Moving Day

I enjoyed my work, really. I worked at a sports magazine where I was the layout editor and did a few pieces here and there. Usually, I would get other writer’s articles to edit, or put my two cents in but that was about it. I liked my job. It kept me entertained. Except for today.

I finished coming up with this month’s magazine’s layout and saved and closed my work. It was quiet today. Keyboards were heard outside my desk as I looked at everyone else chatting and laughing. “Hey Brooke, do you think I could get the final copy of the article about baseball? I need it to make a few adjustments,” my co-worker Carl asked me. I looked up at him blankly, before nodding and pulling up the file on my computer. I printed it out and handed it to him.

“Here you go,” I said handing him the paper.

He took it from my hands and smiled. “Thanks. Where’s Peyton?”

I shrugged. “Probably off somewhere trying to get a story finished.”

He nodded. “Well, see you later.”

I waved to him as I pushed myself back in my chair and decided to go wander off to find Peyton. I passed by the lounge and editing room until I found her in the copy room. I poked my head in and knocked on the wall. “Hey.”

“Hey,” she greeted looking over her shoulder. “What’s up?”

“Oh not much. Bored out of my mind is all,” I told her hopping on to the table.

“Yeah, it’s pretty quiet today. I was actually going to look for you but this guy asked me to make copies for him because apparently he had no idea how to work it, which is such a lame ass excuse,” she muttered. “But I was going to see if maybe you wanted to go out for lunch or something.”

“I guess we can go when you’re done with this,” I pointed out.

She grabbed the last paper coming out of the machine and added it to her pile. “Which is now. I’m done. Let’s go I am getting kind of hungry.”

I followed her out the room and back to where everyone was as she dropped the papers off on someone’s desk. I went back to mine and grabbed the jacket off my desk. As I buttoned it up, I saw Carl come back. Just as he came, I heard a gasp come from Peyton as I gave her a look and she just smiled.

“What?”

She grinned. “Oh nothing.”

I stared at her before turning back to Carl. “What’s up Carl?”

He sat down in my chair staring at me blankly, rubbing his temples. “I can’t do it,” he muttered.

I tilted my head. “Can’t do what?”

“The opinion piece on the latest news in hockey,” he told me.

“Just write your opinion,” I replied curious hearing footsteps and mumbling voices from behind me.

He threw his hands in the air. “I have a very strong opinion that I have no opinion on the opinion piece.”

I sighed, thinking. “Alright, make this month’s piece more upbeat. Just write about the latest teams success instead of hardships. Write about the Canucks, oh yes,” my voice became slightly high pitched, as I got excited talking about it more. “Yes! Write about how the have the most wins in the league right now and are the first to have 100 points. Say that it’s great to see them being recognized after being paid little attention for a while. Say that Lou and Schnieder have been impressive in net. You can also say that some may be realizing what a beast Ryan Kesler is,” I explained. “If you still need more, talk about the Flyers, they never seem to be hitting a stride.”

A smirk grew on his face. “What about the Penguins? We do live in Pittsburgh,” he pointed out.

I shrugged. “You can talk about how much more better their defense is getting. I mean they already have that whole offense thing going with Sidney, Jordan, Chris, and Pascal, and even Max. But Kris has been improving greatly and has been a great pair up with Brooks Orpik. I mean I think fans here already know they’re good, but include a little something on them.”

He bounced up seeming satisfied with my advice. “Thanks Brooke! I owe you big time! I am bringing you coffee and a Danish everyday!”

“Carl, I’m loving you like a two dollar whore,” I called to him.

“Great I’ll tell the girlfriend,” he called back running back to his desk.

I laughed to myself turning back to Peyton letting out a small squeal. “Eek. Wha- what?” I grew confused and then embarrassed as I saw Sidney, Marc, Max, Jordan, and Kris standing with smirking faces. I winced. “How much did you guys hear?”

“Oh everything,” Jordan informed me. “Thank you for the compliments by the way. I think I can speak for all of us when I say we are deeply flattered,” he said placing a hand on his heart.

