Two weeks later, sitting next to Dave, all bundled up and nuzzled in his neck, I reflected on the blissful blur that had passed since our skate together. Dave was back in the Ottawa lineup, which put my dreaded AHL thoughts on hold. He had even scored his first NHL goal, and I was extremely proud of him. Watching at home, screaming and jumping up and down as I saw his shot from the blueline hit the back of the net, I smiled in disbelief at the fact that the amazing human being on my TV screen was my boyfriend.

Every moment that I wasn’t at work and he wasn’t at practice, playing a game, or doing something team-related, we were together. The evening after our skate, Dave and I made our way to Ikea to pick out some furniture, spruce his place up, and stick true to his Swedish roots. I’d ask him how he felt how he felt about a piece of furniture, and he’d shrug his shoulders nonchalantly, suggesting that I pick out whatever I liked. It was his house, not mine...regardless, I picked out simple furniture that went nicely together, and he seemed to approve. As long as it was furniture, he didn’t care.

When our biological needs didn’t get the best of us the nights that we had together, we’d spend them exchanging music. We’d discovered how similar our taste in music was, so sharing songs with one another was one of our favourite things to do together. He’d play me a song by Florence + the Machine, and I’d play him a song by Mumford & Sons. He’d play a song by MGMT, and I’d play a song by Lana del Ray. We’d go back and forth, and sometimes I’d pull out my guitar and play along. Normally, I couldn’t get through a song without him pushing my guitar aside and climbing on top of me. “You’re so sexy when you play,” he’d whisper huskily, kissing my neck. And then we’d go back to satisfying those pesky needs of ours.

One night, we had gone on a double date with Miranda and Grey in the Byward market. She had suggested it, and I was extremely nervous about the idea. One table seating Dave, his girlfriend, his ex-girlfriend/roommate of his current girlfriend, and the guy his ex-girlfriend cheated on him with, sounded like a disaster waiting to happen...only it wasn’t. It felt...natural. The conversation flowed, we were laughing all night, and Grey was more starstruck by Dave than a thirteen-year-old girl, as he was a diehard Sens fan.

Throughout the night, I had been observing Grey. In the looks department, he was nothing short of a Calvin Klein model. He always had a smoldering look in his hazel eyes, and the way his oxford hugged his upper body muscles was all kinds of crazy. Two months ago, he would have been another one of Miranda’s men that I would have fallen for. But every time I looked at Grey, I looked back at Dave, whose cornflower eyes met mine every time. Without exception, I always knew each time that I would have always chosen Dave in a heartbeat.

I took him out to experience everything the city had to offer, when he had the time. In between practices, naps, and games, I would take him to museums, the National Art Gallery, the Rideau Canal, and even hiking in the Gatineau Hills. Everywhere we went, he’d always take a few moments to drink everything in. He always seemed to appreciate his surroundings, and it was what I loved about him. Sometimes he’d even pull out his camera and take some pictures. I also took him to the different restaurants in Ottawa that he had to try. He had never had a Beaver Tail, so after our double date, I took him through the market to have his first. I went with my trusty banana Nutella Beaver Tail, while Dave played it safe and went for the classic one.

As we walked through the market, chewing on our heavenly pastries, we got some stares. and A few people came up to Dave to talk Sens or ask for an autograph. It happened everywhere we went, and when he got attention from girls, I wasn’t bothered. He never gave them a second look, and he always looked back at me as if I was the only girl he’d ever seen before.

“Can I get another one?” he asked, his mouth full, like he was a twelve-year-old asking his mother for a chocolate bar at the grocery store.
“Dave, I’m not letting you become a fatty. Pretty sure I’d be killed by the staff and your teammates if I was responsible for the onset of your obesity.”
He released my hand he had been holding to wrap his arm around my waist, pulling me close. “I’ll keep in shape no matter what I eat, especially with our, uh...off-ice workouts,” he growled into my ear. I gasped playfully, lightly whacking him on the chest, but in my head, I was eagerly awaiting working up a sweat with him in said workout.

