Consequences Chapter Eighteen: A.M. Imagine
After Auston left Tessa’s, he drove around for hours before ending end up at Mitch’s condo. Instead of going up, he texted Mitch and asked him to come downstairs. He wasn’t quite ready to deal with Steph yet.
When Mitch came down, all he needed was one look at his best friend’s red-rimmed eyes and forlorn face to know immediately that they had broken up. They stood there in the cold, leaning against Auston’s car, not speaking for a long while.
“So...” Mitch finally spoke, seeing his breath in the air. “That’s it?”
Auston nodded silently, hands tucked in his pockets, still staring at his shoes.
Auston shook his head no.
Auston sighed, and shrugged. “Been better, that’s for sure.”
Auston finally turned and looked his best friend in the eye. Now what. He had no plan. He couldn’t see anything beyond Tessa for the past 6 months. That was the problem, wasn’t it? So now that she was out of the picture, everything should have been clear. That’s what he wanted. But...he couldn’t see anything.
“I don’t know,” Auston shrugged again. “I guess it just goes back to normal for a bit. Focus on hockey. Hang out with you guys.”
Mitch nodded, arms crossed tightly to keep himself warm. “Do you think she’ll ever talk to any of us again?”
“I hope so,” Auston answered honestly. Everyone loved Tessa, and he knew the team became like a second family to her.
“Me too,” Mitch agreed, putting a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder. Tessa had become a big part of everyone’s life, his girlfriend included. He hoped that if anything, Tessa would be open to maintaining some of those relationships.
They stood there for a little while longer, neither knowing what more to say.
When Lydia got home, Tessa was curled up in a ball under a blanket on their sofa, watching The First Wives Club.
Oh boy, Lydia thought. The First Wives Club was one of their mutual comfort movies. She gently placed her bags down, slipped her shoes off, and moved slowly into the living room. Tessa didn’t move an inch.
“T?” Lydia whispered gently. As she reached the sofa, she placed her hand on Tessa’s back. Tessa looked up at her, eyes glassy, and she knew immediately. “Oh, Tessa,” Lydia sighed.
She climbed further on the couch, spooning Tessa, arms wrapped tightly around her. As Tessa broke down, body wracked with sobs, Lydia felt tears slip out of her own eyes.
The next morning, everyone was steering clear of Auston at the rink. They didn’t know what happened the night before but they knew something was going on. He didn’t speak so much as grunted in response, skated harder than anyone had seen before, ripped shots with more force than necessary, and was basically a walking/skating sign of ‘Do Not Cross’.
Mitch could feel some questioning glances directed at him from the guys, but all he could do was shrug and shake his head. They’d find out sooner than later.
As they headed back to the locker room, Morgan held Mitch back a bit. “What’s up, Mo?”
“It’s over, isn’t it?” Morgan whispered knowingly. He had hoped Auston would have taken the time to really think about this decision and decide to work on things, but it was pretty obvious that wasn’t the case.
“Yeah,” Mitch nodded. “Last night.”
Mo shook his head sadly. He liked Tessa a lot, and he knew Auston loved her. This was going to be a rough one.
“Have you talked to her?”
“No,” Mitch shook his head. “I wanted to give her some time. I told Steph last night and I know she reached out to Tess, but last I heard Tess hadn’t responded.”
“Might be a while before any of us hear from her,” Morgan guessed, making his way to the locker room.
As they entered the room and headed to their stalls, they learned pretty quickly that they would be hearing from Tessa very soon. Painfully soon for some of the parties involved.
“What’s this?” Mitch asked, noticing an envelope in his stall. Morgan shrugged, seeing an envelope in his as well.
“We’ve been recruited to help out with a Launchpad event in a couple weeks,” Willy showed his own letter.
“All of us?” Morgan asked.
“No, looks like it’s just you, Johnny, Mitchy, Matts, and I,” Willy answered. “Matts, what is your girl getting us into this time?”
Mitch and Morgan turned to Auston who was staring at his letter. They watched as he balled it up, and tossed it in the trash can at the centre of the room.
