Loud ringing jerked me out of my peaceful sleep. Startled, I sat up realizing it was only my phone. I put my hand to my face as if to rub the sleep away and cursing that I always forget to turn down my ringer. The clock on the nightstand read 6:26am. "Damn, who could be calling this early?" I thought. Adam's name showed up on my caller ID and I got butterflies. Our families have been close friends since Adam and I were five or six, yet I still got butterflies whenever he calls or when I see him. I moved to Chicago for a job a year after Adam had been playing for the Blackhawks, so it was nice to know someone in the area moving so far from home. I always had feelings for Adam, but I knew he wasn't the relationship type of guy. I just tried not to let those feelings get in the way of our friendship.

"Adam?" I answered the phone, sleep apparent in my voice.

"Hey Soph, are you asleep?" He asked, apparently wide awake. I can only imagine him pacing around his living room as he held the phone up to his ear.

"Well I WAS...why aren't you? Its like 6:30!" I said, trying not to yawn.

"Yeah well I got up and I couldn't go back to sleep. I wanted to see if you are going to my game tonight?"

"Of course I am Adam, don't I always?"

"Yeah yeah, just checking. You wanna ride with me?"

"Yeah sure. Sounds good." I said laying back down, smiling.

"Well I'll let you go back to sleep. Ill call you later."

"Doubt I can get back to sleep! Thanks though, Adam!" I said laughing a little.

I hung up with Adam and decided I might as well get up since I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. I showered and decided I was going to straighten my hair, which was not being very cooperative as usual. After I finished getting ready I went to the kitchen to find some breakfast and settled on a English muffin with apricot jam. I sat at the table picking at my food lost in thought. I wanted to talk to Adam about how I felt, but I didn't want to make things weird between us. He was one of those people that you loved to be around because of his fun personality. I don't remember the exact moment I fell so head over heels for him, but those feelings were starting to get stronger every time I talked to or saw him. I brought myself to work up the courage to bring it up with Adam tonight after the game.

That night, Adam arrived at my apartment a few hours before the game.

"Sophia Nielsen," he said as I let him in.

"Adam Burish!" I said, hugging him. I loved Adam's hugs. They were probably the best I've ever had. He had a rock hard chest and amazing arms. He looked stunningly handsome in his suit. He smelled like cologne and his hair was done nicely. Looking into his piercing blue eyes was enough to make me weak in the knees and lose all my thoughts.

"You ready to go? I got you a seat behind the bench if you want, unless you want to sit in the suite with-"

"No no, Ill take the seat! I love being close to the action anyway!" I said cutting him off. I liked the suite, but sitting down in the crowd was always more exciting. I loved being up close to the action.

"Ok good!"

I grabbed my Burish jersey as we headed out the door to Adam's car. He gave me the jersey when I first moved to Chicago as a "housewarming" gift.

Adam was unusually quiet on the way to the game. "Why are you being so quiet over there?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"What? Oh, I'm just thinking about stuff." He said.

"Adam, you are never this quiet. What's goin on?" I asked a little concerned.

"Well," he paused, "I met this girl, and I think I really like her." There went my idea of gushing my feelings to him tonight.

"Oh..." I said with a little pause. Hoping Adam wouldn't catch on to my disappointment, I added, "that's good! Good for you!" I closed my eyes and tilted my head back onto the headrest, realizing that wasn't exactly the smoothest way to go about hiding my disappointment.

"Soph...sound a little more enthused would ya? This is me we're talking about here!" he said, obviously noticing.

"No, I'm happy for you Adam! Mr. Ladies man. So, who is the lucky lady?" I said trying better to hide my feelings.

"Well her name is Angela, and I met her at the bar last week when I went out with the guys."

"I never thought I'd see the day! She must be something special." I said with a laugh.

"Yeah, she's great," Adam said smiling.

We got to the Arena and headed inside. As we were walking in, Adam told me that he invited Angela to the game and continued talking about her when I got lost in thought. I was hoping I would be able to do a better job with my emotions than I did on the car ride. "So is that ok with you?" He asked snapping me out of it. "I think you guys will get along great!" He said excitedly.

"No of course I don't mind!" I lied. Of course I do.

A few minutes later a small blonde made her way over to where we were standing. I figured it was just a fan wanting Adam's autograph or a picture, but I was wrong.

