Not Another Locker-Room Story

I opened the door slowly and glanced at Abby. She was hugging her knees to her chest as she sat in the tub. I could see slight bruises forming on different parts of her exposed skin; tears flowing down her face. “What happened?” I asked quietly as I walked towards her, kneeling down next to the tub.

“I was pelted with ice blocks since the stupid game started. If that's your idea of fun, Marc, you can have your fun without me!” She snapped at me, as I reached out for her arm; gently rubbing my thumb along one of the bruises.

“Mary...” I said angrily, bringing my eyes back up to hers. “Abby, I'm sorry. Marylene was out of hand. There's not supposed to be any ice used. She's young, and naive... And I don't care what she thinks of you. I love you.” Oh shit! I did not just say that…

“You love me?” She whispered softly, her eyes wide.

I didn‘t know what to say. I expected her to laugh at me but she didn‘t. “Do you love me?” I asked slowly, trying to not let my voice crack. She put her hands around my face, pulling me towards her. I kissed her passionately as she pulled back, just enough to respond.

“I love you Marc-Andre Fleury.”

“I love you too Aberleigh Michaels. More than you could ever know.” I grinned into her as I allowed her to pull me closer. I felt giddy, happy, ecstatic.

“Marc? Aberleigh? Someone has something she'd like to tell you both!” I heard my dad’s voice call up from somewhere in the house. I let out a deep sigh as I pulled away from Abby. I just can’t get a break here… Abby started to laugh as she climbed out of the tub.
I got up and grabbed her a towel. If we were going downstairs there was no way I could see her naked… if I do, Dad’s gonna be waiting for a long time…

Lucky for Dad, unlucky for me; Abby dressed quickly and followed me downstairs. I clutched her hand in mine as I saw Mary standing beside my father; looking ashamed.
“What Mary?” I spat, as I pulled Abby behind me - protectively.

Mary looked up, but didn’t say anything; dad gave her a slight nudge with his elbow. Sighing she finally started to talk. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for what I did outside…”

“Well you should be!” I normally didn’t yell at Mary - I normally didn’t yell at anyone but, I just couldn’t help it. I hadn’t seeing Abby hurt, I hated knowing the purpose behind it even more.

“Marc…” Abby said quietly grabbing my arm and stepping forward to stand beside me. “Don’t yell at her…”

“Abby look at what she did to you!” I turned my attention back to Mary, “I know that you’re upset but you can’t do something like this Mary!”

“I know, I’m sorry.” I let out a sigh and shook my head, she just didn’t understand. “It just… it’s so unfair!”

I felt Abby stiffen beside me as Mary started to cry into her hands; my father pulling her under his arm and signalling to me that this discussion was over. I turned to leave but Abby held me in place. “What’s she talking about Marc?”

“They were suppose to get married! I was gonna be a bride’s maid! She loves him… they’ve been together forever and they were suppose to stay that way!” She didn’t take a breath as the rage began to pour out of her. “Everything was perfect till you came! If it wasn’t for you then none of this wouldn’t have happened… putain!”

“Hey!” My dad yelled, pulling Mary out of the room behind him.

“What did she call me?” Abby said softly, renewed tears falling from her eyes.

I pulled her against my chest and kissed her forehead softly. “It doesn’t matter Abby, let’s just go to my room for a bit until she cools down ok?” She nodded against me as I led her down the hallway.



We laid on my bed for a while; Abby nuzzled into my side as I stroked her hair with my hand. “Did you know? That she felt like that, I mean?”

I nodded slowly, trying to find the right words. “It’s got nothing to do with you personally Abby… she just, always thought I’d end up with Vero.” I sighed softly, trying to find the right words. “She thinks that Vero was the only person who would ever make me happy; and she’s too irrational to realize that I’m happy with you… she just needs some time.”

“It still sucks though.” Abby sighed after a while, causing me to laugh loudly.

“Well I still love you… I guess you don’t care about that anymore though…” I let out a mock sigh of disappointment as she started to giggle; stopping abruptly as someone knocked at the door.

