One Goal
Part Two - The Big Reveal
PART TWO: THE BIG REVEAL
Doo, doo doo doo, doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo, doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo doo… The familiar sound of Chelsea Dagger filled my ears. It almost made sense with what was happening. I was at the UC after all, and at the moment I was cracking jokes with Patrick Sharp. It all began fading rather quickly though, and the famous goal song got louder and louder…
Confused, my eyes slowly opened. I was awake from my dream and I realized that my Blackhawks themed alarm was going off and it was time to get up. It was my birthday. At around 5 am, I had officially turned 20 years old, and I couldn’t forget too quickly. As I turned off my alarm, I found some birthday messages, one that was sent at midnight from my best friend Kara. We always tried to get each other at midnight on our birthdays. Although I often times ended up asleep before the clock struck 12, she had no trouble managing to stay up.
I rubbed my eyes and replied to her text and the few others I had received before forcing myself to get out of bed. I knew I had to start getting ready. I had no idea what was in store for me, but I wanted to look good for it, at least.
“Happy Birthday Destiny!” my mom chirped as I tromped up the stairs and towards the bathroom.
“Thanks, Mom,” I answered silently. I was never much of a morning person, especially before I had a shower to wake myself up and some food in my stomach.
My house was infected with the chill of winter, so my steaming hot shower felt good. I dried off quickly afterwards and dressed myself with my favorite slimming, black, scoop necked, sequin tee and a pair of my go to skinny jeans. I speedily blow-dried my fine, wavy, light brown hair. I flat-ironed it until it was as straight as it could be and did my makeup, giving myself a pretty shade of pink lip gloss and an intense smoky eye. Once I added accessories and some adorable combat boots, I was ready to go.
“You look cute today. Are you ready to go?” my mom asked when I came into the kitchen. I nodded and grabbed a Pop Tart for the road. It would be about an hour long car ride, depending on the traffic. When I walked out to the car, I saw another familiar one sitting in the driveway. It belonged to my blonde, blue eyed friend, Shantelle. Next to her was Kara, with her thick, dark brown hair straightened like mine. They were both wearing Hawks apparel, probably to support the win they had gotten the night before. Kara was sporting a Toews shirt while Shantelle was wearing a Shaw shirt, who happened to be their favorite players. Kara, Shantelle, and I were all Hawks fans, but out of the three of us, Kara and I were definitely the biggest, most die hard fans, and it almost always seemed to show.
“Nice outfits, you two. Did you plan this?” I laughed, hugging them both.
“I guess you could say that,” Shantelle replied mysteriously. I took a step away, feeling short. I was only an inch above five feet, and almost all of my friends were taller than me. I almost felt like I should have worn heels, just to feel tall for once.
As much as we wanted to just stand and talk for a few minutes, my mom pushed us to get going. We had an hour long drive to Chicago ahead of us, give or take a few minutes depending on the traffic. We all climbed into my mom’s Mercury Mariner and hit the road.
****************************************************************************************************
Finally, we were in Chicago. Giant skyscrapers surrounded our car as we made our way into the city. I felt an excited feeling in my stomach. I loved this city. I didn’t get to come very often, so I wasn’t all that familiar with where everything was. Even so, I tried my best to guess where we could possibly be going once we got to some familiar streets.
“Okay, we’re here now, can you guys please tell me what we’re doing?” I begged, getting impatient.
“Well, we’re going out to lunch first. That’s not really the big part of what we have planned, but I think everyone can agree that it’s lunch time,” Kara announced, chuckling at the loudness of Shantelle’s stomach growls.
“Yeah, we’re getting lunch at Buca Di Beppo, if that’s alright with you,” my mother added. Of course it was alright with me. I loved Bucca Di Beppo! I loved any place that had Italian food, for the most part. I could easily live off of nothing but Italian dishes if I had to.
We quickly arrived there and our senses were taken over. Pictures and paintings covered every inch of the walls, making it hard to know where to look, but in a good way. The smell of pasta and pizza enticed us as we sat down. I heard other people around us ordering things that sounded extremely appetizing, but after giving the menu a good look I ended up ordering the thing I almost always ordered at Italian restaurants: fettuccine alfredo. My mom ordered a yummy looking plate of baked ziti, Shantelle ordered a delicious smelling five cheese pasta, and Kara got some awesome looking lasagna. Not wanting to waste too much, we ate as much as we could while trying to avoid becoming miserably full.