"Ang!" Adam said as he hugged her. Ang. Figures he'd go for a blonde, I thought. I tried to find something to take my attention away from them, but I found nothing. I couldn't look at them so I turned around only to see Patrick Sharp headed our way. Thank God!

"Sharpie!" I said as he wrapped me in a huge hug. He couldn't have come walking up at a better time, and for that I was grateful.

"Hey Soph! How's it goin?" He asked.

"Well..." I said as I looked toward Adam with Ang.

"Oh," he said looking at them. Sharpie was the only one that knew my feelings for Adam.

"Its alright though, I'm happy for him." I said looking at Adam who was busy in conversation with the girl.

Sharpie looked at me sympathetically after seeing my reaction to the pair in front of us and gave me another hug. "I don't see that lasting. He just doesn't know what he's had right in front of him for practically ever," he said smiling.

"Thanks Sharpie." I said smiling back. Sharpie had this way of making me feel better about things. As he walked away, Adam came over to where I was standing and introduced me to Ang. Fake boobs and a ton of make-up. I was going to have to try hard to not show my disaproval.

"Nice to meet you," she said.

"Nice to meet you too." I lied. I smiled anyway. Adam gave us our tickets and said he was going down to the locker room. Before he left, he gave Angela a hug and a kiss and all I could do was cringe. I wanted Adam to be happy, but I also couldn't hide from myself the fact that I wanted Adam. It hurt to see them, even if it was the first time I saw them together.

As we were heading down to our seats, we made small talk. She seemed nice, but I was still trying to figure out what Adam saw.

The game started and the Hawks got off to a quick start. As the game went on, I kept noticing that Angela wasn't paying very much attention and was playing with her phone almost the whole time. I noticed Adam kept looking over and saw disappointment on his face every time he saw her looking down and not at the game. I couldn't help but smile, as horrible as that sounds.

After the game, we walked down towards the locker rooms to wait for Adam. Other nights, I would have left after saying goodbye to Adam, but this time I had to wait around since we rode together. I wanted this to be one of those other nights just to avoid seeing Adam with someone else. Angela's phone rang and she took the call. I still stood waiting, and she sat at a nearby bench. As I was waiting I was looking at some artwork hung on the walls and I overheard her gossiping about Adam and how she was going to have a huge story to tell. I felt bad for Adam, and at the same time I felt anger building up. He seemed genuinely interested in this girl, and she was only into him for his career and a story to bring back to her girlfriends. And probably his wallet. As she was still on the phone, I saw Adam emerge from the locker room.

"Hey great game tonight Adam!" I said as he came up to me and gave me a hug.

"Thanks! So...what did you think of her?" He asked.

"She's nice..." I said trailing off.

"But?" He asked. I knew he could tell something was up.

"She just..I don't know she doesn't seem like she's into you for you..." I didn't want to do this, but I felt like I had to tell him what I was feeling. "She hardly paid any attention to the game and she's sitting over there gossiping on the phone." I blurted out finally. Adam didn't say anything but he looked like he knew I was right. "I mean, she's a nice girl and all, Adam. If you're happy then I'm happy for you. I just want you to be happy." Adam smiled and told me he'd be right back as he went towards Angela.

A few minutes later my phone rang. It was Adam and he asked me to just meet him at his car in a minute. I agreed and headed towards the parking garage. On my way to the car, I kept thinking about what just happened, and I was wondering what Adam was doing. A million thoughts were going through my mind. As much as I wanted Adam to be happy, I was hoping he was breaking whatever it was he had off with Angela. When I got to the car, he was already there. I slowed my pace and kind of looked around baffled at how he beat me down there. He had a look on his face like he was up to something, and it made me feel nervous. Before I could say anything he grabbed me, pulling me closer to him and gave me the most passionate kiss I've ever had in my life. It made me feel weak, but it was as amazing as I thought it would be. When we broke apart, I could barely get any words out. "What was... what about...wow." I said, holding onto Adam, feeling like if I let go of him I would be on the ground.

Adam laughed and kissed me again, this time more softly. "Don't worry about her. I was being stupid."

"How? I thought you really liked her..."

"Because. The entire game I was realizing what I've had in front of me all along. And you were right. She wasn't interested in me."

"I'm just...I don't know what to say right now Adam." I said smiling. We stood there for a second before deciding to leave. The car ride was quiet again. I felt like I needed to say something but I didn't know what. I looked over at Adam and he still had a big smile on his face, and I couldn't help but smile as well.