“I wouldn’t know,” Auston grunted angrily. He furiously tossed his things in his bag and stalked out the door, no other words spoken.
Willy glanced curiously at Mitch and Morgan. “What's with him?”
Mitch and Morgan sighed and started packing up. “You don’t wanna know,” Mitch answered sadly.
“Shit, shit, shit,” Tessa muttered to herself, head in her hands at her desk. “Are you sure they were already delivered?” she barked at Sadie, one of the Launchpad volunteers.
“Uh, yes, just this morning,” Sadie answered cautiously. “Was there something wrong with the letters?”
“Do you know who they picked?” Tessa demanded, ignoring Sadie’s question.
“They let the coach pick,” Sadie replied. “They said they’d let us know today so we can make any arrangements we need.”
Tessa sighed and rubbed her hands against her tired and sore eyes. If she slept an hour last night, she just did. When she finally got herself into the shower and ready for work, she knew this was going to be a long day.
“Okay, thanks Sadie,” she said sincerely. “I’m sorry for speaking to you that way. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
Sadie nodded, knowing how unlike Tessa the outburst was. “I can let you know as soon as I know?” she offered timidly.
Tessa nodded, offering a small smile. “Thanks,” she said. She waved in tiny as Sadie exited her office, closing the door behind her.
At the sound of the click, Tessa dropped her head to her desk, landing on a stack of paperwork for the upcoming event.
Launchpad was hosting an all-around “skills” event for kids with players from each major Toronto sports organization, recruiting 4 players from each team. It was basically a mini All-Stars game for kids. And she knew, as much as she hoped against it, that there was no way the coach wouldn’t pick his star player to participate in such a front-facing community event for kids.
Which meant her goal to avoid Auston for as long as possible was being squashed in less than two weeks. Great.
About twenty minutes later, Tessa got the call from Sadie that she had been dreading. Of course she wasn’t surprised. She had half a mind to call Auston and ask him to make up an excuse and hand the invite off to someone else, but she couldn’t do that to the kids who would be at the event. So, she was just going to have to suck it up. It was one day, that was it, right? That’s what she kept telling herself at least.
She was still buried in paperwork when a soft *knock knock* came on her door.
“Come in,” she called, barely looking up from the files on her desk when Lydia entered.
“Hey chicky,” Lydia called back softly. “I come baring gifts,” she held up coffee and a muffin.
Tessa smiled weakly at her. “What are you doing here?” she chastised. Lydia was just as busy with work and school as she was. She didn’t need to be wasting her time checking in.
“I figured your day might be a little stressful and wanted to bring you some treats,” Lydia shrugged, plopping herself down in a seat across from Tessa, who was staring at her disapprovingly. “Don’t give me that look. Judging by your desk, I can see your day is going well?”
Tessa sighed and pushed away the stacks of paper to grab her hot coffee. “You remember that All-Star style event I was telling you about?”
“Guess who’s going to be there?” Tessa raised her eyebrows over her coffee.
“Ah fuck,” Lydia groaned. She completely forgot about the event. “So what? Ask him to give it to someone else.”
“I can’t do that,” Tessa shook her head. “The kids love him, I can’t be the reason they don’t get to see him.”
“They love all of the players, Tess,” Lydia replied. “I think he can miss this one event.”
“Well I can’t ask him to do that regardless,” Tessa sighed. “It’s unprofessional. The least I can do is maintain a professional working relationship with the team, even if I don’t want anything else to do with them.”
“I was really hoping you wouldn’t say that,” an unexpected voice came from the doorway, causing both girls to jump.
Seeing Mitch standing there, a hesitant look on his face, almost made Tessa burst into tears.
“What are you doing here?” Lydia demanded harshly. He might not have been the one to break her best friend’s heart, but his close association with the person who did was enough for her.
“Probably the same thing you are,” Mitch answered easily. He expected a little push back, but Tessa was his friend too. “Came to see this one,” he nodded to Tessa.
“I’m fine, Mitch,” Tessa answered dismissively. “Did he send you here to check on me?”
