Chapter 22

So I searched youtube for evidence of Max's day with the cup and didn't find anything really noteworthy. I tried to watch something where he was addressing a crowd of people and he was speaking in french to the crowd in which case it would make sense for me to not understand. Anyway, here's the chapter- it's kind of a filler chapter but necessary transition wise. Hope you enjoy it because I am blown away by the other stories that are out there right now and how good they are. It makes me happy that some of those writers read this story too :D You're all so, so fabulous.


Max's POV:

I pulled up to the curb, ignoring the 'no parking zone' signs and waited for Eliza to come out to the street. I had made sure that I was early knowing that if I was late, I would probably piss her off due to her shitty weekend. I was wearing a hat again hoping to avoid fans for at least one day- especially if I was with Eliza. Our last encounter with fans hadn't gone over well with her even though she never mentioned it. She would never complain to me about it, that just wasn't what she was like, but she did try to sneak away and pretend like she didn't know me. So yeah, a day without recognition from anyone would be nice.

The doors opened with a fresh batch of travellers spilling out of the airport and into the fresh air. I didn't see any blondes and leaned back against the side of my car to check my phone in case she had called or something. Nothing.

The weekend had sucked waiting around to hear news of her interview and the fact that all of my friends were too busy to hang out. I wasn't going to lie and say that I was disappointed that the interview hadn't gone well for her. Sure, I was angry that they hadn't given her a chance but it also meant that she would be in Pittsburgh longer. Even if they gave her the job, she sounded like she didn't even want it when I had talked to her late that night.

I needed her to start coming around to the idea of us really being together and I hoped that it would happen soon. I was pretty patient and calm in general but there was something about Lizzy that could make me feel like a teenage virgin all over again and with her meeting my family hopefully in less than a week, it was going to be hard for me to not expect her to give in at least a little bit and admit that she cared about me. I knew that she did, but I needed to hear her say it eventually. Then I'd be able to make her admit that she loves me and all of this waiting around would pay off. I, as a rule in the past, did not do committment so the fact that I was dealing with a girl who was the same way and didn't want to be in too serious of a relationship, was a cruel twist of fate.

I spotted her walking towards me dragging her giant purse, briefcase and small suitcase along with her. She hadn't seen me yet and I could see the look of annoyance on her face as she browsed the crowd for me. Her eyes finally met mine and I saw her smile and walk faster in the direction of my car. She was wearing a pair of old, faded jeans and a sweater with her long hair pulled into a high ponytail on her head. She hardly ever wore jeans, especially ones with holes in the knee. She must really be depressed if she had put on jeans this morning.

"I'm glad I found you, there are a lot of people out here" she said stopping in front of me and smiling.

"Come here" I said pulling her to me so that I could kiss her like I had been wanting to for two days. She tasted like a familiar mix of coffee and sugar due to all of the fake sugar she dumped in her coffee all of the time. Instead of caffeine, I was becoming more and more addicted to the taste of her. I felt her arms wind tightly around my neck as she pushed herself closer towards my height actively meeting my lips. I broke the kiss wanting to continue this at home and grabbed her bags to put them in my waiting trunk.

"I can't believe you parked here right in front of the main doors in the 'no parking zone.'" she said shaking her head at me. "I mean, how did you not get in trouble for this?" I opened the door for her hoping she would be impressed with the chivalrous action and leave my parking decisions alone.
"I wasn't here waiting long" I lied starting the car and grabbing her hand in mine. Her thumb moved idly over the back of my hand as I pulled away from the curb and began the drive back to my house.

"I'm so tired" she said yawning and leaning her head back against the head rest with her eyes shut. After a few more minutes of both of us just listening to the radio, I glanced over and saw that she was asleep, her hand still closed around mine. I pulled the car into the garage next to wear I had pulled hers in the day before. It was stupid for her to always leave her car in the driveway when she could just park it in my garage. She hadn't woken up and and looked as if she would continue sleeping for awhile. I unbuckled her seatbelt and gently led her out of the car and upstairs to lay on the bed while I went back out to the car to grab her bags and leave them in the laundry room for the time being. I wanted to make sure that her gift was well hidden now that she was back and once I saw that it was, I went back downstairs to watch tv and relax already happy that we were back to our routine.


