Chance Encounters of the Canuck Kind

Juliette sat in her room. Her phone lay on the floor, its final resting place after she threw it across the room in temper.
‘How could he?’ she thought to herself angrily. ‘How could he say those things?’ She understood his frustration, losing didn’t come easily to Jacob and he was highly competitive when it came to the game. Her easy going, chilled boyfriend disappeared as soon as he put those pads and mask on. She accepted that frustration was to be part and parcel of their life together, especially where hockey was concerned. Jacob was a consummate professional when it came to his craft; he was the last line of defence between glory and defeat and every game mattered deeply to him. Still, his words stung, barbs of words said in anger that tore at her, causing fury to simmer away in the pit of her stomach. She grabbed her pillow and let out a primal scream of frustration into the goose feather filled punching bag. She hated arguments, always had done. She’d argued enough in her previous relationship to last her a lifetime and she swore she was done with it; it always brought out a side of her that she hated, a cornered animal that would lash out with venomous words that she didn’t really mean in order to protect herself. It was a learned behaviour, almost instinctual, and whenever she thought about Jacob raising his voice at her she winced. Her previous boyfriend had never hit her, but he used his words as weapons and she was his punching bag. He would shout at her until she was a snivelling mess at his feet, begging him to stop. He broke her. She shuddered at the memory of her weaker, vulnerable self and allowed her wrath to bubble back to the surface. She wanted to break things, create a chaos that resembled the feeling in her heart, she wanted to release herself from the chokehold of anger that tightened its grip on her. It was still early, and it was a Saturday. Juliette knew at once that she needed to get out. She wanted to dance and drink until she forgot and she knew just the place.
***
She couldn’t remember the last time she had been at The Cobalt. Was it four months? A lifetime ago? She approached the tatty doorway, eager to get inside and have her first tequila of the night, but was stopped by the bouncer.
“Jules?”
Juliette took a second glance at the face.
“Olly? Well, shit. Look at you!”
“Look at you! Still as hot as ever, knew I shoulda asked you out in high school.” He said with a wink.
“How’s it going?” she asked with a smile. “Haven’t seen you since you were escorted out of Chem for nearly blowing up the lab.”
“I was never any good with a bunsen burner” Olly laughed. “They kicked me out, parents moved me to Toronto. I managed to finish high school, then Toronto just got… boring. I knew I had to come back. Been back maybe 3 months? Got myself a gig here on the door. Haven’t seen you around though? You come here often?”
“Not for a while” Juliette replied. “Needed to get out, you know?”
“Alone?” he asked optimistically.
“Alone.”
She entered the club and headed straight for the bar, ordering a tequila and a beer at the first opportunity. Her face contorted as she slammed the liquor down her throat, feeling the burn resonate in her chest. She looked around the dark club, reminiscing about the many nights she spent here with her brother and his friends. She’d been coming here since she was legally allowed to drink and while she was put off initially by the dinginess of the place, it became a firm favourite and a staple of her Saturday nights. It was in a run-down part of town, some would even say dangerous, but Juliette had never had any trouble in all the years she’d been coming here. Perching on the barstool she scoured the dancefloor, looking for any familiar faces she might be able to talk to. It was him who spotted her first. A ghost of his past, sitting there looking perfect and, most importantly, alone. He approached her before she had chance to clock him. His sudden presence shocked Juliette and a darkness crept into her stomach.
“What the fuck do you want?” she spat. This was all she needed, she’d had enough already without a visit from the ghost of Christmas exes. She motioned to the bartender for another tequila, anything to drown his presence out.
“Still hate me with the intensity of a thousand suns?” He mused cockily, deep down he knew that there was still something inside of her that needed him and he loved the sadistic pleasure he got out of playing on her past dependency on him.
“Go and crawl back into your fucking hole, Ben.”
“That’s not a very nice thing to say to me. Although, it’s nice to see you’ve finally grown a spine. You never used to say nasty things to me, I’m almost hurt” he mocked.
“I told you to stay away from me.” Juliette hissed.
“Come on Julie, you know you don’t mean that.” Ben was toying with her, dangling her emotions above a pit of acid, ready to drop them in at any moment. Seeing her writhe in discomfort pleased him; he liked that even after 4 years he could still get under her skin. “You know leaving me was a mistake. You know that you’ll never find anyone who will love you. You should be begging me to take you back, you’re worthless.”
