After a rigorous month in his new position, Moss rewards himself with a plane ticket to Denver. He strategically books a Thursday flight so he'll have all day Friday to hang out with Tye while working remotely.
Sitting in the trunk of his trusty 2014 Toyota Camry is a packed suitcase which Tye will be happy to see after his overreaction to Moss only bringing a backpack the last time he visited. Since he brought his suitcase with him to the firm, he is able to head straight to the airport after work.
No one sits next to him on the flight and takeoff goes smoothly so Moss is in a good mood when the plane lands three and a half hours later.
"I know you got that fancy new promotion, but you should still let me book your flights," Tye scolds him in the car on the way back from the airport. "The organization gives the team these crazy discounts so please just let me pay next time."
Moss rolls his eye at this, "Christ, fine. My ticket isn't a roundtrip so you can cover my flight back to Detroit."
He puts his suitcase in the guest bedroom and heads back out to the living room where Tye is searching for the crime show that they have recently been watching together over FaceTime.
"Want to watch an episode?" Tye asks as he finds the one that they left off on.
"Yeah- we never got to finish that last one about the serial cannibal." He lays with his head on the arm rest of the couch and his legs stretched out over Tye who puts his own legs up on the coffee table in front of him.
A couple minutes into the episode, Tye interrupts the scene where the detectives are closing in on a creepy house, "By the way, we have a seven o'clock reservation at a steakhouse downtown tonight."
Moss checks his phone and sees that is currently 5:18 PM.
"You were serious about going to a steakhouse?" He questions while sitting up on the couch. "I didn't bring anything nice to wear.... I thought you were joking."
Tye looks over as Moss moves his legs off of him.
"You can wear one of my shirts and a pair of your black jeans. This place isn't too formal."
Moss ditches the TV show so he can dig through Tye's closet for a nice shirt to wear tonight.
He's holding a light blue button-up on one hanger and a white one on another when he feels a looming presence behind him. Turning around, he holds them out so Tye can see his options.
"Which one?" He asks his friend.
Tye shrugs uselessly.
"I don't know- either of them will work."
Noticing that Moss isn't satisfied with this answer, he trips over his words to give him a better response, "-but the blue one is a bit tight on me so it will probably fit you better."
Moss gives a pleased nod of approval before handing the white shirt off to Tye so he can put it back and takes the blue button-up to the guest room to try on. Despite it being tight on Tye, it's still a bit loose on himself so he tries tucking the shirt into his jeans and rolling up the sleeves.
Satisfied with the last minute outfit, he exits the bathroom attached to the guest room and walks back out to where Tye is now waiting for him on the bed.
"Looks good," Tye approves with a smirk. He had flopped onto his stomach when Moss exited the bathroom and scans him from head to toe to assess the makeshift outfit.
"It's almost six o'clock, you should go get dressed so we're not late," Moss suggests.
Tye sits upright on the bed and waves a hand in the air dismissively.
"What's the rush? I can get dressed in, like, less than two minutes. We're not gonna be late."
"So if I start a timer on my phone, you'll for sure be done in two minutes?" He asks, hoping Tye takes on the challenge so Moss doesn't have to worry about showing up late to their reservation.
Tye jumps up and bolts out the door shouting, "START THE TIMER! I'LL BE SUITED UP IN LESS THAN TWO MINUTES!"
-
Getting ready ended up taking him eight minutes and twenty-three seconds. This is due to Tye having to change out of his first shirt after getting deodorant all over it and failing at tying both shoes in his haste to beat the timer.
It was definitely an entertaining couple of minutes for Moss who watched as the chaos unfolded in front of him. Ultimately, he is just happy that they are in the car by 6:12 PM which puts them on track to arrive at dinner in the city a little before 7:00 PM.
When they arrive, a man in a three-piece suit standing next to the hostess spots them and guides them to a discreet table in the back by a classy-looking bar.
The waiter arrives while the man, who must be a manager or something, is handing them thick menus with outrageous prices listed inside.
Tye doesn't make the mistake of ordering them a bottle of wine for the table this time. Instead, they stick with their individual drink orders consisting of an old fashioned and a vodka soda with lime.
After they place their orders, Tye looks at him in a way that Moss has come to recognize as his I'm about to ask something you won't like face.
"So-" Tye clears his throat, "you never mentioned whether or not you told your family about your promotion."
Moss anxiously clenches and unclenches his fists under the white cloth covered table feeling nervous all of a sudden. His eyes are cloudy as he responds, "I texted them the news a little bit after our phone call that day."