“Okay, so where to next?” I asked curiously.
“Well, the next part is the big surprise,” Shantelle answered, and the mysterious smile from earlier was back.
“Yeah, we can’t exactly tell you what’s next,” Kara chimed in.
“I’m sure it would be just as surprising now as it would be later,” I complained. As much as I loved surprises, I hated waiting for them. And to make things worse, when we got to the car, my mom handed my friends a blindfold.
“What the hell is this?” I demanded.
“It’s a blindfold for you. It’ll add to the effect,” my mom explained with a rather sarcastic sounding tone. It was forced onto me and I sat in the car in misery for about fifteen minutes, waiting and wondering. After those few minutes that felt like hours had passed, I was told that we had arrived at our destination. My hands immediately went to the blindfold, but I felt another hand grab my wrist.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, you can’t take that off yet!” Shantelle scolded me. “You can’t take it off until we tell you. We’ll help guide you inside.”
I felt absolutely ridiculous, walking around in the city blindly. I took the smallest steps possible, afraid that I was being guided the wrong way or that someone would forget to mention a stair step. I felt embarrassed, not knowing what passersby were eyeing me, but at the same time I was grateful that nobody was able to see my skeptical eyes.
It was a little bit of a walk before I found myself being led into a building. A few steps in, I heard the one thing I had been impatiently waiting for.
“Okay, you can take off your blindfold now.”
Without even bothering to try to clumsily untie it, I pulled it off. The first thing I saw in front of me was a group of my friends. Apparently I wasn’t just spending my birthday with Kara and Shantelle. The rest of my closest friends were there too, and the most cliché thing happened as soon as I could see again.
“SURPRISE!” they screamed, and they all raced up to me to shower me with hugs. This was great, I got to be with all my amazing friends on my big day. But I hadn’t even realized where I was. I took in my surroundings and my heart skipped a beat. I was standing in the United Center.
Doo, doo doo doo, doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo, doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo doo… The familiar sound of Chelsea Dagger filled my ears. It almost made sense with what was happening. I was at the UC after all, and at the moment I was cracking jokes with Patrick Sharp. It all began fading rather quickly though, and the famous goal song got louder and louder…
Confused, my eyes slowly opened. I was awake from my dream and I realized that my Blackhawks themed alarm was going off and it was time to get up. It was my birthday. At around 5 am, I had officially turned 20 years old, and I couldn’t forget too quickly. As I turned off my alarm, I found some birthday messages, one that was sent at midnight from my best friend Kara. We always tried to get each other at midnight on our birthdays. Although I often times ended up asleep before the clock struck 12, she had no trouble managing to stay up.
I rubbed my eyes and replied to her text and the few others I had received before forcing myself to get out of bed. I knew I had to start getting ready. I had no idea what was in store for me, but I wanted to look good for it, at least.
“Happy Birthday Destiny!” my mom chirped as I tromped up the stairs and towards the bathroom.
“Thanks, Mom,” I answered silently. I was never much of a morning person, especially before I had a shower to wake myself up and some food in my stomach.
My house was infected with the chill of winter, so my steaming hot shower felt good. I dried off quickly afterwards and dressed myself with my favorite slimming, black, scoop necked, sequin tee and a pair of my go to skinny jeans. I speedily blow-dried my fine, wavy, light brown hair. I flat-ironed it until it was as straight as it could be and did my makeup, giving myself a pretty shade of pink lip gloss and an intense smoky eye. Once I added accessories and some adorable combat boots, I was ready to go.
“You look cute today. Are you ready to go?” my mom asked when I came into the kitchen. I nodded and grabbed a Pop Tart for the road. It would be about an hour long car ride, depending on the traffic. When I walked out to the car, I saw another familiar one sitting in the driveway. It belonged to my blonde, blue eyed friend, Shantelle. Next to her was Kara, with her thick, dark brown hair straightened like mine. They were both wearing Hawks apparel, probably to support the win they had gotten the night before. Kara was sporting a Toews shirt while Shantelle was wearing a Shaw shirt, who happened to be their favorite players. Kara, Shantelle, and I were all Hawks fans, but out of the three of us, Kara and I were definitely the biggest, most die hard fans, and it almost always seemed to show.
