25. Burning Bridges

Ok, I'm not happy with this update but... I don't want to sit on it anymore! I'm really sorry that I missed the last couple days with updates... and you should probably know... I might miss the next couple days too.
Monday should be the start of regular updates until the end so... bear with me!

(I also didn't proof it... AGAIN, sorry)

Cheers!


Burning Bridges - Jason Mraz

It had been two weeks since Alex had held Evan in his arms, beneath the gentle spray of her bathroom shower.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t seen her, or talked to her since then, but now, he was completely heartbroken.

He had been honest with himself, when he said he wasn’t expecting her to just take off with him, but never did he think that she’d take him back. Never.
No, that wasn’t entirely true, he just really didn’t want her to.

Alex kept going over the day he’d left her there, wondering what he could have done differently, if anything, to make her see.
She knew him so well, knew everything, every aspect, did he really have to be so damn upfront about what he wanted? The answer stood, apparently. Or, she just didn’t want to be with him like that.
After all, she was in need of someone to make her feel better, maybe the sex had just been sex for her.

If there was anything Alex was sure of now, it was how Evan had felt when she’d pulled open that bathroom door and found Sarah Hartnell. He felt the heartache, as real, as if he’d been cheated on.
When he’d called Evan that night and she’d answered the phone, she hadn’t hesitated to tell Alex what was going on. He was glad at least, that Jeff had apologise, Evan deserved that much; he wasn’t however happy to hear that she was taking him back.

It wasn’t that people didn’t deserve second chances, even jerks like Jeff, it was just that Evan deserved someone who wouldn’t falter.
She was entitled to a man that would always put her first and never fail in his resolve to love her, and only her. In fact, the more Alex tried to imagine all the things he would want in a man for her, the more he realized that he was only capable of imagining himself in the role.

Alex sighed, and shook his head, trying to remove the image from his head, he couldn’t allow that, not now. Probably not ever.
“Alex!” He turned around at the sound of his voice, so caught up in his own internal monologue, he didn’t even realize where he was.

“Oh… sorry…” He smiled, slightly embarrassed as he doubled back, past a small wrought iron gate that led to a brick stoop, where Amelia and a few friends waited. “Hey, I’m Alex…” He said, extending his hand to the two girls that were flanking her.

“Katharine.” The blond one said, smiling at him before giving Amelia a knowing look, out of the corner of her eye.

The brunette one grinned at him and took his hand next. “Jennie. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Alex nodded in response, reaching out to open the door and extending his hand towards the restaurant in an ’after you’ manner.
He followed the three friends into the upper scale eatery, flagging down a waitress, before heading up to a secluded table.

They talked pleasantries for a while, Alex trying to be as friendly as possible, without having to put too much into the conversation; he was still consumed by thoughts of Evan.
Amelia wasn’t fooled. “You know you need?” She asked coyly, once their food was consumed.

“What’s that now?” Alex asked, smirking. He could only imagine what Amelia would have in mind.

She sat back in her seat, glancing between Katharine and Jennie before turning her gaze back to Alex. “You need to have some fun… loosen up. What do you say to a game of hockey… my friends, versus your friends?”

“You do realize that when it comes to Pittsburgh, ’my friends’ only really includes NHL players?” He quipped, handing his credit card off to the waitress when she came back.

Jennie shrugged, a small smile playing on her lips when she spoke next. “You afraid of us little girls?” She leaned towards Amelia, gently hitting her with her elbow. “I think he knows that we’ll kick his ass.”

“Oh! You think so do you?” Alex laughed, grabbing into his coat pocket and pulling out his cell phone.



“Ok so wait… fuck. What are we suppose to do now?” Max complained as he tied on his skates, watching the girls goof around on the frozen pond.
When Alex had called him, Jordan, TK, Flower and Tanger out for a game of shimmy, they’d all assumed that he was referring to playing with a few male friends, not a college team, of women no less. “If we win… we look like dicks, and they’re not gonna put out. If we lose, we look like idiots, and they’re gonna put out. Either way we’re burning bridges here Gogo…”

Alex could only laugh as the he headed towards the ice, leaving a complaining Max sitting in the back of his SUV.
He heard the crisp, snap, of the ice beneath him as he connected with it. Stretching out his legs as he propelled himself into the middle of the ice. It felt nice, to be out there, freeing.
It’d been years since he skated on pond ice, and years since he’d actually played a game, for nothing more, than to just play the game. “Hey hot shot, you gonna be ok?” Amelia asked as she skated by him, concern in her eyes.
He nodded, trying to hide any trepidation in his eyes. Amelia let out a loud sigh and slid around in front of him, causing him to stop. “Alex, you know I think she’s a nice girl… but you have to let her go. It’s over. You tried, you really did, but some things just aren’t meant to work out…”

It sounded like another person talking about that stupid word again, fate. Fate. Who did fate think he was, anyway? Really, hadn’t Alex done everything right?
Had he really ever done anything in his life so horrible that he deserved to be stuck in limbo like this?
Maybe it was like what Max had just said. Whether you win or lose, you’re always burning a bridge.
He could win the battle, but maybe he wasn’t meant to win the war.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I Want You To - Weezer

“Ok so how does this work… you guys want a couple free shots… or what?” MAx quipped skating between the girls as he came to a stop, somewhere in the middle of the ice.

