Sitting in the family and friends box, I marveled at the throng of women around me. Each one was more beautiful than the next. They were the wives and girlfriends of the players on the Ottawa Senators. They all looked like what I imagined Miranda to look like in ten years. They all wore skin-tight jeans, high-heeled boots, and expensive-looking blazers. Next to them, I felt like something they would have scraped off the bottom of their beautiful footwear. Wearing Dave’s jersey, I might as well have held a flashing sign that read, “Spot the new squeeze.” It was clear as day to them who I was, and they all took turns whispering to each other and throwing a lingering glance my way when they thought I wasn’t looking. It was the first intermission, and I could see Dave from my box. He was up in the press box, looking down on the empty ice. Even from there, there was a look on his face that I didn’t recognize. It almost looked...lost.

“Leslie!”
The sound of my name broke my stare, and I rotated in my seat. Kendra was barreling towards me, eyes wide, a mouthful of wine bulging gently through her cheeks. She gulped it down arduously as I got up and she reached out to hug me. “What are you...”
She cut herself off and curled her arms back towards her when she got a glance at the pair of magic number sevens on my sleeves. Her jaw dropped open, and her glasses were nearly about to drop off her cute button nose. “You didn’t!” She gasped, pressing her palm to her chest dramatically. I shrugged with a grin, my palms facing upward. “No way! I mean, I figured it would happen eventually, but not this soon!”
“I do quick work,” I added jokingly with a wink.
She laughed, but she quickly muted herself as I could see sullen words sitting on the tip of her tongue. “Is Dave upset?”
My brow furrowed. Upset? What did he have to be upset about? Sure, he was a healthy scratch for the third game in a row, but it was nothing to be upset about. It was only his first NHL season, and he had so much to be proud of. “I don’t know what you mean.”
She cleared her throat, lowering her voice. “Well, there’s a lot of talk that he might get sent down to the AHL.”

The AHL. A wave of sickness washed over me. It hadn’t even crossed my mind. I’d forgotten that one of the Senators defenseman, Matt Carkner, was injured, and that in only a few short weeks he’d be returning to the lineup. Once he came back, there would be 8 men for six spots, and something would have to be done about it. My mouth suddenly felt like it was filled with sand, and my palms were practically dripping. Playing for the AHL affiliate would probably be good for his career long-term, but only the downside circled in my mind; the AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Senators, was in New York, several hours away.

I knew things with Dave had been too good to be true. I was unconditionally happy, and it was only typical that that happiness had to be short-lived. Two weeks apart was hard enough, and that had been when he belonged to someone else. Now, just when I thought there was nothing holding us back from being together, it seemed as if it was all falling to pieces.

Before I could answer Kendra, my phone rang. She motioned for me to answer it, then turned back to the cluster of Fembots and joined in on their conversation.
“So how are you enjoying the game?” I heard a familiar, Swedish voice ask through the phone.
“Well, when you said a surprise, I kind of imagined we’d be doing something, y’know...together?”
“This isn’t the surprise! What kind of boyfriend would I be if this was the surprise?”
My lungs felt buoyant in my chest. Boyfriend. He had said boyfriend, hadn’t he? However good the night before had been, it felt strange to hear him say it. Strange, but good. So...good. He knew how much I cared about him. He must have felt it through every touch, every breath, and every tremble from the night before. He could practically read my mind now, and I didn’t know how I felt about it. But what made it all worth it was that he felt the same way I did. “Well how do I know you really do have a surprise for me, and you weren’t simply dragging me here to have someone to taunt in between periods?”
I could practically hear him smiling through the phone. When I looked up at the press box, he was out of sight. “Just trust me. You can do that, can’t you?”
My cheeks were in so much pain from smiling so wide, I thought they would fall right off. I bit my lip to fight the bittersweet pain. “It’s possible. But you still didn’t answer my question.”
“Yes I did!”
“No, you didn’t! You answered my question with another question.”
“Well, you should trust me, because I know a girl like you would never willingly find herself with a guy who wouldn’t do anything and everything for the most beautiful, smart, amazing girl he’s ever met.”
I released my lip and let my smile spread across my face once again. The pain was worthwhile. It would always be worthwhile. I was glad he couldn't see my foolish grin, and I collected myself. “Wow, nice save! Maybe if you had decided to be a goalie instead of a defenseman, you'd be on the ice tonight.”
He teasingly gasped into the phone. “I give you that answer and that’s what I get in response? Forget it, you’re eating alone tonight!”
“Eating? Where?!”
He paused, probably cursing at himself for blowing the surprise. “Come up here after the game, and you’ll see. I’ve gotta go. Until later, Leslie.”
I said a quick goodbye, slid my phone into my pocket, then subsequently slid down into my chair like a puddle of mush.

* * *

My tiny fingers were knotted through Dave’s warm, large ones and he led me through the tunnels underneath Scotiabank Place. My hands tingled when he stroked my hand with his thumb or squeezed my hand tighter as I tried to keep up with his quick, determined pace. As we walked along, we ran into a couple of familiar faces: Erik Karlsson and Jason Spezza. We stopped, and Dave introduced me to them. I smiled nervously as I shook their hands. My palms were likely drenched in sweat, but I was too star-struck and excited to even notice. We chatted briefly, and I congratulated them on a job well done after the 4-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning. We talked with the pair for a moment, joking around and taking cracks at Dave. As Erik and Jason laughed at my teasing, I reveled the moment. I had made Jason Spezza and Erik Karlsson laugh. Just as Dave wrapped his arm around my waist to lead me towards my surprise, Erik leaned in towards him and said something to him quickly and quietly in Swedish. Dave nodded, eyeing me and smiling wider. What I would have done to understand Swedish.

