Leave it in the Past

The next two weeks went by really fast, and all of a sudden it was time for the Blackhawks charity dinner. Brandon had ended up asking Erica, and I was going with Patrick of course.

“Jesus Christ Peyt, are you almost ready? We can’t be late!” Patrick yelled down the hall impatiently. I rolled my eyes, I was just putting my diamond earrings in. Erica was next to me, touching up her lipstick. We had gotten our hair and makeup done in a salon, but we still had jewelry and touchups to do.

“I’M COMING!” I shouted loud enough for him to hear me. I grabbed my little black clutch and walked out of the bathroom. I stopped into my bedroom and grabbed my short black heels and quickly lifted up my dress and strapped them on. I then walked out into the living room to join Patrick, who was watching ESPN intently. “Eh-hum, I’m ready.” I said clearing my throat. He looked up from the TV and his jaw dropped open. He quickly turned the TV off and stood up.

“Hoy shit Peyt, you look amazing.” He complimented. I could feel myself blushing. I smoothed out my navy blue dress and smiled at him.

“Thank you. You look rather handsome yourself.” I admitted. He had a black suit on with a navy blue shirt underneath.

“Thanks babe. Is Erica almost ready yet? Saader will be here to pick her up any minute.” He commented checking the time on his Rolex.

“I’m ready, I’m coming.” Erica exclaimed out of breath. Patrick and I turned around to see her shoving her heel on her foot as she hopped down the hall. I looked up at Patrick to see him shaking his head.

“Lord have mercy on Saader.” He mumbled up to the ceiling. I smacked him in the chest with my clutch. “What?” He groaned rubbing his chest.

“Be nice.” I scolded. Just then the doorbell rang. Erica’s eyes widened. I pushed Patrick towards the door and he went to open it.

“Erica, you look gorgeous!” I gushed. She looked absolutely amazing. She had on a straight pink dress that had a slight poof. It accented her tiny waist with a thin rhinestone belt. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who thought that she looked amazing.

“Erica, you look beautiful, like always.” Brandon said in awe. Erica blushed.

“Thank you. You look great too.” She replied shyly. With that, the two of them headed out, with us right behind them. We got to the location of the charity dinner twenty minutes later.

“Hey Kaner!” The man at the entrance greeted us. Patrick handed him $5. I had no idea who he was, but he handed us each a red raffle ticket. We walked in and there were many round dinner tables, a stage in the front of the room with a few chairs and a microphone, and three long tables with buckets with the players’ faces on them.

“What are those for?” I asked Patrick pointing to the buckets that we were approaching.

“Those? Ah those are what these tickets are for. You put them in a player’s bucket and whoever has the most in their bucket has to do some kind of question game with their date. The runner up has to sing a minute- long duo with their date. And the third place person has to dance a tango with their date.” He rambled on. I gulped, I didn’t really want to get in front of a bunch of people and embarrass myself. I knew how important Patrick was to Chicago, so I knew that he’d be a huge target and an obvious contender for first. I also knew that his team gave him a lot of crap too, so they’d be targeting him a lot too.

“Sooo, who’s should we put ours in?” I asked nervously. Patrick grinned and motioned to Brandon Saad’s bucket. I nodded and walked over and dropped my ticket in it, with Patrick right behind me. We walked down to look in Patrick’s bucket. I sighed a sigh of relief. It didn’t look too full yet, but there weren’t that many people there yet. As we walked away from the table of buckets, we ran into a man that wanted to talk to Patrick. He introduced me to him, it was somebody who would be reporting for Blackhawks TV for the night. I felt my heart starting to race, I was not good in front of cameras.

“So Patrick, introduce us to your date here? What’s she like and how long until she is back on the market for all the eligible Chicago bachelors?” He asked with a good- natured grin. I smiled uneasily, grateful that this question was directed to Patrick.

“This is Peyt- er- Peyton, and she’s my girlfriend. She and I have been best friends since high school and she’s really amazing.” He gushed. I could feel myself blushing. “And she’s off the market, sorry boys.” He smirked.

