Jonathan stood in the elevator shaking. He didn’t know whether it was his anger or his nerves that caused the jitters but he was definitely experiencing both emotions strongly. After practice, instead of going home he drove to Gabrielle’s apartment to give her a piece of his mind. He pounded on the door angrily only to find out it was no longer her apartment. Twenty minutes later, he managed to talk the manager into giving him Gabrielle’s new address to the tune of two hundred and fifty dollars and an autographed poster.

Jonathan walked out of the elevator and down the hallway, noting how much nicer her apartment building was. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door he was sure was hers. He heard Benet’s barking and the twist of the lock. Finally, the door swung open and there stood Gabrielle’s friend, Sam.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Sam asked angrily.

“I want to talk to Gabrielle,” Jonathan spoke firmly.

“That’s not happening,” Sam spoke calmly before trying to slam the door but Jon caught it with his hand. “What the hell, Jon. Leave her alone.”

“I need to speak with her,” his voice shook slightly but he wasn’t wavering.

“No, you need to leave,” Sam growled.

Then he heard her voice, “Sam? Why don’t you take Benet for a walk? We do need to talk about some things.” The door swung open further and there stood Gabrielle, angry eyes staring up at him. That look made his heart stop. The last time he had seen it was when Gabrielle threw the tabloid in his face three months ago.

“Fine,” Sam pouted, going to the kitchen to grab Benet’s leash. Gabrielle stepped aside so that Jon could step in. They stood in an awkward silence for a moment, both glaring at each other harshly. Sam shot him a hard glare before she left and slammed the door behind her.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Gabrielle started.

“Why the hell are you dating my best friend?” Jonathan shot. “I can understand wanting to get back at me but fucking using him? I never thought you would stoop so low, Gabrielle.”

“First of all, you deserve every bit of pain this is causing you after all that you put me through. Secondly, I am not using Patrick! I really, truly care about him and pissing you off is just an added bonus!” she exclaimed.

“Yeah, how am I supposed to believe that?” Jonathan crossed his arms over his chest.

“You are in no position to be making character judgments here. You cheated on your fiancée, lied to me about it, and then when I finally move on you beat the shit out of my boyfriend!” Gabrielle yelled.

“Your boyfriend?” Jonathan asked.

“Yes, and as a matter of fact he is my boyfriend. We’re in the process of making it official to the press by getting ‘caught’ by the paparazzi this weekend to start the rumors before I go to your game next week. We’ll be announcing it shortly,” she explained and Jonathan felt his heart tear in two.

“Oh, and you claim he’s your ‘best friend’ you better go fucking act like it by apologizing to him. Speaking of stooping low, I can’t believe you started a fight with him,” she scolded.

“I couldn’t help it, he mentioned you two were seeing each other and all these mental images popped in my head. Before I even knew what I was doing I hit him,” Jonathan sighed, his guilt getting to him.

“Well, you better get over it because I’m not telling Patrick we slept together and I’m going to stick around for awhile,” Gabrielle said firmly.

Jonathan’s shoulders slumped and he sighed heavily, “Why did it have to be Kane? It couldn’t be Brad Pitt or some shit like that? You had to pick Patrick.”

“Because we happened to meet and we work really well together. He’s good to me,” she explained firmly.

“Do you know how much this hurts?” he asked pathetically, looking down at her tiny figure with sad eyes.

“I have some idea. It was kind of like when your engagement was everywhere I looked. Karma is a bitch,” she shrugged, trying to remain strong.

“Despite what you may have convinced yourself in the last few months, I really was in love with you,” he ran his fingers through his hair and looked away from her. Hell, I still am…

“If you really loved me you would have left your fiancée for me. I know I’m not necessarily easy to date, my career being so high profile and all, but if you truly loved me you would have tried,” her voice shook with emotion.

“Your career was never the issue,” he sighed.

“Then what was it?” Gabrielle asked, looking up at him with the big eyes that made him weak. At that moment it was hard to remember why he chose Stacey over her.

“Because Stacey was the easier choice,” Jon explained, his voice barely above a whisper. Gabrielle looked incredibly hurt in that moment and all Jon wanted to do was reach out and hold her. He knew if he even tried Gabrielle would hit him… and that little southern girl could hit.

“Do you hate me?” he whispered.

“Parts of me do,” she answered honestly. “Patrick can’t know. I don’t want him to be insecure that I slept with his teammate and never told him. And I’m sure you don’t want Stacey to know you cheated,” she said harshly.

“What do you want to do about it then?” Jon asked bitterly.

“We’re going to pretend like we’ve never met, we’re going to pretend to like each other, and we’re going to support each other’s relationships. Got it?”

“Fine, if that’s what you really want,” he spat.

“It’s exactly what I want. You fucking owe me, Toews,” she pointed warningly.

“It might be fun being friends. You’re such a bundle of joy,” he said sarcastically.

“Sure thing, sweetheart. Now get out of my apartment,” she pointed towards the door and neither bothered saying goodbye as he slammed the door behind him angrily. That would be their last fight. From then on they would pretend to be friends for the sake of their new lives.