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The Hockey Life

Intern Reunion

PART FORTY-THREE: INTERN REUNION
Tess and I decided to hit the gym the next day. We hadn’t been there in a while and we had nothing better to do, so why not? It was a strange workout, mostly because a couple guys recognized me as Patrick’s girlfriend in the middle of it. They attempted to make a scene of it, actually. I really wasn’t a fan of the attention, so Tess scared them off for me. That part of it was pretty hilarious, I had to admit.
Other than the workout, we did pretty much nothing. We basically lounged around until it got close to game time. I started to get ready a little early since I had a dinner with the other former interns before the game. We would eat together and then go to the game together. Tess wasn’t invited to dinner, so she had to meet me for the game later on.
Dinner was actually really nice. I had forgotten how enjoyable it was to be around my ex fellow interns. Well, except for Puck Bunny. I still wasn’t very fond of her, and apparently she wasn’t fond of me, either. I didn’t care, though. I didn’t want her to be my friend. As dinner progressed, it became more clear that we were always going to have an unspoken rivalry between each other. Being that Dylan and I had won the internship, we had interacted with the team and been to the UC a lot more than the others. They asked us a lot of questions about the extra time we had been spending there. And of course, they asked about Patrick and I. Those questions were inevitable. I felt guilty, because it brought the attention away from everyone else and it was all on me. I didn’t want to be the center of attention. But it didn’t seem so bad once I saw the faces that Puck Bunny was making. Maybe she was a little jealous that she hadn’t scored dates with any of the Hawks she flirted with, which was quite a few of them. Patrick actually told me that she had tried to flirt with him, too…I guess it didn’t work out.
After we ate, we headed to the Madhouse on Madison. We all got seats next to each other, thanks to Brad. We made sure to thank him for that and after we got a group picture, I focused on finding Tess, who’s seat was supposed to be next to mine. I felt comfortable enough in the group of six that I was a part of, but I knew it would be better once she was there. She was my rock. Sure enough, after she arrived I was able to relax a little more.
“So, how was dinner?” she wondered.
“I think it went pretty well,” I decided. Dylan, who was sitting on the other side of me, nodded in agreement.
“Did Puck Bunny behave?” Tess asked. I almost scolded her for saying it so loudly, but when I looked to my left, I realized Puck Bunny hadn’t heard the comment. She was sitting at the end of the row and it was loud anyways.
“Yeah, she decided to stick with just scowling in silence tonight,” Dylan laughed.
“Good, good,” Tess chuckled. I just grinned and shook my head. Our conversation was cut short by the puck drop, so we paid attention to the game after that.
By the end of the third period, the score of the game was 3-3. That meant that we’d be staying for overtime. I had mixed emotions about that. Free extra hockey should be a good thing, but at the same time, overtime was qualified as “heart attack hockey” in my mind. Plus, the last overtime game I watched went into double overtime. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to handle that again. My poor heart might explode. But, of course, this game didn’t go into a double overtime. It went into triple overtime instead.
By the third extra period, I wasn’t even worried about my heart anymore. I was almost convinced that I had experienced ten heart attacks at that point, and I was still living, so I was sure I’d be fine. The players, however, I wasn’t so sure about. I felt so bad for them. They were tired after a normal game, but at that point, I knew they had to be exhausted. Nobody should ever have to play that much hockey in one night. I knew they were all extremely relieved when the last goal was finally scored and the Hawks won. I was almost convinced that even the Bruins were happy, just because they would get to stop playing and rest for a while.
While we waited for the Hawks to be done talking with reporters, Dylan, Tess and I all went to concessions to get drinks before they stopped selling them. Although, they would probably sell them to us anyways, since they knew us.
“What do you guys want? I’ll buy,” Dylan offered.
“No, it’s okay. We can pay for our own drinks, it’s not a big deal,” Tess said.
“I know you can, but I want to buy them,” he insisted. I’ll be honest, I was perfectly okay with him being a gentleman and buying for us. The drinks and really, everything there, was overpriced.
“I’ll have a Coke, then,” I told him.
“Dr. Pepper,” Tess decided. Dylan ordered the pops, including a Coke for himself. When our concessions friend set them down on the counter for us, Dylan and I both reached for my Coke and our hands very awkwardly touched.
“Sorry, I was going to grab it for you,” he apologized.
“Oh, it’s alright,” I said. After that, Tess and I let him walk ahead of us and she pulled me back to talk to me privately.
“What’s up with you two?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“There’s always this tension between you guys ever since you’ve been friends again,” she explained.
“What tension? We’re friends. Last time I checked, there’s not even a reason for there to be any tension.”
“Not that kind of tension. Sexual tension.” Tess had very bad timing with that comment. I had just taken a sip of my Coke and I actually spit it out. It was distracting enough for Dylan to turn around and look to see what was happening.
“There’s nothing to see here, turn around!” Tess yelled at him.
