“Ok, well I’m going to go over to Coach Bylsma to ask him a few questions.” Peyton got up and stretched. “It’s about half of the practice, so now should be a good a time as any.” She shrugged and started walking away.

I was sitting in the front row on the side of the arena. I bounced my legs up and down and held my coffee close to me as I took another sip of it. I was in the middle of a thought before I suddenly got startled. I let out a yelp as Tyler Kennedy tripped and landed right in front of me. He immediately got up and straightened out his jersey. He looked at me and smiled widely and waved. I laughed and waved back.

My eyes wandered around everyone who was on the ice. I saw Jordan talking with Matt Cooke. Then there was Kris Letang and Marc-Andre trying to do something with the hockey stick, which resulted in Marc falling hard on the ice and Kris falling from laughter. Max was doing some kind of dance around Evgeni as he gave him a curious look. I merely shook my head at the two. Poor Geno, he must be so confused. Finally, my eyes landed on Sidney. He was adjusting his glove and looked very concentrated. Me eyes went down looking at his stance which was very awkward considering the fact that he was trying to hold his stick in between his legs. Him being tall didn’t help with the picture either.

I looked at his skates, which were both pointed inward as if he couldn’t walk. I smiled to myself and looked back up at him finding his eyes on mine. My eyebrows rose and he smiled slightly before waving at me shyly. I did the same.
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I tiptoed looking for Peyton’s hair. Brunette, tall, gorgeous and very much a female. How hard could it be? Apparently very, since I could not seem to see her anywhere in between the tall men walking around in the locker room. After a few minutes I gave up and leaned against the wall.

“Hey.”

I looked up to see Max smiling at me. I smiled in return. “Hi.”

“We weren't properly introduced last night." He stuck out his hand. "My name’s Max. What’s yours?”

I shook his hand. “I’m Brooke.”

“It’s nice to meet you. Come on, let’s go sit down.”

“Ah- actually, I’m waiting for some-” I couldn’t finish my sentence before he pulled me and sat on a bench in front of the bathrooms.

“So you’re Peyton’s friend?”

I nodded, a confused look coming over me. “Yea, why?”

He shrugged, “Just wondering. Hey, who is that coffee for?” He looked down at the untouched coffee in my hand.

I eyed him cautiously. “No one.”

“If you say so.” He paused for a second staring at me uneasily before shrugging. "Well it was nice talking to you. Bye new friend!” He got up and disappeared into the bathroom.

I furrowed my eyebrows, confused at what had just happened. I heard something slam on the floor and whipped my head around to see that it was a bag. I looked up to see someone with only a towel around their waist. My eyes widened, suddenly realizing it was Sidney. I quickly looked down and fiddled with my hands. I felt my phone vibrate and saw it was a text from Peyton telling me she was in some conference room with Dan Bylsma and to meet her in front of the guys’ locker room. I put the phone in my pocket and got up as Sidney turned around.

“Oh. Hi Brooke.” He looked down at me.

“Uh, hey.” I was surprised he remembered my name.I looked at my feet trying not to make eye contact what so ever. “So, uhm, to apologize for the,” I cleared my throat, “Incident, I got you some coffee.” I gave him the coffee forcing myself to at least look at his face and smile.

He took the cup from my hand and smiled in return. “Thank you very much.” I took a deep breath trying to relax myself. “I, uh, I’m sorry I don’t have anything for you.”

I laughed, “It’s okay. It’s a cup of coffee not 10 grand.”

He laughed. “True.”

I sat on the bench, sighing. He sat on it a good 3 feet away from me. “So,” I looked up at him. “How was practice?”

Sidney nodded. “It was good. The ice felt pretty good. I’m excited for the game tomorrow. We haven’t exactly started the season all that great, but I’m hoping to turn things around. But, uh, we’ll see how everything goes.”

I looked down and smiled to myself at how well and put together his response was as if I were a journalist or something. Guess he was used to it. But I admit, it was adorable. “That’s good.”

“Brooke! There you are!” I turned around to see Peyton walking towards me. “Oh, hey Sidney, how’s it going?”

He looked down and nodded. “Good.”

“Hey! Look who’s back!” All three of us turned around to see Max coming over, a huge smile covering his face. “Brooke! How are you? My new friend, I’ve missed you.” He squeezed me and picked me up as a yelp came out of my mouth.

I let out a breath once he put me down. “Uh, I’m good, thanks.”

“So, are you guys hungry?”

I tilted my head, “Why?”

“Cause I want to invite you two to come have lunch with us, silly!”

“Who’s us?” Peyton gave him a strange look.

Max rolled his eyes. “The guys! It’s me, Tangers, Staalsy, Flower, Geno, and Sid of course!”

I immediately grew uncomfortable and nervous. I started to stutter on every word. “Oh, no, no, no. That’s fine really. We, don’t, uhm, really, it’s...yeah.” I felt my face turn red and suddenly found my shoes to be very appealing.

He put his arm around me. “Aww come on! Please Brookey? For your new friend?” He looked down at me giving me puppy eyes.

I sighed and Peyton laughed. I couldn’t say anything and looked to Peyton for help. She just shrugged and looked at me completely clueless. I looked down at the floor again.

“I’ll take that as a yes then. Come on, let’s go! I’m starving! Sidney, let’s go. The car’s waiting outside.” Max pulled me by the arm and started to walk fast. I looked back at Peyton who was trying to hold back her laughter and Sidney who just shook his head and seemed to have grinned a bit. If it was possible.

Once we were out in the parking lot, I saw Kris, Jordan, Marc, and Evgeni standing outside.
“Where are Peyton and Sidney?” I looked back realizing that Max had probably walked too fast.

He started to stomp his feet. “Where are they? Slowpokes man.”

I laughed as I heard the door open and Peyton came out with Sidney behind.

“Hey Peyton! I didn’t know you were coming.” Jordan waved to her.

“Well, Max invited us and you know he doesn’t take no too well.”

They laughed all nodding their heads. “Nice to see you again Peyton.”

Max waved his hand in the air. “Yea, yea, yea, everyone knows Peyton. But this,” he grabbed my arm and pulled me in front of him. “Is my new friend Brooke.”

I looked above my shoulders at his grinning face and shook my head. I looked at the guys and waved slightly. “Uhm, it’s very nice to meet you all.”

They all smiled and waved as they started to pile up in the car. Sidney got into the driver’s seat as Evgeni went directly to the front. “I get to sit next to Brooke!” He climbed in pulling me. Marc, Jordan and Peyton climbed into the back of the car and Kris hesitated to sit next to me but hopped in and closed the door.

Sidney started to pull out onto the street when there was a rather large bump on the road, which made the car hop, and made us hop to the right. I accidently bumped into Kris and I thought I was going to fall so I grabbed his arm to hold me. My eyes widened in realization of what I did and I quickly apologized. “I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to-”

He smiled shaking his head. “It's okay, don't worry about it.”

“Hey! Don’t touch my friend! She’s mine!” Max pulled my arm and covered me with his arms. After staring at Kris to make sure he wouldn’t do anything, he slowly let me go, still eyeing him.
I looked at Kris, smiling sheepishly and shook my head slightly. He smirked and turned to look out the window. I focused my attention back the street, occasionally eyeing Sidney and his concentrated face. I sighed, this was going to be a long drive.

Notes

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