The Hockey Life

PART SEVENTY-SIX: ROOKIES

The preseason continued and the Hawks were doing well. Dylan played a couple more games in order to adjust to being in the NHL and he definitely did a good job of showcasing his talent. He was already gaining popularity, especially with girls. I couldn’t help but follow the media sometimes - it was interesting to see what they were saying about the players, the coaches, even myself. Sure, there were ridiculous rumors and negative articles, but I just tried to ignore them. The press was just like a bunch of high school girls. They liked to make up stories and create drama but there was no reason to fear them or take their words to heart. Luckily for Dylan, all I could find on him was positive stuff.
“Have you gone on any dates lately?” I asked him one day after practice.
“Why do you ask?” he seemed a little taken aback.
“I don’t know. A lot of girls like you now that you’re in the NHL,” I smiled.
“Yeah?”
“Yep. You should go on Tumblr and look yourself up. You’ve got yourself quite a few fangirls,” I chuckled.
“Maybe I need to meet these fangirls, then. I haven’t been on a date in a long time,” he admitted.
“What’s this I hear about Dylan and fangirls?” Melanie wondered, joining in on the conversation. She had been getting settled into her team photographer position, and she was going over some of the photos she had captured during practice.
“He has a ton of them and yet he doesn’t have a love life,” I spilled.
“Oh, don’t be too hard on him. He’s probably too busy being an NHL star,” Melanie laughed.
“Don’t make me too cocky. I’m still a rookie here. Trust me, I would know. I get addressed by that nickname at least a hundred times a day,” Dylan rolled his eyes.
“You better get used to it, rookie,” Bryan Bickell contributed, clapping Dylan on the back as he walked by.
“Hey rookie, don’t forget to get yourself a Halloween costume sometime. I’m having a party at my place on the twenty-ninth,” Sharpy added. The party originally was going to be at the apartment that Patrick and I shared like it was the year before, but with our wedding getting closer, the team didn’t want us to have to worry about planning yet another party. Pat and I were very grateful that Sharpy offered to throw the party at his place, but he acted like it was nothing. He did have kids that loved the holiday, after all, and he knew they would have a blast.
“Oh yeah. I have absolutely no idea what kind of costume I’m going to get for that,” Dylan realized.
“Well, maybe if you got a date for it you’d have someone to help you decide,” Melanie suggested, winking at me. Probably one of the best things about the newest additions to the Hawks team and staff was that I now got to mess with Dylan almost every day and I had Melanie to help me.
When Patrick and I left the United Center, we headed to Halloween City to meet up with Jonathan and Tess. A trip to a Halloween shop wasn’t exactly the nicest double date, but it was better than nothing. I think we all just wanted a chance to relax and have some fun, honestly. Tess was always helping me with wedding ideas and Jonatan and Patrick were busy with hockey, as was I. The hockey, I could deal with. The wedding, not so much. At that point, I wasn’t as much excited for the wedding as I was looking forward to getting it over with. I was tired of planning, making calls, emailing, searching, buying, checking, then double-checking, and worrying. Halloween was going to be a chance for me to be anything I wanted and not have to think about my real life problems. Or that was what I thought, at least.
“Before you say anything, I know exactly what your costumes should be,” Tess declared once her and Jonathan found Pat and I in the parking lot.
“Oh god,” Patrick muttered.
“I thought of this idea in the car and I’m really excited about it, so shut up, Patricia,” Tess growled. “Anyways, you guys should be a zombie bride and groom. That way you get a little practice, but without the stress and you get to look creepy as hell too!”
I had to admit that the idea did fit the situation pretty well. That and I wanted to have a freaky costume rather than a cute one. But was it too cliche? I looked over at Patrick and tried to read his expression.
“I mean, I would get yelled at for looking that gross on our wedding day, so why not?” he said. Tess turned her gaze to me to get my approval. I thought about it for a minute, then sighed.
“You find us something amazing in there, and I’ll go for it,” I grinned, playing hard to get.
“I won’t let you down,” Tess promised.
When we got inside, it was like we were kids again. We went around laughing at all the ridiculous items we could find and trying things on. I found a women’s nurse outfit and held it up to Patrick, attempting to convince everyone that it would fit him so much better than anything else in the store. We played with props and probably acted more childish than any kids who had been there, but it was worth it. In the end, we all actually accomplished something and got costumes.
Jonathan and Tess decided to be a firefighter couple. Tess’ costume consisted of a cute, short firefighter uniform inspired dress with suspenders, boots, and a hat. Jonathan’s costume took more of the calendar fireman route. He had an inflatable muscle shirt, fireman pants, suspenders, boots, and a hat. I honestly couldn’t wait to see the reactions from everyone at the party - I was sure everyone would get a kick out of it like Tess and I did. As for Patrick and I, we ended up going with Tess’ idea. She helped me find a zombie bride dress that was short, strapless, tattered, and white but darkened with gray and black to make it look like it was dirty. It came with a similar veil and I got fishnets and black heels. Patrick went with a matching costume which was a dirty, ripped up white tux with a black collar, a white shirt for underneath, a black bow tie and black pants and he would wear black dress shoes with it. In addition, we got some costume makeup to help make us really look like we were undead.
“We’re going to look so hot,” Tess decided, grinning in satisfaction as we left the store.
“Maybe you guys will. Us, not so much,” I responded.
“I don’t know, I think I’d make a sexy zombie,” Patrick smirked.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Jonathan said.
After shopping we had a bit of a frozen yogurt craving, so we headed to a place called FroYo that had every flavor of it that you could imagine. I got a combination of cake batter and red velvet (I guess I was in a cake mood) and added sprinkles, M&Ms, and Oreo crumbs. I hadn’t had froyo in a long time, so it tasted extra delicious.
“I’m having mouthgasms right now,” Tess announced as she took a bite of her red velvet and chocolate combo.
“Maybe we should just have this at our wedding instead of cake,” I commented.
“If we hadn’t already ordered a cake, I’d be perfectly fine with that,” Patrick said.
“What kind of cake did you guys get?” Jonathan wondered.
“Red velvet,” I answered. He looked at me, then Tess, and rolled his eyes. It was our favorite flavor and apparently he was tired of being around it all the time. Tess could eat anything and not gain weight, so I was sure she had her share of it. “Don’t look at us like that! It’s good!” I complained.
“Just don’t eat red velvet anything for three months and then you’ll be excited for it by the time our wedding rolls around,” Pat advised him.
“Why don’t you tell Tess to stop making cupcakes that I’m forced to help her eat, then!”
I guess it was good to know that the biggest dispute they’d had lately was just over cupcakes. Patrick and I found ourselves fighting more and more as the wedding got closer, it seemed. We would get into arguments about the dumbest little things, and we usually got over them quickly, but it still wasn’t fun. I think that was part of the reason why I was around Dylan so often after practices and games. That, and I tried to hang out with Tess and my ex teammates whenever I could. I started to get a little worried about the frequent battles, though. I tried to tell myself that it was normal, being that we were busy and stressed and so much was going on. But was it, really? I was as much of a rookie to this whole marriage and wedding situation as Dylan was in the NHL, and as necessary as that role was in life, it honestly sucked.

Notes