Training Miller

"Come on Drew. Don't you ever get out and have fun?" Brandon was standing in front of me, trying to get me to go to a club with him tonight. Sutter was pretty much my Patrick on this team. Just without all the hookups. For now at least.
"But I have to catch up on Desperate Housewives..."
"You can do that after. We are going out for once." He turned my chair around and picked me up. Apparently I didn't have a say in this matter.
He brought me to Dan's and waited in the basement for me to get ready. Naturally, I took as long as I wanted mainly because I could. He wasn't impressed with me. Sutter started complaining that I took too long but wouldn't leave.
"Damn girl, did you paint those jeans on or something?" Brandon asked when I walked out of the bathroom. I rolled my eyes and ignored his comment. Painting these jeans on would be a lot more comfortable than somehow squeezing into them.
It was like a team gathering in the bar. Anyone without a girlfriend was there. It felt kind of weird being there. The drinks I downed before actually getting to the bar, told me not to worry. Invincible Drew would be here pretty damn soon.
Brandon led me to the table his teammates had all crowded around. I pushed my way into the group.
"Well hey Drew." Jayson laughed as I stole a sip from his beer, "Shit. How hard did you pregame?"
"She can put away flavored vodka like its water," Brandon told him. I just laughed, none of them are prepared for this.
Being the only girl in a group of guys was great and horrible at the same time. Everyone was pretty much watching me dance and make a huge fool of myself. Neal had found a girl to dance with and so did Jayson. I went to get another drink with Brandon while everyone else just sat there talking.
"Pauly kinda looks like my history professor from freshman year.. The one I totally had a thing for."
"If you hook up with Martin, we might not be friends anymore," Brandon looked at me, a little horrified. I'm really open with my feelings when I'm drunk, but who isn't?We walked back to the table and out of the big group we started with, it was only me, Beau, Pauly, and Phil. Everyone else had found someone else to talk to.
"But really who's the hottest player on the team?" Phil wondered. They had all caught on that I'd give my honest opinion so they asked me whatever they wanted.
I smirked and looked straight ahead at the hockey player standing in front of me. After finishing my drink, I replied, “Beau.”
I decided I had told them enough for the night so I made my way out to the dance floor and find someone that I wouldn’t be seeing the next morning at work.
Or Rob. Rob works too.
The girl he was dancing with had just walked away so I grabbed him before anyone else could. Thank you heels for making my 5’5” self not feel as tiny next to him. He placed his hands on my waist and pulled me closer to him. I lazily ran my fingers through his hair before kissing him.
I wasn’t sure what I was doing, but it felt good.
“Alright Drew. I think it’s time to go,” Brandon broke me and Bort up, pulling me towards the door, “I’m not bringing you back to Bylsma’s house. You’re staying at mine.”
He was pissed. I don’t know why, but he was. “What’s your problem?”
“You’re kind of my problem,” He snapped, “You can’t just tell someone they’re the hottest person on the team and then make out with his roommate.”
“So you are the only one I can hook up with?” I stopped outside his door, not wanting to go any further.
“We haven’t hooked up.”
“We can change that.” I smiled at him.
He paused for a while, I could tell he wanted to but he said no, “Another night.” He led me to his bed and gave me a t-shirt and shorts to sleep in. I was going to regret this in the morning but it was fun while it lasted.
I made it back to Dan’s house right in time for breakfast and 20 questions.
“What did you do last night?” My younger cousin asked me.
“Made some bad decisions,” I told him before shoving part of a waffle in my mouth. I was not looking forward to this meal with Dan.
“I’m guessing it involved my players.”
“The reason I made those bad decisions because your player drug me out last night.”
I ended up leaving the house before Dan, being hungover and having to deal with his questions was not a good mix. Then again a room full of injured hockey players wasn’t either. They were talking about me and Rob, who was nowhere to be found. I tried to ignore what they were saying but it didn’t work.
“Alright,” I started yelling, “Whoever is not injured needs to leave. Whoever is injured and you know what you’re supposed to be doing, do it. I have a headache and a ton of paperwork to get done, don’t mess with me.” The room immediately silenced. Everyone knew that when I started yelling, I meant business. But that was still a rare occasion.
Later on at dinner, my uncle decided to bring up the conversation about last night up again. “So I heard about last night.”
