The Hockey Life

PART FORTY-FIVE: CELEBRATION
By the time we were all on the plane, everyone had already started drinking. I knew there would be a lot of that going on throughout the night. I was just glad that I’d be able to be with Patrick and the rest of the team as they did so. No offense to anyone - I wasn’t just judging Patrick on his past - but absolutely nobody was in their right mind drunk.
The plane ride home seemed to go by a lot faster than the trip to Boston did. I was fine with that, though. Boston was fun, but I was anxious to get back to Chicago. I was comfortable there. Although, when we got back, it was difficult to be anything but claustrophobic. The streets were filled with people. Fans were still rejoicing the win when we arrived in the city. They were in bars, in the streets, on the sidewalks, yelling out their windows…everything. There were police officers trying their best to keep things in check at least, because it was practically impossible to get everyone into buildings. Most people didn’t want to stay inside. The party had probably died down, but now that it had been confirmed to them that the Hawks were back in Chi-town, everybody was rowdy again. They probably wanted to party with the team, just like I was about to. I didn’t blame them. That had been my wish in 2010.
Once we were off the plane, the team chose their favorite Chicago bar and Tess, Brian, Dylan, Andy, Zack, and I headed there with them. My parents weren’t exactly partiers (not my mom at least) and apparently neither were Dylan’s. That was fine with me - I felt weird drinking a lot around my family. Except for Brian. We were close in age, so it was normal.
The bar was packed when we got there, unsurprisingly. Of course, we had no problems getting in, being that we were with the Chicago Blackhawks. Although I wasn’t usually a big drinker, I’ll admit that I let loose a little bit that night. Why not? I ended up having a lot of fun, and it seemed like everyone else did too. However, the morning after wasn’t all that great.
I slept in later than usual, and I still felt a little tired when I woke up. I had a bit of a headache too. I was finally reminded why I didn’t like to drink a lot - hangovers were just plain annoying. I wasn’t in this one alone, though. Tess wasn’t feeling all that great either. When I walked into the kitchen to grab a glass of water so I could take some medicine, she was already on it.
“You’ve got a hangover too?” she asked.
“Yep,” I answered. I took the glass of water she had poured for me. I got an Aspirin and took it.
“Last night was super fun, but I think I’m going to wait until their next Stanley Cup win to party that hard,” Tess laughed. I nodded in agreement.
A few hours later, my headache was gone and I was feeling much better. In fact, I was up to celebrating some more, except with a lot less alcohol. I was in luck, because Patrick texted me after I had been feeling better for a while.
>Hey, how’re you feeling

>Ik haha. This morning was a little rough

>Yeah, I’m back to normal now

>Yeah. Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to come over. I know we got to celebrate last night but I hung out mostly with the guys. I thought maybe we could celebrate just the two of us

>Whenever you want

>Sounds good

>Definitely something. I have pretty much no food at my place

>Yeah that sounds better than pizza

>And a shake, please!

