by Kat Obie
Alice reached towards the pocket to investigate for herself. Scotty caught her and grabbed her arms, raising them above her head. He effectively pinned her to the wall with one hand on the wall and his thighs against hers. Then he used his free hand to pull out a ring box from his pocket. “You mean this . . .” he said with a sly smile.
Alice saw the box, and her eyes went wide. She had a pretty good idea that the box wasn’t for a new pair of cufflinks. Now she really wanted to know what was in the box. She nodded.
Scotty held it further away, not allowing her to move. It was times like these that she hated how he was a foot taller than her and had about 40 lbs of pure muscle on her. She could only let him nibble at her neck.
“What if you aren’t ready for it?” he asked.
She flinched at that. As soon as he said it, she knew it had to be an engagement ring. He’d already given her the Claddagh ring. The fact that he wasn’t ready to give it to her also made her nervous. What if she wasn’t good enough for him? “Not ready for it? What do you mean?’
He stuck the ring into his back pocket and said, “You heard me.”
She pouted. “That’s not fair.”
“Life’s not fair. Anyone who says differently is selling you something.”
“Don’t you quote the Princess Bride at me. You are being mean.”
“As you wish,” said Scotty. He quoted it still, which only served to delight and frustrate her. He kept kissing her and making her feel like she was the only one in the room. He just wasn’t going to let her see what was in the box. He broke away from the kiss and asked her with all the seriousness he could muster, “Am I really being mean?”
“Yes and no,” said Alice. “Why won’t you let me see what’s in the box?”
“’Cause I said so.” He used all the force he could muster, proving why he was a team captain of the Sound. He was resolute without being mean. His s’s were so slurred that only reminded her that he was still very drunk.
She could peek at the box if she got him off balance and get the box away from him. Until she did, she would have to let the issue go.
Alice leaned over and kissed Scotty. She massaged his tongue and had some fun. Scotty released her hands from over her head, and she just settled them on his neck and played with his soft hair. He eased into a wider stance and ended up knocking over one of the glasses they’d left on the ground, causing it to shatter.
“Fuck,” said Scotty. “I didn’t mean to do that.”
Alice kissed him softly and then said, “I’ll take care of the glasses if you can keep the pups away.”
She grabbed the box from his back pocket as she brushed past him. Scotty did grab her for one more kiss before letting go but didn’t seem to notice that she’d palmed the box. She walked to the hall closet as he walked to the living room to occupy the dogs.
Once Alice went into the hall closet, she opened the box instead of grabbing the broom and dustpan. Inside sat an absolutely beautiful engagement ring. The diamond was unreal: it was so clear and cleanly cut. It wasn’t a huge diamond; in fact it was understated. There was a trinity knot on either side of the diamond, and it was smooth with no hard edges. Then she saw the two small black wedding bands with lovers’ knots etched throughout. It was like he’d read her dreams of the ideal engagement ring.
The only thing she hated was the fact that she would have to pretend she’d never seen it before and couldn’t get it tonight.
She kicked herself. She quickly cleaned the glass up so Scotty wouldn’t catch on to the fact that she’d pulled the box out of his pocket.
She entered the living room where Scotty was throwing a puck for the dogs. She hugged him and slipped the box back into the pocket that she’d stolen it from. He swatted her hands away and said, “Nice try, baby.”
Alice shrugged her shoulders and casually said, “You can’t blame me for trying.”
“Sure, I can. I told you, it’s not the right time for it.”
“So you keep telling me,” Alice said with a pout, putting on a show.
“You’ll see it soon enough.”
“But I would rather see it tonight. I’m not that patient. You know that.”
“You’ll see it soon enough.”
“Rather see it tonight,” said Alice almost petulantly.
“Maybe.” Scotty pulled her in close. He swayed them both in a silent dance. It was nice being in his arms, but Alice was positive that he wasn’t going to give her the ring that night. After a few minutes, he stopped the dance. He kissed her forehead and said, “Let's go to bed.”
