The Aftermath Chapter 26

Mel's pov


It had been almost five days and I really needed to talk to him, make sure he was okay but a part of me was scared. I had no idea if he even wanted to see me and I had no idea if I could take the rejection if he didn't. I went to knock on the door and hesitated before I turned around to leave. I heard the door open behind me and I froze.


" What are you doing here?" I heard a voice say behind me


I turned and saw Max standing in his doorway. I swallowed, not really knowing what to say.



" I just wanted to make sure that you were okay." I said as I stayed where I was. Sid had told me that his face looked bad but to see it in person made me wince. The whole entire left side of his face was covered in a big black bruise and his eye was still puffy where it had swelled almost shut and there were several spots where they had to glue him because his skin had split open from Jordan's knuckles.


" I'm fine." He said and I noticed that his whole body was tense, like there was some kind of electric current that was running through him. It was cold out and I rubbed my hands over my arms to try to warm up. He looked down and looked back up at me before he stepped away from his door and motioned for me to come inside. I followed him inside. He told me to go sit in the living room and I did as I was told. I watched him as he disappeared and returned a few minutes later with a cup of what looked like hot chocolate. He handed it to me and I took it without saying a word. We both fiddled around for a few minutes before he finally spoke.


" I wish that there was a way that I could take this all of this back." he said without looking at me


" I know Max. I know that you didn't mean what you said. You just had too much to drink and let your emotions get the best of you."


He looked at me for a minute and I could tell by the clenching of his jaw that what I had said wasn't the right thing.


" I said I wish I could take it back, but that doesn't mean I didn't mean it. Yeah I was drunk and I shouldn't have said what I did but I meant every word of what I told you."


He moved closer to me and cupped my face with one hand. I held my breath as he moved closer and put his lips on mine. I didn't kiss him back until he put his thumb on my chin and got me to open my mouth. I put my hand on his bicep and leaned into the kiss as his tongue swept into my mouth. My mind shut itself off as I let the sensations of his mouth on mine take over any rationale thought that I may have had. I was surprised by how gentle he was and when he broke the kiss I found that my hand had a fistful of his shirt in it and that I was breathing like I had just run a marathon.


" Now tell me that I didn't mean what I said." he said as he grabbed my hand and pulled it away from his shirt. He looked at me for a few seconds before he leaned over kissed me one more time and then got up and disappeared. I was so confused and his kisses did nothing to help the situation. No matter what I did I was going to hurt someone and lose one of my best friends in the process. I got up and made my way to the front door to leave. I knew that he would want anwsers and I just wasn't in any kind of condition mentally to give them to myself much less anyone else. I slipped out the front door and into the Suv that Sid had let me borrow. I went to start the car and I looked up and saw Max standing in the window looking at me. Our eyes met and I could see even from a distance how hurt he looked. I lowered my eyes and backed out of the driveway so I could head back to the place that had become my home the last few days. I went inside Sid's entrance and holed myself into the guest room that had my stuff in it.


Jordan's Pov


The very next day I found myself sitting at a table with a microphone in my face reading the statement that had been prepared by the PR staff.


" It was a regrettable thing that happened that night and I am aware that my actions have negativly affected not only myself but my teammates, the Penguins organization and the fans and for that I am truly sorry. I have taken a lesson from this and hope that everyone will forgive me and let me move forward into the future.



I had been instructed to leave it at that and to not anwser any questions that the press was sure to have. Everything besides that had to be no comment. The swelling in my hand was just about gone and Coach B said I could practice today after the media conference as long as I felt good. I needed to get out on the ice, to practice until my muscles screamed at me. I knew that Talbo wasn't going to be anywhere around because the PR people wanted to keep us seperate for awhile until this blew over and from what I had heard I had messed up his face enough that he probably wouldn't be able to play anyway. I knew that I was suppose to be remorseful and I guess a part of me was but there was an even stronger part of me that was whispering in the back of my head.




" He deserved it. He deserved worse."




