PART TEN: CHRISTMAS
When I got back to the apartment to pack my bag last-minute for my parents’ house, Tess was still there. I was so glad she hadn’t left yet. My mind was still blown by what had just happened to me. I explained it all to her and showed her the puck with Patrick Kane’s phone number written on it.
“Two guys’ phone numbers in two days. Damn Lean, you’re on fire lately!” she exclaimed.
“Oh yeah, I guess I did just get Dylan’s number yesterday. Geez, I’ve never been this popular before. What’s so great about me now?” I asked.
“I don’t know, Lean. I definitely don’t see the appeal,” Tess said, setting her already packed bag down by the door.
“Maybe that’s because you’re a girl that couldn’t possibly be more straight,” I said.
“True that. Well, I think I’m gonna head out, the fam is waiting for me to get home. I’ll see you tomorrow night. Tell me as soon as you talk to your Blackhawk boy toy,” she decided.
“Alright, bye,” I said. I went into my room and stuffed some clothes and necessities into a bag as well as my much needed electronics. When my bag was packed, I took it along with my hockey bag and put them both in my car. I grabbed all my gifts for my family and Tess and the wrapping paper, ribbons, and boxes I needed to put them in. Talk about last minute gift-wrapping; I would have to wrap them when I got to my parents’ house.
Before I left, I took the phone number puck out of my hockey bag and just held it for a moment, wondering if I should call or text Patrick. I finally decided to shoot him a text. If he answered, I could reply after I was done driving and I wouldn’t seem too desperate. When I put the number in my phone and created a new message, I realized I had no idea what to say. I didn’t want to waste any more time, so I finally typed something out without thinking much about it and I hit send.

After I sent it I started to stress. Did that sound dumb? Cheesy? Maybe it was too desperate or flirty. I couldn’t take it back anymore, though, so I put down my phone and drove.
When I got home, I was greeted by Puck first, once again. I settled in and told my parents and brother everything that had happened to me since I had been there last. They told me that they watched the game Dylan and I worked at and they all seemed to be really happy for me. Jealous too.
“Will you take me with next time?” Brian asked with sad eyes.
“I hate to break it to you bro, but puppy dog eyes only work on me if they belong to Puck,” I said, walking into my room. I began to close my door behind me when Brian grabbed it.
“First you turn me down and then you shut the door on me? Rude!” he complained.
“Sorry, I just thought that you might appreciate it if I actually wrapped your present,” I told him. When he finally understood the situation, he left me alone. I locked the door, afraid that someone would invite themselves in and see their present early. After I had finally finished wrapping everything, I went downstairs and put the gifts under the tree. I stood back and enjoyed the view. The tree looked beautiful, especially with the impressively wrapped boxes underneath it. Of course, the ones I wrapped looked extremely average compared to the ones my mom did. She was a really crafty person, and she excelled at things like gift wrapping. She could have easily had people pay her to do their presents. I would pay for it if she wasn’t my mom.
With nothing left to do, I sat down on the living room couch next to Puck and I checked my phone. I had one new text message. It was from Patrick.
>I hoped you would haha. So what are you up to?
Wow, I had expected a short response. From what I had experienced in the past, it seemed like guys were pros at one or two word answers without much emotion. Patrick was actually starting a conversation.

>Sounds like you’re on top of your game, haha! I just got to Buffalo, my rents are supposed to be picking me up from the airport…if only I could find them…

I hoped with everything I had in me that he would get the Home Alone 2 reference. In my family, it was illegal to not watch the first two Home Alones at least once at Christmastime. He might not have seen them though, or liked them.
>My family’s in Florida…and I’m in New York…*wiggles eyebrows*
Thank God, he got the reference! But speaking of Home Alone, it was time for a family Christmas movie marathon, and Brian came in to remind me.
“Movie time! Stop texting Tess and help me find the BluRays!” he said.
“I’m not texting Tess,” I corrected him, trying to focus on typing out a reply.
“Well you’re texting someone, that’s obvious. Who is it?”
“Patrick,” I replied.
“Kane?” he asked, chuckling.
“Yes, actually,” I answered, showing him my phone.
“Dude, no way!” he said, snatching my phone from me.
“Hey, give it back! Those are my personal texts!” I yelled, trying to get it back. Unfortunately, my brother was a lot taller than me, so when he held it up, it was out of my reach.
“Well at least Mom will approve of him if you guys ever date, he’s got good taste in movies,” he noted as he scrolled through the messages.
“BRIAN! Give it back!” I screeched. He finally did and I gave him a death glare.

