Autumn Leaves (Watty Awards 2013)(Editing)

Chapter 2

Shaving had most definitely been the right decision.

The two girls walked through the stainless steel double doors and entered the room they were in. Tyler gave each of them a good look up and down. They both wore bruins shirts; the one on the left in Lucic, the one on the right in his. Maybe that was a good sign. He wondered which girl was the one they were there for.

Claude, Jeremy, and Cam approached them and shook their hands. Claude spoke to them, but Tyler was just out of earshot. He hoped the girl in his shirt was Lisa. Her friend was pretty, but her dyed black hair and pale skin turned him off. He wondered if she was emo or something. If she was, she was probably the one whose boyfriend died. Right?

"Hey guys, listen up," Claude said, "This is Lisa Taures and Nicki Westmoore. Give them the good old Bruins welcome, alright?" He turned to the girls again, "It's a pleasure to have you here, really. I'm glad your friend reached out to us, Nicki. I hope you enjoy yourselves."

The girls nodded at him. So now he knew, Nicki was the girl in his shirt. Tyler watched Nathan, Chara, and Patrice Bergeron approach them and shake their hands. Patrice gave Nicki a hug, and the expression on her face gave tell to her awe. That was when Tyler remembered she had absolutely no idea that she was going there.

"Should we go over there?" Dougie asked.

"I don't see why not," Tyler responded, "Should we bring her shirt?"

Dougie nodded and grabbed the jersey with her last name on it. When they got up, everyone else in the room did, too.

Dougie was the first one to speak.

He stuck out his hand and said, "Hey, I'm Dougie. Nicki, I'm really sorry for your loss. But you have one really amazing friend here. And I think that you should consider all of us your friends too. I haven't been here long, but I know how strong bonds are between people from around here. We got somethin' for ya."

He pulled up the jersey designed for Nicki. She looked it over, at first not realizing what it was. As soon as she did, she cupped a hand over her mouth and Tyler watched the tears brim her eyes.

"I'm so sorry! Please don't cry!"

Poor Dougie. He always thought everything was his fault.

Instead of answering, Nicki locked Dougie in a tight hug. She whispered something in his ear, which earned some skeptical glances from the rest of the team. Tyler didn't think she was trying to flirt with him, he figured she whispered because she was crying too much to speak at a normal level.

Nicki pulled away, only to hug her friend Lisa the same way. Finally, she stopped crying.

"I'm sorry, this has just been the most amazing day. The best I've had in months. This might have been the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me." She paused. "Thank you. So much."

The team started clapping for her. Marchy let out a "woo", as was his custom. Once it died down, Tyler decided to introduce himself. It was a funny thing, introducing yourself when the person already knew who you were. He stepped closer to her, for the first time noticing the soft fragrance coming off of her skin and hair.

"Hey, I'm Tyler. It's really nice to meet you both." He shook their hands. "I hope you like the jersey. You should wear it for the game tonight. Not many people have shirts like this, ya know."

Tyler made the effort to smile at her. Girls always went nuts when he smiled at them, and he'd learned how to use it to his advantage. Sometimes, all it took was a stupid grin to get them out of their clothes and into his bed.

She smiled back at him; she had one of those smiles that lit up her entire face. Tyler found himself looking at her for a little too long, long enough that Lisa had to clear her throat to bring him back down to earth.