“Sounds good.”
Scott
Scott woke up with a raging headache. He’d heard Alice’s alarm go off a little bit ago. She silently pulled out of bed and was trying to let him sleep. While she was quiet, everything was just pounding and he couldn’t fall back asleep.
He hated how she’d disentangled herself from his bed without giving him a kiss. Hell, most mornings he would get up with her so they could have more time together.
Scotty listened to how Alice took the dogs and got them situated downstairs. She came back upstairs and went to the bathroom to get ready for work. He was surprised to hear her come by his nightstand and put a couple things down on it. He grabbed Alice’s hand. “Attendre. Sorry. Wait.”
Alice smiled and sat down beside him. In a soft voice, she said, “Hey, how are you feeling?”
“Like hell,” Scott said.
Alice pushed some of the hair that had flopped into his eyes off his forehead. She said, “Kinda figured, so I brought up a hangover survival kit.” She leaned over and kissed him lightly.
“Thanks, babe. How’s your day looking?”
“It’s not awful. Just boring. Will be guarding a lot, and most of that will be solo. Think you will get cleared today?”
“Yeah. It’s a long shot, but I should be allowed to go on the trip and play at the end of the week.”
“Well, good luck. I hope you get cleared. Let me know how it goes.”
“Of course, babe.” With a slight groan, he pushed himself up against his pillow so he could swallow the aspirin and water. He was definitely paying for last night’s partying. He’d had fun, but there were holes in his memory.
“I’ll let you get some rest,” said Alice with a smile. He pulled her in for a kiss before she left for work. He felt better just because he was able to touch her.
As he rolled over, he felt something dig into his leg. He pulled out a ring box from his pocket. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t taken it out of his pocket before bed or even tried to hide it. The only thing he could think was that Alice found out about the box, and he was afraid that she would try to look for it.
He placed the box in the nightstand to hide it. He remembered picking up the rings late last night on the way to the game. He was excited to pick them up, despite knowing it would be a while before he gave Alice the engagement ring and even longer before they would have the wedding.
He’d commissioned the rings before the Philly trip since he wanted to have a special ring just for her. He knew it would take time to have everything made. After what had happened in Philly with the apartment search, he wanted to make sure he wasn’t moving too fast for her. He needed to know that she was 100% ready for it before he gave it to her. He just hoped he didn’t have to wait too long.
When he heard his phone go off, he groaned. He knew it was going to be a long morning. He pushed himself up to drink some Gatorade as he looked at the phone.
Lager: Morning asshole
Lager had to know that Scotty was hungover and it wasn’t a good time to text. Scotty put his phone on do not disturb mode so he could sleep. He was going to ignore the text from Lager, but Lager decided to text again.
Lager: Heard you went a little crazy last night.
Scotty: Ugh. You left early because of course you would leave early.
Lager: Yeah but I left Petey and Corey in charge of your ass Petey isn’t even hungove
r.
Scotty: Bastard
Lager: I haven’t heard from Corey so I’m assuming he’s hungover too
Scotty: Who told you I went crazy?
Lager: Alice texted last night.
Scotty: Really? That had to be bad. Did she seem mad?
Lager: Nah. She was trying to figure out how much water to give you.
Scotty: She didn’t give me any water last night. She made us cocktails.
Lager: Water ones I’m guessing. But seriously, she’s good for you. When do you plan to give her that ring?
Scotty: End of the season at the earliest. Dude I need more sleep.
Scotty shook his head and instantly regretted it. He decided to down the remainder of his Gatorade before turning over. He couldn’t believe that Alice had reached out to Lager. He hoped he hadn’t done something stupid or dumb last night that he couldn’t remember. She hadn’t seemed upset this morning.
He had a couple of hours to sleep, and fortunately, this time, he could fall back to sleep. It was a dreamless sleep.