I shook my head. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We thought we’d come take you girls out for lunch and then we’d head over to help Peyton move.”

I frowned. “Oh right, I forgot it was today.”

Marc cleared his throat. “Shall we go?”

I nodded. “Yeah, sure.” I grabbed my purse off of my desk and followed the guys.

“Uhm hey girls,” Marc said. “Why is everyone staring at us?”

I looked around at the numerous people staring and whispering around the office, in awe at the guys. “Oh I don’t know,” Peyton said. “Maybe because you’re famous hockey players and everyone around here basically worships you. All the girls want to date you and all the guys want to be you,” she told them.

I laughed agreeing with her. “Yeah, plus we don’t really get famous athletes in here too often and this office is more hockey crazed than anything else,” I admitted.

Kris took a few steps back and gave me a slight nudge. “Hey.”

“Hey,” I greeted.

“Thank for saying that about me. It made me feel good. I didn’t think anyone was noticing me,” he mumbled.

“Please, everyone has. And I wasn’t lying, you have been getting really good. Don’t let anyone tell you other wise, alright Kris?”

He smiled. “Alright.” He looked between Sidney and I. “So, have you made any progress?”

I let out a small laugh. “Uh, some. Not a lot though. I don’t want to feel that anything I tell him is like a burden on top of what he has to deal with,” I said.

“Please, after what he heard you say all he wants to do is help,” he said holding the door of the building open for me and stepping out into the parking lot.

I turned to look at him. “What did he hear me say?”

“That day, when you were talking to Peyton and were packing,” he finished saying, wincing afterwards and looking away from me.

My face froze as I remembered the talk Peyton and me had that day in her room while packing. About trust, about Sidney, about myself and my issues and hearing her judge me. About being afraid. How could Kris possibly know any of this?

I cleared my throat and forced myself to look at him. “How do you know about the talk I had with Peyton?” he didn’t answer. “Kris?” he remained silent. I raised my voice. “Kris, tell me now.”

He sighed. “I’m sorry Brooke. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

I gave him a stern look. “Kris, tell me what you know.”

“Hey guys, let’s go,” Max called.

“We’ll be right there,” I answered. I crossed my arms waiting for a response.

He looked in front to make sure everyone else was still talking in front of the car. “I know about the talk because I heard it,” he began.

“Wha- how did you-”

“I heard it,” he said cutting me off. “I heard it along with everyone else. Peyton texted Max that she was speaking to you and that he had to hear it. And so did Sidney. We were all hanging out in his room so he put it on speaker. We all heard what you said,” he informed me. “We heard everything you said, everything Peyton said, and everything that you feel.” He took a breath before talking again. “Now I know that you’re afraid of telling anyone anything. We all know that now. That you’re afraid we might stop being friends with you or something.”

I shook my head trying to digest what he had just told me. They all knew. They all knew I was afraid of telling anyone anything. They all knew that Peyton was somehow right that I put everyone’s needs above my own. They all knew that I never really opened up to anyone. Sidney knew.

It all became clear now. Why the guys first saw me and were unsure of how to react after hearing all the things I said. Why Sidney was uncomfortable around me and awkward like before.

By this point I was taking in deeper breaths of how everyone could know all this about me. My stomach was growing in knots and I felt as if I was having a panic attack. I was feeling faint and was losing my balance when Kris grabbed my arm but failed at putting it around his shoulder and instead held me, ready to pick me up. I shut my eyes holding in my breath. I slowly felt my head droop down into Kris’ chest as his arms wrapped around me.

“Brooke, are you ok?” I heard Max call. As soon as the words left his mouth, I heard everyone come rushing over. Their footsteps echoed in the empty parking lot.

“What’s wrong?” Peyton said, worry ringing through her voice.

“Does she need to lay down?” Marc asked.

I buried my head in his chest more. “No, she’s fine. Go ahead to the car guys, we’ll be right there,” Kris urged them. It took a while before I heard them walk towards the car. He rubbed my back slowly and hugged me tighter. “Brooke? Brooke are you ok?”

