The Hockey Life

PART FIFTY-SEVEN: CHILLS
Other than the New Years party, the first week or so of 2014 was pretty average. People always came up with resolutions and said they would try to make changes and do really cool, fun things, but it was just business as usual for Patrick and I. We kept busy with work pretty easily. The Blackhawks were remaining high up in the standings, which was a really good sign that they’d at least make it to the playoffs again.
After a little over a week, things got a bit more interesting. Our one year anniversary was on the ninth, so we of course had plans for that. Well, Patrick did. I wasn’t really sure what we were doing, since he told me he had a surprise for me. When the night came, I just played along. I got dressed up nicely in a little black dress and put on my favorite, nicest jewelry, including the necklace he bought me for Valentine’s Day. I did my makeup a little more dramatically that normal, but I made sure it wasn’t too much. I curled my hair as well. I wasn’t exactly sure how nice I needed to look, but I wanted to feel sexy, being that we hadn’t had a romantic date night in a long time.
“Damn, Lean. Where exactly are you guys going again?” Tess asked when I walked out of the bathroom and headed for my black heels that were sitting out by the door.
“I don’t know, that’s the thing. Patrick didn’t tell me where we were going, he just told me to look nice. I could easily be completely overdressed, but I kind of doubt that. He goes big with plans and gifts, and our first anniversary is a big deal,” I answered, smiling at my added height. I wasn’t very tall, so it was nice to feel average every once in a while.
“I think once he sees how you look he’ll make an excuse to take you somewhere nice,” Tess decided. The doorbell rang a couple minutes later, just on time. I opened the door and laughed at the expression on Patrick’s face when he saw me.
“Hey, my eyes are up here,” I reminded him.
“Sorry,” he apologized. “You just look really nice in that dress.”
“Thanks. You look really nice too. I guess I’m not overdressed,” I decided as I observed his gray dress shirt, black and silver striped tie, and black pants peeking out from underneath his unzipped coat, along with black dress shoes. Somehow we had managed to match.
“I brought you some flowers,” he said, revealing the bouquet of white roses he had hidden behind his back. I thanked him and put them in a vase. I went into my room quickly to grab Patrick’s present and then we were out the door.
“So, where are you taking me?” I asked him once we were in the car.
“I can’t tell you, that’s why I said it was a surprise,” he said. I pretended to pout but he just chuckled at me and kept driving. A few minutes later we arrived at Ciao Bella, the cute little Italian restaurant that I had been to only once before.
“Are we re-experiencing our first date?” I asked when he opened the door for me.
“Yeah. I guess it’s not much of a surprise anymore,” he responded. We sat at the same table we had been at for our first date, and it felt a little bit like déjà vu. This time, we both ordered different things and our conversations were about different topics, but this dinner date was just as perfect as our first. Patrick even seemed a little nervous, which was odd, but cute. It made me feel like he was trying to make sure everything went right. So far he had done a good job.
Once we were done with dinner, we got back into the car for the second half of the date. By then I already knew where we were going next, so I put on the hat and scarf that Patrick had for me in the backseat. Once we arrived at Millennium Park, he got bundled up as well.
“You ready to go ice skating?” he asked me.
“Definitely. Skates will be easier to manage than these heels,” I guessed.
We rented skates, which felt strange on our feet since we were both used to our own. However, we got accustomed to these foreign pairs after skating around the rink a few times. Once again, there was barely anyone around, which seemed amazing to me.
“Thank you so much for this,” I said.
“So you liked this? Doing the same thing over again?” Patrick asked, unsure.
“Of course! This date was fantastic a year ago and it’s even better now,” I admitted.
“I’m glad you think so,” Patrick told me. “I’m glad we’ve made it this far.”
“I am too.”
“Hey, can we stop for a minute? I want to say something,” Patrick declared, so we both slowed to a halt and stood still on the ice. “You’re an amazing girl, Lena. Just when I was starting to think that I would never find anyone like you, you came to the United Center for the internship and you changed everything. You’re beautiful and smart and talented. You’re better than anything I could have asked for. I love you and I feel so lucky to have you as my girlfriend,” he smiled. I opened my mouth to respond, but then I realized that he wasn’t done. “But, I want you to be more than my girlfriend.” My heart skipped a beat as he pulled a little black box out of his coat pocket and he knelt down on one knee. “I’d like to be with you forever,” he continued as he opened the box to reveal the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. “Lena, will you marry me?”
My heart was beating on overdrive when I said yes. Patrick put my new engagement ring on my left ring finger and I pulled him into a kiss. Even with my eyes closed, I saw flashes of light. I almost started to feel annoyed, but when I pulled away, he assured me that it was just trustworthy photographers he knew. He had hired them to snap pictures of the moment because he knew that I would love to have some. He had planned everything out so perfectly, and as I hugged him tightly, I realized that it had begun to snow. It was probably just an awesome coincidence, but I wasn’t complaining.
Patrick and I skated around a little longer and enjoyed the fresh snow before we got back into the car. I shivered and Patrick cranked the heat up. I had a lot of chills throughout the night, but I had a feeling that most of them weren’t results of the winter weather.
“My gift for you isn’t nearly as nice as yours was, but it’s too late for me to change it now,” I laughed as I handed Pat the present I had set down on the backseat earlier. He ripped off the bow and the wrapping paper in anticipation. When he opened up the box, the scrapbook I had made him was revealed. It contained all the picture-worthy moments we had and our best memories together. I felt like a scrapbook was something that a girl would appreciate more than a guy, so I wasn’t sure if he would like it. However, I had put a lot of time and thought into it, so I hoped it was good enough.
“This is awesome, Lean! You made this?”
“Yeah. It’s not much, but I wasn’t expecting so much from you,” I answered.
“It’s perfect, Lena. Thank you,” he said, and I could tell that he was being sincere, so I decided not to feel bad about it. Instead, I was all smiles the whole ride home as I admired my ring. It had a white gold band with intricate designs and little diamonds around it. The center contained a princess diamond, which was my favorite cut from what I had seen. Patrick told me the ring was custom made, and I was impressed at how well he did with designing it. I couldn’t wait to show it off, even though I wasn’t normally one to brag. And that was when it hit me.
“My family is going to freak out,” I realized.
“Your parents already kind of know,” he said.
“You talked to them about it?” I wondered.
“Yeah. I asked your dad before I even looked at rings,” he explained.
“Well, I guess I just have to worry about Tess and my other friends, then,” I said.
“Yeah, good luck with that,” he laughed. When we got back to my apartment, he kissed me at the door and I honestly didn’t want him to ever stop. But what would it matter? We were going to be together for a long time. We’d share plenty of hugs and kisses and cute moments in the future. When he ended the kiss, I knew I had no reason to complain. I had the most amazing fiancé I could ever ask for now, and I was so happy to be with him.
“Happy anniversary,” he told me.
“Happy anniversary.”

Notes

Hey guys! I've been wanting to write this chapter forever and it was a really fun part to write! I'm so glad I could finally post it :) Obviously the name of the chapter is Chills, and that's because it was inspired by the song Chills by a Canadian band called Down With Webster. Check out their music, or at least their song Chills, you won't regret it! Well, anyways, that's beside the point. I hope you guys liked the chapter! Let me know what you think in the comments section.