For Nike_6, hope you will like it. And so sorry it took so long!
You zip up your jacket before you step out of your family house. A wave of cold fall weather hits you in the face, but that doesn't seem to bother you. Whenever you are meeting your boyfriend, nothing can ruin your mood. You have been dating for six months now and you are still as in love with him as you were when you went on your first date. But this day, something feels oddly off, which is unusual.
"Mom, I am going out with Y/B/N!"
"Did you do dishes? Homework?" your mom appears behind your back. You look at her and sigh: "Homework almost done..."
"You know our deal. You are not going anywhere until your homework is done."
"Moooom, Y/B/N is waiting..."
"He is going to wait a bit longer."
"Moooom!"
But there is no use in arguing, so you kick off your shoes and stomp back to your room. It takes ten more minutes for you to finish your homework and you might even get there with minimal delay. After closing your notebook and turning off the lights in your room, you sprint to the main door: "Now I am going! My homework is done."
"What about the dishes?"
"Can I please wash them later? Please, mom, please?" you plead until your mom gives up and sighs. With a quiet shriek of happiness you run out and to the place you are supposed to meet your boyfriend. In your head you are thinking of an excuses why are you late, but you decide you will tell him the truth. Or you are going to give him a sweet kiss and joke that you are fashionably late. Thank god your boyfriend has a great sense of humor. And another thing you are thankful for is that your mother seems to like your boyfriend a lot. Sometimes you even joke she can adopt him if she likes him that much.
"Y/B/N?" you whisper-call your boyfriend when you arrive to your usual meeting spot. You are late, but your boyfriend is nowhere to be seen either.
"Y/B/N!" you try again and get no answer once again. Slightly panicked, you pull the phone out of your pocket and dial his number. What surprises you the most is the sound of his phone coming from beyond one of the bushes. With a phone on your hands, still dialing him, you approach the bush. Just in that moment, the leafs rustle and your boyfriend crawls out. You notice him buttoning up his shirt and breath hitches in your throat. He looks at you like a deer caught in car's headlights: "Y-Y/N, w-what are you doing h-here?"
"W-We were sup-supposed to have a d-date," you whisper, your heart breaking more and more with every passing second. Especially when he looks away from your eyes: "I-I..."
"Y/B/N?" a girl crawls out and freezes on spot when she sees you. her glance jumps to your boyfriend and she asks quietly: "Y/B/N, who is this?"
"I am Y/N. His girlfriend. And you are?"
She looks at him and whispers: "You said you don't have a girlfriend. I told you I am not someone's other woman."
"Well, uh..." your boyfriend looks at you and you see he might be even sorry. at least for a bit.
"I am sorry for fooling you, Y/N...but I never actually loved you."
Ouch. Ouch, that sting and his words hit your straight to your heart. You look at him again, look at the guy who you gave six months of your life. It is not much, but you are never getting that time again. You gave it to a guy, who clearly did not appreciate it.
"And when did you plan to tell me that?" you ask calmly, even though you are breaking on the inside. He shakes his head and you know the answer. Never. He wanted to play mind games with you and lead you to believe he loved you.
"Y/N..."
"Save it."
You look at the girl again and instead of feeling anger towards her, you feel sorry for her. she apparently had no idea what was he doing and you really can't accuse her of anything: "Hope you will be happy with him."
After you left your ex and his new catch, you find yourself sitting on a swing in the middle of the park with your hands on your lap. You don't realize someone joins you until girl's voice reaches your ear: "Y/N, right?"
"Depends on who's asking."
"I-I am Lisa...uh, I was with your ehm, boyfriend..."
"Ex boyfriend. May I help you?"
"I just wanted to make sure you are okay..."
"As much as I can be. I really thought we were meant to be."
"He never mentioned he had a girlfriend..."
"I believe you...but how long have you two been a thing?"
"For eight months now...and you?"
Her confession breaks your heart even more. She was not the other woman, you were. And he never bothered to mention that. You finally look at her and gulp a bit: "Honestly...you were not the other woman. I was...Y/B/N and I have been dating for six months actually..."
"He played us both then...I am sorry you had to go through that..."
"Are you kidding me? We both went through the same thing. Caused by the same guy..."
She smiles a bit: "What if he head out of this park and get a cup of coffee or something? We could talk a bit more."
Lisa and you leave the park and head to the nearest café, where you find a table and sit down. It surprises you how relaxed you are with her despite the fact you have just met and that the circumstances of your encounter weren't really...friend-making. But you two get along and you end up gossiping about Y/B/N. She reveals that he actually never does his laundry and that she was always left on her own to explain why on earth was she washing men's clothes.
"I know this has nothing to do with anything, but...do you happen to know some blond guy? Quite tall and muscular looking?"
"I do know blonde guys. But none of them is like you described him. Why?"
"Because I have a feeling the guy over there is staring at us..."
"I don't know about you, but the last thing I need right now is some guy."