Juliette recoiled at his words, reliving those years she spent with him and every time he’d ever made her feel unworthy. She hated herself for letting him get to her, she swore she was done with him and his emotional manipulation. She’d allowed him to do it for far too long and she wasn’t about to let it continue tonight.
“Go fuck yourself, Ben”. She got up to leave but was shocked when his hand grabbed her arm, pulling her close to him. She tried to get free but it only made him tighten his grip.
“Let go!” she yelped. He began running his hands down her body, gripping her ass and using it to push her against his crotch. He began to kiss her neck sloppily, his attack moving closer and closer to her chest.
“Come on Julie, once more for old time’s sake? I’ll even let you choose how I fuck you. What d’ya say?”
Juliette felt sick, gripped by panic she could feel her legs getting weaker and weaker. Her struggles became stifled and muted, his strength enough to overpower her. He was pushing her towards the back exit of the club, a door which opened out onto a dark alleyway. An alleyway where no one would be able to hear or help her. She cried out, wanting to scream Jacob’s name, wanting this all to stop. She closed her eyes, preparing herself for what she thought was the inevitable.
“Juliette?”
A large hand gripped her shoulder and pulled her backwards away from Ben’s clutches. Relief swept over her like a tsunami; she steadied herself against the wall, panting from the adrenaline. She could hear shouting, even above the pounding of the music:
“You need to back off!”
“Aww, come on. It was just getting interesting!”
“You don’t get to touch her.”
“What are you? Her fucking boyfriend? Get lost!”
A scuffle broke out between the two men at this point. Juliette buried her face in her hands, trying to drown out the noise and commotion, she needed to get out of here. She wanted to run, far away from this club. She wanted to run all the way to Buffalo and into the arms of the man she loved. He would make this better, keep her safe. The room closed in around her while she became lost in her panic and Juliette could feel her head begin to swim, she was struggling to control her breathing by this point. Without warning, her rescuer approached, placing his hand on her back which caused her to jump out her skin.
“Julie? You okay? Hey? Jules…”
“Olly…”
She looked up at Olly’s face, his concern visible even in the darkness of the club.
“Come on, I’m calling you a cab.”
He guided her out of the club and onto the street, checking her over for any visible signs of injury.
“Did he hurt you?”
“No, I’m okay” she whispered. “I’m fine, I just… I just need to get home.” The tears were building in her eyes again and she was unsure if she would be able to stop them.
Olly looked at her unconvincingly.
“Who the fuck was he, Juliette?”
Juliette said nothing. She was too ashamed to tell him the truth and not convincing enough to lie to him.
“Jules? Come on, you can talk to me.”
Still nothing. Olly knew he wasn’t going to get anything out of her, her eyes were staring but not seeing anything. He pulled Juliette into a tight side hug while they waited for her cab to arrive. The silence hung about them like a thick fog, a blanket of wordless communication. Olly could make a few guesses as to who that man was and his assumptions about the nature of Juliette’s encounter with him were accurate, but he didn’t vocalise any of this to her. Instead, he chose to let his actions speak for him, a reassuring arm around her that said ‘I’m here for you.’
“This looks like your ride.” He said to her softly.
He helped Juliette into the back of the car, making sure she was okay. He closed the door and looked at her through the window. His gaze was met by Juliette’s tear filled eyes; he tapped on the window, motioning for her to wind it down. He passed her a piece of paper.
“It’s my number” he said. “Please let me know you got home safe.”
She nodded and signalled to the driver that she was ready to go, only looking back as they pulled away to see Olly waving from the sidewalk.
Juliette sunk into the back seat, relieved to be out of there. All she could think about was calling Markstrom, telling him she was sorry and begging him to come home to her. But she knew better than that, she knew he’d need space tonight. As the driver pulled up to the house she’d called home for the last 2 years she gave him a twenty and immediately got out of the cab, not even waiting for her change.
“Keep it.” She muttered.
She approached the friendly yellow front door of the house, glad to be back at her sanctuary. She hoped that Suzanna would be home, as it was times like these that she really needed her friend.

Notes

Next chapter is already written and ready to go. Might hold off for a few days and keep going through it and tweaking :)