Training Miller

"I have to go down to the rink to go do some stuff. Want to come with me Brando?" I opened the door to my cousins room and regretted it immediately.

"Drew! There's a thing called knocking!" I slammed his door and started walking up the stairs. "Wait! you won't tell my parents about this, will you?"

"About what? You having some girl in there? Nahh. I remember what it was like being 17. I have worse secrets to hide." I shook it off. Wasn't exactly something I wanted to see, but I probably should have knocked. When I was 17 I was sitting at home, wishing the captain of the soccer team would notice me..

Just kidding. We were dating.

"Like what?"

"I'll tell you just so you know I won't narc.. But I had a pregnancy scare with Kane. See you later!" I ran up the stairs before he could ask anymore questions.

"You said you weren't with him!" He yelled after me. Getting chased by your cousin in just a blanket isn't exactly how I like to spend my days.

"You said you didn't have a girlfriend. We will talk about this when I get back."

I'm so glad I have a great memory when it comes to things like driving. I had only been to the rink twice since moving to the burgh and I already know how to get there. Navigating my way around the rink was a whole different story.

I wandered around the place for a while before someone finally helped me.

"You lost?"

"Umm yeah. Actually I am. Can you show me to the trainer's room?"

"Of course. It's on the other side of the building. I'm Pascal Dupuis, by the way."

"Okay yeah. I thought that's who you were. I'm Drew Miller." I held out my hand for him to shake. It must be a Midwestern thing.

"Oh you're Kane's girl aren't you?" He had kind of a half smile. If he wasn't 10 years older and married with children, I'd definitely be attracted to him.

No. Dan would still kill me.

"If by girl, you mean best friend then yes. I am. But I prefer to go by Bylsma's niece."

"Oh you're related to him? Never would have guessed."

"Yeah. Not many people know. I kept it a secret while working in Chicago. Didn't want people to ask all the questions about why I don't work with Dan and why I'm a Blackhawks fan when my whole family loves the Pens."

"Understandable."

We walked in silence for a while before I was finally in the place I needed to be.

"Well this is it. Now that we've met and I know you're friendly, you'll probably be pranked. Just a heads up."

Great. I was going to be the little sister. Again.

"Bylsma's niece is fine." A voice said in the back of the room.

"She's attractive. Kinda plain though. More of a Sunshine type of girl though." Another noted.

"Why would Bennett go from a famous country star to a trainer? Especially when it's rumored that she's dating Kane anyway."

I walked into the room and they were all quiet except one of the blondes. He looked pretty young. Still has that baby face.

"Because Finley is probably going to end up with one off her ex's." I informed them. "If you don't believe me, we can bet on it. She'll end up with Hunter Hayes, Dustin Lynch, or Chase Rice."

"That's why." Hockey players are so weird. I'm not sure why I love them so much.

I'm not exactly sure what they were staring at either. I do still have that soccer body, but I gained some weight in the midsection area of my body. My face was in the middle of breaking out and I don't wear makeup that often. Or do my hair for that matter.

"Anyway, the key word in that sentence is rumored. Me and Kane are not dating so please, please go run and tell the entire team that. I'm tired of people asking and talking about it." I told them before putting the right papers on the right desk. "I'm Drew Miller since everyone seems to be calling me Kane's girl and Bylsma's niece. I know who most of you are. Just not you." I turned to the baby faced kid.

"Oh I'm Olli Maatta." I walked over to shake his hand. He had a really cute accent. He was just an all around cute kid.

"Must be a newer player."

"Yeah. Just got pulled up this year."

"Well Baby Face, I really hope I don't see you much in my office this year. Or any of you, really. I'll give y'all nicknames later." They looked kind of worried at what I had just told them. "Oh they won't be mean, I promise. I save those for dumb and dumber."

"Kane and Toews?" Someone asked.

"Yes. That would be them. Kane is dumber though. It was nice meeting y'all. I'll see you sometime next week."

Now I just had to get out of this place, find the place I'm possibly getting an apartment at, get that situation settled, and still make it back to Dan's to get ready for this dinner.

The best part about the pay raise was getting my own place right away. In Chicago, I had a few girls as roommates. That worked out fantastic until they both got engaged and moved out. By then, a few of the newer players needed to stay so they came to live with me. Never again will I live with three hockey players. It's just not happening. They caused me to get a house by myself.

Now, I get a super nice apartment in a great part of the city. Close to the arena and so much cheaper than my house. I can't wait.

"Well you can move in at the beginning of next month. We will call you when it's ready."

"Okay, thank you!"

I love living with family, don't get me wrong. I just want to keep my personal life somewhat personal. I'm old enough to the point where I need to be able to do what I want, when I want. If I want to stay out all night and bring a guy home I should be able to do that without Dan questioning why.

"Is this too fancy?" I asked my aunt as she zipped up my dress.

"No it's perfect, Drew. You look beautiful."

"I'm really nervous. I don't know why."

"It'll be okay. From what Dan has said, you hit it off pretty well with that Jayson kid."

"He was really nice.."

"You ready to go?" Brandon walked into my make-shift room. He didn't actually have to knock before entering places...

I wasn't really sure what to expect going there. It was intimidating to say the least. When we entered the room, all I could see was dressed up hockey players and the beautiful women they came with. I took a deep breath and followed my family to a table.

"Drew! Come sit with us." Jayson calls from a few feet away. I looked to Dan for approval and he told me to go. I took the open seat next to Olli. It felt kind of awkward, I'm not going to lie. I didn't really know any of these players, just Jay.

