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The Hockey Life

A Surprise Visit

PART SEVEN: A SURPRISE VISIT
When day four came, I felt really satisfied with the extra hour of sleep I got. As much as I liked going home to my family, it was nice to be back in my tiny little apartment with my best friend only a few minutes away from where I was working every day. I got up and got ready as usual and Tess was still sound asleep when I left. I went to the UC and met up with Brian and the other interns like any other day. We were always a little early so we waited for Brad to show up, and when he did, he did his usual explanation of what we’d be doing.
“Today you all will be working with our personal trainer, Paul Goodman, to see what it’s like to tend to the players and help them with their work outs. You’ll mostly be observing today, but you will be around the players again,” Brad explained.
“Uh oh, we’re going to be around the team again. Are you going to be okay there, Lena?” Dylan asked with a huge smirk on his face.
“Oh, shut up. I’ll be fine,” I retorted.
When we got into the training room, Goodman was already there, working with the players. I knew it wouldn’t be a good idea, but I scanned the room for Patrick anyways. I couldn’t help myself. I found him next to Andrew Shaw on a bike, working on cardio.
Brad had been right; we did a whole lot of observing and listening, and not much actual work. We weren’t all exactly able to do much anyways, though. I definitely didn’t think I could be trusted to work with any of the guys, especially not with a certain someone there to distract me. Everywhere I went, Patrick seemed to be there. It was almost like he was trying to be around me on purpose. I wasn’t exactly complaining, but at the same time, he was kind of making things worse. All it did was make me more nervous.
The day went by a little slower than the others had, but I suspected that was because of the minimal work we had to keep ourselves occupied. It was the least eventful day since the first one, but the next day made up for it.
Day five was a review and competition day. Brad told us that we’d be doing all the things we had practiced and learned to do in the past few days. We’d work in teams of two and Brad would observe us. Whoever he thought did the best would win a spot at the bench during the home game the next day.
“Partners?” Dylan asked me. As if he even needed to ask. I really wasn’t close with any of the other interns. Who else would I partner up with, Puck Bunny?
“Definitely,” I told him. He linked arms with me as if to claim me. Once we had all paired up, we went out on the bench again as the Hawks started practicing. We did the whole equipment manager job like we had on the second day while simultaneously making sure everyone was staying hydrated. Afterwards we hung around for the post practice stretching. That was pretty much all we could do, so once practice was over, we all were done. I had thought that Brian and I had done pretty well with everything; I did a better job at not letting my crush get to me too much. As it turned out, that hard work paid off.
“Well, each team did very well today, and I was very impressed with how smoothly things went. I know it’s only been a few days and it doesn’t seem like you’ve done that much, but you guys all seemed very comfortable as if you’ve been doing this stuff forever. However, it was a competition and there can only be one winning team. Today I have chosen Dylan and Lena as the winners. Congratulations you two, and I will see you at the game tomorrow night.”
“Holy crap, we won! We’re gonna be sitting with the team at the game!” Dylan exclaimed. We both did our own little celebration together as if we were playing hockey and our team had just scored. Puck Bunny seemed very disappointed and she pouted, but the others congratulated us. They might not have been very happy either, but they didn’t let it show.
When I got home I told Tess the good news and she freaked out.
“Dude, I will not miss that game for anything! In fact, I’ll record it so we can watch you doing your thing on the bench over and over and over again,” she promised.
“Well let’s hope that it turns out to at least be a good game then,” I wished. Unfortunately, we didn’t really have much time to talk about my great day at the United Center. We had a hockey game ourselves, and we had to get to our ice rink.
When Tess and I got there early to practice a little, the rest of the team seemed to want to know about my experience at the United Center too. I wanted to tell them, but when it came to games, I was always very dedicated and focused. I insisted that I’d tell them later and I convinced everyone to focus on getting warmed up.
The team we were playing was actually pretty equal to us in skill level. I knew they would give us some really good competition. Me and my teammates got some good practice in and by the time the puck was dropped to start the first period, we all felt pretty confident that it would be an upbeat, intense night.
We started off with a bang. Four minutes in and we had already scored. Unfortunately, our rivals tied the game up just three minutes after we claimed the first point. After that, the tempo slowed a little and nobody else had scored when the horn sounded and told us that the first period was over. During intermission we talked a lot and figured out some good strategies to use. Our rivals were known for being pretty strong and physical on the ice, so we decided we would give whatever hell they gave us right back to them.
When we upped our physical game, it seemed to throw them off. They weren’t used to us playing so rough, and it gave us the lead again. There were a ton of extremely close shots throughout the whole period but after we had gotten the lead back, the only other goal received was one that I got with only one minute left in the period. I honestly was pretty proud of it, and my teammates seemed to be proud of it too. We had a pretty rowdy celebration.
Even though we were very confident and glad about our two goal advantage, we were all very silent during the second intermission. We used the time to really think about what things we were doing well and what things we could improve on and we thought of more mind games to play with our opponents during the last twenty minutes. This was usually how our second intermissions went, whether we were ahead, tied, or behind.
The last period was relatively uneventful. Our rivals had some good chances but they only scored once. We had some chances as well but nothing particularly special came out of them. Even so, we felt really good about the win and our playing when the last horn sounded and it was time to head back to the locker room.