The door opened a crack, revealing Mary standing on the other side. “What now?” I asked, trying to remain civil.

“Can I come in?” I looked down at Abby, she nodded timidly. “I just… wanted to say sorry… for real this time.” She took a step in and stared at Abby and I for a minute before continuing. “I was out of line, and I’m sorry. Vero’s been in my life for as long as I can remember and I just always thought she’d be my sister someday. I know that what happened between them wasn’t your fault and, I’ll try to remember that and not be so awful.”

It was clear that she was still upset but, at least she looked like she now had things under control. I smiled down at Abby, hoping that this would make her a bit more happy.
She grinned slightly as she looked up at me. “So what do you say Abby… if we get married are you gonna let Mary be in the wedding party?”

Her laugh bordering on hysterics she nodded and looked back at Mary. “As long as you want to be…” Mary smiled in response and headed back out the door, closing it softly behind her.
I felt a nudge in my ribs and I looked down at Abby, who looked like she was going to go into shock.

“Are you ok? That was a good thing right… her apologising?” She watched me for a second before nodding.

“Yah, of course… sorry I zoned out.” Wedding comment… too much?



We were sitting in first class on the airplane, flying back to Pittsburgh when it hit me. We were going home. We were heading back to our house, with our puppy… What has this girl done to me? I wasn’t one to fear commitment, obviously, but I had been with Vero for almost ten years and even we never bought a puppy.
It had even seen like a big deal at the time; Sidney and I had been driving through town when I saw Cooper in the window and thought Abby would love him. Now that I thought about it though, I realized what a huge step it had been.

“So… do you not like this Pierre guy?” Abby asked suddenly, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I turned to look at her, realizing that she was picking at a loose thread on her sweater - nervously. “Umm… no I don’t. Why?”

“Is it because he’s dating Vero?” I sighed and chuckled quietly to myself, she had no idea how far she was from the truth.

“No… I’m obviously not excited that she would be foolish enough to date someone like him but… that’s not why I don’t like him.” She finally looked up, confusion still evident on her face. “He’s not a good person." I answered quietly. "I use to play hockey with him and, he was always an ass but, it wasn’t until high school that we really stopped getting along.
He use to date a girl and... suddenly she started coming to school with bruises and cuts and… then one day she ended up in the ER. When the guys on the team asked him about he acted like it was no big deal, said that she had it ’coming to her’… I got into a fight with him and we just… never talked again after that.”

Her mouth had formed a small ’o’ and the sight made me laugh again as I threw my arm over her shoulder and pulled her closer. “Baby you have nothing to worry about… I’m all yours…” She nodded, giving me a smile as she put her head on my shoulder.



“No Cooper, no Cooper, no!” I yelled as I took off down the hall. “Cooper come on… Daddy needs his blocker back!” I almost killed myself as I half-fell down the stairs. “Come on buddy! Look I got your monkey…” I waggled the torn stuffed monkey in front of myself as Cooper and I stood at a standoff in the living room. I heard the front door open behind me but I didn’t bother to turn around; I cringed as Coopers teeth tore through the soft padding on my blocker. “Give it to Daddy Cooper, come on…”

“He’s too cute to be yours… I think Abby cheated…“ I turned to see Max standing in the doorway, flanked by Geno, Sidney and Jordan.

“Hey guys… how’s it goin?” I turned back around, remembering about Cooper; and catching a glimpse of him disappearing down the hallway again. “Shit!”

“So… Abby likes him then?” Sidney chuckled as he flopped down on the couch.

I hopped over the couch and nodded from beside him. “A lot yah but, apparently he likes my gear more…” They all laughed at that as the rest of the guys sat down, turning on the TV and hauling out the Xbox.
Six games into NHL and I had to ask Sidney the question I was dying to ask him. “Hey Sid… you like Abby, right?”

“Sure… why?”

“I don’t know… just wondering…” I said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

“No! No way man… come on!” At first I thought Jordan was mad at the game, but his glare turned around to me. “I know that tone of voice… it’s the same damn tone Eric got before he proposed to Tanya.”

