Chapter 12

Cold silence may have a tendency to atrophy any sense of compassion.

Schism - Tool

Ch 12

“Hello?” she answered, sounding worn out.

“Ohmygosh! You answered my phone call!” I squealed into the phone like a teenage girl who just saw Justin Bieber in concert.

I heard her giggle on the other end, giving me some hope for what I was about to ask her.  “Yes, I answered,” she said, trying to act all serious once more.

“Good! Because I am home and I wanted to see if you’d be interested in coming over to my place tonight for dinner.  I know it’s a school night, but it’s just dinner.”

“Like a date?” she asked hesitantly.

“Not unless you want it to be one.  I just want some time to hang out as friends,” I answered honestly.  I had thought about her a ton over the away trip and I was hoping a week away cooled things off enough that she would let me try again.  There is just something about her that makes me not want to give up so soon on her.

I heard her take a wary breath and then ask, “Do you even have food in your fridge yet?”

I left out a snort, realizing that having food to make might actually be a start if she was coming over for dinner.  “Um, I don’t actually cook.  Grilled Cheese is my specialty.”

“Biz, you really are pathetic.”

“I know.”

“I’ll bring stuff over and I’ll teach you how to make fajita’s,” she said, sounding more relaxed about coming over.

“I’ll make sure I at least have something to drink here.”

She giggled again, “Okay, see you in hour.”

“Bye, princess.”

What are you doing?! What are you doing?! You are setting yourself up for a bigger mess than you realize.  But he makes me laugh…

I buzzed his intercom when I arrived.

“Yo.”

“Get your ass down here and help me, homie,” I barked, trying to not laugh.

“Ooo.  I’ll be right down!” he chirped back happily.

I was sitting on a bench by the parking lot when he bounded out the door, looking around for me.  A big smile crept onto his face as his eyes landed on me and it warmed me to see it was genuine.  He practically skipped over to me as I stood up and pulled me tightly into his arms, like he hadn’t seen me in months.

“I’ve missed you, Señorita!” he breathed into my hair.

“Can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but I’ve missed you too,” I admitted with a smile.

“I knew you’d start seeing that I’m worth your time!” he said as he took my hand and led me over to my car.

“Yeah, okay.  Whatever,” I mumbled as I rolled my eyes at his childishness that made him one of the most happy go lucky guys I’d ever met.  We stopped at the trunk of my car and I popped the hood, quickly looking up at him to see his reaction.

“Holy shit! You need all that stuff to make fajitas?!” he exclaimed with his eyes widening to the size of half dollars at the sight of my full trunk of groceries.

“No, but you need all that stuff in your fridge,” I proclaimed as I put my hands on my hips.  “I decided to do a little grocery shopping for you while I was there.”

Before I could finished my sentence he had me scooped up once again and tickling my face with his mustache as he planted kisses all over my face and neck like a drunken Frenchman.  “You really are amazing, Ari!  Are you sure I can’t talk you into adopting me as your son.  I would promise to behave,” he finished as he set me down and smacked my ass.

I rubbed my ass as he leaned in and took an armful of bags.  “I think behaving would consist of not smacking my ass,” I grimaced as I laughed.

“But it’s so nice!” he called over his shoulder as I grabbed the rest of the bags and locked my car.

I just rolled my eyes and followed him to his apartment.

I basically put him in charge of preparing the food as I explained to him what to do while I put away the groceries.  He was a good student and before we knew it, we were sitting down at his small kitchen table eating a yummy meal.  “I can’t believe I made this!  Wait til Py hears of my conquering womanly duties!”

As soon as he said Taylor’s name, it dawned on me that I hadn’t heard from him yet.  Usually he would call me when he got home from an away trip but this time it wasn’t so.  My thoughts must have shown on my face, effectively me away because Biz picked up on my puzzlement right away.

“When was the last time you talked to Py?”

“Um…when you guys arrived in San Jose.  He said he would call when he got back into Phoenix, but he never did.”

“I dunno, he was acting like a crank-ass all this past week.  Even Doaner had to pull him aside during one of the team outings.”

“That doesn’t sound like him,” I murmured thoughtfully.

“I agree.  He was slightly moody when we started out the road trip but it became progressively worse as the week went on.  He even went off the deep end in the room the other night when I told him I was going to ask you over for dinner tonight.”

“Really?  Why?”

“Probably because he’s overly protective of you,” Paul said as he took a sip of his drink.

I couldn’t help but smile a little.  “Yeah, he usually is.  He’s a good friend.”

“Oh, he most definitely is.  One of my best friends on the team, but I’m telling you, if he ain’t over his PMS phase I’m asking for a new roomie in Europe,” he said, half joking.  Then out of the blue he asked excitedly, “Want to watch Planet Earth?!”

