Training Miller

"Yeah mom. I'm on my way there." Driving and talking was not something I could do. Not to mention something completely illegal.

"When will you be to Dan's?"

"Probably around 8 hours from now. I'm not really sure though. I'll probably stop to eat. See some random crap along the way."

"Okay be safe. I love you."

"Love you too." I hung up my phone and set it in the cup holder. I should probably set up the blue tooth but it'll get done eventually.

A few of my friends gave me going away presents in the form of iTunes gift cards. I needed a lot of new music for this 7-hour trip I was about to go on. Coming from a small farm in Iowa, my iPod was loaded with country and classic rock. Being the girl I am, I had a lot of pop. Working with the Hawks, my iPod was also filled with a bunch of random crap they wanted to hear in the training room. Jonathan and Patrick also were nice and let me get at their libraries. I'm not sure what I'll do if I ever run out of room on this massive thing.

I've never driven to Pittsburgh before. Always flown but that wasn't exactly an option this time. I'm sure it'll be pretty but my goodness I'm not sure I want to tackle this in one day.

--

"Drew it's so good to see you!" My aunt hugged me as soon as I stepped into their yard. "I'll have Dan and Brandon help you bring stuff in."

"Oh I can get it later. I really just need this duffel and my backpack for now." Their house is so nice. If I didn't like living alone so much, I'd stay here until I got married.

"How was the drive?"

"Horrible and boring, Dan. Horrible and boring." I told him flatly, not going to sugar coat anything.

"Still not one for hugs?" He asked before trying to give me one.

"Not from Penguin fans." I couldn't help it. My remark just made him smile.

"You get one just for that comment." He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed as hard as he could for as long as he could. "You don't officially start working for a week or two but I'm going down to the rink in a few if you want to come. A few of the guys should be down there."

"Oh sure. As long as I can raid your fridge before we leave." I found my way to the kitchen pretty quick.

The last time I was here was when the Hawks played the Pens and I stayed behind after the game to spend some time with family. My little brother and sister came up to watch the game. I, of course, was the only one who wasn't going for the Penguins. I had just turned 22 so Dan took me out while my siblings and cousin did their own thing.

Yep. I've been drunk with Dan Byslma. The coach of the US Men's Olympic team and the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was actually really fun.

"Does my mom have to go shopping before we come back or are you going to leave some food to eat later?"

"I've missed my brat!" I turned around to mess with my cousin. "Shit you've gotten taller. How are you?"

"Pretty good. It's been a while. It sucks you had to leave Chicago though."

"Tell me about it. You got a girlfriend?" There was no beat around the bush with me. I got right to the point.

"Between girls right now. What about you and Kane? You two no longer together?"

"How could we be no longer if we never were?"

"Damn. I wanted to meet him and Toews."

"Okay let me get this straight. You've met Crosby and Malkin and Neal and Fleury and you hate the Hawks but you still want to meet dumb and dumber?" He just nodded his head, "I guess I can see if one of them will skype tonight." I can almost guarantee that they will.

"You ready Drew?" Dan came down the stairs after taking his sweet time doing whatever it was.

"Oh I was supposed to ask you if you wanted to stay upstairs or downstairs but I put your stuff in the room downstairs. That's where the xbox is and my room is down there." For the 6 year age difference, we were pretty close.

"Okay. Yeah." I quickly put the bag of chips away and filled my water bottle.

"I honestly never thought you would be working for a hockey team. When you were growing up, we were all pretty sure you'd be a vet." I surprised a lot of people when I switched majors. Especially my uncle. I think he was more excited than I was. He knew how much I liked hockey and had big dreams for me. "But I'm glad you're finally working for the Pens. Even if it means you had to get fired first."

"Yeah well the pay raise was kind of a nice thing. I'm still a Blackhawks fan and I'm glad I got to work with them. Even if it was only for a year."

"I heard you and Kane are pretty close." Our family has this thing with being subtle.
We aren't.

"I forgot he's probably on the Olympic team. Next time I'll try to choose a best friend who isn't that good. So I should stay away from Crosby, right?"

"He's on team Canada. But leave him alone too."

"I'm not going to corrupt your players, Dan. I'm still the sweet, innocent girl you used to know." I put on a fake smile to convince him but he wasn't buying it. "Okay. If anything, Pat corrupted me."

"College corrupted you."

"It was all them damn farm boys in Ames. Not my fault."

"You keep thinking that." I really missed joking around with Dan. He's the one that got me into hockey. Being from Iowa, my brother was a wrestler. A damn good one at that so he wasn't giving that up for a different sport. Dan had to recruit the girls. Or just me I guess..