Eliza's POV:

I woke up to the sound of muted laughter downstairs and realized that we were already back at Max's house with me in bed. I glanced at the clock realizing it was after noon and I had been sleeping for over an hour. I felt gross from travelling and decided to take a shower and then go downstairs and make something to eat for Max and I. Maybe I could even convince him to drive me to the grocery store. I'm humming lightly moving around the room happy that I have a day to relax with Max when I begin to notice things. Like the fact that I have sweat pants and comfy clothes in the drawer where he keeps his. Some of my shoes are in his closet along with a few different work clothes that I have just in case. In the shower my loofa is hanging on the shower knob with my shower gel mingling next to his old spice shower gel. One of my bras is even hanging on the back of the door handle in the bathroom where I always hang them in my apartment. Did he notice any of these details? Or did he just not care? Yes we spent a lot of time here at his house together and I usually had an overnight bag so that I could get ready for work in the morning but when had I started to just leave things here making the overnight bag slightly unnecessary? After putting lotion on because yes, I found that here in the bathroom too, I exited the bathroom still in a towel to get dressed. Max was lounging on the bed waiting for me when I walked into the room.

"Hey, you're up" he said grinning at me and eyeing me in my towel. I heard laughter again from downstairs.

"Is anyone here?" I paused trying to hear who it was.

"Yeah, a few of the guys called and came over to watch the Habs game this afternoon. Is that okay?" I nodded and tried to be obvious about taking my clothes out of his drawer to see if he would say anything about it. He was giving me the same look he always did when I was half dressed and I realized that it was pointless to get him to notice on his own.

"Want me to make food?" I asked going over to join him on the bed and give him a quick kiss. More and more I was finding his cluelessness on certain things to be adorable.

"Max!" I squealed as his hands pulled me down on top of him to lay on the bed. "The guys are downstairs!" He was already nuzzling my neck with his stubble scratching lightly. A sure sign that he was looking to get laid.

"They can entertain themselves for awhile" he said as his lips moved over my neck locating the spot that made my heart stop. I could already feel how ready his body was was for mine and shivered at the feel of his hands on the sides of my breasts. Our lips met again hotly and I saw an explosion of lights behind my eyes as he peeled the shirt I had just put on off of my body. Within seconds his own shirt was gone and I knew that there was no turning back. Maybe the guys could wait awhile.


After we had composed ourselves, I let Max go down first while I straightened up the bed we had just messed up. I splashed cold water on my face to try to make the flush I had all over my body disappear. After everytime with Max I always felt like my skin was on fire for hours afterward and I could never quite get the blush to go away. Max on the other hand always looked cool and composed. Satisfied but composed nonetheless. I chalked it up to his being an athlete and me barely able to job a mile without feeling like I was going to die.

Downstairs I walked into the TV room to see Kris, Geno and Jordan lounging on the couch absorbed in some sort of hockey argument about the game they were watching. Jordan noticed me first and pulled me down to sit next to him on the couch.

"Eliza! We were beginning to wonder if Max had locked you up there." I laughed at his fake attempt at flirting and settled in beside him.

"How was wedding?" Geno asked. I froze for a second wondering what the hell he was talking about before quickly remembering that that had been my excuse for leaving this weekend.

"Oh! The wedding was great!" I said relieved that I had caught myself before I said something stupid. On the other side of the couch I could see Max giving me a look of amusement. Which I pointedly ignored.

"So are you guys hungry?" Everyone grunted and nodded except for Kris who smiled and said yes asking if I needed help. Always such a sweetheart.

I decided to investigate the kitchen and see what I had to work with. I loved cooking on Sundays and was used to big family dinners anyway. Plus Jordan, Kris were single and Geno's girlfriend Oksana was in Russia so I was willing to bet that the three of them rarely had homecooked meals.

"We can order in if you don't feel like making something" Max said from behind me. He had followed me into the kitchen during the game's commercial break and was already sliding his credit card out to place it on the counter for me. His refrigerator didn't have much in it due to the fact that he didn't need to grocery shop much when he was on the road a lot and whenever I cooked over here I usually brought the groceries for what I needed on my way over.

"Do you think anyone else is coming? I need to run quick and get the stuff I need to make italian since you don't even have noodles in your pantry."

He shook his head at me frowning when I wouldn't accept his credit card to go shopping with. "But we're men! You'll need to get a lot. Just take it" he said still trying to force the card into my hand.

