The Intern

I'd barely set foot inside my apartment when my phone started blaring it's obnoxious ringtone. Thinking it was Michelle I answered the call immediately.

"Hello?"

"Kennedy!" My mother's shrill voice rang in my ear. "So good of you to finally answer my call,"

"I've been busy," And purposefully avoiding your calls, I added silently.

"Apparently," My mom replied in her I'm-better-than-you tone of voice. "Well, your father and I were wondering if you'd finally come to your senses?"

"I think you'll find that I came to my senses two years ago, mother!" I exclaimed angrily, berating myself for answering her call.

"How can living in a closet and making minimum wage be better than working for your dad? I honestly don't understand your thinking sometimes, sweetheart." My mom said in a mock gentle tone.

"And I don't understand yours! This is why I don't answer your calls, mother. I don't want to argue with you about my life choices. I'm twenty-two!" I yelled furiously, reaching my boiling point with my mom's subtle jabs.

"I don't want to argue either, sweetheart. Your father and I were thinking of making a visit out there in the next couple weeks. Of course we'll get a hotel--"

"I'll have to check my schedule, I got a new job today." Breathe in, breathe out, Kennedy. Don't kill your mother.

"Oh? What's your new job?" Her voice was a mixture of disgust and disbelief. To her, anything other than working for my father's company wasn't worth the time.

"I've got a paid internship, but I'll have to tell you about it another time. I have to go, I'm running late." I fibbed, pouring myself a bowl of Lucky Charms.

"Late?" My mom shrieked.

"Goodbye mother, got to run."

"Goodbye Kennedy."

I hung up and dug into my bowl of cereal, relishing in its sugary taste. I knew that I needed to alter my diet considering a good three-quarters of my wardrobe didn't fit, but it was hard not to take pleasure in eating the foods I was forbidden from growing up. It was like a final act of rebellion towards my parents.

Tomorrow I'd stop with the pop tarts, cereal, and ramen.

My afternoon was spent learning the roster, shaving my legs, and painting my nails a dark purple. The latter ended up being a terrible idea as my nails were barely tacky when I was forced to leave the house to catch the bus.

I paid my fare and was thankful that it was only two buses to the American Airlines arena instead of the three it took me to get to the practice rink.

I took a seat, slipping in my headphones, settling in for the half hour ride before I had to change buses. I made it to the arena with only minutes to spare and flashed my pass at the security guard on duty. He gave me a smile and led me to the dressing room Michelle had asked me to meet her in.

"Hello Kennedy, how was your afternoon?" Michelle asked, her dark brown eyes barely looking up from her phone.

"It was good."

"Great! Well we'll be letting a few of the beat reporters in to get some pre-game sound bites. So you'll be escorting them in and out of the dressing room, think you can handle that?" The without messing up was implied.

"Of course!" I responded cheerfully. Michelle handed me another clipboard with a few names scrawled on it and sent me to work. I met with the first few reporters without an issue, leading them in and out to get quotes from various reporters.

"Lindsey Tafford?" I scanned the holding room, waiting for someone to claim the name.

"That's me," A girl who looked my age with shocking curly red hair stepped forward.

"Excellent, mind showing me your press pass?" I asked, checking her credentials before leading her into the room where Michelle was waiting.

"Right this way Ms. Tafford," Michelle greeted, either familiar with the girl or possessing a memory I would've like to have when I was sitting my finals a couple weeks ago.

She led Lindsey over to where Tyler Seguin sat, obviously a favorite to interview among the media. Tyler gave her a wide smile, and an obvious once over.

"You can go grab a bite from catering if you want, there isn't much more to do until closer to puck drop." Michelle said from where she'd crept up beside me. "I'll show you where it is after this interview is over,"

"Great, thanks!"

Lindsey wrapped up a few minutes later, getting a hug and piece of paper from Tyler once the cameras weren't rolling. She gave a tinkling laugh and strutted out of the dressing room, followed by the aging camera man who'd been recording her interview.

"Thank you Tyler, good luck tonight," Michelle said, losing her ice queen demeanor for a brief moment.

"No problem Cups," Tyler smiled at Michelle as we left the room.

"Cups?" I couldn't help but wonder aloud.

"My last name is Reese so the boys have been calling me Cups since my second week here. I'm sure you'll have a nickname too if you stick around long enough." Michelle responded.

The room where catering had been set up was bustling with both players and staff alike. There were three banquet tables dressed in white table cloths loaded with an assortment of pastas, salads, and proteins.

I grabbed a plate and filled it with a generous helping of spaghetti slathered in tomato sauce, a plain grilled chicken breast, and some salad bathed in balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

Michelle seated herself at a table with some other suit-clad staff members including Coach Ruff. I followed suit not wanting to awkwardly sit at any of the player filled tables.

