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Being a high-profile movie star means being known. Being known means being perceived, even if most of the time the perception is wrong. One blurry snapshot and a rumor is started. Sometimes, most times in fact, it doesn’t even take a snapshot, all it takes is an anonymous person behind a screen to decide to post something and suddenly, it’s a truth that everyone and their mother runs with.
Which is how Rose Landry finds herself “dating” Shane Hollander.
Apparently a few dinners with a very polite Canadian boy who opens doors for you and holds your hand while you go down icy stairs in heels, makes him your boyfriend.
Shane is different from the other guys she’s spent time with, he’s quiet and listens to her talk. He sees Rose the girl from Michigan and not just Rose Landry, movie star. He doesn’t want anything from her, he’s just nice to an almost infuriating degree. At first, it’s a bit confusing but she thinks maybe he’s had a past relationship go bad.
That is until she realizes, he’s never had a public relationship in the entirety of his professional hockey career. There are pictures of him with women but it's always either his mother or Shane with his best friends, Hayden and Jackie Pike.
He’s Shane Hollander, hockey superstar and Canada’s golden boy. He could have any woman he wanted. Unless of course, he doesn’t want.
It’s that thought occurrence that makes it all click into place. Why do people keep relationships secret, because they have to and why would Shane have to keep a relationship a secret, because hockey superstars aren’t allowed to like boys. In that split second, Rose hates hockey. She wants to dismantle the NHL with her bare hands and burn it all to the fucking ground. Scorched earth.
Shane Hollander is a polite Canadian boy, he is just not her polite Canadian boy.
Rose knows that they’re drinking too much at the club, she knows she should stop it. Alcohol is not a solution to one's problems, it’s putting a bandaid over a bullet wound. Shane played a shitty game though, not that she’d ever say it out loud. Actually, stats wise he’s currently having the worst games of his career as a whole. Especially when playing against Boston.
They’re dancing with Miles, Rose is moving to the beat of the music with Shane’s coat draped over her shoulders because the thin beaded straps of her dress keep falling down.
Suddenly, Shane stops dancing with them and says something about needing air or the bathroom, the club is too loud for Rose to know for sure what he’s saying. He pulls away and begins to push through the endless sea of bodies and then pauses, standing still and obviously staring at someone. A heartbeat or maybe two, then Shane is pushing his way through the crowd again to get out of the club.
As she makes an excuse for Miles and follows Shane out of the club, she meets the eye of the Russian rival. All Rose can think in that moment is “Ilya Rozanov, what did you do”
She finds Shane just outside the club, sitting with his back against the wall. Rose knows she doesn’t know him that well all things considered but, she figures they have five minutes or less before he starts visibly freaking out. Good thing she can have a private car here in two and a half minutes.
Rose doesn’t know exactly how she manages to pick a giant, drunk hockey player up off the ground but just figures that her brain tapped into the latent maternal strength every woman is born with. Somehow, she gets them both in the car and then upstairs to Shane’s apartment.
They sit in silence on the bathroom floor while Shane tries to ground himself and fight a losing battle against the nausea rushing to the surface. Rose has been drunk enough times in her life to know the signs, the slight change in skin tone, the way saliva floods your mouth and a sweaty chill encases a body against their will.
“I fucked it all up, he hates me” Shane says eventually, slumped against the wall as unshed tears shimmer in his eyes.
Ilya Rozanov needs to die, there’s going to be a lot of torture first and then death. Rose could probably make it happen too, dumb men are always eating out of the palm of her hand. A well placed hand on an arm and a twirl of her hair, bam she has a ready and willing hitman.
I got scared and I fucked it all up and now he hates me…and you, look what I’ve done to you” Shane continues, the tears are flowing now, sobs boiling over like water out of a forgotten pot.
“Hey, Shane…no, honey nobody hates you” Rose rushed to comfort, allowing him to slump against her.
“I used you, I’m a terrible person…I didn’t mean to, it’s just that you were so nice and I thought, if I could show him I was over it, if I pissed him off enough-“ Shane trails off, too distracted by his own drunken tears.
“You aren’t a terrible person, you just wanted to make him jealous, we’ve all been there sweetie” Rose promised as she carded her fingers through his hair.
“And my mom, she’s going to hate me too, I’m really fucking up the whole brand she’s built” Shane added as panic seemed to grip him again.
“Shane, listen to me now, nobody hates you and if they have a problem with you liking a boy they’ll have to go through me first” Rose swore firmly, taking a hold of his shoulders and forcing him to look her in the eye.
“I don’t like him, Rose I love him” Shane admitted quietly.
“I love him and I can’t do anything about it and now he hates me” he added, the devastation in those words were palpable.
