her smile had stolen my heart from the stars - atticus


I was set to make the almost two and a half hour drive over to Muskoka where Tyler had his cottage, my luggage was packed and I was about to leave my room and head downstairs, where I knew I would have to pass my dad...who I still hadn't told about me going there. Callie knew, but she was wary, of course. She just didn't want me getting hurt again. I had assured her that I would be okay.

I knew there was no avoiding my dad down in the living room, so I took a deep breath and left my room pulling my luggage behind me and went down stairs.

"Hey," he called when he caught sight of me when I was on the last few steps, "where are you off to?" he asked me.

I breathed out and faced him when I was down on the landing, "I'm huh...going to Muskoka for a few days," I explained.

HIs brows furrowed, "Oh? With who?"

I clicked my tongue a few times, "Tyler, actually. It's his place."

His eye narrowed, "I don't know any other Tyler, other than the Tyler from the Dallas Stars, and I can only hope that you don't mean him."

"That's the one," I told him.

He sighed deeply and got up off of the couch, with Callie giving me a concerned look, "I don't think so," dad told me with a light chuckle as he walked over to me.

"Dad," I breathed, "I’m going...I know you're probably pissed at me...but I am going regardless of that."

He shook his head, "You're not going, Josie. Did you really think I'd be okay with you going to someone's place that treated you that poorly? And I can only guess that since you're going to Tyler's cottage that the actual asshole is gonna be there too?"

"Yeah, he's gonna be there, but!" I said loudly, cutting him off when I saw his mouth open up to say something else to me, "I've made it very clear to Tyler that he is not allowed to talk to me."

He scoffed, "Do you think that's gonna stop him from trying?"

I rolled my eyes, "It doesn't matter because nothing is happening, dad. Nothing. I'm going there to say goodbye to Demers because he's going to Florida to play. I want to see him and a few of the other guys, dad. That's it. That's the end," I told him, grabbing the handle of my luggage once again, "I'll be home in a few days," I said, as I headed to the front door and opened it before stopping and looking back at him and Callie who had appeared in the doorway at the living room that leads to the hallway, "I love you guys," I told them.

Callie smiled slightly at me, "Love you too, doll face."

I looked over to my dad expectantly, waiting for him to respond back to me, we stared at each other for a moment before Callie subtly nudged his arm.

Dad looked down at her and sighed, "Love you too, kid," he told me quietly before leaving and going back into the living room.

I rolled my eyes and looked to Callie to give me some words of comfort, since I knew my dad was livid at the moment, "He'll be fine once you get home," she told me reassuringly, "I'll talk to him," she whispered.

I nodded, "Okay. I'll see you guys in a bit," I said before turning again, and leaving the house, closing the front door quietly behind me.

I put my luggage into my rental car before getting into the driver’s seat and setting up the cars GPS and setting up my music. I was finally on the road. To see them all.

If I said I wasn't excited I would be definitely lying. I was excited, and also nervous. With just a dash of anxiety. I didn’t know what to expect from the few days I was spending out there. I didn't know what, if anything was going to come from it. All I knew is that I wanted to see most of them and I really needed to see Demers off to Florida. I would have felt awful for a long time if I didn't.

And then my mind drifted off to him. What would I do when I saw him? I was hoping that Tyler did talk to him and asked him not to speak with me while I was up there. But, of course I couldn't really guarantee that he wouldn’t try and talk to me. I just...wished I knew for sure what my reaction would be. I'd like to believe I would play it cool and we could be civil maybe, but that wasn't something I could really see. I could more so see me getting pissed off and yelling and that's pretty much what would happen, I was sure of it.

I followed the directions and after what felt like forever, I finally parked my car and grabbed my phone, quickly typing to Tyler that I was here. He didn't want anyone to see me before he brought me out.

He didn't reply back but the front door opened and closed quickly and I saw Tyler jog over to my car. I smiled a little and stepped out; he pulled me into a hug as soon as my door was closed.

"Thank-you," he said as he pulled away from me.

I grinned, "I couldn’t miss saying goodbye to the goofball."

Tyler grabbed my hand and started pulling me to his cottage, "They're all out back," he said opening the front door and glancing around inside before pulling me inside quickly and walking to the sliding door in the kitchen that had the curtains pulled across so no one could see inside.

"Ready?" he asked giddily. I realized how much this meant to him, and I was overwhelmed with happiness in deciding to come here.

"Yeah," I told him.

"Okay, stay in here with the curtains closed and I'll be like, oh someone wanted to say bye to you Demers and then bam! You come out! Okay?" he said, but I couldn't answer him because he briskly opened the door and was gone before I could catch a glimpse of anyone outside.

"Guys! Come over here!" I heard Tyler call and then voices became louder and I grew nervous.

"Demers, come here!" Tyler yelled with a laugh, "Okay someone wanted to say bye to you!"

I pulled the curtain back and stepped over the threshold onto his deck and smiled at the boys in front of me, Demers being front and centre.

"Hey, ya goof," I said with a small smile, looking at him.

His eyes were wide and his mouth was hanging wide open, I couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. The silence felt like it went on forever, but it was honestly only probably a minute.

Demers lunged forward suddenly and pulled me into him tightly; I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him back.

"What the fuck?" he asked with a laugh, before pulling away from me, "How did...how did you even know about this?" he asked looking down at me.

