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Part Nine - All Good Things Must End
PART NINE: ALL GOOD THINGS MUST END
I couldn’t believe it. First, I found out my birthday party would be at the United Center. Then, I met everyone on the Chicago Blackhawks. Next, Patrick Kane kissed me, and now, Jonathan Toews was handing me tickets to a Hawks game. All I could do was take the tickets and give him a huge bear hug. But really, five tickets? Two tickets would have been generous, but five? Alecia must have pulled A LOT of strings to be able to get free tickets for five people. She must have known that my parents would want to go and that I’d want to bring my two best friends with, since she came up with that number. As soon as I got the tickets, I looked right at Kara and Shantelle.
After I thanked Tazer and the rest of the team (because I realized that insisting I didn’t deserve the tickets would do no good), I ran up to Kara and Shantelle to give them good news.
“You guys know you’re coming with me to the game tomorrow, right?” I asked, figuring they knew this was coming and they expected me to take them. But no, they were as surprised as I had been.
“Seriously? You want us to come with?” they asked.
“Yeah, of course! I have five tickets, who else would I bring? It’s enough for my family, but neither of my sisters are here. You two are as good as sisters to me anyways.” I said.
“Holy crap, we’re going to a Blackhawks game tomorrow!” they squealed, excited.
“So, did you guys know I was getting these tickets?” I asked.
“No, we honestly had no idea. It’s really handy that the game’s tomorrow, though. I know your mom hasn’t said anything yet, but at this point, I don’t think she’d care if we told you. We’re all staying here in the city overnight, you, your mom, Shantelle and I. We were going to stay for the weekend, so this is awesome. Now we have something fun to do tomorrow night!” Kara explained.
“How are we going to stay here? I don’t have any clothes or anything, and neither do you guys,” I said, confused. Shantelle just chuckled.
“Your mom packed you a bag of stuff, plus you have new clothes now that you can wear if you don’t like what your mom picked out. And our bags as well as your mom’s are in the trunk of your mom’s car. We all put them in there before you even came outside to see us,” Shantelle said, clearing things up. Wow, they had really planned everything out well. I was waiting for something bad to happen, because I didn’t think it was possible for so many amazing things to happen to me all in one night.
My mom helped me clean up the mess of wrapping paper and tissue paper and we moved all my new gifts out of the way. I tucked the tickets safely away into an envelope and I headed back to the ice to dance some more. By now, there were no more organized activities or surprises, so we all could pretty much do whatever we wanted until the party was over. It was starting to get late, but I didn’t know how long we were even allowed to be at the UC. On my way out, I decided to ask Alecia, who passed me.
“Hey, Alecia? How long is this party even going to last? Do we have to leave soon?” I asked.
“Well, I made an agreement with your mom that the party would basically be over at nine. Which means…you still have about two hours left to party.” Two whole hours left. Good. I wasn’t ready to leave yet. I left Alecia with a smile and I was out on the ice again, ready to dance.
Before long, everyone was either dancing or skating, because some of the Hawks had rallied up a few of my friends to skate with them again. No hockey this time, so I thought of maybe joining them in skating later. This time, Shantelle and Kara both left me alone on the dance floor to skate with Shaw and Toews, so I hung out with those of my friends who stayed and the Hawks that probably wanted a break from skating for a while until their practice and game tomorrow.
“Hey, you’re not gonna skate?” Kaner asked, locating me on the dance floor.
“Not yet, I will later though. We still have two hours, ya know. That’s plenty of time to dance AND skate,” I answered.
“Well, when do you think you’re gonna switch to skating?”
“Hey, if you want to skate then go ahead. I’ll join you later. You don’t have to wait for me,” I assured him, taking his hints.
“Okay, fine.” He was off to put his skates back on. My friends and I danced and got lost in the music for a while, but it wasn’t long before Patrick was back to surprise me. I was dancing when I heard him call my name and before I could do anything to stop him, he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. Now he was in skates, so we were on the other side of the ice in no time.
“Hey, you can’t steal the birthday girl away from us!” a few of my friends chanted.
“Too late now!” Patrick yelled back, going behind the net and then back to the bench, where he put me down on the wall.
“What was the point of that?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I just felt like making things interesting. You ready to skate yet?” What a brat. I had only been dancing with my friends for ten minutes, or at least that was what it felt like.
“No, but I am ready to get away from you!” I told him, giving him a nudge.
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I mean, you will have to come see me tomorrow…you will visit me after the game, right?”
“I don’t know…If I can, then yeah, I guess so.”
“Alecia has some locker room passes for you and your friends to come see us. She said she’d give them to either you or your mom before you leave.”
“Well, in that case, I’ll definitely visit you,” I promised.
I saw more of my friends putting their skates on and I decided to give in and join them. As soon as I was back on the ice, Kara was speeding towards me, beaming.