I put on some makeup and some real clothes which consisted of short distressed shorts and a Blackhawks v-neck. I added the necklace Patrick bought me for Valentines Day and I slipped into a pair of Converse. I let Tess know what was going on and I headed out the door. I stopped at Steak and Shake on my way to Patrick’s and I arrived at his place shortly afterwards.
“I brought food!” I announced as I held up the bag of food and the drink holder with our shakes.
“You look like you could be a delivery girl,” he laughed as he took his new Stanley Cup Champion hat off of his head and put it on mine.
“Thanks, I guess?” I walked into his familiar apartment and set the food down on the counter.
“It was supposed to be a compliment. You’d be a hot delivery girl,” he said. He pulled me close and kissed me and I broke it off before I could get lost in the moment.
“I thought you were hungry!” I reminded him.
“Yeah, I guess we should probably eat,” he decided.
We sat down at the kitchen table and enjoyed our Steak and Shake. I hadn’t had anything from there in so long that it tasted extra good. We were both really hungry, so it didn’t take long for us to finish eating. Once we were done eating, we weren’t really sure what was next. We reverted to our normal routine of getting comfy on the couch, but Patrick didn’t turn on the TV.
“So, about that Stanley Cup win…” I smiled. “We didn’t get to celebrate it very much, just the two of us.”
“Let’s change that, then,” Patrick said. I threw my arms around his neck and he put his hands on my waist as I went in for a kiss. I didn’t expect it to end anytime soon, and it didn’t. His lips moved down to my neck and I thought about what Tess had told me. “I‘m sure you‘d change your mind if you were having a moment with him.” She was right. The moment was way too perfect to pass up, so I spoke up.
“Hey Patrick,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“Maybe we could continue this in your room,” I suggested.
“So is what we’re doing now all you want to do in there or are you saying you want to do…something else?”
“I was leaning towards something else,” I said. I was smiling stupidly at the fact that neither of us were saying the actual word.
“Alright, well let’s go do something else then,” he laughed. He picked me up bridal style and carried me to his bedroom. We didn’t usually spend too much time in there. When he sat me down on his bed I wondered why. It was much more comfortable than the couch.
When I first told him what I wanted to do, it was almost a “what the hell” type of thing. I started to wonder if I was actually ready. But as he was kissing me in his room, I thought about our relationship. I loved him, and he loved me too. There was just some sort of chemistry when we were around each other - I could feel it. And when he kissed me, I melted. Of course I was ready. I was nervous, but I was ready, and I just had to trust that everything would be alright.
“Tess didn’t happen to slip anything into your purse this time, did she?” Patrick asked when he could tell I was starting to get nervous. It seemed like he was trying to break the ice.
“I don’t think so,” I giggled. He had his own, so he grabbed one and I felt butterflies going wild in my stomach.
“If you’re uncomfortable or you want to stop, just tell me,” he said.
“Okay. I will.”
And then it happened. It wasn’t fun at first. From what I had heard, the first time never was for anyone, or at least not for girls. But after a moment, I wasn’t so uncomfortable. I actually enjoyed it. I understood why everyone made it out to be a big deal, because if it happened with someone you loved, it would only make things better, clearer. By the time it was over, I felt like we had a stronger connection, and I couldn’t complain about that.
************************************************************
Before I knew it, I opened my eyes and it was morning. It seemed like I was getting good at falling asleep at Patrick’s place. I yawned and adjusted my body, trying not to bother him. One of his arms was around me, so he felt my movement and opened his eyes. It seemed like he might have already been awake.
“Good morning,” he yawned.
“Good morning sleepyhead,” I laughed.
We stayed in bed for a few minutes and let ourselves wake up a little more. When we realized both our stomachs were growling, we finally made ourselves get up. We each had a bowl of cereal and realized that it was only 8:30 A.M. by the time we were done eating.
“Wow, I’m never up this early unless I have a class,” I said, amazed at how well rested I felt being that it wasn’t even nine yet.
“Well, we did fall asleep kind of early,” Patrick reminded me. Oh yeah. We both fell asleep shortly after our “celebration”.
I stayed at Patrick’s until nine, when I decided it would be okay to head home. By the time I got to our apartment, Tess might be up, so I wouldn’t have to worry about waking her up. Sure enough, when I got there, she was in the living room eating a breakfast sandwich and watching TV.
“Hey!” I greeted her as I walked in. She just stared at me with a creepy look on her face.
“Hey? Really? That’s all you have to say?” she asked.
“Um, good morning?” I said, not sure what she wanted to hear from me.
“You hate mornings, but you never came home last night and you’re in a good mood and you’re willingly saying good morning and you got laid last night didn’t you?” Tess asked.
“What makes you think that?” I asked, trying to play it cool.
“I think I already explained what’s making me think that,” she said.
“Okay, fine, you’re right,” I gave up.
“You dirty little non-virgin, you,” Tess smiled. “So how was it?” I laughed. Tess probably wouldn’t care if I gave her a lot of details, but I didn’t want to.
“It was as good as a first time can be, I guess,” I said. She tried to pry more and I just laughed at every ridiculous question she asked. I knew she was just trying to annoy me, and I wasn’t about to let it work. Instead, I decided to not let anything bother me. I had a great night and I knew that there would be plenty more nights like that with Patrick. Things could only get better with him. And besides, it was going to be a summer full of celebration. Who could complain about that?

Notes

Hey guys! Sorry it took a while to update, I hope you guys liked the chapter anyways!