[b] Some might say that Sophie was star struck when they entered the locker room, mostly her brother or her two cousins. But it was Sophie who acted the least star struck as Captain Jonathan Toews welcomed everyone to the locker room and introduced all his teammates before asking the group for their names in return. It was Sophie who was the only one who did not stutter when giving her name and made direct eye contact with the Captain. [/b]
“Jonathan, would you sign this for my best friend? She’s a huge fan,” I said politely holding up a puck that I had bought from the team store during intermission.
“Are you sure it is not for you?” he smirked.
“Nope, for me you could sign my jersey.”
“I see how it is, okay. How old are you, Sophie?” he asked remembering my name.
“Not old enough, I’m afraid,” flashing him a smile.
“It’s a shame. You look 18.”
“About ten months too shy,” I replied as Patrick Sharp approached us as Jon signed my jersey that had the number ten on the back.
“Sophie, right?” the older man asked. I nodded. He wordlessly signed my jersey, on his name of course. “Nice jersey,” he commented. I think I blushed, but I didn’t care.
“Thank you, but I must let you in on a secret. And Jonathan can’t hear it,” he leaned in so I could whisper in his ear that I only wore the ‘good’ players numbers on my back. This caused Patrick to chuckle and Jonathan to stare at us with a confused look.
“Fine, keep me out of your secret conversation, I’ll just move on to another little kid,” he teased. I just playfully stuck my tongue out and headed for Viktor Stalberg at his own locker.
“Keeping secrets from the Captain, that’s a serious offense,” Viktor told me.
“Nah, he’s just jealous he can’t know the secret,” I replied looking from Jon to Viktor. And boy, was he sexier in person.
“Can I know?” he asked with a grin. I nodded and whispered it in his ear. He burst out in laughter and Jon gave us a dirtier look than he gave Patrick and I. “You don’t know what you are missing, Cap,” he baited Jonathan.
Eventually, I had made it all the way around the locker room and the guys started disappearing towards the showers. It was when I was talking to Toews again that Sharp and Hossa asked if I wanted to hang out with the team some time soon. They all had apparently loved my charm. I told them I would think about it and Jon programmed his number in my phone as did Sharp and Hos. I did the same to their phones and they promised to text me, even if I was younger, to set up a time we could all get together. I gave them hugs goodbye and left with my family.
“What was that last thing all about, Soph?” Uncle Stan questioned as we made our way out of the building and towards the car.
“They want to hang out sometime, so we swapped numbers. It’s no big deal, Uncle Stan.”
“You just gave your number to NHL players, maybe that wasn’t such as great idea, Soph.”
“I trust them. They liked me, they wouldn’t do anything stupid, I promise,” I really hoped that I was right or else I would be in for it the next time I saw Uncle Stan. Aunt Laura drove us back to their house in the suburbs where my brother and I crashed until the next morning since it was past curfew.