A New Leaf

"The fuck is this?" Erin said pulling at the hood of my sweater.
I opened my eyes and was met with her face about an inch away from mine.

"What do you mean?" I replied groggily.

"Where the hell did you get a player sweater?" I looked down and smiled, remembering that Tyler had given me his sweater last night.

"I was cold and Tyler was a gentleman." I said with a smug grin.

"I hate you." Erin joked walking to her own dorm room to get dressed. "If you'd like to, Mila-or should I say, puck bunny, we can go out for breakfast."

I laughed at Erin and agreed as she walked out. I decided to put the sweater back on after I had showered, just to annoy Erin, and paired it with leggings and moccasins. I also put my hair up in a messy bun, and then checked my phone. I was happy to see a few texts from Tyler.

T: you're probably asleep but you're cute just saying
T: wanna do something again tonight?
T: do I sound desperate

I laughed at his dorky-ness, and decided to go with a hard-to-get reply.

M: don't you have some hockey to play?

With that I locked my phone and met Erin in the hallway between our two rooms. She was wearing the shirt I got her that had "Mrs. Lupul" printed across the back, with a big #19.

"Really? You just had to wear that sweater?" She said, trying to sound annoyed.

"Yup! Except mines authentic. Does it bother you?" I teased.

"A bit. Like you don't even know shit about hockey and somehow you've got a player from my favourite team soft for you." Erin said playfully.

"You're just jealous that you don't have Lupul's actual sweater."

"I'm not even going to deny that I am. Let's go, puck bunny, I'm hungry." Erin hit me with her keys and basically sprinted to her car and drove even faster all the way to Tim Horton's.

---
"So wait, you're telling me you almost kissed him, but you didn't?" Erin said, almost spitting out her double-double.

"I don't know I've had a lot of trouble with guys in the past." I said to Erin, not wanting to reveal too much of my old drunken life.

"But he's not just any guy!" She slammed down her drink.

"Look, last time I got close with a guy I fucked it all up. I broke him and lost the love of my life. We called off our wedding because I fucked up." I said, getting quiet towards the end.

"Mila... I had no idea. I'm sorry." Erin's face quickly became concerned.

"No, I'm over it now." I tried to sound strong. "It's just that my life is finally on track and I don't want to ruin it."

Erin didn't bother my about my love life for the rest of the day, instead we went to the mall and participated in our usual mindless chit-chat. I got a few outfits that I could wear to the clinic, even though I didn't have to look ultra-professional I kind of wanted to. Next week would be the final few days of my internship and I wanted to be remembered, in hopes that I may be called back for a job once I was done with medical school.

While Erin and I were in the Eaton Centre food court having lunch, I received a text from Tyler:

T: Yeah, actually. I was going to invite you to my game. It'll be my first one as a maple leaf. My knees all healed up and they called me into the lineup!

"I haven't seen you all week, and you're going to spend another night with him?" Erin said, reading over my shoulder.

"Do you want me to ask if you can come to the game too?" I sighed loudly.

"You'd really do that for me?" Erin put her hand over her heart dramatically.

"You're so annoying." I laughed, and began to type back.

M: yeah sure! But can I bring Lupul's Personal Puckslut- I mean my friend Erin with me?

T: of course, I'll be at your place around 4, so that you can get in to the game with me!

"Puckslut? Fine I'll take it. Whatever gets me closer to Lupul." She pointed at her shirt.

"You're not wearing that tonight are you?" I thought of how embarrassing it might be, in case she actually does meet Lupul. Who knows what could happen.

"Of course not, don't want him to think I'm a puck bunny like you." Erin said, flipping her curly hair over her shoulder, eyeing my sweater.

--

Right on time, Tyler showed up at my door, dressed in a full suit, that he was required to wear when entering and exiting the ACC. That suit took away all the fears I had of dating and instead the fears were replaced by utter lust.

"I clean up well, eh?" He said, tightening his black tie. "Oh I got this for you! You're probably going to be the only one wearing this name."

Tyler handed me a Bozak jersey, and I heard Erin say puck bunny, trying to disguise it by coughing. I put the jersey on over my tank top and laughed at how big it was on me.

I invited Tyler in, so we could wait for Erin to be ready. He sat at my desk chair and smirked when he saw Erin's 'Mrs. Lupul' shirt on the ground.

"Whatever you say, Mrs. Lupul." Tyler said, winking at me.

"Shut it, rook" Erin said, walking out of the bathroom in her Lupul jersey and blue face paint lines under her eyes. "Thanks for the tickets by the way. Now let's go lovebirds."

Tyler grabbed my hand and we followed Erin out to Tyler's car. He drove to the ACC and he arranged for Erin and I to sit right behind the player's bench. Even though I never cared too much for seeing a hockey game up close, I was actually feeling extremely excited to see the leafs, and especially Tyler, play.

Notes

Sorry for kind of a filler chapter. I wanted to build on Erin and Mila's friendship. The next chapter will be all Tyler and Mila, post-game. I promise!