Hero {Brendan Gallagher}

9 - Jersey Jelousy

"I'll see you after the game," Brendan said, adjusting his tie in the mirror by the door. I smiled at him as he struggled to tighten it.

"Come here," I said, trying but failing to hold back a laugh. He rolled his eyes but came over to me anyways. I quickly fixed his tie and he laid a quick kiss on my cheek.

"Have fun," he said with a wave before heading out the door behind Alex. My phone buzzed with a text.

Chanel L.
Got stuck in stupid traffic. Be there in five!!!

Chanel was easily one of the sweetest girls I'd ever met. She was always so excited for everything, and I was grateful that she was being so accepting of me into her world already.

We had been messaging back and forth all day getting to know each other, so I felt a little bit better about tonight.

I was still pretty intimidated by meeting who she had called "the girls." Just because Chanel had been accepting didn't mean that they would.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard a knock at the door. I pushed myself up off of the couch and answered the door. Chanel stood on the other side, and I was almost surprised when I noticed she wasn't super dressed up as she was last night.

She had layered a pair of black ripped jeans over leggings with some combat boots, Alex's jersey, and a black hat.

"I brought you something," she said with a smile as I opened the door wider to let her in the apartment. It was weird that I was the one letting her in, when I knew she had been here a lot more than I had.

"You did?" I questioned. I still hadn't even began to get ready. I wanted to wait until she got here to see what she was wearing. She grinned and handed me a red bag. I smiled back at her before reaching inside and pulling out a folded piece of red fabric.

Chanel's smile grew as she watched me unfold it to reveal Brendan's name plate and number on the back, with the Canadiens' logo on the front.

"Oh my gosh, you didn't have to get his jersey for me," I told her, a smile spreading across my face. I honestly couldn't wait to put it on and wear it with pride at the Bell Centre.

"Of course I did! We'll all match now," she told me excitedly. "I'm so glad you came back. Much better than that other girl Brendan was with."

"What?" I questioned, my eyebrows pulling together. What other girl?

"Shit, I wasn't supposed to say anything," she sighed, biting her lower lip. I set Brendan's jersey down and folded my arms over my chest, suddenly extremely uncomfortable.

"Who was she?"

"Her name was Joelle," she informed me. "I guess she and Brendan were a thing for, like, a week. It was weird. They didn't even sleep together, she just kept coming over. Brendan honestly never seemed that into her."

"Oh my god," I trailed off, thinking that Joelle was the reason that he left me. Maybe he met her, ended things with me, and was now coming back to me because she dumped him. I tried to push my mind away from making assumptions, but I couldn't help it.

"Hey, it's okay," Chanel assures me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "She never came to any of the games because he refused to invite her. She never got to wear the jersey!"