My Hero

Carly and I walked into the American Airlines center about an hour before the game started. Tyler had texted me after he left my office to come a little early so I can watch the practice. I think it's so he can watch me.

The thick aroma of hamburgers and chicken tenders filled my nose and instantly I was hungry.

"Carly I'm getting a hot dog." I told her as I started walking to the concession stand.

"So Tyler can see you shove a dog down your throat during warm-ups? And then I have to smell your hot dog breath?"

I rolled my eyes. That's true maybe I will spare Tyler a sight of seeing a weiner shoved down my throat until the second date. Carly and I grabbed a beer each and made our way to the seats, right next to the penalty box in the front row. I immediately saw number 91 skating all around the ice. He totally looked like he was in his element and I was not expecting him to look up at all during the warm ups.

About five minutes into the warm ups, the Stars did a drill that landed number 91 right in front of me and Carly. He didn't even flinch. What was with that? I thought, he was right there and he didn't even smile, smirk, nod, nothing? For the rest of the warm ups I was a little pissed that Tyler had failed to notice me until the very last minute when some of the Stars throw pucks into the crowd. Tyler grabbed a puck that I had noticed was not used once during the practice and skated right towards me with a smile. He threw the puck over the glass and landed on my lap. Tyler had this smirk on his face and winked a small wink before skating rather quickly to the dressing room.

I held the puck in my hands and heard some "oohs" and "ahhs" and even a "That's not even fair." I left the puck in my hands for a little while and went to put it into my purse when I saw a silver shimmer on the side of the puck that I had yet to flip over.

across the American Airlines logo, in silver sharpie it read:

S-
You look beautiful tonight.
-T

I rolled my eyes and blushed. What a flirt. I put the puck into my purse, hoping no one saw it and made any accusations. I didn't even show Carly.

A huge buzzer went off and all the lights in the building turned on, making me jump in my seat.
The announcer welcomed everyone, The star spangled banner played, and the game had begun.

Half way through the second period, the score was 3-2 with the Panthers in the lead. It had been a night full of scoring, but none for Tyler. I was hoping he would get a goal tonight so that he would be in a good mood for dinner tonight.

A loud buzzer went off along with the goal song. I knew who scored that goal, number 91, and he was smiling on the bench, looking right at me.

"Goal scored by Tylerrrr Segulinnnnnn" The announcer read, drawing out Tyler's name and it made me laugh. That is so what I am calling Tyler now.

Into the third period, Carly and I were kinda bored so we went on Twitter and Instagram when yet another goal buzzer went off. I looked up to see Tyler's sweet face on the monitor with the announcer yelling his drawn out name and making me laugh again.

"One more for the hat trick!" Carly squealed.

"The what?" I yelled over the crowd

"Hat trick! If a player gets three goals in a single game, the whole crowd throws their hats onto the ice."

"That seems like a waste of a hat to me."

"Shut up Sarah and enjoy it!"

The score was 4-4. Tyler had tied it up and one more goal from him could be the potential game winner and his hat trick.. or at least that's what Carly said to me.

I was watching the game so intensely, on the edge of my seat, no wonder some people were so obsessed with the sport. Hockey gave me such a rush and I was just a fan in the crowd; I wonder what it is like to be on the ice. I sent a little prayer to god that Tyler would score, and about a minute later, he did.

I bounced up from my seat, locking arms with Carly screaming and jumping. I would never do this, I usually would sit in my seat and clap but I just got a whole rush in my body that I really didn't know what I was doing.

Hats came flying down onto the ice from all directions, and all of a sudden I didn't find it a waste anymore; I was actually wishing I had a hat to throw. Tyler was smiling the whole time and so was I. As the ice clean up people were collecting the hats, Tyler and I made eye contact. He subtly winked and I gave a big thumbs up and laughed.

The stars ended up winning because of Tyler's last goal and he was also named the first star of the game. When the guys went into the locker room, Tyler sent me a message explaining how to get down to the locker room to meet him and Jamie.

Carly and I waited until the crowds left, Tyler said he was gonna take a little bit, and we eventually made our way down there.

We were waiting outside of the locker room with a couple of other women who Carly explained were wives and girlfriends (WAGS, as I learned) when two women started whispering and looking at my feet. She was a really pretty tall blonde who was probably a wife.

This woman came over in her heels right towards me. Not going to lie, I was a little scared.

"Hi... I'm really sorry..I just wanted to know where you got those shoes because they are so cute and I want to buy a pair right now."

I looked down at my shoes. I was just wearing some small heels that were black booties with some black fringe. I only wore them because they looked nice with the jersey.

"um, i'm pretty sure they are from Nordstrom...yeah Steve Madden I think." I smiled and looked at the woman.

"Ohmygosh sorry I must of seemed crazy just marching over here demanding your shoes, I'm Jen Spezza nice to meet you!" She smiled and reached out her hand for me to shake which I did.

"Hi, I'm Sarah Hoffman. Nice to meet you." I smiled, "I take it your a wife of...gosh who is it...what's his name?" I tried really hard to remember that Spezza guys first name.

"Jason!" Jen laughed.

"Yes! Sorry it's my first Stars game." I laughed, "This is my friend Carly by the way."

Carly and Jen introduced themselves. "So who are you ladies waiting for?" Jen asked.

"Well, um, Tyler? I don't know if you know him."

Jen gasped and called another woman over whose named I learned was Emily Cole, wife of Erik Cole.

"Guess who Sarah and Carly are waiting for!!!" Jen squealed.

"Who?" Emily replied.

"Tyler!!" Jen squealed once again.

"No way! Tyler never brings his girlfriends back here. Oh my gosh welcome!" Emily yelled

"Yeah, well we are going out to dinner with Tyler and Jamie." Carly laughed

"Jamie too!" Jen jumped, "You guys are way out of their leagues. I'm so excited that you guys are here! Jamie and Tyler never bring their girlfriends back here or to the game to meet us."

Just as I was about to explain that we were not boyfriend and girlfriends (heck, Carly didn't even meet Jamie yet!) the doors to the locker room swung open and one by one, happy guys would come out to their wives and lay a huge kiss on them. Tyler, Jamie, and Jason came out all at once and Jen kissed Jason.

"It was so great meeting you guys! Next game, you are so sitting with us!" Jen yelled behind her as she skipped out with Jason.

I turned my attention to Tyler and the even taller man next to him.

"Hey, you must be Carly. Nice to meet you, I'm Jamie. "

You know in cartoons when a character looks at someone they adore and then their eyes turn into hearts? I swear to god that's what Carly did when she laid eyes on Jamie.

"Alright guys ready to go?" Tyler asked as he clapped his hands together.

I nodded and we went out the back door into the parking lot. Jamie and Carly walked a little bit ahead of us talking away about themselves and Tyler and I walked together in happy silence.

As we exited the American Airlines center, Tyler looped his fingers into mine as we listened in on Carly and Jamie's conversations. I looked up at him and he smirked and kissed the top of my head.

Notes

Thanks for reading! Love your feedback. Sorry for drawing out this night in the story for so long I just like to go into detail about everything! Thanks again!!! Also, sorry for ending this chapter so abruptly, I tried rewriting it a couple of times but this was the best I could do. Comments/ideas are always welcome!