PART FOUR: BUTTERFLIES

I had imagined meeting Patrick Kane before. I had imagined meeting the team. But I had never imagined that it would really happen, especially not at my own private twentieth birthday party at the United Center. And yet here I was, staring right at Kane with his perfect blonde curls and his mesmerizing eyes. I had felt a jolt in my stomach as soon as I had turned around and realized what was happening, and now I felt myself blushing. I was just standing there, smiling like an idiot. This wasn’t the first impression I had planned out in my imagination. But as shy as I normally was around new people, I figured it would only go downhill.

The team skated around and began coming off the ice to talk to all of us. Suddenly, I was freaking out.

“The freaking Chicago Blackhawks are here,” I stated blatantly.

“I know! You wouldn’t believe how hard it was for us to keep our mouths shut about this,” Shantelle revealed, scanning the swarm of hockey players for Andrew Shaw.

“Wait, you guys knew about this? You couldn’t give me a little bit of a hint?!” I raged, attempting to fix my hair blindly without even knowing if it needed to be fixed.

“I gave you a hint. I told you there would be more than one reason for you to need your jersey. There’s no doubt you’ll get an autograph or two on that thing. Hell, you could get one from every single Hawk. But Kane most importantly, of course. And Toews. Des, they’re coming!” Kara’s eyes were on the captain of the team, walking in front. My eyes were taking in every player. I subtly pinched myself, not sure if I could believe that any of it was real. I felt the pain of the pinch, though, and the uncomfortable, nervous feeling in my stomach.

“Hey guys. So I’m guessing you’re the birthday girl, right?” Jonathan Toews asked, looking right at me.

“Yep, that’s me,” I replied nervously, stepping forward.

“And your name is Destiny, right?” he asked.

“Yes,” I answered, swooning with Kara.

“Well, we all wanted to wish you a happy birthday and we were wondering if we could hang out with you for a while,” he explained, grinning at me.

“Of course you can hang out with us!” Kara answered for me.

I looked over to the ice and saw Alecia. She was back, and I caught her winking at me. She had set all this up too. I would have to do a whole lot to make up for this. Chelsea Dagger ended and the song changed to I Love It by Icona Pop, one of my favorite songs to dance to. The Hawks started to mingle before I had a chance to dance, every single one of them taking the chance to come up to me and wish me a Happy Birthday. Keith, Seabs, Sharpy, Crawford, and all the other players I had come to love. Every single one of them seemed to be so nice. I actually started to become comfortable being around them, and when I realized that they really were just normal people, I got a little less nervous. At least, until I heard a certain voice behind me.

“Nice jersey.” I turned to face Patrick Kane, once again, and I felt butterflies in my stomach. I felt like such a child, with my dumb little crush.

“Oh, thanks, I thought you might like it,” I smiled, nervously brushing my hair out of my eyes.

“Happy birthday, by the way,” he told me.

“Thanks,” I answered. I was trying my best not to stutter. I was shy anyways, and he wasn’t helping my case. I felt like I was being creepy and staring too much, but I almost couldn’t help myself.

“Hey, since it’s your birthday, we have a few things we wanted to do for you,” Corey Crawford announced, interrupting the terrifying moment. I was almost thankful for the interruption.

“Oh, you guys don’t need to do anything for me. Just being here to surprise me is amazing enough!” I assured them, flattered at the generosity of the team and blushing at Corey’s hand on my shoulder.

“Hey, twenty is a pretty important birthday, we’ve gotta give you something,” Patrick Sharp joined in.

“Seriously, you guys, I really appreciate this and everything, but I don’t need anything…”

“We know you don’t need it, but we want to give you a great birthday,” Sharp cut in. I decided to stop insisting I didn’t need anything and give in. I had already received so much that I didn’t deserve, and I already had people I could never pay back because of this party. I might as well just accept it.

“First of all, we all wanted to sign your jersey, if you’d like of course,” Duncan Keith decided.

“I’d love that! If there’s even enough room on it!” A jersey signed by the whole team was a dream.

“We’ll write small. Well Kaner, you might as well go first, since it has your name and number on it.”

I turned around and tried not to squirm from the ticklish feeling of marker on my back as all of the players put their autographs on the back of my jersey. Shantelle took a picture of the back of it when they were done and showed it to me so I could see it. It was perfect.

“That’s awesome! Thank you guys so much!” I was fangirling hard at my newly signed jersey. I found myself hugging them all in thanks.

“How about some pictures before they go?” my mom suggested, and my heart sank. They had to go already? I guessed I should have expected that. They were professional hockey players. They had no business hanging out with an twenty year old and her friends all night, especially when they had playoff spots to compete for.

“Oh, we aren’t going anywhere yet,” Jonathan Toews said, giving me relief.

“Yeah, we planned on staying for a while and showing you guys around. We heard you guys were going to be skating later anyways, and we wouldn’t miss a chance for extra practice,” Bryan Bickell said.

As suggested by my mom, my friends and I took some giant group pictures with the whole team and then we broke down into smaller groups. I laughed at Kara and Shantelle as they got their individuals with Shawzy and Tazer, which I got some of as well. But then my mom pushed me to get one with none other than number 88.

“Hey, don’t you want one with Kaner?” my mom asked, motioning for him to come over. I walked up to my mom and lowered my voice.

“Mom, don’t push it! This is so embarrassing,” I whispered, wishing she would just leave us all alone.

“Hey, I’m just trying to help. It didn’t look like you were going to initiate anything yourself, and I know you want a picture with him,” she responded. I rolled my eyes without her seeing and went back over to Patrick. He put his arm around me and pulled me closer, which was what I could have only hoped for but I definitely hadn’t expected.

My mom snapped a picture and I reluctantly pulled away. Patrick took out his phone.

“Hey, can you take a picture for me, too?” he asked. My mom nodded and she took his phone from him. Why did he want a picture? I was just another fan of his, just another girl who was crushing on him. What did I matter to him? I didn’t know the answers to any of my questions, but I posed for the picture anyways, and he took his phone back when it was over.

“I just wanted my own picture with the birthday girl,” he explained, smiling at me. It was a million dollar smile, and I loved it, but I wondered why he was smiling at me so much.