"You can give it to me but I'm not going to use it" I said laughing at his creative attempt to get the card in my hand. Trapping me against the counter and biting down on my earlobe was not going to work.

"Can you guys stop? It's kind of gross" Jordan grinned walking in to grab another beer from the fridge.

I shoved Max away and grabbed my purse going over what I needed to make Baked Ziti in my head. I was walking around in Giant Eagle when I felt my phone vibrating in my purse. I saw that it was Vero calling before I picked up happy to talk to her.

"Hey V! What's up?" Why did they have to have so many brands of pasta for sale? Weren't they all the same?

"Hey, what are you doing right now?" she asked sounding excited. "I want to hear about your weekend!"

"I'm actually at the grocery store buying food to make dinner for some of the guys who are at the house. You and Marc should come on over. They're watching the Habs game."

"Well Marc and Sidney are out doing something and have been gone all morning. I'll let them know where we all are if you don't mind the extra mouths to feed. I'll help cook!"

We agreed to meet back at Max's house and I doubled back to the International foods section to pick up more boxes of ziti noodles and more sauce. I sent Max a text to let him know that he should be expecting more people before heading over to the checkout line and paying for the food myself. I didn't know where he was getting the idea to let me use his credit card to pay for things all of the sudden. I did make a pretty good living for myself and didn't expect him to do things like that. I knew that professional athletes made good money but I didn't want him to start thinking that I would take his money now. We practically lived together already and I was still getting used to that idea- there was no way that he was going to start taking care of me financially too. I could hold my own with the bills too. I got through the checkout line without incident and made it home within the hour to start preparing the food.

The house was loud with the noise of the game and the guys talking in the next room and it was comforting to get to take it all in and cook a big meal for everyone on a wintery afternoon. Vero was next to me chopping tomatoes and cucumbers for the salad and chatting about something funny Marc had said while I half-listened to her story and half-listened to the confusion of voices in the next room all shouting about a bad call by the refs in the game.

"So, fill me in on what happened with the interview" she said making sure no one was around to overhear.

"Well, it didn't go so great. The three guys who I went to dinner with to talk to about the job didn't even want to know about my qualifications and instead grilled me about the fact that I left D.C. right after graduation to take the job with the Pens instead."

"Why was that a big deal?" she asked frowning.
"I don't know. They just didn't understand why I would possibly want or have to leave D.C."

"That's terrible!" she said. "Fuck them then!" she said her french accent getting stronger.

"Thanks, V" I laughed at her getting mad on my behalf. The doorbell rang and I left to let Sidney and Marc in giving them both quick hugs as they passed me in pursuit of everyone else.

"So what does Max think?" Vero asked once I re-entered the kitchen.

I thought back to our conversation last night. "He didn't say too much. Just that he was sorry and they were stupid for not wanting me. Other than that, I fell asleep after he picked me up this morning and we haven't talked about it. I think he's leaving the subject alone because he's ruled out the option of me leaving for now."
Vero nodded and fell silent when Max entered the room to grab a water from the refrigerator and investigate the food.

"So what is it?" he asked leaning over my shoulder to watch what I was doing.

"It's Baked Ziti, like a pasta casserole" I told him. At his look of confusion, Vero said something in french to him and he nodded saying "okay" stealing a noodle that I had just finished boiling. I slapped his hand away and laughed when he burned his tongue on the hot noodle.

"That's what you get for stealing food when it's not ready yet" I teased pinching his side. He mocked being hurt and Vero laughed at our antics. Max smiled pulling me to his side and said something to Vero in french. Vero smiled hugely saying nothing back except for "Go away" and shooing him out of the kitchen. Damn my Spanish.

"Maybe I should start taking French lessons so that I can understand him when he does that. What did he say?" I asked her hating that I done terribly in the one year I took french in high school.

"Nuh uh, girl. If you want to know, you have to ask him" she said holding her hands up in defense. Whatever happened to female solidarity? I let it go as soon as the buzzer on the oven went off signalling that the food was ready. As if on cue Marc and Max appeared in the kitchen wondering if the food was ready. It was the fifth time in the past half-hour that at least one of the guys had found an excuse to come into the kitchen and ask about the food.

"Thanks, it smells really good" Max said walking over to hug me from behind and look at the ziti. I scooped some onto a plate for him and called the rest of the guys into the room to grab what they wanted before the commerical break was over. Within seconds the large pan of ziti was almost gone and all of the guys settled back in to watch the game again. Looks like dinner was a success.

