Bridge over troubled waters

9| Mean Girls

Bailey

I send Mark back to the good old maple leaf country and I go back to going what I was here to do. I continue to work and go about my life before I get to have a little fun of my own. I know I'm 25 and I should be a mature human being, but Corey mentioned a costume party and I like to party and dress up. I don't care if halloween is meant for children, I will always love the holiday and couldn't wait to dress up and get drunk.

So I drag him into the city and I make him go to the Halloween costume store with me. He tried the whole "get us whatever and I'll wear it" card all guys pull when it comes to shopping, but I had a card of my own. It's the "I'm a helpless girl in the city you can't let me go alone" card and it trumps anything he can throw at me. So he trails behind me as I try to find us the perfect halloween costume.

"Remember sophomore year when you and I went to that crazy Halloween party dressed as Dolly Pardon and Carl Dean" he asks as I let out a scoff.

"You mean the party the cops shut down? I wish I could forget that night. I put so much of that hairspray shit in my hair that it was stuck like that for days" I remember.

"I'm more impressed that it stayed in its place when you did the keg stand as a 15 year old" he laughs.

"Man was my mom pissed" I shake my head.

"So was mine! I got in trouble because I let you do it" he pouts.

"You let me do it" I ask. "You held my fucking ankles Corey" I laugh.

"Alright alright, we don't got to go into details" he insists and I giggle.

He goes to move me along by placing his large hand on the small of my back and it makes me jump a little. He's done this a million times before today, but this time it made my skin tingle. My whole back felt warm as his hand touched me. I hate that he was making me feel like this. Even when Mark was around he was making me feel like this and I just wish I knew why. Why things were changing and how the hell to stop it.

Eventually he gets me to move along and I walk with him as we continue looking at costumes. He keeps his hand there and I hope he never takes it away. The way he made my stomach flip felt better than I ever wanted to admit. But eventually he does and it made me sad.

"I got it" he announces as he slips around the corner. He returns to me with a costume bag in his hand and I bust out laughing.

"Mean Girls, really" I ask.

"You would make a perfect Regina George" he argues.

"This is where I regret making you watch that with me all summer when it came out" I moan.

"Come on! I'll even shave to be Aaron Samuels" he bargains.

He sticks out his bottom lip and I furrow my eyebrows at him. "No fair! You can't make that face" I accuse. His big brown eyes get even bigger and I feel myself breaking.

"Pweaseee" he begs and I let out a long sigh.

"Alright! Alright we can do a mean girl theme" I bargain and he cheers. He grabs my hand and pulls me to the front so we can check out and get ready.

I pull on the "I'm A Little Bit Dramtic" shirt she wore and the plastic necklace with a R on it. I part my hair and give myself some fake bangs because I love dressing up but I'm not cutting my hair. I pull on the light pink shawl and a black mini skirt and I was done with the outfit. I add the late 90's early 2000's makeup and I was ready to go. I go over to Corey's place and knock considering he had probably a been done for a hour now. He answers the door and smiles big when he sees me there.

"Wow... this is creepy accurate" he admits.

"I've seen the movie enough times I should have this down" I tease.

He looks me up and down again and I could just tell he was shamelessly checking me out. "You ready to go" I ask trying to get him out of this trance.

"What? I mean yeah, let me get my keys" he says.

So he grabs his keys and we hop in his car. He takes us to a bar downtown he promises to be a lot of fun. Once we get there I could hear the music from outside and the smile on my face was big. I was quite the partier, I can hold my liquor and always had tons of fun when beer is involved.

We make it in and I meet all the players and their girlfriends. It was a lot to take in but I loved meeting new people. A lot of people loved our costumes and I hate to admit that they were right, we looked really good together. So I make sure to get a lot of pics to put with all my other Halloween pictures I have with Corey.

I end up talking to Brent Seabrook and his girlfriend Dayna and Patrick Sharp and his fiancé Abby. Not a lot of people here were in committed relationships around here, but these two were. Plus they were good friends with Corey and I knew we at least had that in common. They were all Canadian and super nice and made me feel right at home. They tell me of what their transition to the states were like and their favorite parts of being here. It felt like we had been friends forever when we had only known one another for a hour or so.

"Corey has been telling us all about you I feel like I already know you so well" Brent teases and I smile. I turn to Corey who had that "please shut up" look on his face.

"Brent" he warns.

"Oh cool it, I know I'm pretty cool. You just can't help it" I tease as I nudge his side. He starts to tickle me and my eyes go big. "Don't you dare" I threaten.

"Take it back" he demands.

"Okay okay" I giggle. "I take it back."

I return to a normal stance and he pulls my back in to his embrace. Once he realizes his arm was still around me he drops it and we turn to his friends. Each of them just staring at us trying to figure out our increasingly complicated relationship.

"I say they're together in 2 months" Dayna claims making my cheeks light up.

"I give it a few weeks" Brent claims.

"I say 6 months" Abby adds on.

"10 days" Patrick says and I laugh.

"For what... exactly" I wonder.

"For you two to be together" Abby explains and my eyes go big. I should be used to it by now, I really should. But I just met these people and they're already saying we will end up together.

"She has a boyfriend" Corey explains.

"Oh" Patrick gasps. "12 days then" he corrects himself and I roll my eyes. Man, I swear all hockey players are the same.

"We've been friends since 1993, don't you think if we were to be together it would have happened" I ask.

"Eh, hockey players don't work that way" Brent defends.

"Sure don't" Abby mumbles and I giggle.

"What's that supposed to mean" Patrick pouts.

"Oh nothing sweetie" she tries. "Here, come with us to the bathroom" she says as she grabs my hand. Dayna follows us as I get dragged away. Corey just smiles as he waves and I end up in front of a large mirror.

"Can I just tell you that you're so pretty. Like even if you weren't dressed up like the prettiest girl in school I can just tell you're stunning" Abby says.

I blush hard as I just look at her in the mirror. "Me? You're the stunning one! I mean look at your cheek bones, no way they're real" I insist.

"The only makeup I have on right now is the lipstick" she claims.

"Wow. I feel like I have to be a model to even be here with you guys" I insist.

"Then you fit right in" Dayna assures me.

We re apply our make up so our outfits looked good and take a few mirror selfies before we head back out. The boys had all gotten us a drink so we make a toast to a good night and making friends.