Despite all of the amazing mornings, evenings and nights we had together, one nagging thought still followed me everywhere I went. With injured defenceman returning to the lineup any day, Dave’s future in Ottawa was in jeopardy. I tried to force it out of my mind, and enjoy all the time I had with him, but I couldn’t help but wonder when his time would come.

On the drive home, I stared out the window at the green grass, hoping it wouldn’t be a green Christmas. I started thinking about my family and Christmastime, and if I would bring Dave home to meet my parents soon. I knew they would love Dave, especially my dad, since he was a huge Senators fan. He was always protective of me when I had dated as a teenager, and it took a lot for him to approve of the guys I dated. Despite that, I knew my dad would love Dave the moment he met him. I talked to my mom several times a week. I also thought about my sister, and what she’d think about dating one of ‘Miranda’s men’, as she called it. She’d start giving me the speech about how he was only looking for sex, since that’s how it had always started with Miranda. She had never approved of Miranda, and I didn’t even want to think about her reaction to me dating Dave. I hoped that when she met him, her opinion of ‘Miranda’s men’, Miranda, and most importantly, me, would change.

Dave took a turn in the opposite direction from my apartment. “Where are we going?”
He smiled to himself. “You’ll see. Close your eyes.” I closed them, turning my face towards him and scrunching my nose like a bunny rabbit, proving my obedience. I felt him tap me on the nose, and the moment I opened my eyes again, he scorned me. “Keep them closed! We’re almost there.”

After somewhere between five and ten minutes, the car rolled to a stop. “Keep them closed,” he enunciated slowly, his Swedish accent prominent through each sound. I heard him slide out of the driver’s seat, and shut the door. I was itching to take just a tiny peek, but I knew Dave wouldn’t have it, so I tried to be patient, and kept my eyes closed. In a fraction of a moment, the passenger door flew open, and I was swept up hammock style like I was that night with him on the beach. Sure enough, when I opened my eyes, there we were. I let out a full-bellied laugh, and he smiled in satisfaction. “You remember this place? I’d actually be more surprised if you did, considering the state you were in.”
“Yes, I remember!” Slung under me and over his elbows were a set of warm blankets, and he carried me to the shore. I beamed, nuzzling my nose into his warm neck. I had never met anyone as thoughtful as Dave. I felt like a princess, and he was my Prince Charming. The guys that I’d dated had never made a picnic for me, or brought me back to a place that held a lot of meaning for us. I was pretty sure no men had done this for Miranda either. But Miranda was the last thing on my mind as Dave plunked me down on the cold sand, motioning for me to sit on the blanket. I was already starting to get chilly, and I laid my head down against Dave’s chest, our bodies fitting perfectly together.

Dave brought me out of my flashback when he wrapped a second blanket around me. His hands gently grazed over my thighs, and he brought his warm lips to my ear. “That night I brought you here, that was the night I knew that you were the right girl for me.”
My heart palpitated as the words flowed gently out of his mouth like a beautiful song. The old me would have turned around, shook my head, and denied that he could ever choose me over Miranda. But the way Dave made me feel, it made me feel like I was worth it. Like I deserved it, like I deserved him. He was making me a better person day by day, and I couldn’t have appreciated it more. “How did you know?”
“Well first of all, you actually showed up at the hockey game,” he said with a light chuckle. It quickly disappeared, and his face went soft. “Even drunk, you knew all the right things to say that night. You were trying to make me feel better about Miranda, when really it was only making me want you even more.”
I couldn’t even absorb his words. His lovely and incredibly sweet answers were only fostering more questions. “So why did you go home with her that night you met her in the first place?”
I expected him to rebut, to ask me why I was being so nosy=. Instead, he answered my questions like I was any other reporter in the many scrums he’d had. “The city was new to me, and I was still trying to adjust. I was lonely, I guess.”
“And if you knew that I was the one you wanted, why didn’t you break up with her right away?”
“It was complicated. I just didn’t want anyone to get hurt. And besides, where would I have gotten the idea that you had feelings for me too? I thought I made it pretty clear how I felt that night when we danced together, and you rejected me.”
“I wasn’t rejecting you, Dave. I was rejecting what would have followed if I had let what I wanted to happen so badly actually happen. I couldn’t do that to my best friend.”
“But you’re here with me now, and it’s all over. So why are you asking so many questions?”