“Don’t act nonchalant, Tess! There definitely is NOT any sexual tension between us!” I couldn’t believe that. Sexual tension usual meant that both people were feeling it. I, for one, was not feeling anything like that, not with Dylan. I mean, he was in the friend zone for a reason.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but he is definitely feeling it. He’s been that way all night. He has literally been making himself hold back from touching you all night. Not in a bad way. But there was the drink thing just now, and I swear he almost held your hand when we were watching the game, and I’m sure he was pumped to get to put his arm around you for those pictures we took. All I’m saying is that he definitely still likes you,” Tess said. Okay, maybe that was true. But, so what? He seemed happy to be friends with me, and I was happy to be friends with him. He would find another girl soon enough, and things would be normal. I wasn’t going to worry about it.
When we all were finally able to get into the locker room, it truly felt like it was winter break again. We were all talking to the players and each other and even though we were tired, we were happy. Even Puck Bunny wasn’t scowling anymore. Of course, that was probably because she was talking to Brandon Saad and he wasn’t ignoring her. He didn’t seem very interested, either, but I guess she didn’t notice that.
I briefly talked to Patrick and a few other Hawks before we all decided to leave. Everyone was exhausted, especially the players, so we knew it would be best to go home and sleep. Besides, we all had to come back to the UC two days later for another home game.
******************************************************
Game two of the Stanley Cup Final was not as exciting for the Blackhawks and their fans. The United Center was loud the whole game, which went into overtime (surprise, surprise!), but in the end the Bruins won the game 2-1. Us interns decided that it would only make sense to hit the bars after the game. Maybe drinking away the loss wasn’t the greatest idea, but I knew my limit, so I decided it would be alright. I had a designated driver anyways, since Patrick offered to come get me if I drank more than I needed to.
Once again, it felt good for us interns to be together again. It was surprising how different Puck Bunny was when she had a couple drinks. She was actually nicer and less uptight. Even so, we couldn’t talk for very long without getting annoyed with each other, so I kept my distance. I tried to stick around Dylan most of the time. Tess might have been my rock normally, but in this group, he was my rock.
After that, there were two away games in Boston that none of us would be able to go to, so that was our last reunion for a few days. Instead of hanging out with the interns for the Boston games, Tess and I got together with our hockey girls to watch the games on TV. We went to Carly’s (our captain’s) place, since she actually had room for all of us. We had mass parties for both games. It was a lot of fun for us all to get together and watch games, but not for her neighbors. We were passionate and educated about the sport, so naturally we yelled at the TV often, and we celebrated extra loudly when there was a good play or goal. There wasn’t very much of that on Chicago’s end for game three unfortunately, since it was 0-2 Boston. However, game four ended up being 6-5 after overtime. I was surprised nobody called Carly or even the cops to complain about us during that game.
Game five was at the United Center, so that meant I was with the interns again. We were supposed to get together before or after the game, but instead we decided to just go and sit together. We did go a little early to make some signs, though. We even got on the jumbotron, which was pretty cool. We had fun, especially when the Hawks secured their win with a score of 3-1. They would only need one more game to win he Stanley Cup, but it was hard to tell if they would end it in game six or take it to game seven. Either way, I knew it would be fun to watch, especially when Brad pulled Dylan and I aside in the locker room after the win.
“Have either of you ever been to Boston before?” he asked us. We both shook our heads no. “Well, how would you guys like to go to see the next game?”
“Wait, seriously?” Dylan asked.
“Yes, seriously. When you two won the internship, that secured a chance for you guys to see the Stanley Cup game if the Blackhawk made it that far, whether it be home or away. We can’t be sure if this final will be seven games long or six, so you’re invited to come with us to Boston,” Brad said. Smiles appeared on my face and Dylan’s as he said it.
“I’ll be there for sure!” I said.
“Me too,” Dylan added.
“Great! You guys each get five tickets, and of course, one of them is for you, so basically you each get to bring four other people. Family, friends, whoever. You can choose to travel with the team or we can get you there on a separate plane, if you’d like. You can discuss the details with the people you decide to bring and contact me about that later.”
I was already in a very good mood, being that it had been a fun night with the win and everything. However, after that conversation with Brad, I couldn’t stop smiling for the rest of the night. I was going to potentially be there when the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup.

Notes

Hey guys. I'm sorry if things seem really rushed in this chapter! I know that I described quite a few days in very few words, but I did that for a few reasons: 1) because if I would have drawn them out into a few chapters, they would have just been short, boring filler chapters and 2) because I'm impatient and I want to get to the Stanley Cup. If I would have tried to break up the games into multiple chapters, they honestly probably wouldn't have been very good - I didn't have anything planned for them, so I wouldn't have known what to add. However, I'll make it up to you in the next chapter, because I can promise that it'll be a good one! I'm excited to start it, so I'll probably update again soon :)

Comments

@hockeygirl07
Thank you so much! :)

MrsKaner MrsKaner
11/1/14

I just love this story...been reading it right from the start!!! Love your writing and the plot ;) keep up the great work

hockeygirl07 hockeygirl07
11/1/14

Awe. this is so cute, but sad.

Psquared91 Psquared91
5/29/14

AWE! So Cute!

Psquared91 Psquared91
5/10/14

@MrsKaner
HAHA. my BF and I are the two people in the whole school who don't get sick, but when we do Its not as bad as every one else, and we always get each other sick.

Psquared91 Psquared91
3/24/14