Later after everyone was gone, Max and I stood side to side in the kitchen finishing the clean-up. I was surprised that he had automatically helped me clean up. He wasn't the most tidy person in the world and I was used to all of the men in my family scattering at the mention of doing the dishes. Instead Max had rolled up his sleeve and dug into the pile to rinse and load the dishwasher while I worked on pots and pans. I was amazed at how domesticated and natural our little routine was. It should have made me feel panicked but instead I was relaxed and realized that this was one of the most restful day I had experienced in a long time despite cooking for a bunch of huge hockey players.

"Thanks again for cooking. I know you were tired" Max interrupted my thinking done now with his stack of dishes.

"It's okay. I'm used to cooking big meals on Sundays anyway with my family." I thought of my loud and obnoxious family and wondered if Max would want to come with me one Sunday. My Mom was dying to meet him and was actually starting to get angry with me for not introducing him sooner given the fact that I spent so much time at his house. It wasn't that I didn't want him to meet my family, it was just that I wasn't sure if he wanted to meet them. I knew that I was letting insecurity get the best of me in this situation but my family was really important to me. When Max did meet them, I wanted the timing and everything else to be perfect. We finished cleaning everything up and Max went upstairs while I made sure that the living room was tidied up. Mrs. Rollins would be by in the morning and she didn't need to walk into a nightmare. Satisfied that everything was picked up and locked up, I joined Max upstairs where he was already in bed watching TV. He was only wearing his glasses and his boxers giving him the sexy nerd look that I liked so much.


"Everyone officially loves you now that they know how well you cook" Max said once I had finished my nightly routine and crawled into bed beside him. It struck me that it hadn't occurred to either of us that I should go back to my apartment after dinner too given that I had work in the morning. Then again, neither of us had mentioned it and I did have a few suits in the closet making a trip home irrelevant, at least for a couple of days.


"Really? That's sweet of them. Maybe I'll start bribing some of them with food when I need to track them down to sign forms and stuff." Max laughed and pulled me closer to his side. I could feel my eyes starting to close and my brain shutting off.


"Did Sid tell you that you'll be coming with us in a week to Montreal for our games?" Max asked all of the sudden. His voice sounded strange but I couldn't tell if it actually was or if I was just tired.
"Uh no. I'm going to Montreal with the team? Why?" I asked genuinely confused. As far as I knew, the lawyers didn't go on roadtrips unless it was an emergency of some sort.

"Yeah. I guess Mario decided that we needed someone to come with us this time." I nodded happily willing to do anything he told me in that moment just as long as he continued to rub my back while I fell asleep.

"Well okay. I'm sure they'll tell me tomorrow. It's still kind of weird though"



Max's POV:



I knew that I wasn't playing fairly by rubbing her back but I also knew that this was the easiest way to tell her without having to lie about anything. When she was tired, Lizzy was a lot more calm and reasonable about certain things than she was when she was alert. I loved both of these sides to her personality but for now, I knew that rubbing her back would make all of this a whole lot easier.
"Aren't you from Montreal?" she murmured settling deeper into the pillows.

"Yeah, it's also your birthday coming up so I thought that maybe you and I could do something after the game on Friday night and then maybe you would want to meet my family the next day" I asked half hoping she was conscious enough to have heard me and half hoping that she was already asleep. Guess not. I saw her eyes pop open and she blinked up at me now looking very alert.

"Wait, you want me to meet your parents, in Montreal?" she asked shifting to sit up and look at me fully.
"Yeah, we could all have dinner or something. Is that okay?" I asked amazed at how nervous I was.
"Okay" she agreed. "I mean, are you sure about this?" she asked looking wary. By now, I was used to the freaked out look on her face and ignored it sensing the opportunity to convince her.
"I'm sure about it. I just want you to be sure about it. I just thought it would be nice since we'll be up there anyway and I don't get a lot of chances to see them during the season." I exaggerated a sad look at the end hoping she'd be more sympathetic and just go along with it already.
"That would be nice. I'd like to" she said smiling and settling down next to me again.

"Great, I'll let them know" I said kissing her goodnight and turning off the lights so that she could sleep while I finished watching Sportscenter. She was already asleep and I wasn't sure if she would remember any of this in the morning.

So far, so good.