I had slowly been turning my body to face him as we talked, and now I was sitting up, facing him completely, tangled in the blankets, my arms trapped. My face was less than a foot from his, and I searched it. I tried to figure out his emotions, and what exactly he was trying to prove, but the darkness hid his face. All I could see was the moonlight in his blue eyes. I couldn’t tell if he was angry or not. From his tone of voice, he seemed distant, but his moonlit eyes were intently and unwaveringly fixed on mine. “Look, I’m not really sure what you want to know and what you want me to say. I just wish I could express myself better in English, because you deserve the best from me. But I’ll try my best.” I swallowed hard, anticipating what he was going to say. “I’ve been with a couple of different girls, but none have them can even be compared to you. We have so much in common, we love hockey, we love adventure, the same kind of music...you seem like you love life and don’t worry about much. But now you seem so unsure about things, and about me, like you’re looking for something to be upset about, like you’re looking for a reason not to be with me. Is it because you’re worried about me going to play in the AHL?”

He truly had his mind-reading skills on lock. Before I could control it, I felt a hot tear roll down my cold cheek. Biting back tears, I nodded, and a little whimper escaped me. He immediately pulled me to him, stroking my hair as I sunk into his shoulder and sobbed quietly. “Don’t be sad, my delicate flower,” he said with a chuckle. I smiled into his shoulder, wiping my tears. “It’s hard to be happy if you expect the worst. Going there can be good for me, and good for the future. But we don’t even have to think about that yet. I’m here now, so let’s enjoy our time together like we have been for the past few weeks. Whatever happens, we’ll figure it out. I know that I will do anything and everything I can to make it work, because I can’t imagine being without you. I can’t, and I won’t. Because...” He paused, and my lips parted, hanging on his every word. Because what?? “Because...jag är kär i dig.”
“...What does that mean?” I asked, my voice a mere squeak. My eyes had adjusted to the dark, and I could see his entire face. I couldn’t focus on any part of his face, my eyes darting from his cute little nose, to his pink lips, and back up to his icy blues.
He was quiet again, and I nearly grabbed his biceps to shake it right out of him. “It means...I’m in love with you, Leslie.”

I was still. Everything in me was frozen, and it wasn’t because of the thin December air. Another tear rolled down my cheek, but for a different reason this time. “I love you too, Dave.”
Our noses grazed in an instant, and our lips touched softly. I pushed myself forward all the way, and his warm mouth quickly heated up my entire body. He brought his hand to my cheek, and I shrieked and instinctively jerked backwards at his icy touch. “Sorry,” he laughed, his straight teeth bright even in the dark of the night. “I guess this idea was better in theory, wasn’t it?”
“Probably.”
“Well now this gives us an excuse to, y’know...warm up...back home, right?” he asked boldly, his eyes creasing and head tilting.

I spat out a laugh, turning my back to him and unwrapping myself from the blankets. I should have known something of the sort would come out of the horndog’s mouth. Things were never serious with him for more than a few moments. “Well, if that’s the best you’ve got then I’m not so sure about that, Mr. Rundblad.” I stood up, and he swatted at my hand, trying to pull me back down to him. Instead, I looked over my head to give him a teasing, seductive look, and began to strut back to the car.

He quickly got up, gathering all the blankets in his arms, and sped towards me. “You’re in serious trouble, missy,” he replied, and my strut turned to a run. As his pace quickened to one faster than mine, I screamed as he approached. He wrapped his arms around my stomach, and I screeched as he spun me around. After I did my fair share of squirming in his arms, he set me back down, kissing the back of my head. “Let’s go home, lover,” he said, the last word in a terrible French accent. I snickered at my absolute goofball of a boyfriend.