His alarm went off. He felt a lot better. The headache was gone, but he could still feel the dregs of the hangover holding on. He was happy that he could function without feeling close to hurling. He knew he should keep things light for the next few hours in terms of food.
Once he arrived at the practice facility, he went to the trainer’s room—his new normal. He hoped Doc would give him the all clear and at least permission to travel with the team. Being hungover was not the best idea when hoping to get cleared, but it was too late to do anything about it.
As per usual, Doc had him do several exercises to test his knee strength. Scotty didn’t have any problems performing them. It wasn’t as easy as it had been yesterday, but he didn’t want to share that with Doc. He just tried to keep a poker face, and it seemed like Doc was satisfied. Curren said, “Go out there and skate. No contact, but you’re good to go. But report back when you are done so we can evaluate if you are ready for an actual game.”
Scotty didn’t need to be told twice. He jumped off the table and rushed to get into his gear. He’d been allowed to skate for the past week, but the inflammation after the skate was holding him back from full-contact games.
He rushed into the locker room. It was sparsely populated, but Lager was there. He was practically dressed and almost ready to go out to the ice. He greeted Scotty. “You don’t look like death warmed over, so you are doing better than some of the guys. Toli really looks like shit.”
“Toli is hung over?” asked a shocked Scotty. The Russian could drink a ton, and nothing ever seemed to faze him. Hearing that Toli was hungover made Scotty wish he had a better grasp on what had happened. Seeing Toli drunk had to be a trip, but he couldn’t remember anything abnormal.
Hell, he needed to get his stuff on quickly so he wasn’t late. Scotty would have liked to have been there a little earlier, but he was moving slower than usual.
As Scotty put on his shoulder pads, Dima stumbled in and grunted at Scotty. Dima looked positively gray. Scotty had to give him credit for getting there and suiting up. As Dima put on his gear, he muttered, “No shot ever with you. You dangerous.”
“Don’t worry, I just want shots on goal.”
“Deal.”
Practice wasn’t pretty. Nearly everyone was hungover. Everyone was made to do suicide drills followed by lightning drills. Berman claimed it was because the guys were slow through the neutral zone against the Flyers, but everyone knew it was a punishment for the party.
Scotty’s knee cried out in pain with all the work, but he knew he couldn’t give up. He just had to keep going. Despite the pain, he could tell his knee was probably the strongest it had been since the surgery.
Might not be such a long shot after all.
After practice, Scotty got changed and reported back to the Doc. They did the same exercises as before. There was a little decline in movement, but it was minimal. There was some inflammation too, but all in all things felt good. Doc seemed to be pleased as he iced down his knee.
“Looks like you are good for the road trip. I am still advising minimum contact in practice. Go tell your coach the good news.”
“Sounds good.”
With a light step, he reported to Coach Berman’s office. After six weeks, he was finally ready to play again. Any tinge of hangover evaporated due to his excitement. As per usual, Scott knocked on the door frame before he entered.
Berman shouted out, “For the love of god, please tell me it’s good news.”
Scotty smiled and leaned against the doorframe. He said, “Yup. Doc said I'm good to play in the next game but he wants minimal contact in practice.”
“Thank god. But I should bench your ass for getting everyone drunk.”
“I just wanted to make sure that everyone was loose and enjoyed themselves. I didn’t realize we’d overdone it until this morning. At least we all showed up today, and I’ll make sure they play their asses off in California.”
“As long as you also play your ass off. I won’t bench you. Mainly ‘cause we still need you.”
Alice
Alice worked in her office, trying to catch up with the paperwork. She stared at the computer screen with extreme focus and barely heard a knock at the door. It wasn’t until she heard a familiar voice say, “Hey, babe,” that she looked away from the screen. Scotty stood at the door holding two very large cups of coffee.
As she got up from her desk to hug him, she said, “Hey, what are you doing here?”
