"And you know that the only reason I’m letting you stay is because you don’t have anywhere else and I don’t trust the hotels around here, right?" Fran asked, stopping at the door to her apartment. Taylor nodded, slyly grinning. "And don’t think about coming into my room. If I catch you even looking in there, you’re toast, alright?"
"Fine. I won’t go in unless you invite me."
"Good…wait a minute! What makes you think I’d invite you?" she asked. "If you’re going to think like that then you can find a criminal infested hotel! Goddammit Taylor I can really hate you sometimes. It’s been six years since I’ve let you in my room."
"All the more to let me in now." She gave him a look and unlocked the door. She opened it and let him walk inside after her. He looked around the rather clean apartment before watching her again. "Well this is cleaner than I expected."
"Well Austin’s on the team with me, so we’re almost never home. And he’s a bit of a neat freak, so when we are home, he makes sure that everything’s kept up. You want something to eat? I’m starving."
"That’s alright. Unless you have any Dr. Pepper and jellybeans or Dr. Pepper flavored jellybeans." She involuntarily smiled at the thought of the last time the two had that combination. She reached in the pantry and pulled out a pack of jellybeans. "I actually didn’t expect you to have any."
"Well I guess then we’ll have to get rid of them so I don’t have any." She opened them up and took out a handful. Taylor did the same, and looked around the place. When his gaze fell upon an array of pictures, his eyes caught one familiar one. Him and Fran, a long time ago. They were at a park, his arms wrapped around her from behind. Fran noticed what he was looking at and walked up beside him. "How old were we?" she asked.
"We couldn’t be more than twelve." He stuck his arms around her from behind, the same way they were in the picture. She sighed, looking at how happy she was. Her face was lit up with a smile that couldn’t be fake. She looked above the picture, to a large mirror. Now her face was desolate and confused. Taylor looked at her through the mirror, a concerned look on his face. One fight…one major fight changed everything. She only made it worse to leave him behind and try to start over.
"That was so long ago," she said, recalling back to the picture. "About nine years ago. We were so carefree and didn’t have to worry about anything. That’s when everything was for fun. That was before you made it big, and before I broke my leg. Before Kyle…" she paused.
"Why won’t you let it go?" She turned around to face him, completely uncertain about her answer. She looked deeply into his eyes, and they overpowered her. She fell in love again, right then, right there. He leaned in carefully, to kiss her. Forgetting for once in her life how much he had hurt her, she closed her eyes as his lips pressed against hers. The gentle touch brought back emotions long forgotten, that she had missed. And as the memories returned, the kiss grew deeper. Their tongues danced, racing with each other, flowing together like they knew they should be.
Her hand gripped his hair, but it was hard to do because had chopped it all off. His hands roamed over her back, then circled her body. He tugged at her shirt, only to have her push him away. "Taylor, I don’t think we should be doing this. It’s only going to make things worse." He only put his arms around her waist, pulling her back to him. "Taylor…"
"I love you, Frenchie. Just take me back." She sighed, looking up at him. Here was Frances Carlston, the most popular player and only woman in the NHL, looking up to an old boyfriend. And to think, this star player was barely 5 foot.
"I love you too. But Austin’s going to come in and beat the hell outta you. I hate to say this, but let’s continue it in the bedroom." She let go and started to lead him to the bedroom.
"I told you so."
"Stop gloating or you’re not coming in." He smiled and closed the door behind him.
"I cannot believe I just slept with you."
"I love you too Frenchie," Taylor said, gently stroking her long, blonde hair. She cuddled up to him, her hand resting on his bare shoulder, her head on his chest. It was weird to be laying in bed with him again, and at least this time she had a big enough bed. Her emotions were completely fucked up as well as…nevermind.
"So what’s going to change now? Do I have to start seeing you again?" Fran asked. He smiled down at her, giving her all the answer she needed. "I’m guessing I’m going to have to go back to Tulsa sometime. I do have to see your family again. Six years…where’d the time go?"
"Why are you sounding so upset about going back? It’s not like there’s anything there that you’re avoiding." She remained silent, looking away. "Frenchie, is there something in Tulsa that you’re avoiding? Well, someone?"
"I went back when I was seventeen, mostly because my mother insisted on it. I avoided you, and I went back to see Tyler and the guys…well I didn’t leave Tyler in the best way possible."
"What happened?"
Fran was hoping he wouldn’t be mad, but she couldn’t lie to him now. Something about the present conditions… "I-I, I don’t want to talk about it." She squinted her eyes shut and held onto him tightly, an unwanted image in her mind. "I’m sorry that I brought it up."
"Fran, you have to tell me now or it’ll bug me for the rest of my life." She felt tears welling in her eyes, just thinking about it.
"Tyler, well… he raped me." She felt tears rolling down her cheeks and his body tensed, but he didn’t say anything. She waited, and waited. Finally, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. "Don’t go ballistic and go kill him or anything, Taylor."
"I won’t. I’ll make sure to only send him to the ICU." Fran shook her head and sat up.
"Taylor, please. It was half my fault because I know that I’m strong enough to get anyone off me when I want to. It was just something about the conditions and he had pinned me down so I couldn’t move." She laid back down. "Let’s just get off the subject."
