The Hockey Life
The First Date
PART EIGHTEEN: THE FIRST DATE
Patrick and I headed down the stairs of the apartment building and exited it. We went out to his car and he opened my door for me like a gentleman.
“Will you tell me where we’re going now?” I asked him.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he answered with a smirk. It didn’t take long for us to get there, though. When he announced that we had arrived at our destination, we found ourselves at a small Tuscan/Italian restaurant called Ciao Bella. It was really tastefully decorated on the inside. It wasn’t crowded or filled wall-to-wall with people and it was quiet too, except for the soft, Italy inspired music playing in the background.
Our waiter led us to a table in the back of the restaurant where nobody else was. We were seated and we each ordered something to drink. As soon as I looked at the menu, I was in love.
“So, was this a good restaurant choice?” Patrick asked.
“Yeah, I love places like this!” I told him. I figured he had been talking to my brother recently, because I had a thing for places like this one and I didn’t recall telling Patrick about it. I guessed Brian being friends with Patrick wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
Once Patrick and I had ordered our food, I began to dig into the bread and olive oil sitting in front of us. I added spices and parmesan cheese to mine and Patrick copied me.
We had already talked a lot by the time our waiter brought our food, which turned out to be delicious. After one bite of my Gnocchi I didn’t want to waste a bit of it, but I let him try it anyways and he gave me a bite of his pasta too. While we ate we talked about some personal subjects that we hadn’t been very specific about before. We discussed our families, our friends, and even how we got started with hockey. I had almost forgotten that he was a famous hockey player. That happened a lot when I talked to him, actually. I had quickly realized that he was just like any other normal guy. I really loved that.
“So, when did you decide to do this? Ask me out, I mean,” I wondered. Tess had given me information from a reliable source, but I still wanted to hear it for myself.
“Well, I realized that I wanted to on the first day,” he admitted. “But I didn’t decide to actually go through with it until about a week ago.” So it was true.
**********************************************************************
When we got done with dinner, I was disheartened that the date was over. I didn’t want to go home. Luckily, I quickly found out that I didn’t have to.
“I have one more thing planned for us,” he told me when we were in the car again. “You might want these, though,” he added. He reached into the back seat and handed me gloves and earmuffs.
“I’m guessing you’re not going to explain this, either,” I commented, putting them on. He nodded and after a short drive, we were at Millennium Park. We got out of the car and he led me to the ice rink.
“We’re going ice skating?” I asked.
“Yeah. I know we both enjoy it and I thought it might be nice to skate for fun in Millennium Park instead of inside during practice or a game,” Patrick said, putting on his own hat and gloves. We rented skates, which felt strange on my feet after I had grown so accustomed to my own hockey skates. I got used to them, though. I thought Patrick must have used his celebrity status to his advantage to make this part of the date work, because nobody else was on the ice but us. I had lived in the area long enough to know how uncommon that was. I was grateful for it, though. We didn’t have to worry about anyone bumping into us or bothering us at all. He took my glove-covered hand in his and held it most of the time, which I didn’t mind at all. Eventually, though, our natural competitiveness as athletes came out, and we had to break apart. I bet him that I could skate way faster than him, so we raced from one side of the rink to the other. He won by only a little, but I still felt defeated.
“Alright, you lost the bet. You owe me!” Patrick told me.
“We never decided on the odds. What do I owe you, exactly?” I wondered, afraid of what he might say. Would he be nice or would he tease me? I didn’t know.
“I think you owe me a kiss,” he decided, smiling. I could live with that, but I figured I’d play hard to get.
“Do I really have to?” I groaned.
“Don’t pretend you don’t want to,” he laughed. I slowly made my way over to him and once I was close enough, I pressed my lips against his. I was taken back to New Years, when we kissed for the first time. I felt him kissing me back and I wrapped my arms around his neck, not wanting the moment to end. I forgot about everything. I forgot that I was cold. I forgot that I had just lost a bet. I forgot that we were in public, not totally alone and sheltered, which was probably why I didn’t care that this kiss lasted way longer than the one on New Years did.
“Sorry you had to do that,” Patrick said when he broke away.
“Me too. That was torture,” I answered sarcastically. I noticed white in the curls that stuck out from under his hat and I looked up at the sky. “When did it start snowing?” I asked.
“Probably when you had to pay up,” he replied. It was getting late, but he knew I loved the snow, so we stayed out on the ice for a while longer. We mostly messed around doing silly things like catching snowflakes on our tongues. When we finally decided it was time to get home, it snowed even harder. Luckily the drive wasn’t a very long one, so it wasn’t that bad. Patrick walked me to my apartment door when we got back, and it finally set in that the date was over and it might be a while before we could be together again. He had tons of away games coming up and the internship was over. I realized all of this in that moment, but I knew I couldn’t let it bother me just yet. I let myself enjoy one last kiss before he walked away and I went inside the apartment. I smiled the whole time I gave Tess details about the date. I was happy when Brian texted me, making sure Patrick treated me right. That night, I even let myself fall asleep to reruns of the date that were playing in my head. Why would I ruin a perfect moment with worrying when I could look at the bright side instead?