I laughed and looked over at Tyler, "Tyler tracked me down! I couldn’t miss saying bye to you."

He pulled me into him again, "I'm so sorry, Josie," he whispered.

I pulled away from him and looked at him, "I know," I said, "We'll talk about it later, okay?"

He smiled and let me go, only to have Cody, Spezza, Jordie and Sharpie all crowded around me grabbing me, hugging me and talking.

"So sorry, Josie."

"So happy to see you!"

"Where the fuck have you been?"

"Missed you so fucking much!"

I laughed and pulled away from them, "Calm down!" I said smiling.

"Everyone!" Tyler yelled, getting everyone's attention turned to him, "This is the infamous Josie!" he said pointing at me.

Everyone yelled responses to me and I stood awkwardly and waved.

"Let’s keep the party going!" Tyler yelled with a smile.

"How are you?" Sharpie asked me once the attention on me died down a little bit.

I smiled and nodded, "I'm good, I'm good. And you guys?" I said looking around the little circle that was around me.

"Listen," Cody said, looking at me, "I'm so, so sorry Josie. I know we all are. And...God I can't believe you're in front of us right now," he said with a laugh making me smile, "We should have told you. I've missed you."

I smiled, "I've missed you guys too," I said, "And I know you're all sorry, and I appreciate that. And I'm sorry for leaving the way I left it. It was beyond childish, and I'm well aware of that," I said, making room so that Tyler could sneak in next to me, wrapping an arm around me.

"And I'm sorry for not getting in touch when the season ended and everything. I wanted to...I just didn't know how is all. But I'm here now," I said with a smile as they all smiled back, "And I've missed you guys, and I want things the way they were. Except for...," I said, lingering, watching as everyone nodded in understanding.

"We get that," Spezza said, "We can't blame you for that. You guys will need to figure that out, if you ever want to. But, I'm selfish so I'm happy you're at least talking to me," he smiled making us laugh.

I smiled, "Okay, I'm gonna grab my stuff from the car," I said taking a step back from the group.

"I'll help, and show you where you're gonna sleep," Tyler volunteered.

He led me through the house and back out front, "Do you care about sharing a room?" he asked me.

I shook my head as I unlocked my car, "Nope," I said, opening the trunk.

"You'll stay with Eakin then," he said, pulling out my luggage and setting it on the ground.

I pulled my small bag out as well and set it on top of the luggage.

"Hey."

I felt my eyes go wide as I looked to Tyler then I closed the trunk and looked over the hood of the car towards the front of the house. Jamie.

"Man," Tyler said, sounding irritated, "I told you, I just fucking told you, don't talk to her at all this weekend. That was her only condition."

"I just said 'hey' okay? That's all," Jamie said defensively.

"Well that's one word too much," Tyler said, pulling my luggage behind me while I carried my smaller bag a few steps behind him.

"Josie," Jamie said gently, "I just wanna talk. Five minutes. That's all I want."

"That's all it would’ve taken to tell me about Ashley, but you didn’t give that to me," I told him lowly.

He looked taken aback. His eyes looked sad under that Dallas Stars hat. And looking at him...fuck. I was in love with him still. I felt the butterflies all around me. I felt my cheeks flush; I felt my heart speed up. My brain was going crazy and I didn't want to feel that way. Not about him. Not anymore.

"I need to explain it," he begged.

Tyler was shaking his head, "Man, leave her this weekend, that's all I'm asking."

"Let her tell me," Jamie said to Tyler, without looking away from me.

Tyler turned and looked at me expectantly.

"Jamie, I really don't want to get into this right now," I told him.

Tyler turned away from me, "There," he said briskly, "Jamie, I love you. But I'm trying to get this," he said pointing behind him to me, "back on track friendship wise. If she doesn't wanna talk to you, she's not going to. If she changed her mind, then there you go. But for right now," he said, passing him on the steps and into the house.

I was walking quickly behind him, "Just five minutes, Josie. That's all."

I stopped just past him and looked over to him; he was looking at me with pleading eyes.

I bit my bottom lip and sighed, "Jamie, that's too much right now. It's all too much," I said.

I turned away from him, "Please," he said quietly.

I stopped mid-step and slowly glanced behind me again at him.

"That's all I'm asking. I need to explain everything to you," he whispered.

I looked back at the house and saw Tyler standing just inside watching the exchange curiously; I looked back at Jamie and relented.

"I'll find you when or if I'm ready to talk to you," I said quietly and walked away before he could say anything else to me.

"Semi mature," Tyler whispered to me.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, as I followed Tyler up to the second floor, "Did I hit him? No. So in my eyes, I was very mature and adult-like."

Tyler chuckled in front of me as we reached the top of the landing and he led me to a door, "So are you actually gonna talk to him?" he asked, once he opened the door revealing a large room with two beds.

I sighed and tossed my bag on the bed closest to the window as Tyler left my bigger luggage at the end of the bed, we then took a seat on the bed.

"I don't know," I sighed, "I almost want to, just to tell him not to bother me. So that he really gets it. What do you think?"

Tyler side eyed me, "I don’t think those will be the first things to come out of your mouth, but I think that it's cute that you think you'll just say that."

I smacked his shoulder as he laughed, "And what do you think I'll say then, smartass?"

"I think it'll be a lot of yelling and cursing," he said easily.

I snorted, "We will see."

Notes

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