"Alright." But Taylor knew that in his mind, that subject would never leave.
"I’m so sorry for being mad at you before. I can definitely say I won’t be forgetting tonight. Stanley Cup and the world of Taylor all in one night." He cracked a smile.
"I have something for you." She gave him a strange look, but waited as he fumbled around. Eventually he turned back to her, a silver ring in his hand. "Now this is you typical promise ring…"
"Oh my God."
"Will you let me give it to you or is it too early?" Fran looked up at him and smiled. He slipped the ring on her finger. She looked over it, glistening in the moonlight. It’d been too long since she’d seen it, she was surprised it still fit. "So does this mean we’re back together?"
"I guess so." She put a hand over her mouth and yawned. "I’m tired." He held onto her tightly and let her drift into sleep. When he was sure that she was asleep, Taylor kissed her forehead and closed his eyes.
When Fran woke up, Taylor was still out. She smiled at him and quietly made her way out of his arms, trying her best not to disturb him. She threw on a robe, deciding to be lazy. As she walked out, she heard Taylor shift in the bed. "Frenchie?" he asked. She turned to him, still smiling.
"Hey. I’m gonna go warn Austin that you’re here before he sees you and beats the hell outta you. Get dressed," she said, and then walked out of the bedroom. Austin was making himself some breakfast in the kitchen. "Hey Austin, I didn’t hear you come in last night."
"I was a bit late, the flight got delayed. You were lucky not wanting to go out clubbing afterwards, I didn’t get in till about an hour ago. Good thing I got a lot of sleep on the plane." Fran smiled.
"Well I had my fun," she said, looking away. Austin looked over her face, hoping for an explanation. Her eyes finally met with the man. He was cute, she had to admit that, and he was the only other American on the team. His blonde hair and brown eyes suited him quite nice, and he had the body of an athlete; thin and muscular. "Before you jump to any conclusions, I brought a guy home last night…he’s still here."
"Fran…"
"That’s not the worst part." Austin leaned against the fridge, waiting. "He’s Taylor."
"Fran!" She ran over, trying to keep him quiet. "I thought you told me that you never wanted to see him again and now you’re sleeping with him?" Fran put her hand over his mouth, keeping him quiet.
"I know, I know, it just happened. I can’t change it now, and I’m not regretting it at all. So don’t go ballistic at him or anything. Please, just don’t." Austin sighed. "Please, Austin. If I can forgive him, so can you. I forgave you for almost ruining my career…"
"I thought you said you’d never bring that up again." She shrugged. "Fine, I won’t bother. Just when he leaves, tell me why you took him back." Just then Taylor came out of the bedroom.
"I’m getting a flight back home, and I’ll get some stuff cause I didn’t really pack anything," he said to her. She nodded. "I’ll be back later today." He kissed her, nodded to Austin, then left. A few moments after the door closed and he was gone, Austin tugged at her robe to get her attention. She looked back and he cleared his throat.
"Austin I don’t know why I took him back. It’s just something about him that makes me want to forgive him and makes me want to be with him again. It’s probably the fact that I don’t think I ever stopped loving him." Austin looked at her suspiciously, which automatically made her realize she said something wrong.
"And when you were with me, were you still in love with him?" She groaned and began to walk out of the kitchen, to the main room. "How bout when you slept with me, were you thinking about him then?" She paused, not knowing what to say.
"We don’t need to talk about this, Austin. We were the past, we’re not together anymore," she said, turning back around. He was clearly upset, and she hated it. "What’s done is done and we’re through." She began to walk back, slowly.
"Well that just makes me feel a whole lot better. I thought we had something nice, and it didn’t work out for its own reasons, but we’re still best friends. Did you even care about me at all or were you just in love with Taylor and not willing to think about anything or anyone else?"
"Austin, shut up! I was in love with Taylor but it was dormant. When we went out, I was in love with you. I did think about him, but not as often as you think. You know how close we were and you knew when we started the relationship that I was still in love with him. You knew!" Austin leaned against the fridge again, then shook his hair from his face.
"I knew but I couldn’t just drop all my feelings for you. I still love you, Fran, but I don’t make a deal about it."
"I don’t need to hear this, I’m with Taylor again."
"Yeah and everything’s perfect?" Austin asked. "It’s not going to last. He’s going to find that girl he was in love with before that ruined you and he’s going to ruin it again. Then you’ll come crying to me and I won’t be here. He’s a jerk, get over him." Fran swung out her fist without even thinking, and hit him in the face, knocking him over.
"Oh my God!" she said, kneeling next to him. He looked up at her and removed his hand from his cheek, looking at it. He was bleeding now, in a few spots and she could tell a nice bruise would form in the near future. "Don’t get me mad, you know what I can do."
"Yes I know, but I was waiting for you to crack. You haven’t hit anyone in years." She sighed and helped him up, getting a very useful ice pack from the freezer. "Man, how many times have we beaten each other up since we first met?" She smiled.