“No,” Mitch answered honestly. “Considering he’s not really talking to anyone today, he doesn’t even know I’m here.”
“He’s not talking to anyone?” Lydia exasperated, standing up to face Mitch. “He does what he does then acts like the wounded puppy? He has some fucking nerve.”
“Lydia-” Tessa tried to interject.
“He’s hurting too, you know,” Mitch defended. “He’s not some heartless monster. You know just as well as I do how much he lo-”
“Oh, don’t even get me started,” Lydia laughed sarcastically. “He’s hurting too? Do you even hear yourself right now? He broke her hear-”
“Enough!” Tessa slammed her hands on her desk in frustration, startling her friends. She didn’t have the capacity for this today. “Enough, please.”
Lydia and Mitch shared a look and watched as Tessa sank back into her chair, the weight of the world on her shoulders.
“Sorry, Tessa,” they both said in unison. Lydia went to give Mitch a dirty look but was interrupted by her phone buzzing in her pocket. She pulled it out and sighed.
“You have to go,” Tessa said knowingly. Lydia nodded regretfully. “I’m okay, Lydia. Besides, you’ll get to go all Mama Bear on me when I’m home later anyway so you’re not missing out on anything.”
“I’ll see you later, babe,” she reached across the desk to squeeze Tessa’s cold hands. “And you,” she pointed to Mitch warningly, “you better not be here to defend your friend.”
Mitch held his hands up in surrender. Lydia rolled her eyes, waved goodbye, and walked out the door, shutting it behind her. When she was gone, Mitch took the opportunity to sit in the seat across from Tessa.
“What are you doing here, Mitch?” Tessa demanded.
“Well, after seeing the state of my best friend this morning, I figured you might not be holding up much better,” he shrugged. “I wanted to see you.”
“Well you’re seeing me,” Tessa laughed ruefully. “What else can I do for you?”
“T, don’t do this,” Mitch shook his head. “We’re friends too, aren’t we?”
“Then why can’t think just be a friend checking in on a friend?”
“It’s not that simple, and you know it,” Tessa replied.
“Maybe so, but I wanted you to know that I’m here for you too,” Mitch offered. “And so is Steph, who I know is worried sick about you right now.”
Tessa looked at her hands guiltily. She ignored all of Steph’s messages.
“Mitch, I really appreciate the effort, I do,” Tessa sighed. “But this is a lot, okay? It hasn’t even been 24 hours. I have this ridiculous event to plan-”
“I wanted to talk to you about that too,” Mitch cut in. “Auston is going to be there.”
Tessa dropped her head into her hands on her desk and took a deep breath. “I know,” she muttered, not lifting her head. “I didn’t pick him.”
“I figured,” Mitch replied. “I don’t think he’s super into going either, so maybe we can see if someone can replace him?”
Tessa raised her head slowly and gave Mitch a once over, needing him to be a mind reader. Mitch sighed.
“Yeah, I know,” he relented. “He has to go for the kids.”
“Is he trying to get out of it?”
“No!” Mitch was emphatic. “He wouldn’t do that. But he knows he hurt you, Tess. I’m sure he’s worried about what him being there does to you.”
“It won’t do anything to me,” Tessa shook her head. “This is exactly one of the risks I knew I was taking by getting involved with him. Regardless of personal feelings, I have to put that aside and be professional. I have to be there so I will suck it up.”
“I really am sorry, Tessa,” Mitch offered. He hated his best friend, just a little, for what he did to this sweet girl.
Tessa sighed for what felt like the millionth time, a tear slipping out and running down her cheek. “Thanks,” she replied weakly. “Mitch, I appreciate you coming by, but I really do have a lot to do.”
Mitch nodded, understanding. He had probably already been there for much longer than she preferred. Standing up, he reached over and squeezed her hand.
As he got to the door, he turned around before leaving. “Tess?”
Tessa glanced up from a file on her desk. “Mm?”
“I really did mean it. We’re your friends too, so don’t forget that,” Mitch said sincerely. “When you’re ready, we’ll be here, okay?”
Tessa gave a nod and offered a small smile.
