Bottle Rockets

SIXTEEN - I Though You Were Falling With Me

Heads started peeking out from around corners and the doors to the locker room. Tanger looked to his left and found Sidney hovering just in front of the entrance with Geno and Sutter propping the door open.

"Don't fucking look at them. Look at me!" She yelled.

Tanger jerked his gaze back to hers. He watched tears drip down her cheeks.

"God damnit, Tanger. I was falling in love with you and I thought you were falling with me," She pressed the bottoms of her palms against her eyes, sucking in a shaky breath.

"I-I had no idea..."

Tyler threw her hands away but found she didn't have the energy to scream anymore. "Don't lie to yourself, Tanger. You felt it too. You felt it right fucking here," She touched trembling fingertips to the pocket of his suit, right where his heart was.

He folded his hand around hers and squished it to his chest. His other hand slipped underneath her hair and cupped her face. She leaned into it, her mouth crinkled into a disgusting frown while her tears continued to roll.

And then Tanger felt someone shove him back. He watched as Sidney's body intervened, hiding Tyler from Tanger's view.

"Tyler, come on. Let's get you out of here," The captain breathed. He slid a protective arm around her shoulder, cast a wary glance at Tanger, and departed down the hall.

After what seemed like eternity, Tanger heard Flower approach from beside him. The goalie scooped the defenseman against his chest and squeezed his shoulder, heaving a sigh.

"Come on, Tanger. Let's get home. Drink it off, alright?"

Three bottles of wine lay empty on the glass surface of Tanger's coffee table. Flower left hours ago, just after the first bottle finished. He only had one glass.

Amanda slept in the bedroom while he lingered on the couch, his head hanging between his shoulders. He didn't know he was crying until he saw one drop plummet from his nose. He leaned back to stare at the ceiling.

And then he started calling. He started texting. His recent call list was filled to the brim with Tyler's contact name, unanswered ringing after unanswered ringing. His texts were sloppy. He couldn't see because of his tears. The alcohol, too. That was a bit of an obstacle.

He had left fifty-two calls by the time he left the first voicemail.

"Tyler...my little pipsqueak...please..." He trembled.

He squeezed his eyes and pulled the phone away from his mouth, covering the speaker with his hand suppress the sound of his sob. "Oh, god!" He wailed.

When he was ready, he put the phone back to his ear and slipped a shaky breath from his lips.

"I love you, Tyler. I love you so fucking much."