"Millions. Come on, let’s get you over to the couch. It’s a good thing we didn’t get a white one or I’d be close to red right now." She took his hand, and led him over to a long couch which dominated the corner of the living room. It wasn’t long before she realized that she really needed to stop this. She was too close with Austin and she knew Taylor would get jealous. That was just the way he was. But she couldn’t just give up her life with Austin to have Taylor around. Of course there was the millions of fights that they had—as a result they’d broken up seven times before actually breaking up—but they’d always been that way.
Fran gently stroked her best friend’s hair as his head lay in her lap. "I need to go back to Tulsa." Austin looked up at her, upset. "I know you don’t want me to, and I know it’ll bring back a lot of shit. But I have to get over this some time. I mean I lived there for fifteen years, Austin. It’s not right for me not to go back."
"It’s not good for you to go back and face what happened to Kyle again. I saw you after you went earlier, you cried for days over him." Fran shook her head, looking away.
"Austin, Kyle is dead. There’s nothing I could do about it. I can’t bring him back, and I need to face that."
"What about you and Tyler?"
"I’m going to have to avoid him. I don’t know how I’ll react when I see him and personally I don’t ever want to see that bastard again."
"And what about you and Taylor?"
"I don’t know what I’m going to do about Taylor," Fran said. "I’m so in love with him that I can’t think of anything else without him getting in the way! Then I’m so mad at him and he thinks everything is just as it used to be. I know that when I go back he’s going with me. And with the whole Stanley Cup thing, it’s going to be even worse. I’m going to have people hounding me wherever I go." She let out a shaky breath. "But I need to go back."
"Do you want me to go with you?" Austin asked.
"No, that’s alright, I have Taylor with me," Fran said with a smile. "Anyway if I do meet up with Tyler and he sees you with me, well then your ass is as good as dead."
"Why did you all hate me so much?" Austin asked. "All I did was keep you from playing for a little while." Fran gave him a pointed look. "What? I didn’t do anything, you tripped over me and landed wrong, how am I supposed to help that?"
"Austin it took me seven months to fully recover from what you did to me. You kept me from playing anything for five months. I lost my record of five year MVP because of you and I lost my trip to New York. I lost the support of my team and I lost many of my best friends. You ruined my life for almost a whole year."
"I can’t say anything to that, you know. If I apologize—for the billionth time—then you’ll just hit me and say that I don’t mean it. What do you want me to do?" Austin sat up. Fran just shrugged.
"Accept it. That’s all I can tell you. I won’t change and I sure as hell know you won’t change. But everything around us is going to shift and there’s nothing you can do about it. Taylor’s back in my life and I love it. I’m going back to Tulsa, and a lot is going to happen there. I just know that a lot is going to happen, because I know too many people."
"Well what do you plan on doing once you get there?" Austin asked. Fran sat back, folding her arms under her chest. That was probably the hardest question about the entire situation. Who she was going to face and what she was going to do was beyond her.
"To tell you the truth, I have no fucking clue." Austin laughed, and Fran briefly joined in. "I guess I have to go see Taylor’s family, I mean I haven’t seen them as long as I haven’t seen Taylor. I might visit Tyler, but I seriously doubt it. The way we parted wasn’t exactly the best."
"What happened? You’re saying you didn’t part well, so what happened?" Fran bit her lip, thinking about her old best friend.
"I don’t want to talk about it. I’ll just say that I hit him afterwards and sent him to the hospital." Austin laughed, commenting on that he had been there. Fran rolled her eyes. "Anyway, his father got pissed at me for actually hitting him, and when he got out I was just about leave. I didn’t talk to him after I hit him and we haven’t talked since."
"Well that’s a shitty way to leave your best friend." Fran just shrugged. "I sincerely suggest talking to him when you go back because you’re better than that. You were best friends with the guy for around fifteen years, don’t let a mistake get in the way."
"You don’t know what happened, Austin. Don’t expect me to just be able to walk up to him and forgive him. I don’t know if I’m ready to face him at all. I don’t think I’m ready to face any of them but I know I have to." Fran put her hands over her forehead, looking down at the floor. Eventually she looked back up to Austin. "What am I going to say to them? I was so close and then I cut off all communication."
"Tell them what you feel. There’s got to be something you can say. If you can talk to me nonstop every single day and not run out of things to say than you can strike up a five minute conversation with your old friends."
"Yeah, I guess so." Fran sighed. "This is going to be hell for me. My goal is to avoid Tyler at all costs so I don’t have to speak to him." Austin gave her a look. "Fine. I won’t avoid him, but I won’t go looking for him either. With my luck he’ll come around when Taylor is with me. Taylor’s upset enough at him, he doesn’t want to face him at all."
Austin looked at Fran, smiling. Despite the forming bruise on his face and the few cuts around his nose, he was smiling. He looked ridiculous and Fran had to stop herself from laughing at him. "Austin, you look like an idiot. I really need to stop hitting you."
"Yes, you do." Austin stood up, pulling her with him. He pushed her in the direction of her room. "Now go in there and get dressed. You have a long life ahead of you, and this trip back to Tulsa isn’t going to help you at all."
Fran looked back at him and smiled her gratitude. He had helped her through so many things and she didn’t know at all how to repay him.