The Intern

The next week was spent doing office work; mailing letters, sending out signed photos, and doing tons of photocopying. It was boring, but easy and straightforward for which I was thankful.

"We have a three game road trip coming up," Michelle said from where she stood in the doorway of the conference room I'd made into my makeshift office. "Since you've been doing such a great job around the office, I'm going to take you along with me. The team will pay for your accommodations and flight, all meals are provided. We leave Friday morning at 9, and will be gone for six days. Do you have a valid passport?"

"Sounds great, and I do have a valid passport." I replied, excited butterflies fluttering in my stomach at the prospect of a trip somewhere.

"Excellent, well I'll let you get back to your filing. Meet here at six thirty tomorrow morning and a car will take us to the plane hanger from here. Understood?"

"Understood."

****

I woke up the next morning, a ball of nerves settled in the pit of my stomach. I took the time to curl my long brown locks. I applied a thick coat of navy mascara that accentuated my dark blue eyes, and a pale rose pink lipstick and some blush to match.

I knew that the flight was still business casual for the staff so I settled on a pair of charcoal grey dress pants, a white blouse, and my trusted pair of black flats.

I grabbed my bag and left my house by six, giving me a forty five minute window to make it to the office to meet Michelle. I'd managed to cram everything into an old Louis Vuitton duffel that I'd been gifted for my sixteenth birthday.

"Good morning Kennedy," Michelle greeted, looking chipper and put together despite the early hour.

"Morning,"

"We're a bit behind schedule so let's load up our bags and we'll be on our way." I nodded following Michelle out to a parked black SUV, shoved my bags in the back and buckle up for the ride.

We arrived at a private plane hanger and pulled into the small parking lot outside a one story modern looking white building.
We stepped inside and quickly checked in, flashing both our passports and Dallas Stars staff passes to gain entry. We then took a seat in the lobby, waiting for the rest of the players and staff to arrive before loading up the plane. It was eight thirty but the majority of the room's occupants were staff and not players.

I must've dosed off, because next thing I knew one of the hanger's staff was shaking me awake. Giving him an embarrassed smile I quickly followed the crowd out to the airplane and grabbed a seat near the back.

"This seat taken?" I looked up to see Tyler smirking down at me. The early start didn't seem to have any effect on the guy, he was impeccably dressed in a navy blue suit and pressed white shirt.

"Nope," I replied as I motioned for him to sit.

"So Kendall--"

"--Kennedy, but I have a feeling you get girl's names wrong a lot," I teased, immediately turning bright red when I realized I'd just said that aloud.

"Touché, Kennedy." Tyler replied, clearly unfazed by my jab. "How're you enjoying the new job?"

"It's a paycheck."

"That boring, eh? We'll have to fix that."

"I'm not sure that's in your job description. I'm pretty sure it only involves scoring and winning games."

"That's a very one dimensional way of playing, you forgot being good on the back check and penalty kill." I gave a shrug, turning to stare out the window of the private plane that was a bigger model of the one my parents were always jetting off in. It gave me a strange sense of déja-vu.

"So what's your story?" He asked, breaking the silence that had fallen between us.

"Recent college graduate with a degree in art and a minor in business."

"Family? Friends? Favorite color?"

"It's complicated. No. And blue."

"Aren't you going to ask me something?" Tyler asked as he stared down at me, his 6'1" frame dwarfing my 5'6" form even while sitting down.

"I wasn't aware we were at the life story exchanging part of our acquaintance." I snarked.

"Acquaintance ? Ouch. I thought you'd at least call me a co-worker."

"I just don't think you're giving your full effort," I smirked before adding "you're not giving a hundred and ten percent"

"Double ouch, mocking my post game interviews? Not cool bud," He responded, holding his hand over his chest in mock pain.

"Sorry bud," I chirped, enjoying the easy banter between the two of us.

I'd been a loner through the last two years of college, trying to get through my degree as quickly and painlessly as possible. After the fallout of my sophmore year and me deciding to pursue art instead of business I'd quickly packed my bags and headed to Dallas wanting to be as far away from my past as possible. My friends couldn't understand why I'd chosen art instead going into business where I'd guarantee myself a seat in the upper class for the rest of my life.

Dallas was supposed to be my new beginning and up until now that hadn't included friendship, but talking with Tyler it made me realize how much I missed it.

"Attention passengers we are now preparing for takeoff, please secure your belongings and fasten your seat belts." A male voice crackled through the overhead.

"You going to lock in your decision as being seat mates, Seguin?" I asked as I glanced over at the brunette in question.

"Course I am, JFK." Tyler replied, poking fun at my name.

"How original!" I exclaimed as I rolled my eyes at him. "Not like I haven't heard that one about five thousand times before. Growing up in Washington, D.C. didn't help either." I muttered almost unintelligibly.

"Ha! That must've sucked."

"You don't even know the half of it." I replied, gripping the armrests as the plane went barreling down the runway.

"So Kenny--"

"--Kenny doesn't happen unless you want to get punched." I warned, looking him dead in the eyes.

"Okay, okay Kennedy," He held his hands up in surrender. "We'll work on the nicknames later."

"Never also works,"

"Nuh-uh. Everyone needs a nickname. Nicknames are like sex, even bad ones are better than none."

"I disagree," I tried to contain my blush at the way he so casually mentioned sex. I didn't doubt he got a lot of it, he was objectively very attractive and charismatic to boot. Me on the other hand, let's just say we were at very opposite ends of the spectrum on that front.

"Did he put it in the wrong hole?" Tyler asked, his tone entirely serious.

"What?" I sputtered, cheeks having transitioned from bubble gum pink to fire engine red in my embarrassment. "What are you even talking about?"

"Yeah Segs, what are you talking about?" A smirking Patrick Sharp asked as he poked his head through the two seats in front of us.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Tyler mimed zipping his lips and throwing away the key.

"A lady should never repeat what he's been spouting," I stated, earning a guffaw from Tyler and a real laugh from Patrick Sharp.

"Well we all know that Tyler's never been a proper lady." Patrick sassed.

"Your wife isn't a proper lady," Tyler mumbled, his pink lower lip jutting out in a pout.

"Poor form man, you don't diss family." Patrick Sharp gave Tyler a disappointed look accompanied by a disapproving head shake.

"Kennedy can you type up these notes for me, and send me a copy? Also forward them to management and Coach Ruff." Michelle said as she handed me a thick three ringed binder.

"All of it?" I asked in astonishment. I'd be surprised if I had time to finish it all on the three and a half hour flight to Montreal.

"Yes Kennedy, all of it. This isn't a vacation." Michelle all but spat before walking back towards the front of the plane.

"Playtime's over I guess." Tyler mocked, giving me a somewhat sympathetic expression.

"Playtime's definitely over." I mumbled, grabbing my MacBook and powering it on.

This was going to be a long flight.

Notes

I've been inspired so I thought I'd post another chapter. There probably won't be another one until Wednesday, but if I'm happy with and finish one before than I'll post it sooner. Please comment, rate, and subscribe! Xx :)