PART SEVEN: OBJECTIVES

He was kissing me. Patrick Kane was kissing me. I couldn’t even believe what was happening, but I still enjoyed every second of it. When he pulled away, I was simultaneously happy and sad: happy to see that amazing smile on his face, but sad that the glorious first kiss was over.

“So was that your personal gift for me?” I asked, and I felt my cheeks turning red. I really needed to stop blushing.

“Yeah. I hope you liked it. I don’t have a receipt so I can’t take it back if you didn’t,” he joked.

“Don’t even worry about it, I don’t need a receipt,” I assured him. I found myself giggling, wanting him to kiss me again. This was something I had dreamed about, but it was much better in reality.

“Did you want to go eat? I kinda stole you away from your friends and your dinner,” he realized. Sure, I was hungry, but I could have just stayed there with him for the rest of the night and I would have been happy.

“We can’t go eat yet. I still have to thank you for the present,” I said smoothly. He seemed to know exactly what I was implying, because he eliminated the space between us once again so I could kiss him. This time, both of us avoided ending it. We only pulled away from each other when Patrick’s phone vibrated in his pocket. Apparently it was Andrew Shaw, texting him.

“He’s so dumb,” Patrick remarked. I didn’t know what the text said, but I could only imagine the witty comment he might have had to say. “I guess we better get out there.”

I started to leave the locker room and Patrick was slow to follow, probably answering Shaw. As we headed towards the food, I wondered what this all meant for Kaner and I. We both obviously felt a spark, but he was a professional hockey player and I was just the average young adult, getting through college. Were we actually going to be able to have a relationship? And if so, how would that even work? My mind couldn’t find the answers to any of the questions I had. I knew we would have to figure it all out eventually, but I felt my stomach growling so I pushed those thoughts aside and chose a delicious looking slice of pizza.

“What just happened to you?” Kara asked, as I got myself a Coke to go with my food.

“What do you mean, what just happened to me?” I questioned her.

“You look a little too smiley. The last time I checked, pizza doesn’t usually make you that happy,” she explained. “So what just happened to you?”

“Nothing,” I said, trying to play it cool. I failed miserably. There was no escaping this confrontation, especially now that Shantelle had also tuned in. “Okay, fine. I was just talking with Patrick, okay? You know I smile like an idiot around him,” I lied.

“You weren’t just talking. Tell us what happened!” Shantelle begged. Both her and Kara had to know what went down between Kaner and I. I guessed that they just wanted to hear it coming from my mouth.

“Fine. We kissed. Now leave me alone!” I tried to get away, but they both grabbed me and pulled me back.

“You cannot tell us that your future husband just kissed you and then leave us hanging!” Shantelle said, scolding me.

“Yeah, we need details!” Kara added.

“Like what?”

“Well, for starters, where? I’m guessing this just now happened, but I sure didn’t see it,” Shantelle said.

“He took me into the locker room. He said he had a personal gift for me,” I explained, pretending to be annoyed with their questions.

“And did this gift have tongue or no tongue?” Kara asked.

“Kara!” Shantelle yelled.

“We just met a few hours ago Kara, no tongue!” I revealed, laughing.

“Well, what does that matter? Whether you’ve known him for a year or a day, I doubt that you would say no to a make out session with Patrick Kane,” Kara answered. Okay, so maybe that was true, but I wasn’t going to let her know that she was right.

(PATRICK’S P.O.V.)

“So, how’d it go?” Tazer asked as I searched for a good piece of pizza.

“Yeah, how’d it go buddy? You didn’t give me very much information when I texted you,” Shawzer said, referencing the fact that my reply had been ‘Shut up Shaw’ when he asked if I had scored Destiny yet.

“How did you even know what I was doing? Did he tell you?” I asked, looking over at Jonathan.

“Yeah, I told him. So how’d it go?” Toews repeated.

“We didn’t talk much,” I announced.

“Oh,” they said softly in unison, sounding disappointed for me.

“But I kissed her,” I added, and they perked up.

“Dude, yes! How was it?” Shaw asked, holding up his hand for a high five. I slapped his hand and Tazer’s too.

“I’m not gonna lie, she’s a pretty good kisser. She kissed me too, to thank me,” I spilled, trying to hide my smile. “So how about you guys? Did you two make any moves yet?”

“I’m about to,” Shaw said, and he headed over to Shantelle, who was conveniently talking to Destiny and Kara. I looked at Tazer, impatiently waiting for his answer.

“Not exactly,” he said.

“You should have gone with Shawzy, then,” I nagged.

“No, I’m not going to hit on her in front of everyone,” he said. I glanced over at Kara and then back at Johnny, realizing that they would be a really good couple if they were together. If I had to force the two of them into a room together to talk, I would. He was going to be with her by the end of the night, I would make sure of it. Shaw would most likely be able to charm Shantelle, or at least it seemed that way when I looked their way and saw her giggling and blushing at him. On top of that, I already had Destiny, so it was the Captain’s turn.

As we all ate, it suddenly hit me. How would Destiny and I become anything even close to a couple? It was the middle of the season, and she was only on winter break from college, according to what I overheard from her friends’ conversation earlier. We were both busy, but she lived close enough to Chicago for us to at least see each other when I had home games. I could get her number before the party was over and hopefully convince her to give me a chance, but that was about all I could do for now. In addition to making sure Toews got the girl, I now had yet another objective to complete by the end of the night.