“Oh Patrick, I just love you so much. Will you please marry me?!” Brian said in a girly, high pitched voice, attempting to mock me as I continued to text Patrick.
“Trust me, that’s not what I said,” I assured him.
“Sure.”
>Cool, I love that movie! Oh, and don’t worry, I found my mom and dad

>Sarcastic much? Haha
“Oh don’t worry, Lean. I found the movies. You go ahead and continue to sit there and be no help at all,” Brian said.
“I’m sure you can handle putting a movie in and pressing play,” I answered.

>It’s fine, I would have had to let you go soon anyways. My sisters probly want to hang out with their awesome older brother

>Alright, ttyl Lena
My parents saw me smiling at my phone and I was forced to explain myself. My parents were all for embarrassing me, but luckily Brian started the movie before they could get too ridiculous. Even though he was rude and stole my phone a few minutes earlier, he was still my brother and he had my back. I was thankful for that.
After we got through Home Alone and Home Alone 2, we decided to be done with movies for the night. It was starting to get late, so my parents went to bed. Brian and I stayed up for a while, just talking. I loved when we had our little talks. I used to think that I could never have a really close relationship with him because he was a boy. A dumb thought, I know, but even though I was always a tomboy when I was younger, I wished I could have a sister. When I got older, I realized that having a brother was just as good, if not better. This turned into one of those nights when I was reminded of that.
I took me a while to fall asleep. For some reason, I slept like a child on Christmas Eve - even as a twenty two year old, I still anticipated the moment of waking up and knowing it was finally Christmas morning.
When I did wake up, it was somewhat early. Seven thirty, to be exact. I always managed to wake up a lot earlier than usual if it was some kind of holiday or a day of a big event. I rubbed my eyes and checked my phone, expecting a ton of texts.
My expectations were matched with reality. Most of my hockey girls had texted me with Merry Christmas messages and then there was Tess. She always went all out and managed to sent the most obnoxious holiday and birthday messages.
>I WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS, I WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS, I WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Not only did she use emojis, but she attempted to make her own Christmas tree using slashes, hyphens, and brackets. It didn’t surprise me at all. At least it was better than the reindeer she had tried to create the previous year, though. That had been a complete failure.
I spent some time replying to the messages and after a few minutes I got a text from Dylan, also saying Merry Christmas. I had almost forgotten that he had my number! Oh well, it was nice to get a message from him. I replied to him and then texted my brother in the bedroom next door.

>Yeah, I have been. Ready to get up?

I got out of bed and snuck a peek in my mirror. My bedhead was looking pretty crazy. I ran a brush through my long hair until it looked normal, knowing my mom would turn into an annoying photographer when we started opening presents. I slipped out of my room quietly and met Brian in the hallway.
“You’ve got the music?” he asked me.
“Yeah, I’ve got this. Let’s do it!” I answered. Ever since the first year we each had been moved out of the house and come home for Christmas, we found an obnoxious way to wake up our parents on Christmas morning, as if we were kids again. Last year, we had ran into their room and jumped on their bed to wake them up. This year we planned to blast our mom’s favorite Christmas CD and open their bedroom door so they could hear it along with Brian’s yelling.
I tiptoed over to the stereo and waited for Brian’s cue. I heard his terrible bird call and I pressed play, turning the volume up. I ran to my parent’s bedroom where Brian was yelling, “WAKE UP! WAKE UP! IT’S CHRISTMAS MORNING! WAKE UP!” and Puck was joining in on the act, barking furiously. Our parents were tired and annoyed at first, but when Brian and I burst out into laughter, they couldn’t help but laugh too. The first year we had started this tradition, they thought we were ridiculous, but now they were just interested in what we could pull off next.
Once everyone was up, my mom made cinnamon rolls for breakfast, which we ate quickly. In my family, we all had big appetites during the holidays. After eating, my mom took a picture of Brian and I in front of the tree in our PJs - me in my snowflake pants and Elf t-shirt and Brian in his reindeer pants and Home Alone t shirt. We finally broke into our presents with my mom snapping unnecessary photos, and we all got some really cool stuff. My mom got me a Betsey Johnson purse that I had been dying to have and as usual I got a lot of makeup, jewelry, and gift cards. Besides the purse, my favorite gift was from my dad, who got me a new hockey stick. It was a Patrick Kane stick, of course…
My mom loved the scarves and shirt I got her and my dad and Brian were overjoyed at their presents. I had gotten them new Hawks shirts and of course the autographed pucks to go with them. They couldn’t believe that I actually had their favorite players personally sign official NHL pucks for them. I got the biggest bear hugs from them that I had ever gotten in my life.
For Christmas, we always went to my mom’s parents’ house for a few hours and then my dad’s parents’ house for a few hours, so once we were done with presents at my parents’ house, we had to get ready to go. Before I got ready, I got a text from none other than Patrick Kane.
>Good morning and Merry Christmas! J
I was more than overjoyed at the fact that I was getting a good morning message from my Blackhawk crush, but had to just send a quick reply and get myself looking presentable.

