A Shot in the Dark

“Hey. I know Patrick told you he was picking you up, but he had to go get Amanda from the airport, so I’m here instead.” He said with a grin.
“Oh that’s even better! We can get to know each other better before we see Pat and Amanda.” God I was so awkward.
“We’ll have a bunch of time to get to know each other. Pat and Amanda will only be paying attention to each other. They haven’t seen each other in two weeks, and Patrick was getting kind of desperate to see her.” he said.
We got into the car and started the drive to Gino’s Pizza where we were all going to have lunch. Teuvo and I talked about numerous things including his move to America.
“Yeah, it was pretty hard in the beginning considering I barely knew the language. It’s also hard to come without knowing anyone and you’re expected to perform at your best. Even though things on the ice were going great, I missed my family a lot. I was really close to just going back home.” he said
“Why did you stay?”
“Well half because I knew I wouldn’t get this offer again, and because my mom made me.” he said laughing, “She said I was being a baby and I needed to get over it. Some parent huh?”
“She sounds great”
“Oh she’s something.” he said as we pulled into the Gino’s parking lot.
When we parked, Teuvo opened my door for me and we walked down the street to Gino’s.
As we walked in we saw Pat and Amanda sitting at a table. Amanda was absolutely gorgeous, I can see why Pat loves her. They waved us over, and Pat had a huge smile on his face. His happiness was always contagious. When we were dating, we would spend almost all of our time laughing. Ok, I need to stop thinking about Pat. Teuvo is a super nice guy and honestly I can see myself with him. I just can’t stop seeing myself with Pat.
“So Taylor, were you excited to see Pat after such a long time?” Teuvo asked me.
“Was definitely a surprise, but yes I was. Pat is like a brother to me!” I said. I was trying not to be awkward but it wasn’t going too well. I hope that Pat isn’t noticing how awkward I am.
The rest of the lunch went pretty smooth, and after lunch Teuvo and I walked back to his car. On the way back to my apartment he told me more stories about life in Finland and I told him all about my Aunt’s restaurant and about my family. Teuvo was absolutely adorable.
“It was nice hanging out with someone other than the guys for once.” Teuvo said as he walked me to my door, “As much as I love them, they can be pretty annoying at times.”
I turned to face him as we arrived at my door, “Well it was nice to hang out with somebody who isn’t Patrick or my brother. As much as I love them both, they’ve always been annoying.”
He laughed at my comment, “Maybe we could do it again sometime. Without your annoying best friend.”
“That would be fun. I’ll talk to you later Teuvo” I said while opening my door.
“See you later Taylor” Teuvo said with a smile.
As soon as I got into my apartment, I could not stop smiling. Teuvo was honestly so sweet and funny. He made me forget all the things I had been thinking about Pat. I spent the rest of the night chilling out since I had a long day at work the next day.
The next morning I woke up to two texts on my phone, one from Pat and the other from an unknown number. I decided to open the text from Patrick first.
Patty: Need a date for the team dinner tonight. Amanda went to visit family. You in?
I responded to Patrick asking if I could bring a friend along. I know Grace doesn’t know many people around the city. I doubt she’ll turn down the offer to hang out with new people.
Once I finally got Patrick to agree to letting Grace tag along tonight, I opened the text from the unknown number.
Unknown: I had an amazing time with you yesterday. We have to do it again sometime. Without your annoying best friend ;) Hope your day is as amazing as you are -T
This kid has to be the cutest person alive. I sent him back a simple reply telling him to have a great day as well. I decided to not mention that I would be at the team dinner tonight and surprise him.
When I finally decided to get out of bed it was 8AM. I quickly got in the shower and got dressed. I don’t have an exact scheduled time to arrive at the restaurant, but I do like to get there around the same time the chefs begin to arrive. I don’t really do anything except supervise and make sure the guests are satisfied.
After I was finally dressed and ready to go, I grabbed a banana and left my apartment. God I love this city. I am starting to love it more since I have reconnected with Pat. Ok, I have to keep Pat off my mind, I have a busy day ahead of me.
When I walked into the restaurant, Grace was already inside sorting out silverware. I decided now was the best time to ask her to go with me to the team dinner tonight. I had a feeling she wouldn’t want to go, but I was going to find a way to make her.