As we approached the Senators dressing room, he put his hands over my eyes. “We’re almost there,” he whispered into my ear from behind me. He didn’t even need to put his hands over my eyes, as his gentle, low voice with his lips pressed to my ear was making me starry-eyed. He tilted me to the side, and I heard him open a door with his butt. I continued to take baby steps forward, and I felt carpet beneath my boots. When he lifted his hands from my eyes, I couldn’t suppress a laugh that escaped me.

I was in the Ottawa Senators dressing room, and it was empty, except for a picnic that was set up in the middle of the room over the Senators logo on the carpet. There was a typical white and red-checkered picnic blanket with an assortment of concession food that would be found around Scotiabank Place spread neatly across it. There was also a bottle of Bollinger champagne perched crookedly in an ice bucket with a pair of tall champagne glasses sitting next to it. An acrid smell of hockey equipment hung thick in the air, which didn’t exactly feed my appetite. “What on Earth? How did you manage this?”
"The power of bribery," he replied, admiring his work. "I guess some of the staff here needed some tickets as last-minute Christmas presents." I continued to laugh at the display in front of me. “Why are you laughing?” A goofy smile was plastered across his adorable mug.
“No, it’s great! Very cute,” I replied, reaching up on the tips of my toes to give him a quick peck on the lips. He motioned for me to sit on the blanket, and I looked around and drank in the contents of the room.

When I sat on the blanket, he sat down right behind me, wrapped his arms around my midsection, and kissed me on the back of my neck. “Champagne?”
I nodded and he poured the two of us a glass. I took a sip and hummed happily at the sweet, bubbly flavour.
“Did you enjoy the game? It was pretty intensive, don’t you think?” he asked softly, setting his glass down and snaking his arms around me once again. His chin was on my shoulder and I could feel his soft brown hair gently on the side of my face. It reminded me of the night of the club, when he held me closely in almost the same exact manner. Only this time, there wasn’t a pang of guilt mixed with the euphoria. Now, it was only bliss.
“I did, and it’s intense, Dave, not intensive.” I replied with a grin, turning my head gently to face him. My face only an inch from his, I could see the faint freckles on his nose, a hint of a five-o’clock shadow, and the rings of dark blue around his bright blue irises.
“Hey, give me a break, I’m foreign.”
I giggled. "Speaking of foreign, what did Erik say to you in the hallway?”
He pressed his thin lips together, trying to hide a smile. “Nothing.”
“What did he say? And don’t lie, I can handle it.”
He creased his eyes in suspicion, then finally relaxed into a tranquil gaze. “I’m not exactly sure what the direct translation is in English, but I think it’s something like, ‘She’s a keeper.’”
I felt my eyes go puppy-dog on him, and I used all of my strength to hold my lip back from quivering. “He didn’t!”
“He did.”

My mouth dropped open, and just as it opened, he grabbed a couple pieces of popcorn and popped them in my mouth. I shut my mouth and shrieked in surprise. I imagined I looked quite attractive with my cheeks puffed out like chipmunks, full of popcorn. As I tried to chew it, I grabbed a handful and tossed it over my shoulder, the pieces bouncing off his face and flying in all different directions. He closed his eyes and scrunched his face as the pieces rebounded all over, and I chuckled devilishly through my nose, my mouth still full of popcorn.

What followed was an intense battle, or an ‘intensive’ battle, as Dave would have put it. Our hands flew towards the bag of popcorn, fists grabbing and pieces zooming everywhere. In between throws, I would pop some pieces in his mouth, and popcorn was getting stuck in our hair and all the crevices of our clothing. Eventually, when there were only kernels and tiny pieces that remained in the bag, we observed the destruction of battle that we had left behind on the floor.

“Oh man, the equipment staff is going to kill me.”
“It’s only fair. I mean, you started it.”
His mouth dropped open like mine had in my reaction to Erik’s comment, and he tackled me. I squealed softly as I tumbled onto my back, the crunch of popcorn beneath me. We were both laughing uncontrollably, and he had me pinned, his hands on both sides of my head. He stopped laughing, leaned down, and kissed me. He must have gotten all teeth, as I couldn’t stop smiling. I put one hand on the crook of his neck and one in his soft hair, pulling him in to me. His mouth and his tongue were the perfect mixture of sweet and salty from the popcorn and champagne. He was leaning all the way into me, kissing me deeply. When he pulled away, I was breathless; my eyes were shut, and I lifted my head, searching for his lips again. When I finally opened them, I saw something behind Dave. “Are those...my skates?”

His lips red, he turned to see what I was looking at. My skates were sitting on the bench in front of his stall, with his skates next to mine. There were two sticks leaning against the bench, one about a foot shorter than the other. “Yeah. I asked Miranda for them while you were getting ready.”
So those twenty seconds of silence between them wasn’t because of awkwardness. He was secretly planning something for me, and she was helping. Suddenly, yet another worry I had about my relationship with Dave was slowly floating away. I couldn’t, however, ignore the threat of the minors.

“Leslie? Leslie?” I came to at the sound of his voice. I loved the way he said my name, and the way the L’s rolled off his tongue in that Swedish accent of his.
“Yes?”
He started picking out the pieces of popcorn that were lodged in my long hair, taking the opportunity to trace his index finger down my jaw. “That’s the second part of the surprise.”
My eyes twinkled in excitement. “What’s that?”
“We’re hitting the ice, of course!”