The visits with family were really enjoyable. There actually wasn’t too much family drama, which made me more than happy. It was nice to see the aunts and uncles and cousins that I never got to see. I loved hearing the crazy stories they had to share about what all they had been up to since I last saw them. As much as I usually hated my mom’s paparazzi ways, she got a lot of great pictures and to top it all off, by the time we got back home, Brian and I felt rich.
I went over to Tess’ house for a while before it got too late so we could do our gift exchange. It was definitely one of my favorite parts of Christmas. Because we knew each other so well, we always found the perfect gifts for each other. Most of the time, we found some really funny ones too. Of course, even when we got each other gag gifts that were supposed to be just for laughs, we always ended up liking them and actually putting them to good use, like the crazy ice cube trays that she had given me a few years back.
“Really, Tess? Patrick Kane fatheads?” I laughed as I tore my gift from her open.
“Well, I bought them before I knew that you were going to have the real thing…” she answered. “You still have to put them up somewhere, though. And I know you’ll want to use the next thing.”
She was right. The other part of the gift was a t shirt that said: I ♥ THE KANER SHUFFLE. I was a professional at the Kaner Shuffle to the point where I was confident that I could make Kaner proud if he saw me do it.
“Alright, alright, you did a pretty good job. Thanks Tessy,” I said. It was her turn to open my gift. I made her close her eyes and I brought her present in. Our gifts for each other turned out to have a similar theme. I had her open her eyes and although it was somewhat obvious what the gift was due to its shape, she had a surprised look on her face when she got the wrapping paper off of a life size Jonathan Toews cardboard cut out that I had made from her favorite picture of him. I had attached the puck to one of his hands. She was excited enough about the cutout, but when she saw the real gift, she freaked out.
“NO WAY! He freaking signed this puck personally? For me?!” she screeched as she admired the signature: To Tess. Love, Jonathan Toews. Yes, I had gotten him to put a personal touch to it. I was lucky he was such a nice guy.
“Yes, I watched him do it! So do you like it?” I asked, even though the answer was obvious.
“Lean, I LOVE IT! Thank you so much!!” she yelled, pulling me into a tight hug. As she hugged me, we both felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.
“Whoa, inappropriate, Lena!” she said.
“Grow up!” I groaned as I checked my phone. It was Patrick again.
>I’m sure you’re busy, but I thought I’d give it a try. How has your Christmas been?
“Oh, you HAVE to tell him what I got you!” Tess suggested.
“NO! Tess, that’s embarrassing!” I said, but before I knew it she was forcing the shirt over my head and putting the fatheads in my hands. She snapped a picture of me and sent it to Patrick before I could stop her. I immediately got my phone back and sent him an explanation.

>Haha I approve! Your friend seems pretty cool. So what funny gift did you get her?
We took a ridiculous picture with the cardboard cut out and the puck and this time I voluntarily sent the picture to him.
>Idk about that gift. I think the ones you got were better

>So since she got you fatheads of me, does that mean you’re my super fan?
Oh god. There it was. The embarrassment. Tess laughed at my red cheeks as I tried to fix the problem she had created.

>Hey, it’s okay if you are! If I had to choose any girl to be my number one fan, I would hope it would be you
“Oh my gosh, you guys are too cute right now,” Tess said, reading my texts over my shoulder.
“Shut up! I’ve got to get back home, I can’t stay up late because I have to head back to Chicago and get back to working again in the morning, unlike some people,” I said. We thanked each other one last time and I went back to my parents’ house. I spent some final time with Brian and my parents before going to bed early. Of course, I stayed up later than I had originally planned though, thanks to Patrick. It didn’t seem like either of us really wanted to end the conversation, so we kept texting until we finally fell asleep, me with my phone in my hand still.

Notes

I know this chapter was kinda long, but I guess I had a lot to put in it! Well, writing this story is making me wish it was actually Christmastime, so I decided to put in a link for that Blackhawks Christmas album video that I love...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR6mhS0KUq4

Well, anyways, vote if you like the chapter as usual and please give me some feedback in the comments section! :)