Cassidy squeezed my hand as the clock ticked down. There were 20 seconds left and the Stars had a one goal lead on the Ducks but that didn’t give me any comfort because the Ducks were all over the Stars.
I inhaled as the whistle blow after Lehtonen made a nice glove save. There were now 8 seconds left and Tyler was setting up for the face off against Ryan Getzlaf. Jackie hands were clichéd in her lap as the lines man dropped the puck.
There was a collected exhale as Tyler won the face – off and passed the puck to Jamie who was being hounded by Perry. After a quick turn, Jamie broke free and made a clean pass to Oduya back at the blue line and he quickly shot the puck down the ice before Fowler could get to him. The puck just crossed the top of the circle as the horn sounded.
The crowd erupted as the Stars flocked Lehtonen and then took to center ice to solute the fans. I checked my phone as the boys left the ice. There were no new messages or missed called so there was no reason for me to hurry to the locker room.
Jackie, Cassidy and Candace all cheered at the three stars of the game were announced, Tyler having been number one with 2 goals and an assist. We took are time heading down to the locker room, none of us in a hurry to get down there knowing we at least an hour before any of the boys were ready.

---

As predicted the guys were in no hurry to leave the room. We stood outside the locker for nearly a half hour before the first of the guys started to file out.
We received waves from Spezza and Oduya, and a ‘have a nice night’ from Lehtonen on their way to say bye to their families before we took off for St. Louis.
“Tyler’s going to be a while,” Roussel informed as he spotted us. “The reporters are all over him tonight.”
“Merci (thank you) Roussel,” I grinned as I replied in his native tongue. A kind of inside joke between Roussel and I that started when he learned I could speak a little French. I didn’t mind thought, it gave me some practice plus it drove Tyler nuts.
“Vous etes le bienvenu (your welcome),” he replied with a smiled and a wave to Tyler’s family, “bonne nuit (goodnight).”
“Bonne nuit,” I repeated as he turned away and made his way to the exit. “Quelle?” I cleared my throat as I turned to the three pairs of eyes that stared at me. “What,” I repeated realizing that I was still speaking French and I wasn’t sure if they understood that or not because God knew Tyler didn’t.
“Tyler was right,” Cassidy grinned from where she leaned on the wall next to me. “You are full of surprises.”
I blushed, not sure what to say to that, but luckily I didn’t have to say anything.
“So you speak French?” Jackie inquired from her spot next to Cassidy, with a look of what I hoped with approval.
“Not much, but Roussel’s been helping me a little.”
“And I bet Tyler loves that,” Cassidy laughed as she looked up from her phone screen. “He was never good at French.”
“Yea,” I agreed, knowing that all too well. “I know Tyler has to understand some of it because once in a while I can see the wheels in his head turning and I don’t know if he realizes that he does it but his head will slightly tilt to the right and his eyebrows will pull together…”
“Like this,” Candace interjected as she tilted her head to the right and pulled her brows together and just for affect she stuck her tongue out and crossed her brown eyes.
“Exactly like that,” I confirmed with a laugh. “It’s even funnier when he thinks we are talking about him and so he tries to fetch for answers.”
“Of course he does,” Cassidy roller her eyes with a smirk. “I mean you can’t really believe people have other things to talk about.”
“No way,” Candace sucked in a deep breath as she brought her hand to her mouth. “You mean the world doesn’t revolve around him?”
I couldn’t help the snot that escaped but no matter how much I liked to bust Tyler’s chops I still found the need to defend him. “To his credit though, I do like to slip his name in there once in a while just to drive him crazy.”
“Wow Brittany,” Candace chuckled her brown eyes on me, “that’s evil.”
“Yea,” Jackie laughed, “but its Tyler so we all know he deserves it.”
“He usually does and I bet Roussel doesn’t mind slipping Tyler’s name in there once in a while either.”
“That he does not.” I grinned as I recalled the first time Roussel and I messed with Tyler at Jamie’s house when the team had one of their team football parties…
I leaned my back against Jamie’s counter and I sipped at the water bottle in my hand. It was half time so the guys took this time to use the restroom, stretch their legs and refill drinks and snack bowls, and I was no exception. I used this as my chance to toss out my old water bottle and retrieve the other bottle I brought from the fridge.
I lowered the bottle from my lips and recapped it, just as another body joined me in the kitchen.
“Vous y êtes (there you are),” Roussel smirked as made his way to the freezer
“Oui (yes),” I answered as I thought of what else to say. “Je suis ici (here I am).” I bit my lip, hoping I got that right.
Roussel only smiled as he filled his cup with more ice so I knew I must have done all right. “Vous en appréciant le jeu?”
I only smiled as I quietly repeated what he said to myself. “You enjoying the game,” I questioned, just to make sure I got it right.
Roussel nodded as Tyler rounded the counter.
“Oui.” I cheered both because I got his question right and because I was in fact enjoying the game.
Tyler gave me a smile small as he approach me. “Working on your French again?”
“Sure am,” I smiled as he got close enough for me to wrap my arms around his neck.
He smiled with a shake of his head and a quick peak on my lips before he pulled away and retrieved whatever it was from the fridge he come to get.
With a glance at Roussel who leaned against the island behind Tyler and in front of me a wicked smile covered my face as I thought of something that I knew how to say.
“Il est canon (he’s hot), eh.” I held back my laughter as I glanced between Tyler and Roussel, knowing that Tyler was trying to listen to understand our conversation from the way his head tilted to the right.
Roussel only laughed as he returned his drink to the counter. “Cherchons-nous à la même personne,” he questioned, and it wasn’t like I expected him to agree, but I knew Roussel knew exactly what I was doing. “Tyler est comme la septième personne la plus chaude dans cet appartement dès maintenant (Tyler's like the seventh hottest person in this apartment right now).”
I had no idea what Roussel just said, but it work. Tyler’s head snapped up and he looked between the two of us. “Is that what you guys do, just talk about me just because I don’t understand you?”
“No, Tyler,” I laughed as his eyes landed on mine. “We were just having a little fun.”
“Where you?”
“Yes,” I confined. “And if it makes you feel any better, I actually said something nice about you.”
“You did?” Tyler raised one dark eyebrow at me as he took a step closer to me.
“I did.” I smiled up at Tyler as he wrapped his arms around my waist.
“And I’m taking that as my cue to leave.” Roussel said as Tyler whispered in my ear, “what did you say.”
“Now if I told you then I’d have to kill,” I joked as I pushed Tyler away from me and I could feel his eyes on me as I made my way back to the living room.