“Nice outfits, you two. Did you plan this?” I laughed, hugging them both.
“I guess you could say that,” Shantelle replied mysteriously. I took a step away, feeling short. I was only an inch above five feet, and almost all of my friends were taller than me. I almost felt like I should have worn heels, just to feel tall for once.
As much as we wanted to just stand and talk for a few minutes, my mom pushed us to get going. We had an hour long drive to Chicago ahead of us, give or take a few minutes depending on the traffic. We all climbed into my mom’s Mercury Mariner and hit the road.
****************************************************************************************************
Finally, we were in Chicago. Giant skyscrapers surrounded our car as we made our way into the city. I felt an excited feeling in my stomach. I loved this city. I didn’t get to come very often, so I wasn’t all that familiar with where everything was. Even so, I tried my best to guess where we could possibly be going once we got to some familiar streets.
“Okay, we’re here now, can you guys please tell me what we’re doing?” I begged, getting impatient.
“Well, we’re going out to lunch first. That’s not really the big part of what we have planned, but I think everyone can agree that it’s lunch time,” Kara announced, chuckling at the loudness of Shantelle’s stomach growls.
“Yeah, we’re getting lunch at Buca Di Beppo, if that’s alright with you,” my mother added. Of course it was alright with me. I loved Bucca Di Beppo! I loved any place that had Italian food, for the most part. I could easily live off of nothing but Italian dishes if I had to.
We quickly arrived there and our senses were taken over. Pictures and paintings covered every inch of the walls, making it hard to know where to look, but in a good way. The smell of pasta and pizza enticed us as we sat down. I heard other people around us ordering things that sounded extremely appetizing, but after giving the menu a good look I ended up ordering the thing I almost always ordered at Italian restaurants: fettuccine alfredo. My mom ordered a yummy looking plate of baked ziti, Shantelle ordered a delicious smelling five cheese pasta, and Kara got some awesome looking lasagna. Not wanting to waste too much, we ate as much as we could while trying to avoid becoming miserably full.
“Okay, so where to next?” I asked curiously.
“Well, the next part is the big surprise,” Shantelle answered, and the mysterious smile from earlier was back.
“Yeah, we can’t exactly tell you what’s next,” Kara chimed in.
“I’m sure it would be just as surprising now as it would be later,” I complained. As much as I loved surprises, I hated waiting for them. And to make things worse, when we got to the car, my mom handed my friends a blindfold.
“What the hell is this?” I demanded.
“It’s a blindfold for you. It’ll add to the effect,” my mom explained with a rather sarcastic sounding tone. It was forced onto me and I sat in the car in misery for about fifteen minutes, waiting and wondering. After those few minutes that felt like hours had passed, I was told that we had arrived at our destination. My hands immediately went to the blindfold, but I felt another hand grab my wrist.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, you can’t take that off yet!” Shantelle scolded me. “You can’t take it off until we tell you. We’ll help guide you inside.”
I felt absolutely ridiculous, walking around in the city blindly. I took the smallest steps possible, afraid that I was being guided the wrong way or that someone would forget to mention a stair step. I felt embarrassed, not knowing what passersby were eyeing me, but at the same time I was grateful that nobody was able to see my skeptical eyes.
It was a little bit of a walk before I found myself being led into a building. A few steps in, I heard the one thing I had been impatiently waiting for.
“Okay, you can take off your blindfold now.”
Without even bothering to try to clumsily untie it, I pulled it off. The first thing I saw in front of me was a group of my friends. Apparently I wasn’t just spending my birthday with Kara and Shantelle. The rest of my closest friends were there too, and the most cliché thing happened as soon as I could see again.
“SURPRISE!” they screamed, and they all raced up to me to shower me with hugs. This was great, I got to be with all my amazing friends on my big day. But I hadn’t even realized where I was. I took in my surroundings and my heart skipped a beat. I was standing in the United Center.
7/12/13