Clarky

2

Dakota wakes up in the darkness of the night and hears laughing coming from across the hallway. Checking the time on her phone, she reluctantly climbs out of bed and makes her way towards the door. Standing there, she can hear Kelley and Emily talking and laughing, she debates interrupting and reminding them of the time, but opts against doing so after having seen the shape her friend was in when she showed up on the doorstep the previous evening. Instead, she heads to the washroom and then climbs back under the covers.

Across the hall, Kelley is filling Emily in on some of the finer details of her relationship with Dakota.

"I can't believe that Mase, used to be a player; I don't think I've seen her so much as look at another woman since she and Gen got together."

Kelley nods, "Believe it; I'm sure there's a bedpost in Montreal somewhere with notches to indicate how many women Bear was with during her time there."

Emily chuckles, "Think I could get away with calling her, Bear?"

Kelley shrugs, "I don't know; is she still difficult to get out of bed in the morning?"

"Yes! We've been roomies for the last few seasons with Canada and she legit growls about getting up in the morning. She's fine once she gets some coffee in her though."

Kelley chuckles, "Same. You want to see the tattoo that I ended up getting because of our bet?"

"You mean the bet that led to the two of you getting married? Hell yeah!"

Emily watches the soccer player lift off her shirt and enjoys the show and tell more than she expected too. Kelley goes to put her shirt back on and Emily eyes her up, "You don't need to put it back on, I'm rather enjoying the view."

Kelley chuckles, "I can tell; pretty sure there's some drool on your chin."

Emily looks down at her hands as Kelley puts her shirt back on.

"You're thinking about her, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"Tell me about her or don't if, you're not ready to talk."

Emily takes a breath. "I met someone in Montreal while playing for the PWHPA team that was based out of there. We kind of dated on and off for the last year and made plans for her to join me in Ottawa, once her term was up. She was working towards her PhD at McGill in Systems or Information Systems?"

"So, you fell for a smart girl."

Clarky smiles and nods, "I'm not a looker like Mase is, so, I was shocked that she even acknowledged my existence, when, I asked if I could join her table in the restaurant. She was only there for the coffee and WIFI, but, ended up leaving with my number as well. Come to think of it, we had spent more time on the phone talking and texting then we did in person recently. She was always so busy with school and work and me with training and travelling."

"There's no way I can tactfully ask this, so I'm just going to straight-out ask; is it possible that she wasn't in to you as much as you were in to her? Or perhaps, she had someone else besides you?"

She looks sadly at Kelley and shrugs, "All I know is that I love her."

"When was the last time you spoke with her?"

"Last week; I drove up to surprise her on our off day."

"And how did that go?"

"She was pretty distant the entire time and told me that she had work, so, we couldn't have supper together."

"And then you conveniently receive a box with your stuff and a note breaking up with you. I think your girl was double dipping and didn't want the confrontation of telling you in person, so, she let the postal system do it for her."