. she is devastated, this isn't one of ur normal fights. this is bad.’
With that I close my eyes and try to catch up on the hours of sleep that I missed last night.

____

I find my luggage that were stored under the bus and look around for Brendan. We got dropped off at the hotel of where I was staying and which I guessed many others were staying as the teams stayed here too.

I hear a wolf whistle and turn to find the culprit, the insanely handsome Brendan Gallagher bundled up in his coat with a hat pulled down to hide himself and my face breaks out in a smile as I quickly walk over to him.

“Hey Bren.” I say to him as I get close and he flashes me his signature smile before wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Hi beautiful.” He chirps in my ear and I blush and pull back to quickly kiss him. If you were to just see Brendan and I in the street you would link we are a couple, when technically we are not boyfriend and girlfriend. I would say that we are dating, and I will say that I wish I was Brendan’s girlfriend but I am fine with being with him though too.

“I missed you.” I tell Brendan as he takes my luggage and I keep my carry on which is my backpack and I tangle my fingers with his as we walk inside the hotel.

“I missed you too Lyd. Everybody is excited to see you.” Brendan says to me as we wait at the desk for my room. Brendan wanted me to stay in his room with him but I figured it would look better with his family if I stayed in a different room and I wouldn’t want to change Brendan’s schedule on game day.

“I’m really nervous.” I admit to Brendan which is extremely true. I am terrified to meet Brendan’s siblings because I want them to like me. I wasn’t that nervous about meeting Brendan’s parents, which is odd but I think his sisters and brother will be harder to please as they are looking out for Brendan but I hope his parents have told them good things.

“Don’t be. Although I think Nolan is wanting to put a face to the stories because he complains I don’t shut up about you.” Brendan chuckles and that calms my nerves a little more. I check in and get my room key which is one floor above Brendan and two rooms down from his family.

We take the elevator up to my room so I can quickly change before the family skate.

______

“Lydia it is wonderful to see you again.” Heather smiles as I come out of my room to the hallway to meet everyone.

“How are you Heather?” I smile back and gently hug her. I really enjoyed when she came when Brendan was hurt because then I still had time for school and I wouldn’t have to worry about Brendan as much.

“I’m great, I’m glad you are here.” I smile at her in return and turn to Ian who is grinning at me, I wonder where Brendan gets the shit eating from.

“Hello Ian.” I smile and hug him too.

“Good to see you Lydia.” He squeezes me in return before Brendan puts his hand on my lower back and angles me towards his three siblings.

“Lydia these are my brother and sisters. This is.” Brendan points to a taller spitting image of Brendan and I know its Nolan and it seems that Brendan is very close with Nolan as I have only really heard things about him.

“Its nice to finally meet you, Bren doesn’t stop talking about you.” Nolan smiles and gives me a quick hug.

“And this is my older sister Erin.” Brendan points to a stunning younger version of Heather and Ian altogether.

“Nice to meet you Erin.” I smile at her and she pulls me into a hug also.

“Brendan has been talking my ear off about you, always asking for advice. You sound like a great girl.” I blush as we pull away from the hug and try to not get flustered.

“Thank you, Brendan is pretty great too.” I mumble and Ian laughs at my embarrassment.

“And I’m Breanne.” A girl breaks the silence and I know she is the same person as Brendan. Breanne is about 15 if I can remember what Brendan told me.

“Well I’m Lydia.” I smile at Breanne and she leans in to give me a hug too.

“I’m glad Brendan finally has a girlfriend. I was getting worried.” Breanne tells me and I have to chuckle. Everybody but Brendan is laughing at what the little firecracker said.

“Bre really?” Brendan groans.

“It’s the truth. Nolan and I had a bet going.” Breanne states and Erin barks out a laugh.

“Why wasn’t I in on this?” Ian chirps.

“DAD.” Brendan scoffs and we start to make our way towards the elevator.

“its okay honey. We aren’t worried anymore.” Heather comforts her son.

“So you all felt that way? Awesome.” Brendan mutters on our way down to the lobby. “Who won the bet anyway?”

“Who do you think?” Breanne asks and flips her hair over her shoulder as everyone in the elevator laughs.

“Does everyone have their skates?” Ian asks and everyone says yes. I brought my skates and have them in an athletic bag hanging off my shoulder. I wore leggings, a Montreal Canadiens sweatshirt that is Sara’s, and my new winter classic tuque that I brought for this occasion.

_____

Skating was so much fun with the Gallagher’s and the team. I mainly skated with Erin and Breanne getting to know them better as Heather and Ian conversed with the other parents of players and Brendan and Nolan were fooling around together skating around.

I was probably one of the only girlfriend’s or wives that could skate by themselves but it was cute to see Alex and Blair and Nate and his girlfriend Katie skating around. P.K was around and when he saw me I almost got tackled to the ice.

One of a more surprising parts of the family skate was when Nate and Katie came up to me.

“Hey Lydia, this is my girlfriend, Katie.” Nate introduces his beautiful girlfriend to me.

“Katie this is Lydia, Brendan’s girlfriend.” I silently scowl at Nate but don’t say anything and smile.

“Its nice to meet you.” I smile at Katie.

“So Lydia, have you heard from Sara?” Nate asks and I ponder what he is really asking in this question. Nate picks up on this. “You know because Dustin got traded.” he says disappointedly.

“Ya, she got home last night upset.” I have to choose my words wisely, not wanting to say to much about Sara. “They got in a fight and broke up and he booked her a flight back to Montreal.”

“I have been trying to talk to Dustin all day. I got nothing.”

“He didn’t reply to me either.”

“What did you say to him?” Nate asks him.

“They weren’t nice things.” I chuckle. “Best friend duties, I guess.” I tell him.

“I hope he is alright. It would be nice to hear from him.” Nate comments.

“Yeah I don’t think he appreciated this by Montreal.” I say and I jump as strong arms are wrapped around my waist and lips peck my cheek.

“What are you guys talking about?” Brendan asks with his arm still around me.

“Dustin.” Nate answers.

“It sucks and I know he is upset but I think he probably wants space for right now.” Brendan says.

“Lets not get too upset about this. Look where we are.” Katie tells us with a smile. This lightens the mood and we start leaving the ice.

“Are you coming out with us tonight?” Katie asks me and her question makes me look at Brendan. He had never told me about going out tonight, even though it is New Years Eve.

“I haven’t asked yet.” Brendan says and tries to smile at me when I glare at him.

“Luckily you’re cute.” I tell Brendan. “I’ll be there.”

Notes

Family Skate Outfits

so the winter classic "special" that i'm writing is super long so I split it into parts, hopefully only two but we will see :)

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