All the Ways

viii

Sam stared at her from across the dining table; she was wearing a big shirt, her long brown hair carefully placed atop her head in a bun. Vivienne had a laptop placed in front of her, staring at it intently. To the right of it was a notebook, and a stack of colored pens. To the left of it was a textbook. Her glasses were perched on her face. Every few minutes, she would push them up. She hummed softly to the music playing.

She averted her gaze from her schoolwork and narrowed her eyes at Sam. "What are you staring at?"

"Just the most beautiful girl in the world," he smiled.

Vivienne made a face, "I appreciate the compliment, but let's be real."

"I am being real!"

She sighed, "I guess."

Sam made her feel so beautiful, even when she was studying. She was so lucky. All he ever did was cater to her, and her busy life as a law student made it difficult for Vivienne to cater to Sam. But he didn't mind. He was a hockey player. He didn't have time for anything else except for hockey, and when he had the downtime, he'd spend it with Vivienne. Sam didn't regret it. He was elated about being blessed with her presence in general.

Sam was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard someone knocking on the door. He got up and opened the door to see a sad Sean, holding flowers. "Is Amber home?"

"Uh, yeah, come in."

Sean took his shoes off, leaving them by the door, and walked to Amber's room. He knocked, and heard a faint, "Come in!" Sean walked in, seeing Amber with her back to the door. She was sitting at her desk, staring at spreadsheets on the computer, and sighing when the formatting wouldn't go right. He surveyed the walls of her room, they were filled with old pictures. He never noticed them until now. There were pictures of her and Vivienne at a Leafs game--Vivienne wearing blue, and Amber wearing a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey. There was another one of her and Vivienne, wearing blue and white Blue Jays jerseys, laughing with beers in their hands. He also saw a polaroid photo of Amber and Paige wearing cheesy photobooth props, looking at each other and laughing. If he didn't know Amber and Paige were best friends, he would definitely think they were dating.

She turned around, and her face fell when she saw Sean. Guess she didn't want to see him, after all.

"I, uh, got these for you." He handed her the flowers and she set them down on her bed.

"Thank you, Sean."

"That's all you're going to say? No, 'Thanks Sean! These are beautiful! I'm sorry!'"

She stared at him puzzled, "I have nothing to apologize about."

"You have everything to apologize about!" He raised his voice at her.

She furrowed her eyebrows at him, rage burning in her eyes, "You don't come in my house and demand an apology, Sean Monahan. I did nothing wrong, but you were the jealous asshole who wanted to show off!" She huffed, and sat back down to face her laptop.

He was tired of fighting. He was so tired of constantly arguing with her. All he wanted to do was be with her again. He wanted to hear her stupid puns, he wanted to hear her complains about him "kissing her contour off," he wanted to hear about her bitchy coworkers and bitchy philosophy professor. He wanted to have her again, more than anything. They weren't even broken up, but it felt like it, and he was determined to not let that happen. He sat on the edge of her bed and let out a long sigh, "Look, I'm sorry. I'm really truly sorry. I should've apologized in Edmonton, but I thought a text was enough. I'm sorry. Please just let me back into your life again. I'll even apologize to Connor."