Chapter Seven

Ch. 7

Sunday morning was beautiful.  I’m not sure if I’d say I’m lucky, but it was physically impossible for me to sleep in, especially after getting up early for the bakery every morning.  I was up by 8am and out for a jog.  By 9:30am I was feeding my face with banana French toast and coffee.  At noon, I was outside washing the Colbalt and re-hashing my lovely date disaster with Becky.

“I can’t believe he ditched you like that, making you get your own ride home!” she cried, accidentally spraying me with water while she swung the hose around as she spoke.

“Whatever, it made things a lot less weird not having to ride in the same car with him,” I shrugged.

“So where did you go then?”

“I met Dawn out in Georgetown…”  I wanted to tell her about that fun jaunt, but that would mean I’d have to tell her about my excursion on Friday night.  I might have been awake and moving, but I didn’t want to do anything that might trigger a late hang-over headache.

“Dawn is home?”

“Travis dumped her.”

“Ouch, definitely a bad weekend…one filled with dating disasters,” she cringed.

A few minutes later Faith came out of the house blaring She’s Country by Jason Aldean from her IHome speakers crying out something about my theme song.  Next thing I knew we were line dancing on the driveway making complete fools of ourselves.  We were in our own little world until we turned to face down the street for the next few steps of the line-dance and found a matte-black Mercedes sitting along side the curb within 15 feet of us.

I watched Dawn get out of the passenger side with puffy red eyes and then watched Alex get out of the driver’s side, looking as stunned as I probably looked.  Faith or Becky made some kind of high pitch squeal but neither of them moved; the three of us stood there like statues.

Alex moved around to the front of his car to meet Dawn halfway.  He handed over her purse and said a few quiet words to her which she just brushed off and made her way over to me and my roomies.  Before she made it over to us, Alex waved slightly and said, “Hey Lana.  Have a nice evening with Alzner?”

I blushed, feeling 4 pairs of eyes burning holes into me.  3 of those pairs belonged to the girls.  One pair was Alex’s bright baby blues that were looking at me like he was a jealous child who had just been caught in the cookie jar.  He shot me a half smile.  All I could do was raise my eyebrows in confusion.  Before I could say anything he was hopping back into his car and speeding away, leaving me feeling really uncomfortable with whatever just occurred.

“How does Ovie know you’re name…?”

“Karl Alzner?!”

“Lana, I have to take a hiatus from work…”

All three girls spoke at the same time.  I was obviously going to have a lot to explain and a lot to talk about.  How can one man that I barely know cause so much craziness in my life?!  And what the hell was that all about?!

When I got out of the car, country music was blaring and 3 girls were staring at me with their jaws dropped.  However, I’m fairly sure Lana’s eyes were the biggest of all.  She looked a mess in a clingy hot pink t-shirt with Nike written in old-school fluorescent block letters and a pair of jean shorts.  Her nipples were hard and perky, most likely from the damp spots on her shirt.  Her legs obviously weren’t long and lean like Dawn’s, but they were toned and defined.  The way she had been line dancing made me realize that the country songs weren’t too far off when they talked about southern girls being able to shake it.

Despite my earlier denials of not being interested in Lana, the roll of my stomach told a completely different story.  Seeing her again this morning and the sudden jealously that flowed through my veins reiterated that fact.  I’m fairly sure my stomach dropped onto the road when I stepped out of the car.  I attempted to say something polite to Dawn, but she didn’t want to hear any of it and I couldn’t bring myself to say anything too loud because I was now feeling some shame.  The Great Alexander Ovechkin suddenly feels remorse for his partying ways.

“You’re leaving?!” I cried, taking Dawn’s hands and leading her thru my house and into the kitchen to make her a cup of coffee.  She looked absolutely terrible.  It probably didn’t help that she was doing the walk of shame into my house with two very curious roommates of mine.  Her hair was thrown merciless up into a messy ponytail and her black wrinkled dress sure as hell didn’t hold the allure it held last night. 

I left the swooning twins out in the front of the house, hoping they’d quickly get a grip because it was obvious I had some bigger issues to deal with at the moment. 

“Why did you come to this decision?” I asked, frantically.  All I could think about was the hell I was going to be facing at the shop without an assistant, especially with all the party orders I just got the other night at Alex’s house.

“Well I realized this morning while I was hunting for my clothing around Alex’s house that I need to get some things straightened out.”  She paused and sucked in a sob.  I have to admit I felt a slight strand of jealousy burn in my veins knowing that she was with him all night.  Lana, get a grip.  You are not that type of girl.  I got a grip when the next few sentences came out of her mouth. 

“For beginners, I should have never been in his bed last night.  I’m smarter than that.  All he did was use me for sex and in my already broken state, it feels worse than ever,” she sobbed.  “I need to just focus on me and my school work for a little,” Dawn finished with pitiful tears running down her face.

I just stood there rubbing her shoulders and biting my lip.  Suddenly my silly crush on the Russian hockey player had evaporated as quickly as it had developed.  In fact it turned into hatred when my friend and employee told me she was going to quit.  I totally understood, but it was still a bitter pill to swallow.