“So how’d you whip the biggest partier in Chicago into shape?” The reporter asked. I swallowed. I felt my face getting warm and my palms were getting sweaty. Patrick nudged me ever so slightly in encouragement.

“Well, I, uh,..” I stammered. I blanked. It was a tough question, and I didn’t have any witty remarks on the top of my head. Patrick discreetly grabbed my sweaty hand and gave me a soft squeeze. I took a deep breath. “I told him, he needs to stop trying to outdrink me. I’m Wisconsin- born, it’s in my blood.” I replied with a nervous giggle. The reporter laughed and said he’d be back to talk to us later. I broke my hand away from Patrick’s and wiped it on my dress.

“See? You did fine babe. But I don’t really think that you can outdrink me. Especially after that hangover you had a couple of weeks ago.” He teased. I forced a smile, but I was still nervous. Patrick needs to maintain a good image and I don’t want to ruin it.

“Thanks. I just made something up.” I admitted. Patrick let out a little laugh and guided me to the table we were going to be sitting at. Patrick and I took our seats; we were sitting next to Brandon and Erica, Toews and his date, and two charity representatives.

“How’re you holding up?” Erica asked me softly.

“I’m doing alright.” I answered honestly. She knew I got nervous talking in front of people. “How about you?” I asked. She shrugged. She wasn’t as afraid of the spotlight as I was. As dinner was served, the charity representatives made small talk. It was mostly with the players, but a few occasional questions were directed towards Toews’s date, Erica, and I. I learned that Toews’ date’s name was Caitlyn, and she was a third- grade teacher. As dinner wrapped up, a few guest charity speakers were introduced and they talked about their different projects. When they were all finished, it was time to announce which couples had the most tickets in their buckets. I felt Patrick grab my hand under the table before they were announced. He knew we were going to have to do one of them, and he knew it would be a little out of my comfort zone.

“In third place, we have Brandon Saad and his date, Erica Kane. They will be performing a tango together.” I heard somebody announce. I looked over at Erica, who was grinning at Brandon. They both looked excited to give it a try. I squeezed Patrick’s hand, we were either going to have to sing for a minute or do a question game. I wasn’t sure which sounded scarier. “In second place, we have Jonathan Toews and his date, Caitlyn Morgan. They will be singing a song of their choice for at least a minute long.” I had the death grip on Patrick’s hand now. We were most likely going to be announced next. “And in first place, drum roll please.” People starting tapping on the tables. After what felt like eternities the announcer said, “in first place is Patrick Kane and his girlfriend, Peyton Collins! They will be answering questions about each other, back stories included.”

I looked at Patrick, who had a relaxed grin on his face. I tried to force a friendly smile as we made our way up to the stage up front. We sat down on chairs that were set so we were facing each other. We were both handed a white board, a dry erase marker, and an eraser. The rules were explained. It was basically, how well do you know each other. We would be both asked the same question and we would have to write the answer for the other person. For example, the host of this game could ask, “what’s your date’s favorite color and why?” I would write down Patrick’s favorite color on my board and explain why. Then the host would tell me to stop writing and he’d ask Patrick to tell everybody what his favorite color was and why. If it was the same/ nearly the same as what I had on my board, I would get a point. Then the host would ask Patrick to write my favorite color and why on his board and then would ask me to verbally answer to see if Patrick was right.

“You ready?” The host asked Patrick and I. I nodded, but I sure as hell had no choice. I had no idea what kind of questions would be thrown our way, and I had a feeling Patrick would know more than I did. "Alright first question, what is your date's most common nickname and how'd they get it?"

Notes

Alright so cliff hanger I get it I'm sorry but this is too long for one chapter. I promise this game will continue right where it left off in the next chapter. Anyways, if anyone needs further explanation of the rules of the question game, please lemme know! I know it's confusing. Like always, feel free to leave any kind of feedback or anything you want to see in the story! And thanks for reading! <3