All of me

As we enter the room, I got a clear view of who was sitting down around the table. I started getting butterflies. I loved the Bruins! Seeing them was one thing but to actually hang out with them was another. Reilly’s voice snapped me back to reality.

“Ok girls, let me introduce you to the guys. This is Brad but we call him Marchy, Adam, and the baby of the bunch Dougie...he isn’t old enough to drink yet but he can easily pass for 21...Isn’t that right Dougie?” as Reilly teased his youngest teammate. Dougie smiled and looked a little uncomfortable. Poor guy, I’m sure he was always teased by the guys.

“Have a seat girls!” Katie and I shared a spot on one of the small chairs that surrounded the table. The table was full of bottles from Jager, to Greygoose, to Patron, etc. It made my stomach turn.

“Who do we have here?” Marchy asked, not wasting anytime.

“This is the birthday girl, Katie and this right here is her friend, Emma.” As Reilly slightly smiled.

“Hi Guys! Its great to finally meet you guys! You guys are better looking in person!” Katie happily stated. I was so proud of Katie for recognized them.

“Why, Thank you! You girls watch hockey?” Adam not breaking eye contact with Katie, and she was loving every second of it.

“I started watching the Bruins because of this girl right here” as she points towards me “She loves you guys, Isn’t that right Emma?”

“Uh yeah, huge fan!” I couldn’t gather my thoughts, what was wrong with me. I made contact with all of the guys around the room and then finally met Reilly after I felt those familiar eyes on me.

“She drags me to the games. Since I moved from Michigan, I was Red Wings fan and she didn’t agree with that so...”

“Not a RedWings fan anymore though...she lives in Boston, and that is not allowed” I chuckled.

“I was a die hard Red Wings fan when I was younger” Reilly faces towards me “What do you have to say about that?” with a smirk on “Besides my older brother plays for them now.”

“That’s awesome...for him. You’re in Bean-town buddy, people bleed black and yellow here. You are either a Bruins fan or not, if not you learn to keep you mouth shut. That’s how it usually works. Period.” I said trying to contain myself. I always swallowed my words when I was nervous. My heart was pounding. I hated being the center of attention.

Everyone started laughing. “Can’t argue with that!” as Marchy reaches over and high fives me.

“She gets really defensive about her teams/players, as you can tell!” said Katie laughing.

“I like this girl!” Dougie stated, as his cheeked blushed, very noticeable on his pale skin.

“Yeah me too...” Reilly as he exhaled, not sure who he meant to hear him but it pierced through my ears, causing my cheeks to blush.

“Well it was nice to meet you guys but we should head out...our friends are waiting for us downstairs so...” Elbowing Katie to get going. “We don’t want to bother you guys”

“Aww, Come on! Stay for a little bit longer...please?” as Reilly pouted his lip. Damn it!

“Have at least one more drink! Birthday girl, what would you like?” Reilly asked.

“Rum and Coke please” “Thank You Reilly!” As he handed her the drink.

He didn’t ask me what I wanted and hands me a drink “And here’s your cranberry juice...” trying to hold in his laugh. This kid. I gave him a look. “Thanks but I’m good...”

“I’m kidding, It is a cranberry and vodka” as he hands it to me.

“You’re not worried about me running around spilling it on people” He smirked and leaned in, his hand touching my lower back trying to bring me closer to him and whispered “You are more than welcome to spill your drink on me whenever you want. I just love teasing you.” At this point my heart was skipping beats. Butterflies were doing backflips in my stomach. I didn’t say anything and I tried to gather myself, he was gone and went back to his seat.

“Yeah, come on girls, plus we haven’t asked the most important question...”

Here we go.

“Emma, Who is your favorite player on the team...be honest” Why am I always put on the spot.

“I like all the guys on the team...I don’t have one particular favorite player” trying to get myself out of this, was not working.

“Don’t lie. That’s very nice and all but no, you can only pick one” Marchy loving every minute of this.

“You are not going to let this go, are you?”

“Nope” Great.

“Hmm If I had to pick one player...I would have to say-”

“REILLY! I FINALLY FOUND YOU!” A group of four girls storm into the room. The leader of the pack went towards Reilly, and pushed him against the wall and started making out with him. He was taken by surprise and was trying to push her away from him. She had him pinned to the wall.

“Yeah, We better get going, Thanks again guys!” Katie said as she grabs my arm and pulls me away. Last thing I remember seeing was this blond chick sticking her tongue down Reilly’s throat.

“What just happened?” I ask...everything happened so fast, it was a blur.

“I’m so sorry Emms, Who the fuck was that blond chick all over Reilly? Poor guy! I’m about to go in there and yank those extensions out of her head.”

“Hockey players, what do you expect, plus she isn’t worth it, Let’s go!” searching for my clutch. I didn’t want to believe the stereotype but it was kind of hard to ignore.

“Damn it! I left my clutch on the table” I began freaking out, I didn’t want to go back there.

“Stay, I’ll go!” A few minutes later Katie comes out “Here you go!”

“Thank You!” but she was not alone, McQuaid was right behind her.

“Hey buddy!”

“Listen Emma, Reilly has only hung out with her once and we doesn’t know how she found out we were here tonight. He wants to apologize. There is nothing going on between them-”

“He doesn’t have to apologize, and he doesn’t owe me an explanation...Really! Its okay” trying to force a fake smile. I give him a hug and tell Katie I’ll meet her downstairs and called a cab in the meantime since everyone else had left. Most importantly, I wanted them two to be alone.

After a few minutes, Katie walks downstairs with a big smile on her face

“I know that face! Ah! Come here” as I pull her into a hug! They would be so cute together.

“Well how did I do?! Did you have a good birthday?” I asked.

“Of course I did, I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday! Thank you!” As she gives me a kiss on the cheek.

“Our cab is here! Come on!”

After we get into the cab, we didn’t move for 10 minutes. Since the club was closing soon, many people left slightly early in order to escape the traffic. We stopped by the parking lot because this big black Range Rover was coming out. I look out of the window and see that it was Reilly’s car with the boys in the back. Marchy was sitting in the front and waved at us as soon as he saw us. I loved this kid. We waved back. Reilly was looking down and as he puts his head up, his eyes somehow found mine and after a few moments, he forced a smile. I returned a slight smile and looked down at my phone, hoping the car had driven by and it did. What were the chances of me seeing Reilly again. We didn’t even exchange numbers. Yes, Katie had gotten Adam’s number but with this crazy semester approaching, I won’t have time to do anything. Great.

Notes