“Good.” I was a little crabby, I’m not gonna lie. I knew people were just messing around but something was off. I just needed to cry.
“As your uncle, I’m not sure I like-“
“I’m sorry Dan, but I don’t care. I went out last night. I made some bad decisions. I do that, a lot. I know you just don’t want me to get hurt but I know that you also don’t want your team to be distracted. I’m honestly no more of a distraction than the multiple girls Neal has been with since I’ve been here in Pittsburgh, okay?”
I got up from the table and went downstairs to take a long, hot shower. I started crying and couldn’t stop. It was only 8, but once I was out of the shower, I was ready to fall asleep. I threw on my Blackhawks sweatshirt and some spandex and sent a text to Patrick, seeing if he could talk.
I waited and waited for him to text me back, but he never did.
"Yeah. Just like that. Do nine more on that foot and switch and do ten on the other. After that you're good to go." I told Paul. He was the last one in the office after a long, long day.
I had made plans with a bottle of wine and a warm bubble bath tonight. That's about as exciting as my days got since the preseason games started. That was the only thing I had energy for. Brandon started to get upset when I would take over his bathroom for a couple hours and listen to music. He didn't appreciate my girly taste.
I was sitting in my office, getting things together when another player I had forgotten about walked in. "Well Sunshine, what's going on?" He sat on the stool across from me, looking a bit upset.
"Doctor said I have to talk to you about my calf," He told me a bit about what was going on. I made him do some preliminary things before giving him a semi-accurate time of when he'd get back in the game.
"What? 5-6 games? Are you serious?" He didn't take the news very well. I went to look at the calendar to calculate what would be his first game back.
"You'll be back for the Hawks game."
"Great. Not only do I have to compete with Kane for a girl, but now I won't be on the top of my game when we're playing."
"Wait. What?" I had to think about what he had said for a few seconds before comprehending it.
"Crap. I didn't mean to-"
"Why would you have to compete with Pat?" He looked down at his hands and played with his fingers. "Oooh. Sweetie, me and Patrick are nothing more than friends. We may fool around but that's a little hard to do when we are 7 hours apart. So, is there anything you wanted to ask me?"
It took him a while to get the words together, but he finally came out and said it. "Would you like to go out on a date with me?"
"Yes because dates for so well into both of our schedules." Being sarcastic of course. "I'd love to go out on a date but I don't think that's happening anytime soon mainly because I prefer to be lazy."
"We could go grab milkshakes."
"I'd love that." After grabbing my purse, I followed him to his car.
I remember when I was a freshman in high school. Trying out for the soccer team and seeing the end of the boys practice and the sophomore would walk past and smile at me. My stomach would fill with butterflies and I’d get all giddy.
That’s exactly how I feel with Beau right now. I can’t remember the time a guy actually wanted to go on a date with me.
“So. What made you want to be a trainer instead of a vet?”
“I honestly can’t remember the exact reason. It could be that you need a 3.8 to get into vet school or that I wasn’t looking forward to two hundred thousand dollars in debt and four extra years in college with people I don’t like. Either way, I’m glad I switched over.”
“Yeah. I am too.” He laughed.
Beau told me all about his childhood in California and his family, just like I told him about mine. It was a little cold out, but he wanted to go on a walk down by the river.
"I'm not going to get in trouble for making you miss dinner, am I?"
"No. I told Dan I wouldn't be back until later. He's still a little mad at me from the other night." I smiled, grabbing at his hand and intertwined my fingers with his.
"Ah yes. Drew getting drunk with the team for the first time. Leading my roommate on and what not." I couldn't help but blush. He wasn't upset with me at all, he was just going to make fun of me for a while.
"Hey, he was a good kisser and I was drunk." He just shook his head, letting go of my hand to let me answer my phone.
"What do you need?"
"I'm sorry for not texting back the other night," Pat's voice came through my phone, "I was busy."
"Yeah well I'm busy now. I'll text you later." I shoved the phone back in my pocket, trying to forget about what Jonny had told me about that night. "Sorry, where were we?" Beau smiled and ran his thumb over my cheek bone.
"I think we were.." He kissed me before he could finish his sentence, "talking about how Rob's a good kisser." He placed his lips on mine once more. Licking at my lip, trying to get me to open my mouth.
"The hottest guy on the team and the best kisser. I really lucked out, didn't I?"

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