after dark | matthew tkachuk

0.2

When Y/N's eyes fluttered open the next morning, her head was filled with a foggy daze, the room seemed to be tilted on its axis as she struggled to adjust her vision. Her living room was covered in a faint golden glow, the south facing windows in her apartment were open slightly, a chill breeze flowing in through the city. Scattered across her coffee table was an empty bottle of wine, some cookie wrappers accompanied by matching crumbs. A faint pinging noise was scattering against the inside of Y/N's skull, it was high pitched and shrill.

Letting out a tired groan, Y/N rolled off of the couch- she felt the soft material of her blanket slide down her shoulders. It would appear that she never made it to bed last night. Her living room was cold and dirty, but at least the sunrise was pleasant to look at.

As the pinging continued, Y/N searched among the couch cushions for her phone- she had never her phone go off so consistently. It wasn't like she was popular. Sure, she had her friends and people from work, but she usually turned off the notifications unless it was for a few certain people. Parents and siblings mainly.

When she finally found the device, Y/N blinked at the bright screen a few times. Every single notification was accompanied by a purple Icon. She was getting messages from various profiles on 'After Dark' To say she was surprised was an understatement. Y/N didn't remember setting up her account other than adding a fake name, but it seemed as though there was enough there to make people reach out.

Sighing softly, it was too early for Y/N to deal with things like this. She still didn't have many high hopes for the app, so instead of opening it up right away, she whisked herself away to the kitchen and made a coffee. Sometimes she drank it black, sometimes she drank it with sugar and cream, other days were with milk.

Y/N came back into the living room a few minutes later, settling down into the couch, she curled up in her blanket once more and sipped her coffee- finally giving her phone some attention. Opening up 'After Dark' Y/N was quite surprised.

In her drunken daze, she had created an entire persona on this app. The night before was completely lost on her, but it seemed as though her phone was holding all the evidence she needed. The profile she had made on the dating app was named Iris, she posted a photo of herself in a bathsuit at the beach but her face was cropped out, at least even in her drunken state Y/N was smart enough to keep her identity a secret.

There were a few things filled in on her profile, such as likes and dislikes, where she lived was placed under Canada, thankfully it wasn't too specific. Y/N had a short bio but it didn't say much. "Not looking for a relationship, something casual" Classy.

Sighing, Y/N decided that it couldn't be much worse than this, she decided to scroll through some of the messages she had received.

That was a mistake.

Many of the photos were unsolicited dick pics or extremely sexist conversation starters that were attempted at being pick-up lines. In all honesty, it gave Y/N the chills, she hated how sexual some of these men were and how derogatory towards women they were. She figured that she had enough, just as she was about to delete the app entirely, she noticed another message, this one had just come into her phone.

Scotty: Iris is a really beautiful name, did you know they grow in texas?

Something about the message had Y/N's stomach fluttering. It was so simple and if that had been the first text she read, she probably wouldn't have paid it much attention, but after spending close to an hour reading absolutely filthy and disgusting messages, this one was like a breath of fresh air.

Y/N decided to take a look at the man's profile. Something about this guy was different. Clicking on his profile photo, she saw that it was a picture of him standing with his back facing the camera. He was standing on a boat on a lake somewhere. His hair was hidden under a large fisherman's hat and he wore bright pink board shorts. She couldn't help but giggle at that.

Judging from his pictures, Scotty seemed to be very well built. He had a few showing off his board torso in hoodies and tshirts, but still his face was hidden. As far as Y/N knew, he was white and roughly her age. She was only thinking he was near her age simply because his profile said so, as well as she noticed some stubble along his jaw in one of the photos that cut off a bit.

His location was listed as Canada as well and his bio was simple. "Not looking for a girlfriend, just trying to find a distraction from work" If she was being honest, Y/N really connected with that. She didn't want another relationship at the moment, and while she didn't exactly need a distraction from work, it would be nice to talk to someone.

So she sent him a message.

Iris: Thank you, It's actually my grandmother's name. I didn't know that! Have you been to texas?

Starting a conversation was pretty easy, she wasn't worried about him responding right away since she had to go to work for a few hours anyways. Y/N worked at a hotel downtown as a front desk attendant. She didn't do much, usually the day was pretty slow unless it was around the weekend or the holidays. But in the middle of the week like today, things were steady. She only had a few responsibilities, checking guests in and out, as well as giving them their room keys and processing any charges made on the room.

But as the day seemed to drag on, Y/N couldn't stop checking her phone. Usually she was able to get lost in her work, but that morning Scotty had intrigued her, she couldn't help but wonder if he would respond to her again. Part of her felt pathetic for thinking of this strange man so much, but this was the first interaction she had with a guy outside of her friend group in the last few months.

By the end of her shift, Y/N was exhausted. She just wanted to go home and relax and have a good time. Luckily for her, the flames had won their game that night so the group was going to grab dinner. She didn't want to get drunk since she was slightly hungover that morning, so having a nice dinner would suit her just well.

After making her way home, Y/N grabbed a shower and started picking out her outfit for the night, just as she pulled on her favourite bra and panties, her phone dinged. The girl all but leaped across her bed to check who it was. As soon as she saw that it was a message from scotty, Y/N couldn't help but blush. She didn't know why after simply two messages, this man had made her flustered.

Scotty: Sorry had to work and then was at the gym, wyd?

Attached was a picture of him, behind him was a tile ceiling and some type of hallway. The picture only showed his shoulder and the side of his jaw, but Y/N was still able to see some muscles. He was wearing a grey tank top that was covered in a layer of sweat. He had a black ball cap on that covered his hair. He had air pods which hinted that he might be a fuckboy to Y/N but she always fell for those types. Even if it hurt her.

Deciding it would be best not to answer him right away, Y/N continued getting ready for the diner- grabbing a pair of jeans and a nice shirt with some of her favourite shoes. She finished getting her hair ready before grabbing her keys and heading out.

The restaurant was dimly lit and thankfully the group didn't have much attention from other diners as the hockey players walked in. The girls scoped out the place first so they were already seated at the table. Y/N was sat next to Kelly on the edge of the table, she had been showing the girls pictures of Scotty and they were all very impressed. Partially at the guy but mainly at the fact Y/N had actually put herself out there.

"I say go for it- he looks hot." One of the girls chuckled. Kelly nodded in agreement. "Yeah but definitely talk to him for a bit more first. Like a week or two at least" the older girl told her friend.

As the guys came in, everyone took their seats, unfortunately for Y/N, matthew was sitting next to her. "New boyfriend?" he asked smirking to himself as he tried to peak at her phone.

Y/N glared. "None of your business rat." she huffed immediately stuffing her phone into her purse and hiding it from his view.

The man chuckled lowly and put his arm across the back of Y/N's chair. "Sweetheart, for once i'm gonna be nice to you okay? Just make it easy to do so." he pulled away and started going through the menu.

Usually Y/N wouldn't argue with him, but she was in a good mood at the moment. And the guys had just come off a win. As much as she hated Matt, she wanted to at least let the other guys enjoy their victory.