"What's he saying?" Sidney asked creeping close to the phone to listen. Laura covered the phone with her hand and whispered, "Patrick's here already!" Sidney's eyebrows shot up but she said nothing. "Uh, yeah, could you tell him I'll be down in like five?Thanks!" Laura said hanging up. She put the phone down and gave Sidney a hopeful look. "What do you want?" She asked, already knowing what Laura's intentions were. "Come with meeeee! I don't know what to do, or say, or-or, just come!" Sidney's face scrunched up and she frowned. "What is wrong with you?Get down there and rock this. It's a once in a life time chance!" She piped up. Laura bit her lip and took a deep breath. "Yeah. You're right! I can do this!" Smiling with excitement Laura dashed around the room trying to gather all the things she needed. "Calm down, you're messing up the braid." Sidney warned as she looked up from her book. She was on her bed flipping through the TV channels and reading at the same time. "Thanks for you're concern," Laura answered, tugging back the neckline of her sweater. "Well, I think I got everything. See ya Sid!" Laura called heading to the door. "I expect a fully explained story of how it went once you get back," Sidney replied as Laura closed the door and stepped into the hall. Feeling frivolous she smiled to herself and walked to the elevator.
As the elevator dinged to let her know she had made it to the lobby, Laura did her best to press down the nervous butterflies she was getting."Calm down, calm down.This is gonna be great." Laura repeated in her head again and again. Just as she was about to let anxiety take over and turn and head back, she saw those brilliant blue eyes. Forgetting to breathe, she paused mid-step. Patrick was leaning against the front desk, laughing with the receptionist. Luckily for her, he saw her too and made the effort to walk over to her instead. He looked amazing as he made his way over. Almost immediately Laura could feel her palms starting to get sweaty as her heart began to race. Hoping she didn't look like a nervous mess, she gave him her best smile. "It's good to see you," Patrick spoke as he leaned in for a hug. "Yeah, it's good to see you too!" Laura commented, returning the hug. Once they pulled apart Patrick's hands flew to his pockets. He smiled sheepishly. "Hope you don't mind I showed up a little early. I thought maybe you'd wanna see a little more of Chicago before the movie?" Laura's thought serious thoughts as she tried not to die of the cuteness. "Not at all, that sounds great actually." Patrick's small smile widened. "Great then! I was thinking maybe we should go to Millennium Park first. It's a real cool place." Laura remembered reading about that place once before and smiled. "Let's do it!"
Stepping onto the beautiful Great lawn of Millennium Park, Laura gasped. Looking up at the criss-crossing white bars overhead she whispered, "Wow." Patrick smiled proudly next to her as she turned turned a complete circle to look at the whole place from where she stood. "You're gonna have to forgive me if I go all tourist on you," Laura giggled with excitement. "I'd be offended if you didn't," Patrick joked. The pair decided to keep walking and see the rest of the park. As they got closer to the twisting silver BP Bridge, Laura spoke. "I definitely need to get a picture from up there!" Patrick responded with "Alright," and they headed that way. Walking up to the bridge, Patrick started the small talk. "So where did you say you say you were from?" A small smile spread across Laura's lips. "Vancouver." Patrick looked a little shocked for the briefest of moments, but his usual expression returned. "And you're a Blackhawks fan?" He asked. "And the Canucks," she replied smoothly. More silence. "Why?Is that weird?" Laura questioned, looking over at Patrick. "Not in my mind." He answered with a sweetly. "Now. What about that picture?" Laura had been so fixed on that smile that she hadn't even realized they were already halfway across the bridge. She turned to peer over the edge and saw the cars down below zipping by. " Pulling out her phone she first took a picture of the way they had just walked. Then one of the rest of the bridge they had yet to walk. Turning to snap another picture, she caught Patrick studying her thoughtfully. He turned to look away when he realized she had noticed and cleared his throat. "Those should be enough for Sidney," Laura said to herself and a little to Patrick as she put her phone back in her pocket. When he finally looked over again his eyes went straight to her hands. "You're hands Laura." Laura looked at her hands to see they were doing their usual cold weather thing. Ever since she could remember, cold weather brought extremely pale fingers to Laura. They weren't numb for the most part, just an icky pale. She winced as she began to rub her hands together. "It's happens in the cold. It's okay" Patrick nodded and they decided to walk back around and see the Lurie Garden.
They had just reached the starting point of the garden and Laura's attempts to warm up her hands were failing miserably. They continued walking and properly Laura took in the place. It wasn't the most magnificent array of plants, but the purple among all the surrounding green and concrete had an affect of bizarre beauty. While Laura was still dazzled by the strange flowers, Patrick came to an abrupt stop, causing Laura to practically walk into him. He was turned towards her and had a perplexed look on his face as if he was debating whether or not to say something. Laura watched silently as he pulled his hands out of his pockets and took hold of hers. She held her breath, confused. He was stroking his thumbs over the top of her hands, but Laura was still watching his eyes. She suddenly felt a lot more comfortable with him, and a lot less worried about messing up. He looked up a little startled and said, "Your hands, they uh, seemed really cold." Surprised Laura let out a little nervous laugh. "Well uh, they are." They were silent and then Patrick gave her a cheeky smile. "It's almost time for the movie. Should we head over there?" Laura remembered their original plan. "Yeah, of course. But first, I need to see that giant infamous bean." Patrick had an amused look on his face. "Let's go then."
After Laura had made countless ridiculous faces in front of the giant metallic bean, (which Patrick had snapped tons of pictures of), the two decided to finally head to the theater. Laura once again found herself in the familiar red and black Camaro with the Blackhawks logo. Only this time, she was seated in the passenger seat and Patrick Kane was the one driving. "This must be like my fifth trip in this car." Laura thought out loud. "You don't like it?" Patrick asked, eyes focused on the road. "Don't like it?I love it! Uh, but why this car, for our date I mean?" Laura felt shy all over again after asking. Patrick's eyes met hers for a second before he looked back to the road. "I thought it would make it all the more special. So I pulled a few strings and here we are." A small smile crept onto Laura's lips. "Just what more do you have in store?" She thought.
Laura couldn't even remember what exactly the both of them had watched. She had spent the whole movie stealing looks at Patrick, dreaming possibilities. But she had to tell herself repeatedly that this was just one date. The regular season would start soon. She needed to head back home this coming Saturday. University. Patrick had dropped her back off at her hotel, and parted with another one of his sweet smiles. Laura stepped into the elevator and laughed a little to herself. Boy did Sidney need to hear this.