“I just feel like,” Charlotte started in right as Magnolia went to take her seat at their unofficial lunch spot in the cafeteria.

All Charlotte did these days besides talk about homework, was Rick. And every single time he was the topic of discussion, Magnolia chose to tune her out and added hmm’s and ahh’s whenever she thought applicable. She was still upset that Charlotte was seeing a man who had committed himself enough to a woman to call her his wife, and with her had three kids, the oldest being nine years her senior.

“You just need to meet him, come to dinner with us tomorrow night?” Charlotte begged “I think you two would get along so well.”

It seemed apparent to Magnolia that she wasn’t giving Charlotte enough hints that she did not want to go to dinner with the two “love birds”, but sighed and told herself that she only had to do it just this once then she’d be off the hook.

“Fine,” Magnolia sighed and finished off her lunch before packing up and getting ready to leave to head off to work.

//\\

The girls heard the voices enter the house as they were packing up in the kitchen, chatting about something that had happened at practice, but Magnolia was too invested in her conversation to pay any attention as the voices appeared before them.

“She wants me, Magnolia Lynne, to go to dinner with her and her cheating-lying-ass-married boyfriend,” she vented “like who does that? And I can’t go alone, I’m going to die!”
“Well I guess since they’re done it’s gossip time,” they heard Jamie mumbled to Tyler.
“Hey Jamie, Magnolia needs a favour,” May smirked his way “are you free tomorrow night for dinner? She needs a knight in shining armour.”

Magnolia sent a glare May’s way, but thought Jamie would be better than being the awkward third wheel, and so she accepted the idea.

“Um, I don’t want to overstep,” he stuttered looking at me then taking a glance at Tyler “and I’ll have to clear it with my girlfriend.”

That was a lie Jamie needed to tell, he knew for a fact that his girlfriend wouldn’t be bothered, but it gave him an out and gave Tyler the opportunity to jump in.

“What about you Tyler?” May questioned eagerly, deciding that Jamie was a lost cause.
“Uh yeah sure,” Tyler played it off like it was no big deal “just let me know the details.”
“There that’s all settled!” May clapped, happy she had gotten something accomplished that day, that had nothing to do with work.
“By the way, just wanting to know if I get a make up ticket to another game since I couldn’t go and this one gave it to someone else,” May nodded in Magnolia’s direction.
The boys laughed and said that they could figure something out and that Tyler would let Magnolia know the next night.

“I can’t believe you,” Magnolia muttered as the two of them loaded the supplies into May’s car before parting ways.

May shrugged.

//\\

On my way.

Magnolia dreaded what she was putting not only herself, but Tyler through tonight, and was seriously debating replying to his text telling him to turn around and go back home, that his presence wasn’t needed. Magnolia couldn’t do that; she was selfish and needed someone other than the lovesick Charlotte to get through the night.

Here.

Magnolia told him to dress nice; no jeans or t-shirt. She wanted him to be dressed as if it were game day, sans the tie. She told him not to bother coming to her door, that she’d meet him at his car. She wished she’d told him to go home.

Although Tyler didn’t step foot in Magnolia’s apartment building, he stood outside his car waiting for her to walk through the doors and when she did, he felt his breath catch in his throat.

“Thanks for doing this,” Magnolia uttered as she closed the distance between herself and Tyler.
“Pleasures all mine,” he smiled and opened the car door for her.
“Don’t speak too soon,” she grumbled and buckled herself in.

Tyler kept the conversation flowing throughout the drive to the restaurant, knowing that Magnolia needed a distraction from whatever she was feeling, and listening to Tyler ramble on about struggling to find gifts for his sisters for Christmas, hoping Magnolia had some ideas she’d be willing to share. Magnolia just mumbled that she’d look into it and continued being the best listener anyone could ever want.

When Magnolia and Tyler stepped foot into the restaurant, Magnolia silently cursed, thinking that Tyler should have opted for the tie after all, and she a ball gown.

She knew the angle this Rick guy was trying to work; he wanted to impress Charlotte’s friend in hopes that she’d forget the small fact that he was indeed married and cheating on his wife. Unbeknownst to him, it was not going to work. Although Magnolia promised Charlotte that she’d at least try to make an effort, she just couldn’t.

"This is one of my closest friends Magnolia," Charlotte introduced Magnolia to Rick as the two reached the table the happy couple were currently occupying.
“This is -” Magnolia began to say before being cut off by Rick.
“Tyler Seguin, the pleasure is all mine,” he said, grasping Tyler’s hand enthusiastically.

Expensive wine was purchased for the table, though Magnolia opted out and ordered her usual drink of choice. As they four perused the menu, Magnolia couldn’t help but stare wide eyed at the price of each meal, noticing that a salad was still thirty dollars. Tyler noticed Magnolia’s face jerk as she glanced at each item and so he nudged her side gently.

“I’ve got it,” he whispered, “get whatever you want.”

When the waiter arrived to take everyone’s order, she gulped down the guilt that Tyler was paying for her meal and ordered the overpriced salad, while the others opted for steaks and seafood.

Everything went agonizingly slow, our meals took forever to come and the whole time the conversation revolved around Tyler and hockey. When it was time for the bill to come, Magnolia had no fight left in her when Tyler paid for her meal.