I took in a deep breath and removed myself from his arms and looked up at him. “Yeah,” I nodded. “I’m fine. I just needed to digest all of that.”

He nodded. “I understand. Brooke, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-”

I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. You didn’t. I’m glad you told me the truth. Look, we can just pretend that I don’t know anything. We wont tell anyone, promise.”

He gave a small smile. “Alright then, let’s go to the car.”

I nodded and gave him a smile. “Alright, let’s go.”
----------------------------------

“Max, be careful with that box! It has-” Max ran and fell two seconds later before she could finish her sentence. The box fell with a loud smash as glass moved around in the box. “My glasses,” she finished shaking her head.

He looked up at her with a sorry smile. “Ha, guess they weren’t as strong as I thought they were.”

Peyton only stared at him as she went back to her room. I looked between her and the guys and saw they were each busy with a box or trying to avoid having to carry a box. I decided to follow Peyton to her room.

“Hey,” I greeted.

“Hey.” She was standing by her closet holding a picture in her hand. I walked over to see what it was and recognized that it was the two of us at a hockey game with giant popcorn and ice cream in our hands. We each had a Penguins cap and jersey on. We were smiling so cheekily but the happiness was shown in both our faces. “Remember this,” she told me.

I nodded laughing. “Yeah, we had just moved here and even though we were totally broke and stupidly decided to waste the only money we had on game tickets.”

She laughed. “Yeah, but admit it, we had fun that day. I think it’s the most fun we’ve ever had. And after we went totally crazy and bought almost everything in the store.”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t so fun the week after. We had no money to buy anything. I starved,” I reminded her.

“Yea, that did suck,” she agreed. “But still it was worth it. It was a great day.”

“It was,” I said before she put the picture away. She stared around at her almost empty room. I sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

She looked confused. “Tell you what?”

“That Max and almost every other guy on the team was listening on the conversation we were having that day when I was helping you pack,” I told her.

She froze. She’d been caught and she had no idea what to say. “Brooke,” she began.

“I’m not mad,” I said.

She frowned. “Wait you’re not mad?”

I shook my head. “Well a little. I mean it was a private conversation but I’m just disappointed that you didn’t tell me. I had a right to know.”

She sighed. “I know Brooke and I’m so sorry. It’s just I needed Max to hear us because he wanted to know more about you and I couldn’t tell him. He had to hear it because he wanted to know why you’re so guarded and wanted to explain to Sidney that it wasn’t because you didn’t like him,” she explained.

I nodded. “Oh. Well, fine.”

She took a few steps forward and grabbed me by the shoulders. “I’m sorry. Can you please forgive me even though I don’t deserve it?”

I shrugged. “Yeah. It’s not your fault. I know in your own way you were trying to help and I appreciate it.”

“I was and I think it might’ve helped

She gave me a soft smile. “Good.” She hugged me for a moment before she bent down and grabbed one of the last boxes in her now almost empty room. “Let’s go.”

We walked out as she put her arm around me while holding the box in the other. “Is that it?” asked Max.

“There’s only a couple boxes left, but that’s about it,” she told him. Max and Jordan walked into the room to take them out.

“You know, I don’t know why Max and I are the only ones helping out,” Jordan pointed out. “Marc, Sidney and Kris are all sitting on the couch watching themselves on tv.”

“They’re allowed. I’m sure the two of you already watch yourselves enough on tv everyday,” Peyton smirked.

“No I don’t! I only watch myself on the weekends,” grinned Jordan.

“Right, because that makes it better,” she mumbled placing the box she was holding on top of the one Max was holding.

“You think that’s bad, when we’re on the road he brings his laptop and goes on all the blogs and writes stuff about himself.

“Like what?” I asked.

Jordan shrugged. “I just want people who at least talk about to have something true.”

“True isn’t writing that your biceps are huge and that you’re face and hair is the best thing about you. Even though it actually might be,” he added.