“Guess what,” she said, trying to keep her cool. I guessed I must have missed something big.
“What?”
“Tazer just asked me out,” was her answer. What kind of party was this? It seemed like everyone was going to leave with a date.
“Really? Like, on a date?” I wondered, hungry for details.
“Yeah. Not tomorrow, but the day of the next home game after that. Before the game we’re going out to eat somewhere and then I’m going to the game with him afterwards! We haven’t decided the exact place or time yet, but I have his number now, plus I’ll see him tomorrow. I can’t believe he asked me out!” Kara said. It was clear that she was still shocked and excited. I was really happy for her. I couldn’t believe how lucky her, Shantelle, and I had been so far. I hoped they would get a few more dates besides just the ones they had been asked out on that night. I also hoped that I would get a date or two out of Kane. He sure did flirt with me enough, I almost couldn’t believe he hadn’t asked me out. I wasn’t going to worry about it too much, though. If we were going to continue what we had going on, then we had a lot of talking to do, and I wasn’t about to waste my party time with that long conversation.
In fact, I didn’t waste my party time with anything. I loved every second of it until nine o’clock hit and my mom and Alecia announced that the party was over. At that point I hugged everyone from the Hawks players to my friends that had to go back home and thanked them for coming and for the amazing gifts they gave me. When I got to Kaner, the hug seemed to last just a little longer than the rest did.
“Hey, before you go, can we exchange numbers? That way I can text you when the media’s done with us after the game so you won’t have to stand around waiting and wondering.”
“Sure. I guess that’s a good enough excuse for you to want my number,” I answered with a smirk. Once we had each other’s numbers, I looked back at my mom, Shantelle, and Kara, who seemed to be waiting for me.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
After thanking Alecia one last time and saying bye to her, my mom helped me get all my presents in the back of the car with the travel bags that had been sneakily placed there earlier in the day. I made sure the locker room passes and tickets were there before we left. My mom apparently had booked hotel rooms. My dad was going to be coming to the city the next day for the game, so she had booked a room for them and then a separate room for my friends and I. We were lucky to find out that there was a Starbucks right next to where we were going to be staying. I knew where I would be going when I woke up.
After all the excitement from the party, we all headed straight to our rooms once we arrived at the hotel and immediately changed into our pjs. I thought that we all would stay up for a while, but we only stayed up for a little while to talk about all the craziness that had happened. I found myself getting extremely tired, so we turned on the TV and I fell asleep to something random on a movie channel, only to have a strange dream that I barely remembered in the morning.
I couldn’t believe it. First, I found out my birthday party would be at the United Center. Then, I met everyone on the Chicago Blackhawks. Next, Patrick Kane kissed me, and now, Jonathan Toews was handing me tickets to a Hawks game. All I could do was take the tickets and give him a huge bear hug. But really, five tickets? Two tickets would have been generous, but five? Alecia must have pulled A LOT of strings to be able to get free tickets for five people. She must have known that my parents would want to go and that I’d want to bring my two best friends with, since she came up with that number. As soon as I got the tickets, I looked right at Kara and Shantelle.
After I thanked Tazer and the rest of the team (because I realized that insisting I didn’t deserve the tickets would do no good), I ran up to Kara and Shantelle to give them good news.
“You guys know you’re coming with me to the game tomorrow, right?” I asked, figuring they knew this was coming and they expected me to take them. But no, they were as surprised as I had been.
“Seriously? You want us to come with?” they asked.
“Yeah, of course! I have five tickets, who else would I bring? It’s enough for my family, but neither of my sisters are here. You two are as good as sisters to me anyways.” I said.
“Holy crap, we’re going to a Blackhawks game tomorrow!” they squealed, excited.
“So, did you guys know I was getting these tickets?” I asked.
“No, we honestly had no idea. It’s really handy that the game’s tomorrow, though. I know your mom hasn’t said anything yet, but at this point, I don’t think she’d care if we told you. We’re all staying here in the city overnight, you, your mom, Shantelle and I. We were going to stay for the weekend, so this is awesome. Now we have something fun to do tomorrow night!” Kara explained.
“How are we going to stay here? I don’t have any clothes or anything, and neither do you guys,” I said, confused. Shantelle just chuckled.
“Your mom packed you a bag of stuff, plus you have new clothes now that you can wear if you don’t like what your mom picked out. And our bags as well as your mom’s are in the trunk of your mom’s car. We all put them in there before you even came outside to see us,” Shantelle said, clearing things up. Wow, they had really planned everything out well. I was waiting for something bad to happen, because I didn’t think it was possible for so many amazing things to happen to me all in one night.
My mom helped me clean up the mess of wrapping paper and tissue paper and we moved all my new gifts out of the way. I tucked the tickets safely away into an envelope and I headed back to the ice to dance some more. By now, there were no more organized activities or surprises, so we all could pretty much do whatever we wanted until the party was over. It was starting to get late, but I didn’t know how long we were even allowed to be at the UC. On my way out, I decided to ask Alecia, who passed me.