"Okay I'm only staying if Jay doesn't make me cry." I joked. It was obvious he felt bad about the situation even though it wasn't his fault. "I think I know all of your names. Neal, Martin, Maatta, Megna, and Bortuzzo."

"Where's your roommate?" James asked Rob. I'm so glad my best friend from back home is a major Pens fan. I guess my sister is too but annoying teenage girls don't like me.

"He's coming back from Nashville. I swear he's there more than here." I'm guessing this was the kid they were talking about earlier

"He won't be much longer. He needs to be here for pre-season."

I didn't talk much, just listened to their conversations. Answered questions when they were asked, laughed at someone's joke about Martin taking care of Neal all the time, but mainly just listened. I was lost in my thoughts when Olli elbowed me.

"Hmm?" I looked at him.

"We were trying to introduce you to the kid we've been talking about." He nodded to the guy that sat down across the table from me.

"Oh sorry. I'm Drew Miller, the new trainer." I smiled at him. He was attractive with amazing eyes.

"I'm Beau Bennett."

"We call him Sunshine though." Neal informed me.

"So I've heard. Is it because you're such a ray of sunshine in the mornings or what?" I joked, trying not too seem to sarcastic.

"It's actually because I'm from California."

"Like Remember the Titans? Should've known. You do have that California look to you." With the longer beach blonde hair and tan skin. "Good. Now I don't have to give you a nickname."
Everyone seems to get that same look of horror when I tell them that. "Actually, I don't give nicknames. Olli just has a baby face and I love it." He gave me a disapproving face and I just laughed, "Sorry. I'll try not to say that when you're trying to get with a girl."

Hopefully this kid is has better things on his mind.

"So how was Finley?" Rob asked the California kid sitting next to him.

"Good. We might actually be close to the end though."

They kept talking about it but I went back to my own little world. I really didn't care about this kid's dating life. Or how he was going to spend his time alone. I was glad when the food was served. I was tired of hearing their conversations.

"You haven't said much tonight." Neal said between bites.

"I'm sorry. Do you want to hear my life story?" I looked to all the players at my table, they all seemed to agree with one another. "Alright. Umm okay. I was born and raised in Dubuque, Iowa. I played soccer my entire life. Ahh I was on Iowa State's rodeo team for a couple years. I started out wanting to be a vet but I hated the people I would have to go to class with and Dan got me into hockey. I had an internship with the Preds and Bruins and I love both of those towns. I have two younger siblings. A brother and sister. We're all three years apart. I don't really have much else to say. Oh, I had a friend hook up with a hockey player before he was well known so that's pretty cool. But yeah. My life isn't that exciting. Most of my time is spent at work or watching netflix and sleeping."

"Are you sure that friend wasn't you?" Neal seemed like he didn't believe me.

"I'm pretty sure I had a boyfriend over spring break when my friend slept with Matt Duchene." I told them all, completely nonchalant. "But yeah. It wasn't definitely something I won't forget. He always looks at me like he can somewhat remember but he never says anything to me."
I ended up telling the guys a lot of my drunken stories from college and my year in Chicago. I'm sure I'd get hell for half of them later, but I didn't care. I was the little sister again. It was going to happen eventually.

"Ready to go Drew?" My cousin came over to get me before leaving.

"Yeah. Of course." I set my napkin down next to my plate and grabbed my phone. "It was nice meeting you all, I'll see some of you next week."

"I still haven't skyped with Kane or Toews yet." He seemed upset. It had been a few days since he asked, but both of them were busy.

"I know. Patrick said he can as soon as we get back. You can use my computer."
We got back to Dan's and Brandon just followed me to my room.

"Alright. It's calling Pat. Just don't turn around and when it connects, don't look in the bottom right corner. I'm going to change. Actually this will be better." I put a sticky note over the spot when you could see yourself, just so he wouldn't accidentally see anything he didn't want to.

"Whoa. I didn't expect this.." Pat saw my dress half pulled down, resting around my hips.
"What the hell happened to your teeth?!"

"Bar fight."

"Good going. Brandon, this is Patrick Kane. Pat, this is my cousin Brandon. Now that I've introduced you two, I'm going to take a shower. I'll be back after."

I felt fine leaving them to talk to each other. I knew Pat wouldn't let my cousin get off topic. I'm not sure that he would want to anyway.

I was thankful that Brandon's back was against me because I walked in and pretty much dropped the towel. I was hoping Pat could see me. I knew how antsy he would get, seeing me but not being able to say anything or do anything.

I looked over my cousins shoulder and I could see Kane bite his lip. "Okay you've had enough time to talk. I'm kicking you out."

"But-"

"But I'm tired and I still want to talk to him. Now go." I shut the door behind my cousin.

"You're such a tease. Hey. Don't put on your shirt." He got upset when I had more on than a sports bra.

"Oh my gosh. You can't see my collar bones anymore. How tragic." I mocked my best friend. He seemed a little over dramatic.

"How was dinner?"

"Pretty good I guess. I sat with some of the players and listened to some interesting conversations."

Even though I was tired, I talked to him for a couple hours. I fell asleep in front of the computer once I had moved to my bed. I've been apart from friends before, but this time was different. It was almost like I wasn't allowed to be his friend. Like I shouldn't love his smile and cheer for him when they make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. Especially if they play the Penguins. This would be hard to get used to.

Notes