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

Chapter 12 - Hear me Out

Ashley's POV

After the game, Natalie and I waited outside for the boys. I was hoping that they would be out soon, because a massive storm is coming in. When they walked out, Ryan and Taylor gave us very confused looks.

"Why are you still here?" Ryan asked. 

"Um, because you're our ride home." Natalie said with a laugh. 

"Oh. Well um, we kind of have to get on a plane to Minnesota. So..." Taylor trailed off. I wasn't really upset that Ryan didn't tell me, considering the fact that I didn't talk to him last night, but Natalie was not pleased. 

"Well why didn't you tell us? We could have figured something out already." Natalie snapped at Taylor. Taylor was pretty taken back. 

"I figured you knew. It's not my fault." Taylor retorted. 

"Guys-" Ryan tried jumping in, but to no avail. The bickering continued for another few minutes. 

"Look, just call a cab, what's the big deal. You're overreacting." Taylor said. 

"I'm overreacting?! Taylor... forget it." She said, storming off. Taylor stormed off towards the parking garage, leaving me with Ryan.

"Do you want me to take you guys home?" He asked.

"No, its fine, we'll figure it out."

"Wait, you're not mad at me, are you?" He asked, sounding worried. I walked over to him and kissed his cheek. 

"Not at all. But you have a plane to catch, you should go, and maybe you should try and calm Taylor down. I'll talk to Natalie for him." I told him. I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head against his chest. 

"I'm gonna miss you." He said, kissing my forehead.

"I'm gonna miss you too." I replied. 

"I'll be back tomorrow night around 2:00 a.m. I'll see you then. Are you sure you don't want a ride home?"

"No, we'll manage. Bye, Ryan."

"Bye, Ash." He said, parting from me and taking off towards the garage. 

Natalie and I decided to stay at the boys house for the night. She was still pretty upset about what happened with Taylor. 

"Are you gonna be ok?" I asked, a bit worried. She was quiet, but spoke up.

"Ash, I love Taylor so much, but sometimes he is just so narrow-minded and inconsiderate." She said with a sigh, plopping down on the couch. Rain pounded the windows as we sat in silence, watching the trees sway violently in the wind, and the occasional flash of lightning lit the dark room for a fraction of a second. The TV wasn't turned on, and only a lamp on an end table lit the room. This silence was deafening. 

"I'm just gonna go to bed. I need to sleep this off." Natalie said. We said our goodnight's and headed off to our boys' rooms.

The next morning was the same as the night before. Quiet. Usually, Natalie was so social and cheerful, but she was once again despondent and emotionless. I had offered to talk her through it, but she wouldn't budge. I was hoping Ryan was having better luck than I was.

Ryan's POV

"After all I've done for her, she gets pissy when I don't tell her we have a road game? Unbelievable." Taylor said. He's been talking about this for the entire flight. I feel like his therapist, minus the fact that I can't get a word in edgewise. He won't shut up, and I have no idea what to say. I can't say he's wrong, because he really isn't, but I can't say she's wrong either. After we touched down after another hour of complaining, we headed back to the hotel. Taylor continued his rant, which I had stopped listening to an hour ago.