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

Chapter 13 - Mending

Ryan's POV

The plane ride home from Minnesota was a quiet one. A tough 4-1 loss to the Wild was the reason for the silence. Thankfully, Taylor fell asleep, so I didn't have to hear any of his nonsense about Natalie. He was still a little shaken up by it, and his game showed it. It wasn't as bad as me, but it was still pretty poor. We landed in Edmonton at around 1:30 a.m. Since Taylor was pretty wrecked, I drove him and Ebs home. I had figured that the girls had probably stayed home, but I was wrong. Both girls were asleep on the couch, watching Tangled. I gently shook Ashley awake, and a smile immediately crept up on her face when she opened her eyes. 

"Hi, Ryan. Sorry you guys lost. But I did miss you." She said, wrapping her arms around me. 

"I missed you too. Do you want me to take you home?" I asked.

"Nope." She said, shaking her head against my chest. I picked her up and set her down next to me. I noticed Taylor had woken up Natalie.

"Do you want to head upstairs?" He asked her.

"No, I'm gonna go home. Bye." She said, before walking out. Taylor was shocked.  

"Was it something I said?" He asked us. We all seemed to shrug. He shook his head and went upstairs. I took Ashley's hand and we went upstairs. We laid down and she curled up into my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and was starting to fall asleep when Ashley spoke up.

"Did Taylor say anything to you?" She asked. She was referring to the fight that him and Natalie had gotten into. 

"He wasn't happy. He kind of blamed her for it." I said.

"Oh. Well she is really upset with him. She said he's narrow-minded and inconsiderate sometimes." She said. 

"This is a tough situation. Anyway, I figured we'd go to dinner tomorrow, the four of us. I figured that it might help them smooth things over, and I can get a night with my favorite girl." I said. 

"You're such a sweetie. I can't wait." She said quietly. She grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers before falling asleep. She was the perfect girl. 

***

The next day the four of us headed to dinner at a quiet spot downtown. Ashley looked beautiful as always in a pink dress and heels. For the 2 of us, the drive wasn't the least bit awkward, but for Taylor and Natalie, it was the exact opposite. They didn't say a word to each other. Ashley and I discussed various topics, just trying to get something started, but neither budged. Tonight was going to be tough. 

We walked into the restaurant at around 5:15. We were seated towards the back of the restaurant and began to order. I glanced over to Taylor and Natalie's end of the table, hearing whispers of disagreement. 

"I'm just saying I don't want you to fill up on appetizers and be full for dinner." Taylor said.

"Am I twelve? I'll be fine Taylor. You don't have to be so controlling."

"I'm not, I'm just looking out for you." Taylor said, louder. 

"Taylor, we're in public, people are staring." Natalie growled. I had seen enough. He was making this worse. I stepped in.

"Hey, Taylor, let's go grab a drink." I said. 

"You don't drink." 

"First time for everything, let's go." I said, standing up, forcing him to come with me. 

"I have the weirdest feeling that you didn't drag me over here to grab a drink." Taylor said.

"You're right. You need to calm down. We're doing this to try and smooth your relationship out."

"So I should be taking advice form the guy that got caught lying to his girlfriend just a few days ago? Stay out of this, it has nothing to do with you." He growled. 

"Whatever man, I'm just trying to help."

"Well don't. I'm fine." He said, walking away. I just shook my head and followed, preparing to watch an absolute train wreck.

I sat down next to Ashley again and grabbed her hand. She smiled at me, her blue eyes looking vibrant against the dim lighting. She didn't even have to try, she looked beautiful anyway. After a while, dinner came and the four of us ate silently. Ashley and Natalie shared occasional conversation, but her and Taylor wouldn't speak with each other. It was by far the most awkward dinner ever. We wrapped up dinner and went back to the car. 

"Do you want to go home, Ash?" I asked. 

"Not really." She said with a giggle. She wrapped herself around me, and we stood there until we both realized that Taylor and Natalie weren't with us. They were sitting don on a bench just outside the restaurant.

I was a little concerned, considering the fact that I couldn't hear any of the conversation, but from what it looked like, it was going well. They were both laughing and smiling. I guess it all worked out. They got up and hugged before heading our way. Taylor's eyes met mine and he gave me a wink. Pretty odd for someone who got pissed at me for trying to help earlier, but I just let it slide, getting in the car and heading back home. 

Author's Note

Sorry this chapter took so long and its so freaking short! But I have a bunch of ideas on where this is going, so don't worry! I promise the next few chapters will be really good! Thanks!