Just As Long As You Stand, Stand By Me

I wake up the next morning remembering everything. I didn't get that drunk anyway. I look at my phone expecting millions of messages from Brandon or Andrew telling me how great it was to meet me and how we should get together sometime. But nothing. I do feel a little disappointed, but there is nothing I can do. I walk out of my room and my dog, Roxy, follows me. She is a pitbull-boxer mix and the biggest sweetheart anyone will meet. She goes over to her food bowl and pushed her nose into it asking to be fed. I make breakfast for her and myself and get ready to take her on a walk. I get dressed, get her leash on, grab a bag and check my phone. Still nothing. I take Roxy for a long walk and get back home and hour and a half later. My phone rings. The light at the bottom is lighting up, which means I have a text. Its an unknown number, so it must be Brandon or Andrew. I look at the message and it says "Hey Alli! Its Brandon from last night. I don't know if you want to or not, but me and a few of the boys are going to watch a movie tonight. You can come if you want." Which other boys? Some other Blackhawks? I say yeah to this and go take a shower. I get out with 10 new messages. Most from Brandon, a few from Bridget. Brandon says the time we have to be there, which theater, which movie, and the rest of who is going which is Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marcus Kruger, Ben Smith, and Kris Versteeg. An odd bunch of guys, I think. The movie is supposed to be really funny and has Adam Sandler in it. I get to the theater and see Brandon right away. It's hard to miss that beard from far away. He smiles and hugs me and introduces me to the rest of the guys. Jonathan and Patrick look at Brandon almost to say get me out of here. Marcus won't say a word to me. Ben and Kris are the only two happy to meet me. As we buy our tickets, Jonny and Pat almost run ahead of everyone to get good seats. I talk with Kris while we walk up to our theather and hear Brandon say to Marcus "you don't have to hang out with her every day, just say hi to her." I guess Marcus doesn't like me that much either. When we get in the theater, i sit inbetween Brandon and Kris. As the movie started, I kept feeling Brandon's hand creep closer and closer to mine. I would move it away, but it would still happen. Afterwards, I say how great it was to meet them and am about to leave when Brandon asks me if I want to go to dinner with them. I say I don't want to ruin the boys night, but now Jonny is insisting. I stay and they want to go eat pizza. I name a few places that I grew up eating and we finally settle on one. Since I drove separately and so did Brandon, I tell him to follow me home so he can pick me up and we will drive to the pizza place together. He agrees and follows while everyone else goes to the place. As he picks me up, he says I can change the radio station at any time to whatever I like. I tell him its fine. I look out the window and watch as Chicago passes us by. I see him stealing glaces out of the corner of my eye, but I could be mistaken. Then I feel his hand creep up towards mine again. I wasn't mistaken. I pull my hand away and make it look like I'm doing something important on my phone. I text Bridget. I say "dude, Brandon keeps trying to hold my hand. What should I do!? Help me out!" She responds right away with "are you sure? He could just be reaching for something. Try again." I put my hand down on the arm rest. I feel his arm move closer and the warmth of his hand on mine. His hand slowly caresses mine and a smile slowly appears across his face. The only time I have seen this smile before is when he beats the shit out of other guys in the ice. I text back Bridget. "Yeah he meant to hold my hand. Actually, he's holding it right now." We finally get to the pizza place and he let's go of my hand. The pizzas get to the table just as we do. Marcus was laughing and immediately stopped when he saw me. It seems like he really doesn't like me. Jonny and Pat talk to me about what u do, where I live, what animals I have, if I'm dating anyone, and what is going on in the "World of Alli" as they put it. When I get to the part that I'm not dating anyone, Brandon starts to smile again. Everyone asks why he's smiling but he says no reason a million times. Everyone drops that subject. We finish eating and pay. I say good bye to the rest of the guys and hug them all. Marcus started to warm up to me towards the end of dinner, so he just waved to me. Brandon and I both get into his car. I change the radio to the country station. I know almost every song on here, and that's why I didn't want to turn it on earlier. I didn't want to scare away Brandon. He gets me home and just as I'm about to get out he says my name. "Yeah?" I turn to look at him. His brown eyes are welcoming and I lock onto his eye and don't realize they are getting closer. I feel warm hands grab my face and warm lips against mine. I feel the warmth start flushing through my body, leaving out any coolness there might have been. After a minute, Brandon pulls away and let's my face go. I crave his lips even more. I say good night and get out of the car, feelinga little drunk off the kiss. I regain my normal head and walk to the front door. Brandon doesn't leave until I get in my apartment safely. He waves goodbye as he passes. I get inside, walk up the stairs to my house and close the door and lean against it. Roxy runs up to me, happy to see me as she is every day. She has the same look in her eyes as Brandon does: love.

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