"How's your first day been?" Coach Ruff asked as he dug into his own dinner.

"Great! I'm learning a lot."

"She's learned that there's two Benns on the team for one, and she's also learned that the practice arena does indeed stock Perrier." Michelle commented meanly as a giggle escaped her.

"Uh-right," Coach Ruff looked between the two of us, obviously regretting having asked me the question.

"She'll learn my coffee order next," Michelle added, smirking at me.

I bit back my retort, knowing engaging with her would only result in my termination. I hated the way that she was taunting me, knowing my hands were tied if I wanted to keep my job. She looked to be in her mid-thirties, but she was treating me like I was a child.

"Are you a black coffee," like your soul "or a skinny latté kind of person?" I asked, trying my best to avoid coming off as mocking.

"A venti coffee, two pumps of mocha, two pumps sweetener, and a splash of soy milk." She replied, not letting my jab bother her. "Are you taking notes?"

"Don't worry, I'll remember."

"You know what? A coffee sounds great right now. Why don't you run out and grab me one? There's a Starbucks a few blocks from here." She smiled sunnily at me, knowing she'd won.

I swallowed my bite of pasta, and stood up from the table collecting my lanyard and purse. I didn't look forward to trudging over to a Starbucks in my stilettos, but I knew that as an intern I didn't get to dictate what I did and didn't want to do.

"Anything else?"

"Coach Ruff, did you want a coffee?" Michelle asked, her red painted lips twitching in amusement.

"Sure, a grande double double would be great. Thanks Kennedy."

By the time I'd left the room I had six drink orders, most of them were thankfully simple in comparison to Michelle's. My biggest worry was how I was going to carry them all.

Fortunately, the Starbucks was literally right around the corner from the stadium and the baristas helped me load the drinks up onto two cardboard trays for the trek back. Unfortunately, the formerly vacant arena was now bustling with fans and staff alike, making it a nightmare to navigate through.

Thankfully I was able to deliver all the drinks without any accidents and was back to helping Michelle snap pictures for both Twitter and Instagram.

"Check the Seguin selfie hashtag, we have to select tonight's winner and have him go over there during warmup." Michelle said, handing me the black iPhone 6 that was used as the team phone.

I began scrolling through the pictures that were posted tonight, seeing lots of older female fans trying to get a selfie with their crush. I finally settled on a young boy no older than 5 decked out in Stars gear, handing the phone back to Michelle with my selection.

"Looks good to me. I need to you to go grab him and bring him down by the bench to get his picture snapped."

"Okay," I mumbled, getting up from where we were seated near the bench and making my way towards the section the boy was seated in.

"Hi! You're the winner of tonight's Seguin Selfie. Wanna follow me to the bench and we'll get your picture taken?" I said as I peered down at the young boy and made brief eye contact with the man I assumed was his father.

"Yeah!" The boy exclaimed, nearly vibrating in obvious excitement. "Is that alright with you dad?"

"Course! C'mon bud, let's go follow this nice lady." The dad's words were met with a blinding smile from the young boy.

"What's your name?" I asked the boy as we waited for Seguin to join us.

"Tyler McGowan," He said with a slight lisp.

"And how old are you?"

"Five and a half," Tyler responded holding up five fingers to match.

"Hey is this my selfie partner?" A loud male voice boomed from right beside me. I swiveled to see Tyler standing in his warm up jersey, his dark brown hair matted down with sweat.

"Tyler Seguin meet Tyler McGowan." I said, making introductions between the obviously starstruck young boy and his idol.

"Nice name," Tyler replied, an easy grin occupying his tanned face.

"Thanks, you too!" Tyler replied earnestly.

"Alright selfie time?" The older Tyler asked motioning for me to hand over the team phone for him to snap a picture of the pair of them. He snapped a few, showing them to the younger boy before selecting one of them for me to post. "Awesome bud! Here, want to have a puck?"

While Tyler was entertaining the younger Tyler, I quickly typed up a caption and uploaded it to the Stars' Instagram account.


Tyler x's 2, double the trouble! Congrats to Tyler McGowan on being tonight's winner #SeguinSelfie


"Good job Newbie," Tyler said after the father and son had left to return to their seats.

"Thanks, good luck out there I guess," I mumbled, feeling a little annoyed with the star center.

"Your enthusiasm is overwhelming." He said before stepping back onto the ice to rejoin warm-ups.

Later that night after the Stars had thoroughly thrashed the Canucks with a 6-2 win, I bussed home deciding this job might not be too bad after all.

Notes

I finished this chapter early so I figured I may as well upload it. Hope you enjoy it ! Comment, rate, and subscribe! Xx :)