Peyton and I both laughed as they headed to Max’s car with the last of the boxes. “So,” I said. “That’s the last of it.” She nodded as I walked to lean against her doorway and crossed my arms. She placed her hands on my shoulders easily seeing as I was shorter than her and put her head on top of mine. We stood there for a moment staring at her empty room. Closets empty, no furniture, walls pale with no picture frames on them anymore.

“I guess this is it,” she said, her voice low.

I nodded turning to see that the guys were staring at us. They immediately made themselves occupied with either the tv or their phone. I let out a small laugh and turned back to the room. “Yeah, I guess this is it.”

She turned me around and leaned slightly down to squeeze me as I did the same to her. We wrapped our arms around each other as I tip toed and tried to hold back my tears.

“Brooke, I’m-”

“I know. I’m going to miss you too.” I felt a lump forming in my throat. I tried to swallow it and not cry, especially in front of the guys. I had never let anyone see my cry. I wasn’t about to now.

We pulled apart just as a tear rolled down Peyton’s face. She wiped it away, along with the others coming down. At this point, I felt a tear come down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away and cleared my throat. “Ok,” I said patting her on the shoulders, trying to sound calm.

“Alright Max we can go,” she said putting on her jacket. He walked over to open the door for her as she turned back to me to hug me again. “Bye Brooke.”

“Bye Peyton,” I mumbled into her shoulder. The rest of the guys filed out and waved slowly to me, smiling slightly. I managed to wave back before rubbing my hands on my jeans and watching Peyton walk slowly down the hall. I watched them disappear out of the hallway and slowly closed the door. I stared at the door, not wanting to look back at the apartment. My apartment. A minute passed before there were hurried knocks on the door. I whipped the door open.

“Do you want to go grab some coffee?” Peyton asked rubbing her hands together.

“Let’s go,” I replied swiftly grabbing my jacket and pulling the door shut. She smiled hugely linking her arm with mine. “Don’t you have to move in and unpack?”

She shrugged. “I’ll just go drop my stuff off and unpack over the next few days. I’m in no hurry.”

I grinned as we walked to the parking lot. The boys were all in the car waiting for us.

“Max drive us to the nearest coffee place,” she told him getting into the passenger seat.

He sighed. “What if I don’t want coffee?” he mumbled so Peyton couldn’t hear.

I climbed in to the car sitting in the seat by the window. “Hello again,” Marc greeted.

I smiled at him as Sidney leaned in to smile at me. “Hey.”

“Hey,” I said back before looking out the window. “Are you sure this isn’t a problem Peyton?”

“Brooke,” she said. “You’re getting to spend more time with me rather than losing me, of course it isn’t a problem, it’s a blessing,” she grinned punching Max who scoffed. “And even if it was who cares? Stop thinking about everyone else, think about how you want to talk to me, because I know you do.”

“Brooke you’re going to be all lonely now, what will you do with yourself?” Max asked looking at the through the mirror.

“Get a bunch of cats and learn to knit I guess,” I told him seriously.

“Don’t worry, I can replace Peyton. I can come over and we can eat junk food and give each other make over’s!” he cheered.

The rest of the guys laughed. “Oh man, I don’t know if I’d trust Max with a brush near me,” Jordan said form the back as Kris laughed.

Max pouted. “You guys are just jealous of my amazing hair.”

Marc laughed. “Brooke if I were you, I’d be prepared to walk around with a hat for a very long time.”

Up front, Peyton couldn’t help but laugh as Max snickered to himself. “I hope you know Brooke that I could get you a boyfriend.”

I made a face. “What makes you think I want a boyfriend?”

He stared at me. “Why wouldn’t you?”

I shook my head. “Thanks Max but I think I’ll be fine on my own.”

“It’s not your fault. Max just thinks he knows what’s best for everyone,” Sidney said leaning to so he could look at me. “You don’t look desperate or anything, it’s just Max.”

“Well I’m glad I don’t look desperate. I’m not so glad I’m Max’s current choice whom he wants to help,” I said.

He let out a small laugh. “I wish I could help you there but I cant,” he smiled.

I grinned shaking my head and turning my attention back to the window.