Waking up the next morning, all I could think about was the events that happened the night before. The image of Leah on top of me was enough to make my black boxer-briefs get a little bit tighter, if you know what I mean.

I lazily got out of bed and realized that it was already 7:25

"shit shit shit, i'm gonna be late for practice!" I yelled out loud as i threw on my clothes from the night before and ran to the front door.

"it's awfully early to be running around like a chicken with its head cut off" a slightly annoyed Leah said as she looked up from the Ipad that was laying on the dining room table.

"I'm sorry, i have practice at 8 and coach is going to make me be "mustache boy" again if i'm late" i said in an apologetic tone.

"hey, should should come with...you know, if you want to" I said while throwing my shoes on

"well, i really don't have anything better to do. I might as well go creep on some hot, sweaty hockey players" she said while standing up and slipping on her grey TOMS

"alright, lets get going, we can grab lunch after practice. That will give us a chance a catch up" I said, almost emotionless.

"why do you talk like that, Sid?"

"huh? Talk like what?" I said while keeping my eyes focused on the winding road in front of me

"You always talk like you're at a press conference. Always making sure your grammar is spot on and never giving a hint of emotion. It's almost robotic. I want you to know that you can be comfortable around me. You know I would never go talk to the press about your secretes or anything. You can trust me" she said with a big smile while she rubbed my shoulder

she was right, I could trust her. I mean, I lived with her for a really long time at her parents house. Growing up with a famous dad, she was taught at an early age that she couldn't answer the pretty private and personal questions that reporters and journalist always try to pry out of people.

"I'm sorry. Im just not used to having people I can trust and talk to" i said rather bluntly

I looked over at her in my passengers seat and was momentarily taken aback by her beauty. Even in a pair of simple blue jeans and a black V-neck, she was something out of a magazine. her brown hair fell in large curls over her shoulders and her small green eyes, lined with black eyeliner, were catching rays of the sun and sparkling brighter than a the biggest diamond.

somehow I managed to keep my cool and get us safely to the parking lot of the Consol Energy Center.

I grabbed my duffle bag out of the trunk of my Range Rover and we made our way up to the "players only" door. Being the captain, I didn't even need to flash my pass at the security officer anymore. I also didn't need to explain that Leah was with me. He probably figured she was a girlfriend or something.

When we walked into the locker room, the loud and rowdy boys suddenly stopped, looked at Leah, and started their usual "ow owww! And "Crosby has a girlfriend" lines that they use every time they see me with a girl(which wasn't very often)

I looked down at Leah, who was giving the guys an uncomfortable wave to the guys, and explained that she wasn't my girlfriend, she was just an old friend.

"I have to go get changed, if you're not comfortable being in here, you can go out and find a seat in the Arena" i said while patting the top of her head. This of course got a string of "awwws" from the guys.

"I think i'll be fine in here...maybe" she said while looking around the room.

I watched her go sit by my locker and pull out her phone awkwardly before I walked into the small private dressing room connected to the locker room.

*****
"what your name" a guy next to me said in a really thick and hard to understand accent

"i'm Leah, and you are?" I smiled as i held out my hand for him to shake, but instead he picked it up and kissed the top of it

"I'm Geno. Nice meet you. You very pretty" he said to me with that adorable accent.

"well thank you, Geno. It's nice to meet you as well" i said with flushed cheeks.

"listen. Me and you.. we go on date. I take you out, buy dinner. Take you back my place" he said very bluntly while taping the end of his stick

I didn't get the chance to react to Geno before a tall skinny french guy was inches away from my face with a Kermit the Frog mask on

"Hi! Hello! Oui oui!" The strange guy said to me before taking the mask off.

"I'm Marc but you can call me flower. I no bite like Geno does!"

I was about to tell him hi but thankfully I heard Sids voice close behind me.

"alright boys" he said in his captain voice. "Get out there and give me 5 laps"

All of the guys sighed heavily and I could hear Geno mumble something in a foreign language under his breath.

"I hope they didn't give you too much shit" Sid said while taking a sip from his water bottle.

"I only got to meet Kermit and a guy that doesn't speak English very well" i said laughing and stealing a drink from Sids water.

"ahh. Flower and Geno" he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Yeah, Geno tried to get me to go out to dinner and then go home with him" I stated, watching the muscles in Sidney's jaw clench tightly

"Leah, Don't trust the Russian"