“I would think it’s pretty obvious,” he said with a chuckle as he gave her one of the coffees. He kissed her as soon as the coffee was secure.
“Really? You almost never come here unless it’s for PT work. Unless . . . Do you have some news?”
Scotty sat down in one of the office chairs with legs splayed wide, slouching in the chair. She walked back to the desk as she took a sip of her coffee. He said, “I don’t know what you are talking about. Can’t I just bring you some coffee?”
He toyed with her. He’d had a morning skate and would have seen the doctor. He was smiling too much to be told her was out again. “Yeah, but I know you are lying. So, come on, spill. What’s the real reason you came here? You should have talked to Dr. Curren by now. So . . .”
Scotty’s smile changed slightly. It went from adoring to being cocky as all hell. He enjoyed that he had a secret. Well, technically he had two secrets, although he didn’t know that she knew about the spectacular engagement ring and wedding bands. There was no way in hell that he would be proposing to her at work. He was too much of a romantic to do that.
Alice stared at him and drank her coffee until he finally said, “I’m cleared to play tomorrow. Although, I still have to worry about the swelling.”
Alice immediately broke in and said, “That’s awesome! When do you have to leave?”
“This evening before you get home from work.”
She nodded in understanding, realizing that if he hadn’t come out now, he wouldn’t be able to see her for a few days. She did a mental rundown of the Sound’s schedule. “So, it’s the Sharks, Ducks, and Titans this trip?”
“Almost. Sharks and Titans only.”
She shook her head. “That’s not too bad. You will be back before the end of the week. Do you know how much you will play?”
Scotty shook his head in the negative. She knew that there would be a decline in some of his ice time. Scotty switched the topic and asked, “Do you have time to get some lunch?”
“Just enough if we go to either Subway or Einstein’s.”
“Let’s do Einstein’s, then.”
The two of them headed towards the building with the bagel place. At first, the two of them were fairly quiet. Scotty noticed a swing attached to a tree. He grabbed Alice from behind and swung her towards the swing. With a light, playful voice, he said, “Do you really have a swing on campus?”
“Yeah,” said Alice with a laugh. “You want to play with it, don’t
you?”
He nodded. The two of them sat on the swing together. Alice was in his lap. He pulled out his phone for a selfie. Alice posed for it. She whispered, “I don’t care if the photo goes on Instagram, but I want one for just us too.”
He took another photo while kissing her ear. “That’s the one for just us.” They felt the swing groan under their combined weight. He immediately slipped out from underneath her and said, “Come on. I’ll push you for a bit.”
“I didn’t know you were a sucker for swings.” As she got comfy on the swing seat, she turned back to Scotty and said, “Not going to try to push me around the world are you?”
“Not today. Too many branches to go through,” teased Scotty.
It was childish, but she couldn’t stop giggling. It didn’t help that Scotty kept catching her to either kiss or tickle her with each push. When he caught her at the end of the one push, she asked, “Want me to push you some?”
“Sure,” Scotty said. They swapped spots. While Alice couldn’t push Scotty nearly as high, Scotty laughed just as much as she was.
At the end of one push, she noticed the time when it flashed up on her watch. “Fuck.”
“What is it, baby?” asked Scotty. He was concerned by her tone of voice.
“I need to go back and reopen the pool.”
Fortunately, Scotty understood. He immediately stopped swinging. Alice half expected him to jump off mid-swing, but he didn’t. She was glad because she didn’t want him to screw up his knee after getting cleared to play. But when he did get off the swing, he said with a fair amount of disappointment in his voice, “You didn’t get any lunch.”
“I’ll live,” said Alice as she headed back to the gym.
Scott grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her in her tracks. He said, “Nope. You skip too many meals as it is. I’ll bring you something. Do you want something different?”
Alice should have known that there wasn’t going to be a way to deter Scotty. So it would be easier to just have him get her something. She was hungry. “Nova lox from Einstein’s still sounds good.”