Never mind the way I felt in Alex’s arms on the dance floor last night.  It was all a game to him and I refused to be a pawn in the wrong play.

After I took Dawn home, I had to come clean with my roomies about my real weekend.

“So let me get this straight. While we were watching Footloose and wishing we had a hunk of our own like Kenny Wormold, you were schmoozing it up with the entire Capitals team?!  I’m fairly certain you didn’t appreciate anything in that room the way you should have been appreciating,” Faith screeched.

I shook my head and began my rebuttal.  “I wouldn’t call it schmoozing.  I was doing my job.  I had no idea who I was baking for and I was shocked when I heard Brooks saying my name as I got the stuff out of the car…Besides, it’s not like I could have invited you guys along over…”

“Well next time you have to do a delivery, you are taking one of us with you, just in case,” Becky said in a matter of fact tone.

“So was this event some of the reason things didn’t work out for you and Garrett?” Faith suddenly interjected.

“I’m sure it didn’t help the guys were waving at me during warm-ups and punching the glass in front of us at the end of the game,” I mumbled, trying to pass it off as nothing because in truth, it still was nothing to me.

“They were doing what?!” Becky squealed so loud that Faith and I had to cover our ears.

“Just waving,” I said quietly.

“Did you get to fuck the whole team or what?!” she asked, sounding very excited of the fact that there might have been a chance for me to do that.

“Oh my God, NO!  You are taking this totally out of control.  I just played Uno with a couple of them.  It’s not a huge deal.”

“Okay, maybe you didn’t fuck them on Friday night, but Dawn sure as hell fucked Ovi last night!  And what did he mean with his smart remark about having a nice night with Alzner? Faith inquired, pursing her lips like a reporter who was determined to get the full scoop.  These girls don’t miss a damn thing.

“Um…well…it was all by happenstance.  The guys coincidentally showed up at the same bar we were at and well…the rest is history I guess.”

“History that needs to be taught!” Faith pushed.

I rolled my eyes and sighed.  My headache was beginning.  “Karl brought me home last night…”

“Oh my god!  So Garrett dumps you and you end up smooching with Karl in his truck?!”

“I totally did not say I was smooching with Karl!” I cried out defensively.  “Ya’ll need to quit it.  Yes, we danced.  Yes, he bought me a drink, but so did Nicky and Carly…”

“Carly?  You are calling them by their nick-names?!  Carly ain’t even old enough to drink!” Becky cut it.

I laughed at this.  “I thought that too, but according to him, he turned 21 in January.”

Faith and Becky’s eyes were the size of saucers.

“So anyway, Karl brought me home and I’m glad he did because his truck is a lot cooler than those smelly taxis,” I giggled.

“Are you sure Karl didn’t want to be invited into your house?” Becky went back to swooning.

“It was not like that.”

“Did he get your number?”

I began biting my lip at this question.  I was really hoping they wouldn’t ask that question.  “…well, yes…but it was only because I wanted him to text me when he got home so I knew he made it home okay…”

“Are you kidding me?!” they squealed together, holding each others hands like the best thing in the planet had happened.  “You are so naïve, Lana!”

“How is being naïve when you want to make sure someone gets home okay?”

“Well, I guess it’s not naïve, but it is silly,” Faith smiled.

“Oh,” I shrugged.

“So did he text you?” Becky asked.

“Yup.”

“Can I seeeeeee the text message?!”

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and pulled up the text.  Her and Faith were instantly huddled around me.

Karl Alzner: Home safe and sound.  Sweet dreams, southern girl.

“OH MY GOD!!!!” they screamed and began bouncing around the room.  That was the last straw.  I needed to lock myself in my bedroom and take an Advil.  I went to get up off the couch but Faith tugged on my arm.

“The way Ovi looked when he realized it was you standing there in the driveway this afternoon, I’m thinking you’re leaving something else out,” Faith said quietly.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know.  Something about the way he looked at you told me he was a little ashamed to be dropping his one-night-stand on your doorstep and a little jealous with the Alzner remark he spit out.”  Faith had always been intuitive, so comments like these were not out of the ordinary, but this one definitely sent a shiver through me.

“Well, I don’t care what way he looked at me.  I am not impressed,” I snapped.

“Hockey players, especially Ovi, are known for shit like that,” Becky spoke in a calmer tone.  “That’s just the deal if you get to hook up with one of them…”

“But why would you put yourself in a situation like that?  I could never even think of doing that…”

“There you go sounding naïve again,” she said, shaking her head at me.

I pulled away from her and walked towards the door.  I needed fresh air.  “No, I have morals and I’ve been there done that and was only left with a memory that has scarred me,” I snapped.  The girls knew about that because we were in college when it happened.  My story was eerily like Dawn’s.  I too got trashed one night and ended up hooking up with one of my crushes…he was gone from my bed the next morning and didn’t say one more word to me for the last year of our college career.  I had been mortified.

“I’m sorry,” Faith whispered.

I nodded and sighed.  “I know one thing.  After all of this, Alex Ovechkin will no longer be on the Dixie Pixies,” I announced.