I shook my head and tried to get that thought out of my head. I knew what I had done was stupid and immature but I remember the satisfaction of feeling my knuckles hit his skin. I had been plenty pissed about different things in the course of my life but this had been different. It was like my mind had seperated from my body and I couldn't control my actions. I just did what felt right and punching him had felt right. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't realize that I had walked into the locker room and that everyone was staring at me like I was insane. I ducked my head down and quickly walked to my stall and started to strip so I could put my gear on. The usually loud room was deathly quiet as I started to pull on my underarmour. It didn't take long as I completed the familiar routine and in no time I was making my way out on the ice. I only talked to the guys when I had to and I was starting to get pissed. They could all go fuck themselves for all I cared. It's not like they wouldn't have done the same if he had hit on one of their girlfriends or wives. I got sick of the attitude and decided that I just wanted to go home. I told the coach that my hand was starting to hurt and that I would try it again tomorrow. There was only one person that I needed to talk to before I left. I skated over to where Sid was standing against the boards with Billy and Eats. They both looked up and skated off as I approached. Sid turned around and before I could even get a word out he stopped me.




" She's doing okay and that's all I'm going to tell you. If you want to know more you'll have to talk to her yourself."

I wanted to scream I was so pissed. Things weren't suppose to be this complicated and messed up. All I wanted to do was be with the women that I loved, maybe get married and have our own brood of kids someday and along the way be able to play a game that I love until my body couldn't do it anymore. I stripped out of my stuff and threw it all in the direction of my stall. I didn't bother to shower, I just wanted to retreat into my house and not leave until I had to. I ignored all of the fans as I jumped into my car and took off. The next five days went pretty much the same. The two games that we played in that time didn't even help to distract since I was playing like I was in peewee again. I knew that I should just go and talk to her but I was afraid that she would want nothing to do with me after everything that happened. It killed me to think that she may not want anything to do with me again. I was sitting in my stall for another practice and I still wasn't out of my funk. Little did I know that it was only going to get worse. We went out and as much as I tried I couldn't concentrate. Afterwards Sid came over and handed me an envelope and he had a look of pity on his face. I took it without a word and sat it on the small shelf in my stall until I was finished changing. I signed some autographs to make up for not doing it the last few days and really I was just trying to prolong the fact that I was going to have to read whatever the letter said eventually. I threw all of my gear into my car along with the letter and I went home so I could do it in private. I sat on my couch and ran my fingers over the plain white envelope that had my name printed on it in her handwriting. I finally got the nerve to open it and I found a single sheet of paper inside

Dear Jordan

I know that I should tell you this in person but I can't bring myself to see you right now. I need time to think about things and I can't do that here so I've decided to go home for awhile. I know that you would never hurt me but after seeing what you did I just don't know if I can ever look at you the same way again. Please don't try to contact me, when and if I want to talk I will let you know. No matter what I hope you know that I love you and always will but I just don't know if things will ever be the same. I hope that you and Max can at least be civil to each other in the future, if not for each other than for the sake of the team. I would hate to be known as the yoko ono of the Pens and I know that you are both better than that. If you love me at all you will do what you can to fix it between you two. If you can't do that then I think that there will never be any hope for us.

Melany

I slid the paper back into the envelope and sat it on my coffee table. I called Sid and he must have known I was going to call because he anwsered on the second ring.

" She's already gone man. I'm sorry." he said " I tried to talk her out of going but she is pretty messed up about what happened.

" Did she say anything?" I asked as I ran my fingers through my hair

" Just that she needed to get away from everyone so she could think and that I need to make sure that you and Max are okay."

" Alright. If you hear from her will you let me know."

" Yeah of course but the way that she was talking I don't think that's going to happen." I knew he was right but I made him promise anyways. I wanted to get on the first plane to Thunder Bay and find her and beg forgiveness but I knew if I didn't respect her wishes that it would just make things worse. I really hoped that I hadn't damaged things beyond repair.