"Aren't you interested?"
Secretly, you look over your shoulder and see few blonde guys. But no one is paying attention to Lisa and you. You look at her: "Are you hallucinating?"
"No, I swear, one of the guys was looking in our direction."
You roll your eyes a bit: "Because we look that great, don't we?"
"I see your point," she chuckles and takes a sip of her coffee. You continue chatting for a while until someone interrupts: "Uh, excuse me?"
You look up at the intruder and sigh: "Is everything okay?"
The blonde cutie chuckles and nervously ruffles his hair: "Yes, yes, everything is okay..."
"Then if that's so..."
"She means whether we can help you somehow," Lisa interrupts before you can scare the cutie away. You glare at her – scaring him away was somehow your intention. Even though he is cute...you still don't feel like talking to him. When he speaks up, you can hear a slight smirk in his voice: "No, thank you. We were just wondering how come you are all alone here?"
"Can't we hang out like two friends?"
He turns to Lisa, smirk not leaving his lips: "You found yourself a feisty friend, didn't you? Well, I am Alexander. And you two are?"
"I am Lisa and this is..."
"None of your business."
"Her name is Y/N," Lisa finally decides she has had enough of your behavior and glares at you. Under the table, she expresses her dissatisfaction with your attitude by kicking you. You wince in pain and look up at the intruder again: "I am sorry. Yes, my name is Y/N."
"Nice to meet you both. But really, what are you two doing here?"
"Nice pick up line. Do you use that on every girl you see?"
"Y/N!"
Despite your attack on him, he remains calm and his smile doesn't disappear: "No, I don't use that on every girl I see. I don't play around with girl's heart."
Finally, you hear a hint of annoyance and hurt in his voice. That causes you to sigh. You didn't mean to be offensive, it was never your intention to hurt him.
"Please, join us," you sigh and pull a chair next to you from the table. He flashes you a small smile: "Not sure if I am loyal enough to sit with you."
"I was bitchy,..."
"Figured. Boyfriend troubles?"
"Ex. He played us both."
Alex sits down on offered seat and looks first at Lisa, then at you. After that he rests chin on back of his hands: "What happened? If it's okay with the two of you."
You look at Lisa, who nods slowly: "Y/N, will you go first?"
"No. I think you should. He has been playing you longer than he did me."
"This guy sounds like a real asshole," Alex chuckles before Lisa starts telling her story.
Later, when both of you tell your points of view, Lisa excuses herself, leaving you alone with Alex. For the first time, an awkward silence feels the space between the two of you and you nervously scratch back of your head: "So...uh, sorry won't be enough, right?"
"Hey, he lied to you...that was understandable reaction."
"Still...so, what's your story? Why did your friends bring you here? You didn't seem really pleased with the idea of being here."
"Break up. She preferred one of my teammates."
"What do you play?"
"I play pro hockey. For Blue Jackets."
"I will be honest, I don't like hockey. I mean, I get the point, but at the same time I don't really."
"Straight to the point. I like that," he chuckles and reveals two rows of white teeth. That shakes your idea of hockey player missing all of their tooth and you voice your opinion loud and clear: "Are you sure you play hockey? You have all of your teeth."
"I am sure, I am sure. Wow, I have never met a girl who would be as confident as you are."
"Too much for you to handle?" you catch yourself flirting with a blonde hockey player and not having a single regret about it. But you still don't mean anything serious with him. You have only just met him and no matter how nice he seems, you have just been told that your ex never actually loved you. He shakes his head: "Not at all. I am positively surprised to meet a girl like you."
"A girl broke up with you and you are in a full-flirty mood. No doubt you are a hockey player."
"Says a girl flirting with a guy she has just met," he winks, making you chuckle a bit. With every passing second you start to like him more and more. But everything ends when Lisa comes back and puts hand on your shoulder: "I think we should leave now... I hope you don't mind if I steal her away."
"Not at all, it was nice meeting you, ladies. I have friends over there, waiting for me and I bet they are pretty nervous right now. It was nice talking with a girl who speaks her mind."
"It was nice meeting a hockey player who thinks with his brain, not his balls."
"Still witty," he chuckles while standing up. When he stands up, he doesn't leave right away – he looks at you for the last time: "Hope I will ever see you again..."
"Well, even though I am not looking for a relationship right now...I guess talking to you on phone won't hurt me right?"
"Who said anything about relationship? Here, this is my number. I look forward to your call or text. Even if you don't call, that's fine, I will find you."
A week later you gather up your courage and call the adorable blondie. You two decide to spend some time together and he uses the chance to invite you to his hockey game.
"Because you hate the game," is his explanation, which causes you to chuckle loudly. Despite meeting him only a week ago, you are starting to feel he is much better person than your ex was... and that gives you some hope that maybe one day you will trust someone again. And that the "chosen" guy will be Alexander Wennberg of Columbus Blue Jackets.