I almost choked on my water.  “What, so you can melt my panties by the end of the polar bear scene?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

A cocky grin and a few eye winks greeted my question.  “I don’t think I need to put that on to make your panties melt.”

Sadly enough he was probably correct.  I opened my mouth to say something, but decided against it because I didn’t want to say the wrong thing.  Whatever that might be.  He left out a laugh, enjoying how he made me basically speechless.

“Come on Miss Ari, you need to help me do dishes because I don’t know how to use my dishwasher,” he announced as he took my hand and helped me up from my chair.

By the time we got to Calgary, Biz had known something wasn’t right.  Maybe it was from the time I flipped out at him for tweeting that he was buying me a lapper at the strip club for scoring a goal against San Jose.  Or maybe it was from the time I flipped out at him for insisting on watching the Hoarders marathon.

“Dude you are in one foul-ass mood.  What the fuck is your problem?  I haven’t seen you like this forever,” he bit back when I ripped the remote out of his hand.  “I’m going to ask for a new roommate if this is how you are going to be all season,” he continued to whine.

I flopped down on the bed and put my head in my hands and sighed.  “Sorry,” I mumbled, not looking up from the floor.  “I’m fucking tired.”

“I can imagine,” Biz said seriously.  “I’ve heard you tossing and turning for the past couple nights now.  Bad dreams?”

“I can’t say they are bad dreams…”

“Is it a girl?” he asked, getting all excited like he was a kid ready to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas as he leaned forward.  He really can be pathetic at times.

“A woman.”

“No, shit?  I didn’t know you were seeing anyone again!” he exclaimed.

I sighed, not totally wanting to get into this conversation with him; especially not after the talk we had the other night about how he was planning on trying to fix things with Ari because he supposedly still had feelings for her.  “I’m not seeing anyone,” I mumbled.  “Look, it’s just really complicated and I don’t want to talk about it…” I said, annoyed because my mood swings were even bothering the hell out of me.

Biz sat back, looked at me with a sympathetic face and said, “That’s fine man.  I just think you need to talk about it with someone.  I’m sure Ari would be a good person to talk to.  I bet she’s basically like Switzerland in the neutrality department when it comes to relationship issues.”  After he spoke I watched him get up, turn off the lights and crawl into bed.

I just sat there for a moment, thinking about how true his words actually were.  Too bad Switzerland doesn’t know she is in the middle of what could be an all out war.

I was napping on the couch when the house phone rang.  I didn’t even bother crawling off the couch to grab the phone, so my answering machine took the call. “Hey’s its Taylor, leave me a message and I’ll get back to you.” **Beep**

“Taylor!  It’s Ari and I’m trying to figure if you have fallen off the face of the planet or something?!  It’s Friday and you leave for Prague in 2 days!  Are you ever going to call me back or visit me?  Did I do something wrong?  I mean, I can’t think of anything that would make you mad at me, but I’m worried.  Please, just call me.”

My heart clenched when I heard her voice over the machine.  She sounded genuinely worried and I hated being the reason she was upset.  I knew I needed to talk to her but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  I knew my words would only cause a huge problem. 

Biz had mentioned to me yesterday at practice that she had been over to his place for dinner.  I wanted to punch a wall because she was going back on her “becoming a hermit” promise and all I could picture was her and Biz getting it on to his stupid Planet Earth DVD’s.  My mind is just scarred by the thought of Biz getting it on with anyone.  My worries were quelled slightly when he made a comment about not getting much more than a few hot kisses from her when she left around 10pm.

Shane was the only person on the team that knew what was going on after having to pull me aside during a team activity when some of the guys complained about my new bad attitude. 

“What’s wrong man?” Shane yelled in a whisper as he grabbed my collar and pulled me outside.

I looked down at the sidewalk and just shook my head, refusing to answer him.

“If you don’t level with me, I’m going to level you very soon.  Get your head out of your ass, man and stop being a dick to everyone.”

I looked up with him as a couple tears blurred my vision.  “I’m in love with her, Shane,” I blurted out a little too loud to someone that was standing inches away from me.

At first he looked at me like I had totally lost it, until it clicked on who I was talking about.  His facial expression turned to one of pity as he spoke, “Shit.  I’m so sorry.  Does she know?”

“I highly doubt it.  Fuck,” I breathed as I ran my fingers through my hair, “I didn’t even know it for sure until now, after finally admitting it.”

“You need to tell her.  I bet she would feel the same way.”

“And fuck up my friendship with my best friend and teammate?  I couldn’t do that to Biz.  He’s still totally hooked on her, even if it is in his own fucked up little way.  Plus, I don’t want to lose her.  I can’t go through losing someone I love again.”