Rose feels herself tearing up but she can’t start crying. She has to be the strong and sober one tonight. Pressing a kiss into his hair, she gets up and goes to turn on the shower, giving it a few minutes to warm up.
“Here’s what we’re going to do, you’re going to get in the shower and I’m going to find you something warm and comfortable to wear, then we’re ordering take out, I’m thinking Thai or Indian” She tells him matter of factly.
In the last few weeks with Shane, she’s learned that you have to be straightforward and give clearly, black and white options. Misinterpreting can lead to spirals or nonverbal shutdowns.
“Do you need help getting in the shower?” She asks gently, a tone free of judgement. It wouldn’t be the first time she’s done it. You do for friends what they can’t do for themselves, even if that means helping them bathe.
“No…I can…can do it” Shane protests, the words are garbled and there’s a bit of a childish lit in his tone but, Rose chalks that up to a night of drinking.
Rose takes him at his word but still leaves the bathroom propped open as she steps back through it to the bedroom. It takes a few minutes of searching but, eventually she finds a soft t-shirt and even softer sweatpants in the top drawer of Shane’s dresser. She takes them out and leaves them folded on the bed.
Going into the kitchen, Rose finds a giant water tumbler and fills it with ice water. Shane needs to hydrate properly, it’ll help to mitigate the hangover he’ll have tomorrow. Next, she picks up her phone and orders an ungodly amount of take out. They need to eat and everyone knows drunk calories don’t count. She’ll box up the leftovers and bring them to set tomorrow to share.
Once the take-out situation is squared away, she goes in search of blankets. Rose knows without asking that even a drunk Shane Hollander would never even think about eating in bed but, maybe he’ll be convinced to sit on the couch, watch a movie and use the coffee table.
She finds blankets in a hall closet and brings a stack of them out to the couch. The first one goes down to cover the cushions themselves, just in case they do spill food or god forbid, Shane feels nauseous again. The rest draped and tucked until the couch has been transformed into a cozy nest. If they’re going to cry about boys, they’ll at least be comfortable while doing it.
Rose is just setting out the various array of take out containers and some sweet treats when Shane emerges, dressed in the sweatpants she laid out and a worn out blue hoodie.
“Hi honey, I’ve got food and water for you” Rose started gently as she moved the blankets around to make room for Shane on the couch. He looked like he would start crying again and it made her heart ache.
“I know it’s out of routine but, I need you to at least try to eat for me so you don’t get sick” she added softly, figuring maybe the solid reasoning would help to ground him.
Shane blinks at her and rubs a hand over his face before coming to join her on the couch. He looks lost and almost childlike. Fragile and small, in need of protecting.
He curls into her side, averting his eyes as he does so. In response, Rose wraps one of the thicker, heavier blankets around them.
“Why don’t you find a show for us to watch, sweetie?” She suggests gently, handing over the remote and the large tumbler of water before she begins making their plates.
“I miss him,” Shane admits quietly, nervously pulling at the frayed threads of his hoodie.
“He’s probably going to bring Svetlana with him” he adds, face morphing into an angry kitten. More specifically, an angry kitten riddled with jealousy.
“Well, we’ll just have to make sure you look amazing at All-Stars weekend, I’ll find you a stylist and oh…a shopping spree” Rose offered, utterly delighted and confident in her plan.
After a bit of coaxing to get him to drink water and eat some food, Shane turns on the tv and clicks on the Disney+ app, Rose figures he’ll put on “Miracle” or “The Mighty Ducks” but, she doesn’t say a word when the theme song of “Bluey” starts playing instead.
Shane instantly melts against her, like a puppet who’s had its strings cut. Then, she can hear him softly humming along to the theme song.
Rose cards her fingers through Shane’s hair as she sends off a text to Miles to make sure he gets back home okay, next she scrolls through the portfolios of the stylists she knows, trying to figure out who would be the best match for Shane.
“You know they want me to voice a character for an episode, even said they’d let me design her myself” Rose offers conversationally.
Shane rips his eyes away from the screen, staring up at her in awe like she’d just told him the coolest thing in the world. “Gonna be friends with Bluey” he whispers in disbelief.
Any doubt Rose had about accepting the offer is instantly wiped away. A few weeks in Australia sounds fun as it is and she'd do anything to see that look on her friend’s face, even this seemingly small version of her friend, especially this version.
They only have a few weeks until All-Star weekend and in that time, Rose is going to find Shane a whole new wardrobe and teach him not to instantly fold at the first pretty smile Ilya Rozanov gives him. She will be making moves and getting them back together, this is magnum opus.
Then, when they’re back together she’ll invite them to a quiet dinner at her apartment and grill the fuck out of this boy. It’s what girl friends do, after all. Welcome to girlhood, Shane Hollander.