Amelia snorted, heading towards him. “Well, how about we just see how it goes, stud.” She smirked, coming to a stop in front of him and setting her blade on the ice. “Let’s get it on.”

Max let out a whistle and looked over at Jordan, giving him a wink. Suddenly, his prospects for the night were looking up. Or so he though.
Max gave Amelia the first puck drop, not even bothering to attempt and win the face off. He watched her take off across the ice, and move to go after her.

The guys were laughing, until Katharine scored. “Whoa, Flower… I mean, I’m all for making them feel good but, don’t let them score.” TK groaned as he skated behind the net, shaking his head.

Flower nodded. “Yah… don’t let them score anymore… oui…” He said slowly, hoping the guys didn’t realize that he didn’t let them do anything. Alex started to laugh, loudly, recognizing the look on Marc’s face, before skating back out to the center ice.

“So… can you guys do spins and stuff like that… dancing and what not?” TK asked as he came to a halt by Jennie. “Like for practice and stuff?”

“Yah.. Instead of practicing hockey, we practice ice dancing.” Jennie quipped, rolling here eyes as she let out a quiet giggle.

“You mean figure skating?” TK corrected, watching her take her place across from him.

She shook her head. “No… ice dancing… it‘s a sport.”

Jordan snorted, looking thoroughly perplexed as he came to a stop by everyone else. “And just when I thought they couldn’t out-queer figuring skating… here comes ice dancing!”

The game resumed, this time the guys put more effort into it, finishing with an 8-2 lead over the girls.
Once everyone decided that they were done for the evening, Max suggested they all go out and grab some food. “Unless of course… you wanna try some grade A, Canadian beef.”

Rolling her eyes Amelia turned around in the front seat of Alex’s car, to speak to Max directly. “You don’t have an off switch for that big mouth, do you?”

Max shook his head. “Non, I just keep going… and going… and going…”

“Hmm… that’s just too bad then. You know what they say about men with big mouths, don’t you…?” Amelia grinned, leaning further towards Max, until her cleavage was no longer ignorable, and a seductive pout was on her face. “… they’re tiny everywhere else.”

“OH SNAP!” Jordan yelled as TK and Katharine started to laugh. Max sat back in his seat, looking slightly annoyed and amused at the same time. Trying to maintain some kind of dignity, he turned and glanced out the window as Alex headed into town.



Alex felt fairly out of place as his loud female friend and her team, laughed along with his louder team-mates. He tried to blend into the wall, thankful, for once, that no one was paying attention to him at all.
It wasn’t that he wanted to be anti-social or a stick-in-the-mud, he just didn’t want to have to pretend that he was in a good mood. Cause he wasn’t.

“God, eat all the asparagus and you’re gonna be on the man-hunt tonight.” Jennie laughed as she watched Amelia chow down on some deep fried veggies.

“Sorry… but how does asparagus have anything to do with hooking-up?” Max asked sceptically as Alex continued to ignore the conversation around him. He wanted to help his friend out, he knew Alex was heartbroken and that he should be trying to help him move on… but he was fairly fascinated by Alex’s, friend to pay attention.

“What? You never heard of an aphrodisiacs? Big player like you don’t use them?“ Amelia cut in, laughing as she pulled another piece into her mouth.

Max snorted. “Please, I am an aphrodisiac.”

Jennie held up her hands laughing. “Wait, no oysters, chocolate, strawberries, green m&ms… nothing?”

Shrugging Max looked over at the guys, they all looked just as confused as him. “Why? You mean to tell me that shit actually works?” Amelia nodded, staring at Max condescendingly.
He glanced down at the table and lifted up the empty pretzel bowl, moving to pass it to Amelia, as Alex‘s phone began to vibrate.
Alex got up and left the table in a hurry, as Max stared at Amelia, waiting.

“And what do I do with this?” She asked sceptically, holding the empty bowl in her hand.

“It’s pretzel salt…” He replied, matter-of-factly, “ya lubed up yet?”

Alex headed towards the bathroom hallway, as the laughter of his friends faded behind him. “Evan?”

“Hey Alex! What’s up?” Her cheery voice asked softly. Alex smiled as soon as the familiar sound filled his ear.

“Just out eating with the guys, Amelia, and some of her friends… what about you?”

Evan glanced around her room as she put her free hand on her hip. The room was slightly chaotic as she tried to pack up, last minute. “Well I’m actually just letting you know that I’m going away for the weekend, in case you were looking for me or whatever.
I decided to take a last-minute trip to the Sewickley Spa… you know… just to get a break from the wedding planning and all that junk.”

Alex nodded. “Right… well… give me a call when you get back, you’ll have to come visit soon.”

Evan nodded too, as she shoved more things into her bag. “Sounds good Alex, I’ll see you when I get back.” They said their goodbyes and she hung up, glancing behind her to see Jeff coming into the room.

“Do you have to leave tomorrow? I don’t take off till Sunday babe, I’m gonna miss you… this has been nice… I mean, all this time together.” He said, pulling her against his chest as he bent down to gently kiss the tip of her nose.

Evan smiled and kissed him back, her lips gently brushing against his. “I’ll be back in time to see you off, it’s not that long…” She smirked, still not use to her fiancé’s new found free time.
She was glad to be spending time with him, reconnecting with him, but at the same time she missed all the time she use to spend with Alex in his wake.
Oh well, she supposed that was just the way the world worked. You couldn’t have it both ways, and which ever way you went, you were always burning a bridge behind you.