“Hey, Alecia? How long is this party even going to last? Do we have to leave soon?” I asked.
“Well, I made an agreement with your mom that the party would basically be over at nine. Which means…you still have about two hours left to party.” Two whole hours left. Good. I wasn’t ready to leave yet. I left Alecia with a smile and I was out on the ice again, ready to dance.
Before long, everyone was either dancing or skating, because some of the Hawks had rallied up a few of my friends to skate with them again. No hockey this time, so I thought of maybe joining them in skating later. This time, Shantelle and Kara both left me alone on the dance floor to skate with Shaw and Toews, so I hung out with those of my friends who stayed and the Hawks that probably wanted a break from skating for a while until their practice and game tomorrow.
“Hey, you’re not gonna skate?” Kaner asked, locating me on the dance floor.
“Not yet, I will later though. We still have two hours, ya know. That’s plenty of time to dance AND skate,” I answered.
“Well, when do you think you’re gonna switch to skating?”
“Hey, if you want to skate then go ahead. I’ll join you later. You don’t have to wait for me,” I assured him, taking his hints.
“Okay, fine.” He was off to put his skates back on. My friends and I danced and got lost in the music for a while, but it wasn’t long before Patrick was back to surprise me. I was dancing when I heard him call my name and before I could do anything to stop him, he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. Now he was in skates, so we were on the other side of the ice in no time.
“Hey, you can’t steal the birthday girl away from us!” a few of my friends chanted.
“Too late now!” Patrick yelled back, going behind the net and then back to the bench, where he put me down on the wall.
“What was the point of that?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I just felt like making things interesting. You ready to skate yet?” What a brat. I had only been dancing with my friends for ten minutes, or at least that was what it felt like.
“No, but I am ready to get away from you!” I told him, giving him a nudge.
“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I mean, you will have to come see me tomorrow…you will visit me after the game, right?”
“I don’t know…If I can, then yeah, I guess so.”
“Alecia has some locker room passes for you and your friends to come see us. She said she’d give them to either you or your mom before you leave.”
“Well, in that case, I’ll definitely visit you,” I promised.
I saw more of my friends putting their skates on and I decided to give in and join them. As soon as I was back on the ice, Kara was speeding towards me, beaming.
“Guess what,” she said, trying to keep her cool. I guessed I must have missed something big.
“What?”
“Tazer just asked me out,” was her answer. What kind of party was this? It seemed like everyone was going to leave with a date.
“Really? Like, on a date?” I wondered, hungry for details.
“Yeah. Not tomorrow, but the day of the next home game after that. Before the game we’re going out to eat somewhere and then I’m going to the game with him afterwards! We haven’t decided the exact place or time yet, but I have his number now, plus I’ll see him tomorrow. I can’t believe he asked me out!” Kara said. It was clear that she was still shocked and excited. I was really happy for her. I couldn’t believe how lucky her, Shantelle, and I had been so far. I hoped they would get a few more dates besides just the ones they had been asked out on that night. I also hoped that I would get a date or two out of Kane. He sure did flirt with me enough, I almost couldn’t believe he hadn’t asked me out. I wasn’t going to worry about it too much, though. If we were going to continue what we had going on, then we had a lot of talking to do, and I wasn’t about to waste my party time with that long conversation.
In fact, I didn’t waste my party time with anything. I loved every second of it until nine o’clock hit and my mom and Alecia announced that the party was over. At that point I hugged everyone from the Hawks players to my friends that had to go back home and thanked them for coming and for the amazing gifts they gave me. When I got to Kaner, the hug seemed to last just a little longer than the rest did.
“Hey, before you go, can we exchange numbers? That way I can text you when the media’s done with us after the game so you won’t have to stand around waiting and wondering.”
“Sure. I guess that’s a good enough excuse for you to want my number,” I answered with a smirk. Once we had each other’s numbers, I looked back at my mom, Shantelle, and Kara, who seemed to be waiting for me.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
After thanking Alecia one last time and saying bye to her, my mom helped me get all my presents in the back of the car with the travel bags that had been sneakily placed there earlier in the day. I made sure the locker room passes and tickets were there before we left. My mom apparently had booked hotel rooms. My dad was going to be coming to the city the next day for the game, so she had booked a room for them and then a separate room for my friends and I. We were lucky to find out that there was a Starbucks right next to where we were going to be staying. I knew where I would be going when I woke up.
After all the excitement from the party, we all headed straight to our rooms once we arrived at the hotel and immediately changed into our pjs. I thought that we all would stay up for a while, but we only stayed up for a little while to talk about all the craziness that had happened. I found myself getting extremely tired, so we turned on the TV and I fell asleep to something random on a movie channel, only to have a strange dream that I barely remembered in the morning.
7/12/13