All the Ways

xv

Johnny was sitting on Paige's window seat when she came out of the bathroom, "Hi, can you zip my dress please?"

He got up and pulled the zipper of her dress up. Paige was wearing a tight, black, long-sleeved dress with gold baroque detailing at the collar and around the shoulders. It was simple, but it was still a beautiful dress. Paige walked over to her vanity and applied a light tint of dark red to her lips, and put on dangly gold earrings. She slid on a pair of classic black pumps and set off. Before leaving, she knocked on Amber's and Vivienne's doors, "Johnny and I are leaving, do you need us to take you guys?"

Amber cracked the door open and stuck her head out, "Sean's taking us. But we'll see you there. And wow! You look so beautiful."

Johnny and Paige waved goodbye to them and drove to Joe's. Nobody informed Paige that Joe lived in an actual house. An actual house with lots of room. Okay, he basically lived in a mansion. Perks of being a professional hockey player. Johnny parked the car and they walked to the front door. The party was already loud. Joe greeted the couple, showing them where the drinks were. Paige eyed Sam from across the room and said hello to him.

He didn't even say hello back, cutting to the chase. "Is Vivienne here?"

"Not right now, but she's--" The door opened, and Sean, Amber and Vivienne all entered.

Amber wore a short gold sequin wrap dress with long sleeves and a v-neck. Her hair was pin straight, and she wore the cutest sandals with them. Vivienne wore a simple and tight baby pink dress, that extended past her knees and hit mid-calf. Her hair was in loose waves tonight, and she wore a a stack of silver bangles on her left wrist. Sam was baffled. He hadn't seen her since they were back east, and he wasn't expecting her to show up and make him miss her even more. Paige walked away from him without a word, walking over to her friends and giving them a big hug. Sean appeared at Sam's side, "Make your move, kid, or Joe's probably gonna step in."

The girls walked to the kitchen, and Amber poured a shot for each of them, "To another year of friendship." She said, raising her shot glass.

The other girls cheered and downed the shot. And another one. And another. And so on and so forth.

Paige, who was the smallest, was also the weakest. There was no way that girl could handle her liquor. Johnny cut her off for a little bit, making her drink water, so she wouldn't throw up in his mouth at midnight. She held his face, smiling at him, "As much as I love you, give me another drink!"

"After midnight." He said, chuckling and kissing her forehead. In heels, Paige was still shorter than Johnny, and he was so glad that she made him feel tall sometimes.

Paige sighed and gave him a face, sticking her tongue out at him, "I hate you."

"You'll thank me later."

/////

Sean and Amber were tearing it up, dancing to whatever shitty EDM music Joe was playing. They were both intoxicated, and the both of them just kept taking drinks like it was nothing. They laughed and smiled the entire time, feeling like they did the night they met.

/////

Sam watched from afar, observing the way Vivienne acted around Joe. He was a nice guy, and she was a nice girl, but Vivienne was Sam's girl, and he couldn't see anyone else with her. She threw her head back in laughter as Joe whispered in her ear, and Sam wrapped his hand tighter around the beer bottle he was holding.

"Sammy!" Paige ran to him, "You look so... angry." She tilted her head at him while she talked slowly, trying to figure out what word she was going to say next.

"I am angry," Sam looked down at her small stature, "Joe and Viv are flirting, do you see that?!"

She turned around and squinted, "Yeah... Colborne's mackin' on my best friend! Wow!"

"No. Not 'wow.' I need you to help me!" He placed his hands on her shoulders and stared at her.

She narrowed her eyebrows, "Well, frankly, I would love to help you Sammy, but what I would also love right now... is another drink." Paige walked towards the kitchen when Johnny found her again.

"Whoa. Not midnight yet. We have ten minutes."

Paige pouted, "Ugh. Please?"

"Nine minutes."

Everyone crowded into the living room to count down. Sam spotted Vivienne, who was still with Joe. He shoved his way past everyone, getting to her. As everyone cheered and celebrated, Sam turned Vivienne around, grabbed her face, and kissed her. She was shocked at first, but she felt happy for the first time in a while.

Sam and Vivienne pulled apart and she smiled at him, "Happy New Year."

"Can we leave the fighting behind?" He still held her face as he talked to her.

"Yes," she kissed him again, "But one condition."

"Anything you want."

"No make up sex. I'm too drunk for this."

Sam just laughed at her and nodded. He was still fine to drive, so he took Vivienne back to his apartment.

Paige was still goin' at it at Joe's house, but this time she had somebody to drink with--Amber. The two girls were currently taking everybody down in beer pong, and kept getting more and more drunk by the second. The clock read 2:00 AM and Johnny decided it was time to bring her home. He knew Sam and Vivienne were back at Sam's, and there was no way Sean and Amber were driving themselves to either of their homes, so he took Paige to his apartment. She stumbled often while walking to his car, giggling the entire time. It was annoying. She was annoying. He didn't know if it was because he was sober, or if his girlfriend was an annoying drunk. Maybe just both.

They drove back in silence, and Paige studied Johnny as he drove. He looked tense, and she was scared she did something to upset him. She probably did everything to upset him. She turned the radio down, "Is everything okay?"

"It's fine." They pulled up to his apartment building, and Johnny parked his car in his usual spot. He opened the door for her, helping her get out so she wouldn't fall. They went up to his apartment, heading straight to bed silently. Paige washed her face and brushed her teeth as Johnny changed, and once they were done, they switched places. Johnny handed Paige a bottle of water, so she wouldn't get the brunt of her drinking tomorrow morning. The both of them laid in bed, separated.

Paige stared at the ceiling and sighed, "Whatever I did, I'm sorry," she was still tipsy and bad at forming sentences, "I love you, Johnny." She turned on her side so she could look at him.

"I love you, too." He sighed and pulled her in.

"I'm sorry I don't talk to you about anything outside of Calgary, either. I know meeting my parents over FaceTime was a weird thing, but you just had this cool life growing up, and I'm... I'm boring. I can't compare to you or your childhood. Sometimes I wonder why you even still like me... I don't feel anything towards anything. I don't have any hobbies or interests. I'm not some kind of hockey prodigy, I'm just--" She was rambling at this point.

Johnny shushed her, "It's okay. I still love you, no matter what you like or don't like."

She scooted in closer to him, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," she whispered, "I'm trying."

"Trying to what?"

"Open up! It's hard. It took a while for me to open up to Amber and it's even harder for me to open up to you."

He kissed her forehead, "Good night. I love you."