"Oh and try not to be too mean to the players." My uncle joked at we walked in to the arena. I don't have a mean bone in my body until you get me on a field with 21 other girls.
I was introduced to a few players I already knew. Flower, Malkin, Martin, and Neal. All really nice people.

"A few of the guys are going out to skate and mess around. Do you want to join?"

"Um sure." He gave me a pair of skates that would fit and laughed.

"Good thing you have your dad's feet." It's sadly true. I look like my dad and my other two siblings look more like my mother. That's why you can tell my siblings are related to Dan but you'd never know I was.

"Here's a stick too."

I put on the skates and was out on the ice with the rest of the guys in no time. I can't remember the last time I skated was. Every once in a while Pat would take me to a rink and teach me some things, but I still was horrible. At least I kind of knew how to use the stick for balance. I was going to fall on my ass in front of all these NHL players.
At least when I was with Pat he didn't care. He would just laugh and pick me up then let me hold onto him for balance. I'm just going to attach myself to someone and they will have to deal with me.

"You!" I pointed at the guy skating past me. "Come here!"

"Me?" He seemed a bit confused.

"Yes you. You're going to help me skate. What's your name?" I grabbed onto his arm and we started around the edge of the rink.

"I'm Jayson Megna."

"Hi Jayson. I'm Drew Miller. The new trainer." This Jayson character was pretty cute.

We skated around, talking while he was trying to keep me upright. Turns out he's recovering from an injury and last year was his first with the Pengiuns. I kept quite a few things to myself, but he seems like a person that would be understanding of the whole situation with Kane.

"So are you the one Bylsma's been after for the past year?"

"Bylsma's been after me since before I graduated college."

"Care to explain?" I'm not ever one to get sappy about a guy's features.

Okay. Yes, I am. It happens. I could go on for hours about Patrick's eyes. But Jayson's were such a dark color brown. They're beautiful. And his eyelashes.

"Bylsma is my uncle. Once I switched majors, he was pretty determined to get me to work for him but I was offered a job with the Blackhawks so I took that."

"So you're the one everyone is talking about? Dating Kane?" His voice was filled with disbelief. That was definitely a first.

"I'm not dating Kane. He's my best friend. Yes, we've done some stuff... Or a lot of stuff but I'm not dating him." I don't know what was with me but I could feel the tears well up in the corners of my eyes.

"You don't seem like the kind of girl that would be with Kane."

"Go on." I tried to wipe the moisture from my face without him noticing. If he did, he didn't say anything about it.

"You're too innocent. Or not like innocent, but you seem like you're a sweet girl. Not someone Kane would go for. I'm sure you're one of those girls that has a wild side or whatever, but you don't bring it out very often. You want a serious relationship and I think everyone knows you won't get that with him." I was really glad we were close to where I could leave the ice. I couldn't handle this anymore. I started crying.

"Did you seriously just make her cry?!" I could hear my uncle yell at his player.

"I didn't mean to." Jayson started defending himself. I would get him in trouble but I can apologize later. I followed the pathway to the bathrooms and locked myself in the women's.
I guess in the back of my mind, I always knew Pat had feelings for me and that's what was making me cry. I'm not the kind of girl anyone would expect to be with him. I'm average. Not a super skinny, hot blonde model everyone expects him to be with. I think that's what was making my heart break. He was going for the average girl who didn't want to be with him. I'm the one hurting him. I mean, it can't be easy. Getting to sleep with the girl you want pretty much whenever but she'd never return your feelings?

That's what's getting to me.

If I'm with him, I just look like the lucky one. All these other hockey girlfriends are gorgeous. Jonny's girl is so pretty it's intimidating.

But if I don't return the feelings at some point, he's going to be crushed and it'll be all my fault.

"Hey Drew, I really didn't mean to make you cry.." I could hear Jayson outside the door and got up.

"No, no. You didn't. I'm sorry if you got yelled at."

"It happens. Dan is in his office waiting for you whenever you want to leave."

"Okay, thanks."

I made my way to the head coach's office and tried cleaning up my eyes. I didn't feel like explaining everything to Dan even though I knew I might have to.

"There you are. Everything alright?"

"Peachy."

"There's a team dinner for the families in a couple nights. Kind of fancy. You should come."

"Yeah, sure. That would be great."

The car ride back to his place wasn't bad. He didn't try to get me to talk about anything, just played some music and talked about some of the players. It's nice that he understands. I'd probably cry if I had to talk about what just happened.

Notes