“Hey Grace, I have a question for you”, I said.
“Hey Taylor, what’s up? By the way sorry I couldn’t go to lunch with you the other day, just had an insanely huge test to study for.” She said.
“No Grace you’re fine, I was actually going to ask you if you wanted to go to dinner with me and some of my friends tonight. I don’t know everyone who is going, so it would be nice to have a friend there,” I said hoping she would say yes.
“Oh for sure, that sounds fun! I’ve been locked in my room studying for the last week, so it will be nice to get out into the real world,” she said laughing.
“Great I’ll see you tonight, make sure to look cute, there will be lots of boys,” I said laughing. I really feel like I wasn’t preparing her for this. Oh well.
The rest of the day went by super fast because of how busy we were. The one positive of how busy we were is that it gave me no time to think of the team dinner.I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. Even though I had met the entire team already, I have never really been in a situation where I would actually have to talk to them.I know Patrick wants me to love his team just as much as he does, so it would be nice if I don’t mess this up.
I decided that it would be best for Grace and I to leave the restaurant before the dinner rush came in. I practically had to force Grace to leave the restaurant and get ready for dinner. I told her I would pick her up in 2 hours.
It was around 5:30 when I arrived back to my apartment. I took a quick shower and began to curl my hair and apply my makeup. When I finally finished there was a knock at the door. I knew it was Patrick since he said he would be here at 7 and it’s already 7:15. He always seemed to be late. I learned to love it when we dated. I opened up the door to find a smiling Pat, he looked absolutely adorable.
“You look great Taylor, ready to go?” he said with a smile.
“Thanks Pat, you look great too. Yep, we just have to pick up Grace on the way.” I said. I had told Pat about Grace, but he hadn’t met her yet.
The ride over was filled with Patrick constantly apologizing for the late notice on dinner tonight. Apparently Amanda’s grandma caught the flu and she had to fly home.
When we arrived at Grace’s she walked out wearing a cute sundress. She dressed perfectly for the occasion. The minute she got into the car, I could tell she was nervous. Grace barely knew anything about hockey, so she probably had no idea what she was getting herself in to. Patrick introduced himself and they immediately got to talking about her job at the restaurant. At least they were getting along.
“So how did you meet Taylor?” she asked one the conversation died down.
“Oh god, please do not tell this story” I groaned.
Patrick smirked, “Oh it’s actually quite the story. You see my beautiful friend here wasn’t exactly the most popular girl in our fifth grade class, in fact most of the girls were creeped out by her because all she wanted to talk about was hockey. Now even though she wasn’t into the same movies in clothes as the other girls, she was definitely into the same guy. Joseph Williams.”
“Patrick stop. Now.”
“You see Joseph was every girl’s dream guy. He was nice, funny, and had good hair, but the icing on the cake, especially for Taylor was the fact that he played hockey. Now he was no star player like myself, but for whatever reason Taylor and every other girl in our school were flat out in love with him. It was sickening. As annoying as it was to watch all the girls love Joe, he was like a brother to me. We had played on the same hockey team for years.”
“So you and Taylor met through Joseph?” Grace asked, interrupting his story.
“Well kind of. Taylor actually thought she had a shot with the kid.”
“I did have a shot with him thank you very much” I interfered.
He laughed, “No you didn’t. He didn’t even know she went to our school. She literally walks up to him and he asks who she is.”
“Pat does this story really need to be told?” I said as Pat and Grace were dying of laughter.
“Hey Taylor, at least you met me. After Taylor was turned down I started talking to her because who doesn’t love a girl who talks hockey right? We have been best friends since. Joe was an idiot for turning her down like that. But hey, his loss was my win.” He said with a smile.
I know Patrick doesn’t realize how much his words mean to me, but the move to Chicago has not been the easiest thing for me. Hearing that he still cares about me just as much as he did 10 years ago means the world to me.
After the 30 minute drive into downtown Chicago, we arrived at the restaurant the dinner would be held at.

Notes

Guys we are so sorry it has been forever!!!! We are going to try and write and update more, but for now here is a new chapter!