"And.... ?" Tye urges him to elaborate.
"And they were busy before the game," Moss explains. "Then Shane got his two hundredth point so no one checked their phone until Eli sent a picture of Shane with his milestone puck."
Tye doesn't say anything so Moss continues, "We all congratulated him and that was it."
"They didn't see your text?" He asks in disbelief.
Moss shakes his head and shrugs despondently.
"How could they have possibly missed it?"
"I sent it at a bad time. I don't know- let's stop talking about them please," Moss practically begs.
Tye shakes his head, "MoMo, they keep doing this to you. It's starting feel like this isn't just a coincidence anymore."
"I know," Moss exhales tiredly. "I stopped reaching out to them after that. Only my mom has texted me one-on-one since then and it was to ask if I'm going to be able to make to any games when the playoffs start."
Tye looks crestfallen at this information. "Why didn't you tell me?" He asks softly.
"I just- I haven't wanted to talk about it. I'm thinking I can maybe pull them aside in the offseason and we can- I don't know.... like discuss our feelings or something?"
"You shouldn't have to bottle up your feelings just because you're afraid of disrupting hockey," Tye complains. "Playoffs aren't even for, like, two more months. You could talk to them tomorrow if you wanted to."
"I tried talking to Shane about it over the holidays, but he told me, and I quote, 'why don't you go write this down in your diary instead?'" Moss butters a piece of bread and rips off a piece to pop in his mouth.
By the darkening of his cheeks and the clench of his jaw, Moss can tell that Tye is approximately one second away from bursting a blood vessel.
"I know you're trying to help, Tye, but I think they all might just need a moment to get over the glamor of having two NHL stars in the family," Moss theorizes. "I feel like the excitement of it all will die down in a few years and then we will all be able to act like normal people again."
"Do you want me to talk to Shane and Eli?" Tye asks.
Moss' eyes widen in fear at the suggestion. He is about to protest, but Tye continues, "I can wait until your back in Detroit and invite them over to my place to have a talk about egos."
"I appreciate the offer, but please don't do that," he begs. "They already borderline don't like me right now. I don't need them to think that I'm trying to have their teammates turn on them out of jealousy or something."
Tye huffs and crosses his arms across his broad chest, "I don't like just sitting back and watching them treat you like shit."
"You do plenty for me. You've been a great friend for the last couple of months and have given me an outlet to rant when I need it," he counters.
Sighing, Tye uncrosses his arms and takes a sip of his old fashioned.
"I won't say anything to them right now, but this shit with your family needs to be addressed by the offseason at the latest," his tone is no-nonsense, but Moss knows that he won't actually do anything that he hasn't agreed to first.
-
Tye makes a valiant effort to bring back the positive vibes after they wrap up the discussion about Moss' family. He asks for an update on the new job and listens intently as Moss describes a situation that he had to deal with regarding an intern almost giving away classified information to a scammer. Someone had created a fake email that very closely resembled one of their clients' which subsequently caused the entire firm to be on high alert ever since.
The two of them continue picking at each others meals and eventually switch from alcohol to water. They've learned their lesson after the ski lodge incident and are trying their hardest to not have a repeat of that night.
When the waiter brings the bill to the table, Tye snatches it immediately and declares that this is his treat to celebrate Moss' big promotion.
Back in the car, Moss is queueing up songs when Tye asks if he feels up to going to tomorrow nights game.
"Yeah- I think I'll sit in the suite tomorrow," he hesitantly confirms. "Just make sure you don't tell my brothers that I'm here."
Tye perks up when he hears Moss agree to attend the game in-person.
"Wouldn't dream of it," he says while throwing up the scouts honor salute with his right hand.
They are entering the gated community when Tye tells him his plan, "You know how our captain is on LTIR for the season? He's still in town and his family likes to go to a lot of the home games. I'm gonna give him a call when we get home and ask if him and his wife can go with you tomorrow."
"I don't need your captain and his wife to babysit me, Tye," Moss replies, huffing at the suggestion.
Tye pats him on the thigh placatingly before justifying his proposition, "Obviously you don't need a babysitter, you're a grown man. I just think hockey games are way more fun to watch with friends around. Lars is a great guy and an even better captain- I figured you, him and Addie would have a good time together."
"Hm- fine. I guess they can babysit me tomorrow, then," Moss surrenders. "If it means that much to you."
Smiling broadly, Tye pulls into the garage and slaps him on the back lightly, "Great! Thanks, MoMo!"
"Whatever. I'm expecting at least a Gordie Howe hatty from you now."
"I'll try my hardest, coach."