“Is the interview over now?” Magnolia asked when Tyler and herself were situated in his car and on the way to drop Magnolia off.
“It wasn’t that bad,” Tyler protested.
“That’s cause you were talking about yourself the whole time!” she opposed “Did you like him?”
“He wasn’t awful,” he shrugged.
“Well you can’t like him,” Magnolia stated firmly “from this moment on we are anti-Rick, understand?”

Tyler didn’t even bother asking any questions, but nodded along with whatever Magnolia said, just wanting to appease her.

“Wanna come in?” Magnolia asked as they reached her building “I’ve got Ben & Jerry’s.”
“You know I can’t keep eating shit like that,” Tyler argued, but nonetheless he found himself curled up with Magnolia on her couch, each with a spoon, watching some utterly ridiculous reality TV show that he had never heard of.

//\\

The game like the past few had not gone in the stars favour, irking each player more and more each night they went scoreless.

“We still going out or what?” one of the rookies asked the group as they were changing out of their gear.

The general consensus was a yes; they figured they needed to drown their sorrows in booze and women and they couldn’t not celebrate Hamhius’ birthday.

“Your girl coming out Segs?” Jamie asked, walking in from the showers.
“I don’t have a girl,” he mumbled as he started tying the laces of his shoes.

The men around Tyler laughed and made comments about Magnolia, who came to practically every home game and who he had been spending nearly all his free time with when he wasn’t working and she wasn’t in school. Tyler could take being the brunt of a joke, but that’s not to say he liked it one bit, and with the loss of tonight’s game, the boys joking about him and Magnolia left Tyler in a mood.

Magnolia and May were waiting patiently outside the locker room tonight, with the other women and the select few that had children. She noticed right when a group came out that they were upset with the game they played and as Magnolia racked her brain, trying to come up with something to say to Tyler other than ‘sorry that you lost’ or ‘you’ll win the next one’, the girls were already invited for drinks and the boys headed towards the exit.

Getting drinks with the guys had been just like any other time for May and Magnolia, only for the exception that this time Tyler sat at the opposite end of the table than Magnolia. He was sending a message to his teammates that even though he had been spending plenty of time with the girl he hadn’t yet taken his eyes off of, they were nothing and he was free to do whatever and whomever he liked.

“Anyone want another drink?” Tyler asked, interrupting the conversation and taking their orders before heading to the bar.

As Tyler made his way to the bar, Magnolia’s eyes trailed after him, and tried to work up the courage to go up and talk to him. It had been clear at the arena that he was upset about something, and the only thing she could think of was the crappy game they had just played. But after they had all taken their seats Magnolia wondered if there was something else bothering him, any other time Tyler would be the first one to save a seat for her beside him and tonight she felt like he was miles away, trying to avoid her.

“Just go talk to him,” May nudged her and nodded towards Tyler.

Magnolia took May’s words and lifted herself from her chair and started walking to where Tyler stood at the bar. She stopped in her tracks when she saw another woman sidle up beside him and watched as they started chatting, grins on both of their faces. Magnolia turned around, walking back to the table and took her seat, keeping quiet the rest of the night as she watched Tyler and the brunette hit it off and end up driving off into the night with one another.

It only took Magnolia one guess as to how their night ended.

//\\

School was officially finished for the semester, but that didn’t mean anything to Magnolia. She was still in Dallas picking up more shifts before she planned on heading home for the Christmas break. It had been a few weeks since she had last seen or spoken to Tyler; the amount of away games had increased, leaving his house empty, and Magnolia didn’t bother sticking around after they had finished cleaning his house.

“Hey, haven’t seen you in a while,” Tyler said as he walked into his kitchen, seeing Magnolia packing up the cleaning supplies.
“Yeah,” she huffed, trying to get the last bottle of vim squeezed into the bucket.

Tyler tried with the conversation, but with every reply Magnolia was dry and uninterested.

“You haven’t been answering my texts, is everything alright?” he asked, inching closer to where Magnolia stood.
“Been busy,” she shrugged, finally situating the vim bottle, and lifting the bucket off the counter, prepared to leave.
“Woah, what’s the rush?” Tyler questioned, reaching forward to take the bucket from Magnolia’s hands, but her grip tightened and refused to let go. “What’s wrong?” he probed, moving his hand from the bucket that Magnolia refused to let go of, up to her left elbow, hoping to keep her in place instead of walking away.
“Nothing, I have to go,” she said, pulling away from Tyler and walking towards the front door.
“Well if we don’t talk until then, I hope you have a good Christmas,” Tyler said sincerely, making Magnolia feel slightly guilty for being so dry.
“You too,” she said before closing the door behind her.

Magnolia wasn’t sure her actions were justified because she wasn’t anything to Tyler. At the very least they were friends, that had a few past sexual encounters, but other than that, Magnolia realized she probably meant very little to Tyler in the grand scheme of things. She wasn’t the one he called when he had exciting news, or when he was missing his family. She was the one that cleaned his house, the one that he gave tickets to because he had screwed up and needed to apologize. She was the one he slept with because she was around.

Magnolia came to the conclusion that she was a convenience for Tyler, she never had to fight others to get in his pants at bars, he was either hers for the night or he’d find someone else.

Magnolia didn’t want to be a convenience anymore.

Notes

Chapter Outfit

So this is probably shorter than the previous chapters, but I decided to leave out what's coming next and add it to the next chapter.

Let me know your thoughts, does anyone have any ideas as to where this will lead Tyler and Magnolia? (cause I don't...jks I do)

Thank you all for reading and I promise I will try to update more often!!

- Brooke