Friends with Benefits

Sixteen.

Practice seemed to have calmed Tyler down. He didn't bring up the texts about Patrik Nemeth when he picked me up. He probably reminded himself of the rule he established that we don't ask about each other's past. We were each other's future.
Since Tyler and I both enjoyed the feeling of my fake nails at my birthday party, and now having a full time job, I could afford to keep up the manicure. I ran my acrylics up and down Tyler's thigh as he drove us to one of his favorite pizza spots, Social Pie. Tyler revved the engine of his Ferrari at a red light.

"That feels good, baby." He purred just like his car. I smiled over at him. "Do it on my balls." I laughed with his chuckling. "I'm serious. Do it. Hurry." I shifted my body to bring my other hand to the tight bump in his suit pants. I teased at him with my nails. His reaction was adorable as he tried to endure it and keep his eyes on the traffic light. His cheeky smile was intoxicating. I kissed the small freckle under his bottom lip. "Mmm..kiss me." I pecked his lips right as the light turned green. "Ohhh. Stay like that so I can check out your boobs." I giggled enticingly. I squeezed my boobs together so the cleavage was sticking out of my low cut blouse more. He raised his eyebrows and smirked. I giggled again at his obvious shifting of his eyes to my boobs and the road.

Social Pie was surprisingly busy for a Thursday night. A few people recognized Tyler, especially our waitress, Tina. She would glare at me whenever she assumed Tyler couldn't see. Tina wrote down our orders and trotted away to the kitchen. Tyler sipped on his ice water, glancing up at the big tv across the room for sports highlights. I took a big gulp of my beer. I scanned the many faces as I always do in crowded settings. The one face I stopped on almost had me drop my beer. He was standing at the bar talking to two blondes. Figures. His eyes met mine hastily like I shouted his name across the restaurant.

"Holy shit. Nemeth is here." I said the words through a smile that I kept in his direction. Tyler sat up straight in his chair. "And now he's walking over here."
"He's probably coming over to talk shit to me."
"That's not why." I corrected him nervously.
"Sarah Rose. Look at you." Patrik said, smiling uncontrollably. Tyler's eyes darted back and forth between me and Patrik.
"Hi Patrik. How are you?" I stood up to hug him to be polite. He kissed my cheek as the hug, and his hands, lingered. "It's been a long time." Once he eventually ended the hug, I glanced at Tyler. The rage building inside of him was very apparent.

"Five years is a very long time." His Swedish accent was still there. Knowing he makes it more obvious to attract women made me take a brief look back over to the two, now angry,  blondes. He stole a chair from the table next to us without asking the people to sit at our table. Patrik's eyes were glued to mine as he sat down. He lowered his eyes to my chest. I covered my cleavage with my hand, pointing the other to Tyler.
"Patrik, you know Tyler Seguin." I watched them pretend to play nice and shake hands. "My boyfriend." I announced happily. Tyler smirked at me.
"Wow, boyfriend? She used to be scared of commitment back when I used to..well, you know!" He slapped Tyler on the back so hard it made Tyler jolt forward. Tyler's smile faded. He cleared his throat and motioned his fingers between us.

"Is that how you two know each other?" Tyler quizzed us. I spoke before Patrik could say a word.
"I met Patrik five years ago when I moved out here to Dallas. He was actually on the Stars then." Tyler acted being surprised by wording 'wow'. I forced a smile. "I was 19!" I attempted to ease the tension in the air with a laugh. It didn't work.
"I took her virginity." Patrik said to Tyler proudly. I lost all the air from my lungs. Tyler glared his eyes at me.
"Well! This has been sufficiently awkward. It was good to see you again, Patrik." I stood up to give him the hint to leave.
"Always good to see you, min vackra ros." I smiled awkwardly at the familiar nickname. We gave each other another hug. It lingered more which noticeably angered Tyler. I pushed him from me and sat back into my chair. "See you on the ice, Seggy." He gave Tyler another slap on the back. Tyler clenched his jaw and tightened a fist. He checked over his shoulder before he whispered to me.

"What the fuck did he call you?" Tyler asked, wiping sweat from his forehead. He ran his fingers through his long curls.
"It's 'my beautiful rose' in Swedish." His jaw clenched tighter that I could see it through his thick beard.
"Babe. Save it for the ice." I whispered, watching Patrik leaving the restaurant with the two blondes.

I met up with Holly at Will Call. She held up the shoulder of her jersey to show me it was number 14, Jamie Benn. I laughed and turned around to show her my Seguin jersey. We grabbed her ticket and made our way inside.
While waiting in line for the first round of beers, I cautiously filled her in on the drama that happened last night at Social Pie. Although she was bummed she missed it, she kept her two cents until we would talk back at work. I warned her about the possible nosey people around since I was easily recognized now as 'Seguin's girlfriend'.
The boys were still warming up on the ice by the time Holly and I made it to our seats. We set our beer down to stand at the glass so we could wave and cheer on the Stars as they skated by, stretched and shot pucks at the net.
I spotted Tyler right away, of course. We still weren't okay after last night. We didn't even have reunited-after-two-weeks-apart-sex. We cuddled and watched a movie. I drank a ton of wine and passed out. I woke up to Tyler already gone and a note attached to one of his labradors, Gerry, that said he needed to 'be on the ice early with Jamie'. Whatever that meant.
I waved to Tyler anyways. He waved back with a gentle smile on his lips.

"I guess he doesn't hate me after all." I said aloud, shrugging my shoulders watching him skate to the benches. Holly shook her head at me.
"He's crazy about you." She whispered into my ear. I smiled at her. I noticed Tyler skating in circles. I looked down the ice to see Patrik skating near the entrance of the other benches.
"Oh, no." I voiced with concern.
"What, what?" Holly tried to make sense of what I can see.
"Tyler is superstitious. He needs to be the last player touching the ice after warm ups."
"Yeah? So?"

"Patrik isn't leaving the ice. Look." I pointed to Patrik taunting Tyler by still skating by the benches door. Holly gasped. I helplessly peered down the ice. Tyler leaned against the wall and waved Patrik off the ice. The fans laughed at the interaction. Patrik lifted his hands to signal defeat and almost stepped off the ice. He came back on to drop his gloves, point at Tyler then point to the middle of the ice. Tyler calmly waved him off the ice again. Patrik picked up his gloves and finally got off the ice. Tyler turned around to look at me, furiously, before hopping off the ice.
"This is going to be fun!!" Holly exclaimed before gulping down the beer.