Max nearly choked on his pop. “I’m sorry what!?” He sputtered, flipping his head back and forth between Jordan and I. “Proposed? As in married?” He spat the last word, like it was a disgusting disease. “You just got out of a ten year relationship and now you want to get married to a girl you’ve been dating for what? Two months? Three?”

“Are you serious?” I looked over at Sidney; the only person in the room that was smiling. “That’s awesome, Flower. I think it’s a great idea!”

“A what? Ok no… don’t listen to him… I shit-you-not, this is a bad decision.”

“I haven’t decided anything! I never said I was going to, I just… wanted to know what you guys thought.” I regretted saying anything immediately; at least Sidney seemed please.

“Look don’t get me wrong, I think Abby’s a great girl but… why ruin a good thing? Asking her this soon might just freak her out, and then where would you be?” Max grinned like he had just solved all the world’s problems with his wisdom. Note to self, never ask Max anything about Abby, ever, again… “I still can’t figure out where this came from though… is the sex that good? Oh… the sex is that good isn’t it?”

“I’ve never even heard you say anything about it! Dude… spill it…” Jordan lost all abandon and threw his controller over his shoulder, leaning his body towards me.

“Guys come on… not now… it’s none of your business-”

“She’s kinky isn’t she? Oh man, now I need to know!” Max shouted, cutting me off and high-fiving Jordan.

I sighed and shook my head, turning my attention back to the TV where Sidney and Geno were still playing. “Don’t leave us hanging… on a scale of ‘1 to 10’, Abby is a…?”

I shook my head, not needing the conversation to take this route. “Come on!” Max pressured again; earning a look of disproval from Sidney. “Is she bad then?” Max countered smugly. I knew he was only trying to set me off; but it worked.

“I don’t know… alright!”

“You don’t know? What do you mean you don’t- Oh…” It felt like the air had been sucked out of the room as I hung my head to avoid any eye contact. I wasn’t embarrassed. It wasn’t like I was dating Abby solely because she had a nice body, or because I wanted sex; but I also didn’t want the guys to think that there was something wrong with me. “So never?” Jordan asked slowly, trying to process the concept of a relationship without sex.

Max exhaled loudly, “Why?”

I snapped my head back up and appraised Max. “Are you serious? Why? Because! Because every time I’m about to you show up! Then, when you’re far enough away that I don’t have to worry about you… her parents are in the next room, or my parents are home… it’s just not meant to be…” I sighed and looked away.

“But-” Max started, but I stopped him abruptly.

“She’s not a locker-room story Max, just drop it.” I got up and made my way into the kitchen, pulling the fridge open and searching for a beer.

“I’m sorry…” Sidney said quietly from behind me. “This isn’t anything to be ashamed of you know? It just shows that you guys can have a great relationship even without the physical part… not that Max or Jordan or Geno would ever understand that.” I sighed and turned around, nodding my thanks.

“Yah, I just wish that it wasn’t without the physical thing…”

“Well, didn’t you say she got you a lock for the front door?” I nodded, grinning. “How about you put it up, and let me take care of these idiots.” He chuckled and headed back out into the living room. I could hear him rounding the guys up and kicking them out.
I heard the door shut tightly behind them and I smiled to myself as I walked over to the counter and picked the heavy box. Now to find some power tools…



“I noticed the new addition to the front door.” Abby laughed as she climbed into bed beside me.

“Mmhmm… you enjoy my handy work?” I grinned, pulling her against me, revelling in the feel of her soft skin against my bare chest. I started to place kisses along her jaw and onto her neck, sighing as she let out a gentle moan.

“Oh no! Cooper!” Abby gasped, pushing me off of her. “Damn, he just peed on the bed!” I looked down and stared to laugh as Abby scooped Cooper up in her arms, taking the quilt off the bed with him.
I watched as she headed out of the bedroom and out towards the laundry room, smiling to myself. Not tonight then…