Love Rivalry (A Gabriel Landeskog and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Fanfiction)

Chapter 36 - Burning Heart

Ashley's POV

I walked back towards the Avs' dressing room slowly.

That went about as well as I thought it would have.

Nothing's changed with him. He still doesn't believe me.

Why am I surprised?

More importantly, why do I feel so empty?

I shouldn't feel this way.

I knew this would happen if I saw him again, so why do I feel like I'm missing something in my life?

He was a part of my life, and now he isn't.

So what's wrong with me?

I don't miss him.

This whole thing gave me a headache.

My next worry was how I was going to get back to Gabe's. He was probably going to be in the hospital overnight.

I got back to the Avs' dressing room and ran into Erik outside.

"Hey, Gabe told me I should drive you back to his place." Erik explained.

"Sounds good." I said, my mind still stuck on what had just taken place.

Erik and I walked back to his car and pulled out of the players' parking lot.

The ride for the most part was quiet.

"Is Gabe going to be alright?' I asked him.

"They said they're going to keep him overnight, he should be back tomorrow morning, it's probably a concussion. I talked to him for a minute. He said he was a little woozy, but other than that he was going to be fine." I had assumed that Gabe was concussed. His head hit the boards with a sickening crunch.

He's such a jealous ass.

Soon enough, Erik pulled up in front of Gabe's building. Erik handed me Gabe's keys for his apartment.

"Gabe told me to tell you to help yourself to anything in the house and that he should be home by tomorrow afternoon." Erik explained.

"I will. Thanks for the lift, Erik." I said, getting out of the car.

"No problem, see ya, Ash," He pulled away, and I headed inside the building.

I walked into Gabe's apartment and turned the light on, filling the dark space with a comfortable amount of light.

I went to the fridge and grabbed some water. I could feel a sharp pain pounding against the inside of my head.

I braced myself against the counter, my hands the only thing keeping me from falling to the floor.

I regained my composure and tried to make my way to the couch. I slowly laid down, the pain in my head getting worse and worse.

I couldn't take this. I could feel tears pushing out of my eyes and down my face.

I tried to get to the guest room where all of my things were.

The pain only got worse and I began crying harder.

I got to the doorway of the guest room, barely able to stand. I propped myself up against the door frame, trying to keep my balance.

I was able to make it to the bed, slowly feeling my body giving up.

The pain went down slightly, but I still continued to cry hard.

My head was a mess. I couldn't even think straight.

I was alone in a large apartment, with no help.

No one could hear my cries for help.

My voice became audible.

"I miss you, Ryan."

***

Ryan's POV

The mood was somber as we boarded the plane to head to Los Angeles.

We lost again last night, and on top of that, I had a phone hearing with the league this morning regarding the hit I had on Gabe.

The league gave me a three game suspension.

It didn't really surprise anyone. I saw this coming as soon as I saw him not get up.

It was worth it.

I had other problems though.

Ashley.

Of all places I could have run into her, it had to be Denver.

I was still confused by the whole conversation that Jordan and I had last night.

I didn't want to talk to Taylor. I don't care what he knew, I can't face him.

The same goes with Natalie. I can't face her knowing that she was into me while she dated Taylor.

This whole situation was a complete mess.

"Are you surprised about your suspension?" Jordan asked me.

"Absolutely not." I said.

"I was serious about Ashley."

"Give it a rest, Ebs, I don't want to talk to Taylor, I don't want to talk to Natalie, and I don't want to even think about Ashley."

"Okay, Ryan, I'll back off, but I'm just trying to help you clean up this mess." He put his headphones in and I turned to the window.

I don't want to keep avoiding this.

I can't not get along with Taylor forever, we're on the same team for God's sake.

And I figured Natalie would keep coming back to me somehow. She'd find a reason to have to see me.

Some of this had to be ironed out. My life has been so screwed up for the last three weeks, and I need it to go back to as normal as possible as soon as possible.

I would have to talk to Taylor about what happened with Natalie, and hopefully at least be civil with him.

As for Natalie, I can't.

I can't be with her. It would be too awkward, and that would end any chance of Taylor and I mending fences.

I can't even face that girl after what happened with her. Hopefully she would jut lose interest in me and just go back with Taylor.

I hadn't even bothered ask Jordan about how that was going, my mind has just been to occupied with other things.

We finally landed in Los Angeles and we made our way to the team hotel.

I was going to stay at the hotel tonight for the game since I was suspended.

After Jordan left, I was alone in the empty hotel room and realized I was going to have to come to terms with things.

In doing so, I realized something.

I realized I wasn't over Ashley.