“Amazing win, you guys, amazing. That last period might not have had any of our points in it, but we stayed strong. And that game winner in the second period, Lean, that was pretty cool,” our team captain, Carly, told us. The atmosphere was pretty positive in there as we took off all of our huge gear.
“Hey Stratton, I think you have a visitor out there,” a teammate named Jordan informed me, pointing at the short winding hall that led to the door.
“Is it my dad or my brother?” I asked, since the only visitors I ever had were pretty much one or the other.
“Neither. It’s Patrick Kane,” she answered with a goofy grin on her face. The whole team gasped.
“Don’t get excited you guys, she’s joking,” I said.
“I’m not kidding, Lean. See for yourself.” Jordan sounded serious so I found my way to the door, which conveniently had a little window panel, hence the twisting hall to get to the actual changing area. When I got there, I couldn’t believe my eyes. He was actually there.
“Oh god,” I muttered. Everyone rushed to the door to see and I got out of the way. I didn’t want him to catch me staring at him for the millionth time in the past five days. After everyone gawked at him for a minute, they got out of the way of the door so a woman could come in. She was familiar, and I realized that she worked at the United Center. She quickly found me in the sea of uniforms.
“Hello Lena. I’m guessing you might have already noticed, but Patrick Kane is here to see you. He’s waiting outside, so just come out whenever you’re ready,” she told me.
“Alright, I’m coming…” I answered without any confidence in my voice at all. She left the locker room immediately.
“You never told us you were friends with Kaner,” Natalie, a teammate, said.
“That’s because I’m really not. The closest I’ve gotten to having a conversation with him is interviewing him, and any time I’ve been within five feet of him I’ve made myself look like a complete idiot. I don’t exactly consider that to be a friendship,” I explained.
“Well apparently he’s looking to turn whatever you might call that into a friendship,” Jordan said. “Or a relationship,” she then added. I just shook my head. There was no way he wanted anything to do with me.
“Oh come on, Lean. Get out there and talk to your prince charming!” Captain Carly suggested.
“I’m not so sure I want to. I’m sweaty and disgusting. I’m sure I smell terrible right now,” I mumbled.
“Don’t you see him when he’s all sweaty and disgusting at practice?” Natalie asked.
“Yeah, but he can pull that off, along with pretty much anything else, for that matter.”
“Here, I have perfume with me, just put some on real fast, it’ll be fine,” Tess insisted, grabbing the bottle out of her bag.
“No! Tess, I’m not putting on perfume, that’ll be very obvious and ridiculous, I don’t want to seem desperate…” Tess and I argued and she held the perfume up, getting closer and closer to me with it. I tried to fight her off and I kept pushing her and the bottle away while attempting to convince her that I didn’t want the perfume. Sadly, I lost the battle and I ended up covered in a girly scent.
I wanted to be mad at Tess, but I couldn’t because we had already wasted a couple minutes. I couldn’t keep anybody waiting any longer. I looked out the little window panel and saw Patrick still standing there patiently. I went out the door and I felt my teammates’ eyes on me as I made my way over to him.
“Hi, I was told that you were waiting out here for me?” I said shyly when I got to him.
“Yeah, hey! I’m glad you came out here,” he answered.
“So, don’t take this the wrong way, but…why are you here?” I asked, trying not to mess my words up.
“Well Brad told the whole team about all of the interns. After the interview you did I was curious about your hockey abilities and Brad had information on where you played and everything. I found out that you had a game tonight so I decided I would come to cheer you on,” Patrick explained.
“Wow, well it’s awesome that you came,” I answered, a little lost in his eyes.
“I’m glad I did, you’re part of a really good team. And as an individual, it seems like you have a lot of talent. That goal in the second period was incredible. I think you’ve stolen some of my moves, though,” he joked. What could I say? I was a right winger just like him and he happened to be my hockey inspiration…
“Sorry, I won’t copy you anymore,” I said, letting out a nervous little laugh.
“You can copy me all I want, I’m just messing with you. It’s pretty cool to see someone else do all that stuff, actually. And I really did mean it, you have a lot of great potential,” he promised. Was my favorite player really telling me that I was good at hockey?
“Thanks. You have no idea how awesome it is to hear that from you of all people,” I said. “And thank you so much for coming.”
“Well, you’ll be at my game tomorrow, it’s the least I could do,” Patrick confessed with a smile.
“I guess you’re right!”
“Well, I better get going so you can finish celebrating with your teammates,” he decided, going in for a hug.
“You might not want to do that, I’m really gross right now,” I chuckled, pushing a strand of hair out of my eyes.
“You don’t smell very gross,” he admitted, and I rolled my eyes at the thought of Tess.
“Yeah, you can thank my best friend for that, it wasn’t my choice,” I replied, and as he laughed, he put his arms around me. I hugged him back, realizing that he didn’t seem to care whether I was damp with sweat or not. It all seemed to end too quickly.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow. Congrats on the win, you guys were great out there,” he said.
“Thanks, see you tomorrow.” I watched him walk away and I went back to the locker room to face my eager friends. Of course they were all crowded around the door still.
“Ooooo he hugged you! He definitely loves you, Lean!” I heard a million comments like this from the time I got back in the locker room to the moment I got in my car to go back to my apartment. My teammates were crazy. I mean, there was no way a professional hockey player could have any feelings at all for an average college player like myself. He was just being nice, and that was all there was to it. Or that was at least what I had convinced myself by the end of the night. Even so, my dreams seemed to have different opinions as they took me back to the game and changed the story so that I received a more than friendly kiss rather than the friendly hug I had gotten in real life.

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