“Don’t you dare leave me alone, Madison.” It was the following evening, game time, and Kara was close to screaming at her friend of five years. The first period had just started and Madison Kent wanted to leave her all alone in the middle of a huge crowd of fans decked out in black and yellow.
“I told you I had to leave when the game started. I still need to get some work done.” Madison gathered her jacket and purse before she got up from the chair.
“You own the fucking café in the bookstore. Get someone else to do this, please.” Kara didn’t want to stay here all by herself. She’d asked Madison to come here with her and she’d agreed. Now this. She was already freaking out a bit because she had to leave for Toronto tomorrow. With the whole team on board, which was, by the way, oh so fucking great. Now she had to be at the game, alone, in the middle of a bunch of strangers who looked at her as if she didn’t belong because she wasn’t wearing anything Bruins related. And they were right. She didn’t really belong there.
“Oh, stop being so dramatic Kara. Five minutes and you will enjoy this.” Madison stepped in front of her friend. “Hockey is a great sport, this is a good team and the crowd is mental. What else do you want? Enjoy your beer, watch the game and get ready for tomorrow. Call me when you’re at your hotel in Toronto.”
And then she was alone. Staring after Madison didn’t help her one bit. Her friend was right. She needed some time to adapt to this situation, then she would be fine.
“First game?” A girl around twenty asked her. Right that second Kara was so happy that she wanted to hug the person next to her, but since that wouldn’t be appropriate behavior, she decided to not do it.
“More or less.” She took a closer look at the girl next to her. She was wearing a jersey with the number eleven and the name Campbell on it. Kara knew who that was. She’d seen pictures of him. “I went to a game about a year ago with my boyfriend, but he decided to make it a horrible experience and I didn’t really see anything of the game.”
“You’ll love it.” The girl threw her a dazzling smile before she turned to look at the ice again. “You definitely chose the right game. Games against the Habs are always pretty intense. And the crowd at the Garden is one of the best crowds you’ll ever encounter.”
“It’s a little intimidating to be honest.” Kara cast a quick glance around. She had to try to focus on the game and follow the puck. Before she talked to the guys she had to learn at least a little about the rules.
“Don‘t worry they’re usually really nice. And you’re cheering for the right team here.” That much was true. But for the following games she probably needed at least something she could wear, even if it was just a yellow t-shirt so that she wouldn’t stand out that much.
All of a sudden a horn blared and Kara heard the people around her complaining, screaming. And she had no idea why. Because of the little talk with the girl she’d lost sight of the puck.
“Fucking Habs.” She heard a few people scream and one look at the JumboTron confirmed what she’d been thinking. The Habs were now leading 1-0 and it stayed that way well into the second period until Brad Marchand scored for Boston. The whole building erupted in cheers, people sang along to the Bruins’ goal song and the girl next to Kara hugged her fiercely.
It was a bit overwhelming for Kara, but at least she didn’t feel like an intruder anymore. She was able to connect some faces with the numbers and names on the jerseys and the rules weren’t as hard as she’d imagined. It would probably not take her as long to understand the game as she’d feared.
The crowd got even louder when two of the players dropped the gloves. Everyone was on their feet and Kara leaned forward along with all the others to see it. She didn’t know who it was.
“Fuck you, Staubitz!”
That must have been the Hab involved, because she hadn’t heard or read that name when she got her information about the team.
“If you make Soupy bleed, I’ll kill you in your sleep Staubitz!” The girl in the Campbell jersey screamed so loud that probably the whole arena heard her. Now Kara could see that Campbell was involved. No wonder that she was freaking out that much.
Staubitz went down hard and the referees stepped in to tear Gregory Campbell away. He was bleeding from his eyebrow and immediately went down the tunnel to get his injury looked at.
This might put some people off, but Kara enjoyed this. Maybe she would end up liking hockey a lot more than she’d thought?
“I’m gonna go down there.” Kara looked at her acquaintance. She took her hand and pulled her down to her chair.
“No you won’t. Stay here and watch the rest of the game.”
“But you don’t understand! Soupy’s my favorite player: They can’t destroy his flawless face.”
“I can send you a photo of him tomorrow, if he allows me to that. Maybe that will make you feel better?” Kara didn’t know why she’d said that, but the girl, whose name was Stacey as she’s learned a few minutes ago, seemed utterly upset and she wanted to calm her down a bit. Saying that she could take a picture of Gregory Campbell maybe wasn’t her smartest move.
“What? How?” At least Stacey wasn’t freaking out anymore. That was good, wasn’t it?
“Well, I’m a writer and I have to travel to Toronto with the team tomorrow.” She didn’t particularly want to reveal more. This was already more than enough information.
“You’d do that?”
“If it makes you feel better.”
Stacey nodded and embraced Kara in a big hug again. They talked a little bit during the second intermission but concentrated both on the third period. Stacey didn’t ask any more questions for which Kara was extremely grateful.
The third period was a bit of a mess, until Patrice Bergeron scored the game winning goal in the last minute. A shiver ran down Kara’s spine as the whole arena erupted in cheers and she was hugged from both sides. Random people hugged her with a look of happiness on their faces. This was ridiculous and she liked it.
In the middle of all this someone from the arena came to her and told her that the coach had asked to see her after the game in front of the locker room, because there had been some changes to their schedule for the following day.
Kara turned to Stacey again to write her number down. Now she was ready to go and followed the guy down to meet with Coach Claude. She was led through the throng of media people, trying to hide her face. Apparently Julien had kept them away so she would get there first. They shouted questions after them, but Kara couldn’t figure out what they wanted to know. She wouldn’t have tried to answer anyway.
“Kara, good to see you.” Claude Julien smiled at her while he shook her hand. “I would have called you, but I don’t have your phone number and since I knew where you were seated, I thought this might be the easiest way.”
The door to the locker room was opened and she could hear the guys talking inside. Laughter spilled out of the door and made her smile.
“Don’t worry, it’s okay.”
“We have to fly out to Toronto earlier. The flight leaves at nine in the morning. We’ve re-scheduled practice for tomorrow afternoon, so that the following day we’ll just have the game and optional practice for a couple of guys.” Kara nodded, planning in her head what she still needed to do until then. There was a difference between flying at three in the afternoon or suddenly nine in the morning, but she would manage. “Most of the guys and me will have dinner together. You’re welcome to join us.”
“I’d love to. As long as the guys don’t mind of course.” She’d already finished most of her packing, so that wasn’t a problem. Getting up in time to catch the flight was a different thing.
“They won’t. They might need some time to adapt to this situation, but I think it’s the same with you.”
Just when she was about to nod her head in agreement, she saw a dark haired, bare-chested man step out of the locker room. It took her a moment to realize who it was. Brad Marchand, the guy who’d scored the first goal tonight. Now, that wasn’t that hard. She was positive that she’d learn the names quickly.
“Coach, we’re ready for the media.” When brad saw Kara, he smiled at her. “Hello Miss Robinson. I hope you enjoyed the game.”
“I did, but please call me Kara.” She hated being called Miss Robinson. It was too formal for her. “Congratulations on the goal and the win tonight.”
“Thanks.” He threw her another smile before he returned to the locker room.
Claude Julien advised her to use the back entrance to leave right now. Otherwise she would have to fight the media to get outside and probably end up in their crossfire. Kara said goodbye to him and walked past the locker room. She couldn’t resist the urge to take a look inside. One thing was for sure: These guys had damn fine bodies.

Notes

I was gone for the weekend, but here's the next chapter now. I hope you like it