Kirsten's POV
I went out to dinner last night, and when I woke up, I felt happier than I had in a long time. And then I had a reality check. That was Tyler Seguin. Ladies man of the NHL, and the biggest player I knew. He was nice, and he was one of my friends, but I could never date him. But I bet he would be great in bed. I get out of bed, and realize that I was early for my alarm it was around 6:45, and I walked out to the kitchen. Marie was up too, and she greeted me good morning.
"So, we didn't get the chance to talk about your date last night.." She said, and winked at me.
"Well, you know I didn't go home with him, and he certainly didn't come here. But he was nice. I'd never date him though. But I would totally do him." I tell her, being honest.
"Well, clearly, a lot of people would too. But you really wouldn't date him?" She said in disbelief.
"Nah! He is a nice guy, with some not nice habits, and a very nice body. I mean, how could I say no to being bed buddies though! I don't even want a real relationship right now. I just moved here, I don't know very many people, and I really kind of want to get some. That's it." I say, telling her how I really feel, because I hadn't really said it before. I pour myself a bowl of cereal and go sit at the island.
"I bet he would be up for friends with benefits, all you have to do is, instead of let him convince you to actually date him, you convince him to ride the hobby horse!" She says, and we both start laughing. I finish my breakfast, and go to get in the shower. I get my towel, and my speaker, and shower.
When I get out, I go get dressed in a nice pair of dark skinny jeans, a red shirt that was tight at the top, then flared out in a stiffer material, and my black ballet flats. I blow dry my hair, and straighten it. I out on light makeup and head out the door, with Marie already at work. I go down the elevator, and check my phone. There is a message from Tyler.
Tyler: 'Hey, what are you doing right now? Want to hang out?''I'm going to a job interview!'
Me: 'No! I have a job interview!'
Tyler: 'Where at?'
Me: 'Uh... idk where do you work again? haha'
Tyler: 'Oh yeah! Good thing I actually have to be at the rink in half an hour! I almost forgot!'
Me: 'Well, I'm sure your coach really would have been happy about that!'
Tyler: 'Yeah probably not! But you'll probably see me, and I know you want to;)'
Me: 'Says who? Haha'
Tyler: 'I say! I'll see you in a little bit'
Me: 'Okay, but I'm not coming there because of you.'
Tyler: 'Sure, you keep telling yourself that;)'
When I arrive at American Airlines Arena, I walk in through the main entrance. They already have someone waiting "Hello, you must be Kirsten Sorensen. I'm Dave Zies. I'm the head athletic trainer here, and I am dramatically understaffed!" He said, and I already found him very funny.
"Hi, and yes, that's me! I'm here for the interview." I told him, and he shook my hand.
"Nice to meet you! Come this way!" He said, and led me further into the Arena. We step into an office area, and he sits down behind a desk, and asks me the normal interview questions, about my resume, and school. The interview went well, then he offered me a tour, and to go meet the players.
We walk down to the ice, and the players are already out on the ice. "Do you see anyone that looks like they aren't skating right, or any problems yet?" I examined the players feet, and their knees. Then they started shooting. I looked at their hands, and their arms.
"There. Whoever that is, number 4, uh Demers? He looks like he may have something wrong with his right hand, or wrist." I tell him.
He inspects Demers, and says, "I didn't even see that, and he didn't complain, but yeah, it looks like he does. Hey! Demers! Get over here!" He shouts onto the ice. We step onto the bench, and Demers skates over.
He introduces himself, "Hey, I'm Jason Demers, and you are?" He takes off his glove and extends his hand.
"I'm Kirsten," I take his hand and instead of releasing it, I turn his hand over so it is wrist up. I inspect it. "Has your wrist been hurting lately?" I ask.
"A little bit, but mostly just soreness." He tells me.
"Does this hurt?" And I poke various spots on his wrists, examining where it hurts. I determine this, "I think you've lightly sprained your wrist, probably shot it wrong, or something like that? Try to take it easy, ice it after practice, and sometime while you're at home. 20 minutes ice, 30 minutes off. Seriously, try not to make it worse." I tell him, and he looks at Dave, and Dave nods. He skates off.
"Well done! That was very impressive. I didn't even notice that he had that yet. But Kari has been skating funny, I was wondering if you'd notice that. But you did better. If you want, you can wait around here, and help out as if you were hired. If you have somewhere else to be, then it's perfectly okay for you to leave." He offers.
"I would love to stay! What can I do?" I ask, wanting to get started right away.
"Right now, we look for anybody with symptoms that they aren't telling us, because they do that a lot. Right before they end practice, we examine everybody, in their undergarments once a week, to make sure everything looks right. Normally we have mostly male staff, but as long as they say it's okay, which they will, then you can just do what I do." He tells me, then we go over to the bench. I see what he was talking about Kari's skating. His left ankle isn't quite right. I discuss what Dave has tried, and instead of contradicting him, because I don't think it was the right treatment. I give him my suggestion of doing ankle exercises with a band, instead of without one, and adding ice for 20, off for 20, and heat for 20. He agrees, looking at it from a different perspective.
Their practice was almost done, and Dave and I went into the locker room, and the team walked in, and he formally introduced me, even though I knew most of them. "This is Kirsten, and she may be our new athletic trainer. She's going to help me do out weekly exams. If you have a problem with her doing it because she's a girl, speak up." He says, and they all whistle at me, and they line up, like they know the drill. Tyler is the first in my line. I watch Dave, and he starts at their shoulders, feels down their body, and make sure that everything feels right, just like we are taught.
I start at Tyler's shoulders, and start feeling, and a lot of the guys whistle and laughing at me. I blush, and they get worse. I can see Dave over there laughing right along with them. I just shake my head. "Everything looks and feels fine." I say. And he has a grin on his face, and I see him give a double thumbs up after he thinks I can't see. I go through the line, and the only problem I can find with anyone is a shoulder issue in John Klingberg's shoulder. There was something wrong with his glenohumeral joint. It felt slightly strained. I showed him some exercises that would help.
I walked out of the room, and Dave came out too. He said, "We can have lunch with the team. All of the staff gets to. And just do you know, if it's up to me, you have the job. The players seem to like you, too." I grinned.
"That means so much! And I've met them before, just so you're aware." I admitted. Then we started walking down towards the lunch room, since players started filing out.
"Oh? Well, then all the more reason to hire you! We have one more interview tomorrow, and then the selection process is done. We were planning on taking two of you, but we may only take one. It just depends." He tells me.
"That sounds good to me!" I say, and we get to the room, and the players are already digging in. We get in line to get food, and Jamie calls me over to the table to where him, Tyler, Kari, Jason, and Valeri were sitting. "Well hello! And thanks for embarrassing me in the locker room! Assholes..." I say, and start eating.
"Whatever, you know you love us. And we love you, and Dave loves you. It looks like you're fitting in great! So yeah. I hope you get the job." Kari said.
"You and I both!" I say, and we all eat. When we are done, Dave comes over to me.
"Whenever you are ready, you can go. There's nothing left for us to do. I'll call you with information." He says, and walked off.
"Hang out with us!" Jamie said.
"I can't! I drove here! Sorry! But I do want to go home. I don't even like you guys that much." I say jokingly.
"Whatever... Come anyways!" Tyler begged.
"Maybe..." I said, and they pulled me out the door. I fought back, once they tried to get me into Tyler's car. But come on, these are pro hockey players. I didn't last long. Tyler picked me up and threw me over his shoulder, just like that night at the bar, and put me into the passenger seat. And he drove away with me laughing the whole time.

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