“You think if you tell her, you will lose her?”

“I’m sure the chance is there,” I mumbled

“I don’t think that is true.  You have more of a chance of losing her if you stand-by and do nothing about it.”

“And what is your plan with Biz?” I asked; becoming flustered that Shane seemed to think that this was a no-brainer thing, making me feel like an idiot.

“You need to be up front with him.  Simple as that,” he said straight-up.

I didn’t say anything.  I couldn’t because I knew it was not going to be as “simple as that.”

Shane went to turn away and leave me alone but then I watched him spin back around and once again he was in my personal space.  “Oh and don’t bring your attitude onto the ice; drop it at the door.”

I ditched my attitude, but I didn’t follow Shane’s other advice.  Instead, I stupidly thought Arianna would for some reason forget about me.  I would get over this “crush” and life would go on.  Apparently, to my dismay and merriment, she didn’t forget about me and now it seemed she was upset because of my foolishness.  Way to go Pyatt.

“Andre, I just don’t know what’s going on.  I’m worried because I haven’t heard a thing from him since he got home.  They leave for Prague in two days and I just want to make sure everything is okay.  Has Shane mentioned anything to you?” I asked worriedly over the phone as I drove over to meet Biz for our “date.”

I heard her slightly hesitate on the other end, but she recovered quickly and said, “No, Shane hasn’t said anything about Taylor.  I’m sure everything is fine.  He’s probably just in one of his hockey modes right now.  You know how these boys get when the season comes around.”

I made a face into the phone and answered, “Yeah, you might be right.  I just never noticed Taylor getting into that funky mode you speak of.”

“First time for everything,” she laughed fretfully into the phone.  “Have fun on your date with Biz.  What are you two doing anyway?” she asked, obviously trying to change the subject.

“We are going bowling, per my request.  I didn’t want to do anything too intimate.” Afraid what he might try and afraid that I would most likely give in.

“That should be a hoot.  Take a picture of whatever costume he decides to wear,” Andre laughed sincerely this time.

“Costume?”

“Oh yeah, any kind of sport like that, he gets into character.  You should see some of the pictures Shane has sent me from the golf course.”

I just rolled my eyes as I pulled into the parking lot of his apartment complex, now worried what I was going to find waiting for me.  “Thanks for the warning.  I’ll talk to you later!”

“Are you really planning on wearing that?!” she giggled as she took one look of me wearing my bright colored bowling shirt with black cargo shorts, knee high rainbow socks and black rimmed glasses.

“Hell yeah! This is my normal bowling attire.  I can’t disappoint,” I grinned, pulling her into my apartment and close to me so that I could kiss her.  She looked relaxed and cute in a pair of dark jean capri’s, an old MxPx punk-rock t-shirt and pig-tails.

Her lips were soft against mine and she willingly parted them for me.  She tasted cool, like peppermint toothpaste, making my own mouth tingle.  When we pulled back she was giggling and rubbing her face, “That mustache just feels totally weird!”

“I’m giving George Parros a run for his money this year.  No long hair, but my ‘stache will be the best in the league for sure!” I declared.

She pushed at my chest in a playful manner, laughing.  It was great to put a smile on her face; she looked so beautiful when she was happy.

“So, MxPx, eh?” I asked pointing at her shirt that clung to her breasts so well that I was jealous.

She looked down at her shirt and back up at me with surprised eyes, “You know who they are?”

“Best punk band I grew up listening to!” I answered.

Another big smile broke onto her face.  “I bought this t-shirt at their concert in Phoenix when I was in Jr. High.  It was huge on me then…” she said, shyly.

“Fits perfect now,” I said enthusiastically, cutting her off.  I laughed when she just shook her head and rolled her eyes, trying to hide the shy smile.

“Ready?” she asked, obviously trying to get my attention off of her for a moment.

“Sure!  The rest of the guys should be getting there about the same time.”

“Rest of the guys?”

“I figured you wouldn’t be 100% comfortable going alone with me, so I invited a couple other guys to come hang out too,” I answered honestly.  I knew she was slightly hesitant in going out with me tonight, so I figured I’d make it more of a fun, no strings attached kind of evening.  I didn’t want her to feel pressured into getting involved with something she didn’t want to do.  Plus, I figured by having Pyatt there, she would be most comfortable and I secretly hoped she’d be able to pull him from the funk he seemed to be in at the moment.  I told him it was just me and Woliski, Upshall, Turris, and Lepisto; hoping it would be a nice surprise for him to see me and Ari working on things.

I knew Py would appreciate seeing Ari’s smiling face.