---

I just finished up my story, some minor details left out, which left the group of ladies in a fit of laugher as Tyler finally walked thought the locker room doors.
“You guys having a good time,” Tyler questioned as he approach are small group.
“Nous sommes sûrs. (we sure are),” Cassidy smirked and we all nodded are heads in agreement.
Tyler inhaled as he turned to look at me. “Seriously, you got my sister’s speaking French now too.”
I shrugged with a laugh, “I have no control over your sibling.”
“Whatever,” he playful rolled his eyes as he turned to his family. “Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we do have a plan to catch so...”
“So we better get going,” I finished his sentence for him.
“Yep.”
* * *
So after hugs and good – byes were said, Tyler and I found ourselves on a plan to St. Louis as Cassidy, Candace, and Jackie found themselves in a cab on their way back to Tyler’s house before they left tomorrow.
Normally on a flight after a game I would find myself asleep, along with many of the other guys on the team, but tonight I just couldn’t get my body to calm down enough. I huffed as I adjusted myself once again.
“You okay,” Tyler questioned as he removed one of his earbuds and rested his hand on my knee.
“Yea,” I nodded as I laid my head on his shoulder. “I’m just really excited.”
“Excited,” I could hear the confusion in Tyler’s voice as he ran a hand through my hair. “Why?”
“Because we’re going to St. Louis,” just saying it out loud caused another wave of excitement to course through my body.
“So…?” Tyler questioned as he laid his head on top of mine.
“So I love St. Louis.” I confessed to Tyler as I took his hand in mine and intertwined our fingers.
“You love St. Louis,” Tyler spoke each word slowly as if testing what I actually said. “I do Tyler,” I sighed and rubbed my thumb over the back of his hand. “You know my family and I use to go to St. Louis every summer when I was younger.”
“You did?”
“Yea, my dad’s cousin lived down there so we’d stay with him and his family. We’d usually go to a Cardinals game; feed the fish outside union station…” I trailed off as I thought about the colorful koi’s and random turtles under the dock. “My grandpa grew up in St. Louis so whenever we were down there I always felt closer to him. Especially when we went to the baseball games, he loved baseball, especially the Cardinals.”
“So I take you like the Cardinals then too?”
“Sure do,” I smiled, “my grandpa wasn’t a big hockey fan; otherwise I’d probably like the Blues too.”
“Probably not,” Tyler laughed.
“Yea,” I laughed with him, “probably not.”
Tyler and I sat in silence for a minute, before he spoke up. “When I was younger my dad would take me with him to Boston, sometimes Rhode Island.”
“So where you a Bruins fan growing up?”
“Naw,” Tyler laughed as he let go of my hand and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, each of us falling into a comfortable silence. “I was a maple leafs fan.”
“Do you wish you played there?”
Tyler took a minute as he ran his hand through my hair. “I did, at first, but then I played my first preseason game in Montreal and my parents were there and they were so excited for me and I realized that it didn’t matter who I played for, I was playing in the NHL.”
“Yea,” I yawned, as my eyes slowly closed, the feel of his hand in my hair relaxing me.

Notes