Could There Be Something More?

Aberleigh-

I escaped the arena easily enough once I got back to my office. As soon as I got home I changed into my flannel pajamas and curled up in front of my fireplace with a book. I was six pages in when my phone rang; I sighed when I saw Danielle's number.

"What kind of trouble are you in now, Danielle?" I laughed as I heard the loud thump of bass in the background.

"No trouble. Yet. Come out!" She whined into my phone.

"Dani, tonight's my night. I want to just sit by the fire and read. Relax." I laughed as she relayed this to whoever was behind her.

"Ok, Abbs. Be careful though. You're going to turn into an old bat soon." I rolled my eyes as I hung up and picked up my book again. The Time Traveller's Wife. It was an interesting concept. I mean, for the guy, you just disappear in time with no control. For Claire, who I felt I related too, you knew this man since you were six. You knew you would marry him since you were six. And as you got older, you knew he'd leave... But that didn't make it any easier.

I was so involved in my book that I actually jumped when the phone rang again. I glanced down at the caller ID. Private number? Dani's the only one who called this number, and her's isn't blocked. Work would call my cell or just email me. Who the....

"Hello?" I asked tentatively finally hitting the one button before it went to voice mail.

"Hey... Hi, Aberleigh... It's Marc-Andre. Fleury." Marc-Andre? Why was he calling? How did he get my number?

"Oh! Hi, Marc..." letting my sentence hang as what's wrong ran through my head.

"I got your number from Max. Sorry..." Of course! Max. That manipulative little snipe! After everything I said to him he couldn't help but... I took a deep breath, calming myself down from my anger at Max. It was kind of cute how much he cared about Marc. It actually made me laugh gently.

"Don't apologize. What do you need?"

"I just thought I'd see... How you were..." Oh... my... god.... He called just to see how I was??? Okay, Abbs... Calm down. You're panicking!

"I'm good thanks. Are you sure every thing's okay?" I listened to him sigh, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Yah, look I'm sorry about this... but I was wonder... Do you think you'd come to watch my game tomorrow?" He said the words so fast I had to slow them down in my head. Did he just ask me to a game? Professional, Aberleigh. You're a professional.

"Of course, Marc. I'm always at the home games; I need to be there in case something happens..."

"No, I know... I meant, would you watch it? Like, in the stands?" WHAT? Could I get fired for that? Would it cross the line? I hesitated thinking through everything that could and would go wrong. "I could get you some more tickets, if you wanted to take Dani with you... right behind the net!" Behind the net? Isn't that where... Oh God... He wants me to sit with the girlfriends? Why did I have a strange feel Max had everything to do with this.

"Was this Max's idea?"

"What? No-. This was my idea... Why?" Great. Now I've offended him. I sighed deeply.

"Oh! Never mind... I thought." Damnit Max, now you're messing with my head. "sure Marc. Sure, I'd love to watch your game..."

"Great! Okay, great! Ummm... you wanna get something to eat first?" I ran through my day in my head. Taking the game off, I'd need to squeeze another two hours of work into my already crazy day. I smiled as I heard him inhale sharply and hold his breath.

"Well, I actually can't..." And really shouldn't. "I'm going to have to work all day if I want to take the game off." Plus you're a player and I work for the team. "But, maybe after?" Oh god.... I hung my head as I just heard my own words. What am I saying??

"Yah, of course. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then... night."

"Good night, Marc." I sighed. I stood up from the floor and extinguished the fire before noticing a giant smile on my face. Oh god....


Danielle glared at the binder in my hands as we took our seats in the middle of the girlfriends. I could tell not a single one of them was happy I was sitting in her seat. But, that wasn't my choice. I sighed deeply and opened the binder, hoping to get a little bit more done on the skates and plates release. It was coming up fast. Shoot! I forgot to talk to advertising. I made a quick note to do that early tomorrow and continued to go through my information. I felt someone staring at me, causing me to look at and into the eyes of Marc-Andre. I smiled deeply and gave him a small wave before turning back to my work. Danielle giggled and so did some of the other girls... Oh crap... This was going to be a long game.


The game was good. Marc was good. He was playing with passion again. One of the girls, Heather, I think, she introduced her self as Jordan's girlfriend, said it had everything to do with me. But I don't really believe that. Marc did it. Not me.

Danielle and I chatted easily as we headed out to the parking lot to wait for Marc. I looked over at her again and saw the same gigantic grin on her face.

"Dani, what's going on? You're planning something." I eyed her suspiciously and caught a lone figure heading towards us slowly. Suddenly another one came running past the first. Max?

"Ready, babe?" He cooed at Dani, kissing her cheek and opening the passenger side door of her car. The car she insisted on us car pooling in this morning. No way. She nodded and grinned sliding in, as Max rounded the car to the drivers side.

"Have fun, Abbs." She grinned through the window.

"Danielle, you can not leave me here! Not by myself. Dani!" I panicked as they drove off. Shit... Now what?

I turned just as Marc was arriving.

"Where'd they go?" He asked still staring off at where the car used to be.

"To hell I hope. That was my only mode of transportation." I sighed, smoothing down my simple tulip skirt.

"Well, I'm just over here. We can go to the diner and get some food. If you're hungry." We chuckled as my stomach growled. "I just that's a yes?" I sucked in a deep breath, before loudly expelling it and nodding. Following him to his giant Range Rover.

I smiled as he opened the door for me before throwing his hockey bag in the trunk and sliding into the driver's side.

"So, did you enjoy the game?" He asked nervously.

"It was good... First time I've ever sat in the stands." I looked over at him and smiled. "Thank you." He nodded obviously embarrassed as he drove easily to the small diner near the rink. The silence that fell over us was the best silence I've ever experienced. It wasn't uncomfortable or awkward. It was like sitting next to a person you have known all your life.

We got to the diner and were whisked away to a table in the back. It was nicely secluded but still so you could see the whole restaurant. Conversation started to flow easily as we got into the basic questions of each others lives. How many siblings, where did you grow up? How'd you get into hockey? Why PR?

It turned out we had a lot more in common then both of us thought. Like, we both had one younger sibling. Me, a brother; him, a sister. We both came from small towns. Mine in upstate New York; his Quebec. We were interrupted once as the waitress came and took our orders. I laughed as he ordered a cheese burger with fries and a chocolate shake.

"Aren't you supposed to eat healthily?" I grinned having ordered a simple salad, dressing on the side.

"Shouldn't you be eating more?" He countered.

"Nope. My salad is just fine thank you." I panicked inwardly. I hated eating in front of guys in general. But in the middle of a diet was even worse. Oh well. Five more pounds.

We fell back into a comfortable silence as we both began to watch the people in the restaurant. Dinner flew by quickly and easily and I soon found myself sitting nervously in the passenger seat of Marc's SUV. Why was I so insanely nervous?

"I had a lot of fun tonight, Marc." I smiled over at him.

"Me too." He returned my smile. At that exact moment I just reacted, I leaned over and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek. Regretting it as soon as it had happened I muttered an apology and slid out of the vehicle, running up my steps. I am such an idiot.