three |-| playoffs.round.one.so.far.so.good?

CAREY's POV

Coming back to Montreal from Boston after playing good in games one and two, I feel like I could be the king of the world. Once I open the door to our apartment though, it’s like a tidal wave has hit me, her scent still lingers about the apartment. It may have been just over a month now since she has left, but this space still feels just as empty as it did when I came home that first time, finding her gone. So now that I'm left with no girl to come home to, to either celebrate the good road trips or help me get through the bad ones, her not being here anymore is only the reason I need to try and spend the least amount of time here as possible.

Despite having no partner in crime anymore as well, that didn’t stop me from going out almost every night. I went bar hopping from club to club until I found the right girl to leave with and head back to her place which helped me avoid the apartment at all costs.

Reluctantly tonight though I stay in, I hang up my keys on the key rack, throw my bags inside the door of the bedroom then walk to the kitchen to the fridge to grab myself a beer. As I make my way to the couch, I grab the remote from the top of the bookshelf and turn the TV to TSN to watch the highlights of the games this evening. The Rangers beat the Caps 3 -2, but they’re still behind the Caps who have a 2 – 1 series lead. The Canucks out-scored the Hawks 3 – 2, taking a 3 – 0 series lead. Then the Preds won over the Ducks 4 – 3, furthering their lead 2 – 1.

Sitting on the couch with a beer in hand, staring at the TV screen, I start to think about what Gio had told me a couple of weeks ago. I know now that deep down he was only concerned about me but back then I couldn’t be angrier when he brought up my ways of coping a couple of times within that last week of the regular season. The first time was the night after our last game against Buffalo then again after our last game against Washington, them both resulting in 2 – 0 losses at home. He also at that time commented on my current use of cologne, which had been a bit stronger, as well he commented on my clothing attire that had sometimes repeated itself into the following day.

He concluded that he could understand how I felt about losing a good friend and then a girlfriend so close together, but he suggested that I should try to cope with it in another way like trying to get in touch with Max again. I know I did a couple of times when he first got traded out to Anaheim, then the last time a couple of days after Julia left, but I never tried again. I felt an odd vibe after our conversation though.

A day or two after I talked with him, I heard that he was traded yet again, along with Julia’s brother Chris another former Hab who were both sent to the Vancouver Canucks but I really didn’t give it much thought, but before my thoughts went on any further, my land line phone begins to ring.

I throw back the last bit of beer that was left in the bottle, and I reach out for the phone to answer it as I get up and head to the kitchen to grab myself another beer.

“Hello?” I answer in more of a question, since I normally don’t have phone calls through my land line at this time of night.

“Hello?” the female voice answers just as confused.

“Who is this?”

“It’s Deborah, Julia’s mother.” She answers sternly, taking a defence.

“How come you’re calling here so late?” I demand.

“I am calling for my daughter. Although it is none of your business, but she hasn’t been answering her cell phone so I decided call her at home.”

“THIS isn’t her home anymore!” I yell into the receiver as I held it between my ear and should while I pop the cap off another beer.

“What?” she gasps as I take a swig of beer, barely even hearing her as I continue on with my rant.

“She left here a month ago! I don’t know where the hell she went and quite frankly I don’t fucking care!” I continue as I let out my anger and pain Julia has caused me out on her mother.

“What the do you mean she is gone?!” she snaps at me, “She is not gone, she said so...” then she suddenly cuts off and the goes dead.

"Bitch." I mutter as I hang up the phone, still angry I down the beer I just opened and I grab another from the fridge, open it and move myself back into the living room before I decide to down that one too and open another.

As I sit on my couch reflecting on the phone call that had just occurred, I remember that Deborah and Robert hated that I was seeing their youngest daughter and all of Julia’s siblings, except for Chris hated it too. Chris was the only one who tolerated her and me. That’s when this sudden epiphany, an almost instant realization.

I slam the bottle down onto the coffee table, reach into my pocket and pull out my cell phone, I scroll through my contacts and press talk when I find his number. It rings two times before it goes straight to voicemail.

You have reached the phone of Maxim Lapierre. You know wha…

Before I let the voicemail blurb finish, I hang up and throw the phone across the room.

“Damn it.” I mumble to myself as I hear the picture of her and me fall, hearing the glass shatter as it hits the floor. I grab my beer and take a mouthful before dropping my head into my hands.

I sit there for a few more minutes, piecing together it all, figuring out that after she left me, she found a place to stay with her brother in Vancouver. Then that rat bastard, Lapi got traded there too and saw it as his chance. I always knew that he had a soft spot for her and he’s finally has her for himself.

As I finish my beer I make my way to the broken picture that I didn’t want to wake up to anymore. When I reach the spot where most of the shattered pieces laid, I notice that the glass had made a scratch through Julia’s face. I may still be mad at her but as I’m throwing the broken pieces of glass in the trash, seeing that I ruined my last piece of her I had left, I couldn’t hate myself more for losing the woman who changed my life.