Patrick and I headed down the stairs of the apartment building and exited it. We went out to his car and he opened my door for me like a gentleman.
“Will you tell me where we’re going now?” I asked him.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he answered with a smirk. It didn’t take long for us to get there, though. When he announced that we had arrived at our destination, we found ourselves at a small Tuscan/Italian restaurant called Ciao Bella. It was really tastefully decorated on the inside. It wasn’t crowded or filled wall-to-wall with people and it was quiet too, except for the soft, Italy inspired music playing in the background.
Our waiter led us to a table in the back of the restaurant where nobody else was. We were seated and we each ordered something to drink. As soon as I looked at the menu, I was in love.
“So, was this a good restaurant choice?” Patrick asked.
“Yeah, I love places like this!” I told him. I figured he had been talking to my brother recently, because I had a thing for places like this one and I didn’t recall telling Patrick about it. I guessed Brian being friends with Patrick wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
Once Patrick and I had ordered our food, I began to dig into the bread and olive oil sitting in front of us. I added spices and parmesan cheese to mine and Patrick copied me.
We had already talked a lot by the time our waiter brought our food, which turned out to be delicious. After one bite of my Gnocchi I didn’t want to waste a bit of it, but I let him try it anyways and he gave me a bite of his pasta too. While we ate we talked about some personal subjects that we hadn’t been very specific about before. We discussed our families, our friends, and even how we got started with hockey. I had almost forgotten that he was a famous hockey player. That happened a lot when I talked to him, actually. I had quickly realized that he was just like any other normal guy. I really loved that.
“So, when did you decide to do this? Ask me out, I mean,” I wondered. Tess had given me information from a reliable source, but I still wanted to hear it for myself.
“Well, I realized that I wanted to on the first day,” he admitted. “But I didn’t decide to actually go through with it until about a week ago.” So it was true.
**********************************************************************
When we got done with dinner, I was disheartened that the date was over. I didn’t want to go home. Luckily, I quickly found out that I didn’t have to.
“I have one more thing planned for us,” he told me when we were in the car again. “You might want these, though,” he added. He reached into the back seat and handed me gloves and earmuffs.
“I’m guessing you’re not going to explain this, either,” I commented, putting them on. He nodded and after a short drive, we were at Millennium Park. We got out of the car and he led me to the ice rink.
“We’re going ice skating?” I asked.
“Yeah. I know we both enjoy it and I thought it might be nice to skate for fun in Millennium Park instead of inside during practice or a game,” Patrick said, putting on his own hat and gloves. We rented skates, which felt strange on my feet after I had grown so accustomed to my own hockey skates. I got used to them, though. I thought Patrick must have used his celebrity status to his advantage to make this part of the date work, because nobody else was on the ice but us. I had lived in the area long enough to know how uncommon that was. I was grateful for it, though. We didn’t have to worry about anyone bumping into us or bothering us at all. He took my glove-covered hand in his and held it most of the time, which I didn’t mind at all. Eventually, though, our natural competitiveness as athletes came out, and we had to break apart. I bet him that I could skate way faster than him, so we raced from one side of the rink to the other. He won by only a little, but I still felt defeated.
“Alright, you lost the bet. You owe me!” Patrick told me.
“We never decided on the odds. What do I owe you, exactly?” I wondered, afraid of what he might say. Would he be nice or would he tease me? I didn’t know.
“I think you owe me a kiss,” he decided, smiling. I could live with that, but I figured I’d play hard to get.
“Do I really have to?” I groaned.
“Don’t pretend you don’t want to,” he laughed. I slowly made my way over to him and once I was close enough, I pressed my lips against his. I was taken back to New Years, when we kissed for the first time. I felt him kissing me back and I wrapped my arms around his neck, not wanting the moment to end. I forgot about everything. I forgot that I was cold. I forgot that I had just lost a bet. I forgot that we were in public, not totally alone and sheltered, which was probably why I didn’t care that this kiss lasted way longer than the one on New Years did.
“Sorry you had to do that,” Patrick said when he broke away.
“Me too. That was torture,” I answered sarcastically. I noticed white in the curls that stuck out from under his hat and I looked up at the sky. “When did it start snowing?” I asked.
“Probably when you had to pay up,” he replied. It was getting late, but he knew I loved the snow, so we stayed out on the ice for a while longer. We mostly messed around doing silly things like catching snowflakes on our tongues. When we finally decided it was time to get home, it snowed even harder. Luckily the drive wasn’t a very long one, so it wasn’t that bad. Patrick walked me to my apartment door when we got back, and it finally set in that the date was over and it might be a while before we could be together again. He had tons of away games coming up and the internship was over. I realized all of this in that moment, but I knew I couldn’t let it bother me just yet. I let myself enjoy one last kiss before he walked away and I went inside the apartment. I smiled the whole time I gave Tess details about the date. I was happy when Brian texted me, making sure Patrick treated me right. That night, I even let myself fall asleep to reruns of the date that were playing in my head. Why would I ruin a perfect moment with worrying when I could look at the bright side instead?
@hockeygirl07
Thank you so much! :)
11/1/14