The Last Goodbye

Patrick looked around the rink, trying to remember which girls he hadn’t skated with yet. The executives had told him to make sure he spent time with each girl on every date, not only so no one could claim bias on his part, but also so that they had footage of him with every girl for the episodes that aired.

“Leah,” he smiled, skating over towards her. “How have I missed you all day?” he asked, and she turned around to look at him.

“Maybe because you’ve been too busy staring at all of the other girls today,” she suggested with a smile. Over the past few days, he had learned that Leah was direct and straight-forward, not afraid to say what was on her mind, and that was something that had drawn Patrick to her. He was used to people saying what they thought he wanted to hear, and to be around someone like Leah was refreshing to him.

“But, now my eyes are all on you,” he told her, reaching out his hand, which she immediately took. “So, how long have you been ice skating for?” he asked her when he noticed that she was having no problem staying on her feet, unlike quite a few of the girls.

“I learned how to skate when I was about ten. I haven’t really done it on a consistent basis, but it’s kind of like riding a bike. You never forget once you learn,” she told him. They continued talking for a little while longer before Patrick told her that he had one last girl to spend time with before they had to leave in fifteen minutes. “I’ll see you later,” Leah flashed a smile his way.

Patrick nodded his head, looking around the ice rink for Raylene, the only other person he hadn’t spent one-on-one time with today. “Raylene,” Patrick called out, and she expertly stopped on her skates, and Patrick skated over to her. “You’re not new to the ice, are you?” he asked, noticing the way she had stopped on a dime.

“No,” she said with a small laugh. “One of my foster families was obsessed with hockey, and they taught me how to play when I was younger,” she replied. She didn’t talk about her past very often, but she had told Patrick that she had been in foster care since she was four, though she didn’t go into much detail beyond that.

“So, you know how to play hockey?” Patrick asked.

“Yeah,” Raylene nodded her head.

“Are you any good?” he inquired.

“I don’t know about now, but I was fairly good when I was younger.”

“I challenge you,” Patrick said.

“What?” Raylene questioned. “You can’t challenge me!” she exclaimed. “How is that fair in any way? You’re a professional hockey player. I’m a paramedic. I think you’ve got me beat,” she pointed out.

“I’ll play goalie,” Patrick suggested. “Obviously, I don’t play goalie very much, so we’d be even,” he continued, and Raylene rolled her eyes at his logic. “You try to get the puck past me.”

Raylene contemplated it for a bit before saying, “Fine. But, what do I get if I win?”

“Bragging rights,” Patrick shrugged. “I mean, you would have beaten a professional hockey player at his own game,” he reminded her.

“Fine, but we don’t have a puck, or sticks for that matter,” she pointed out. Without a word, Patrick skated over to the bench, pulling out two sticks and a puck, seemingly out of thin air.

“What are you doing?” Adam asked him, skating over to him.

“Raylene and I are having a little challenge,” he replied, skating back over to Raylene, with Adam following him. “She used to play hockey when she was younger, and I decided to challenge her. She’s going to try to get the puck past me,” he explained, throwing the puck on the ice.

“You’re going to play goalie?” Adam questioned, and Patrick nodded his head, skating towards the net at the end of the rink. Adam looked over at Raylene, asking, “So, you’ve played before?”

She nodded her head. “Yeah, when I was younger, but I haven’t in a long time. I have a feeling that I’m going to look like a complete idiot,” she admitted.

Adam bent down, whispering something into her ear, and Raylene looked up at him suspiciously. “Can you do that?” he asked, and she nodded her head, still not sure if she should take his advice or not. “I’m telling you, it’ll work,” he assured her, and she smiled at him before skating over to the puck.

“I’m ready when you are!” Patrick called out, and all of the other girls had stopped what they were doing, all of their eyes on Raylene and Patrick. Raylene skated down the ice with the puck on her stick, stopping about ten feet in front of Patrick, letting the puck rest on the end of her stick. “What are you doing?” Patrick asked, wondering if something was wrong, as Raylene looked back at Adam, who was nodding his head with a smile on his face.

Patrick looked at Adam wondering what was going on, and at that moment, Raylene brought her stick back, smacking the puck as hard as she could at Patrick, who was caught off guard by the shot. She watched as the puck sailed past Patrick’s head, right into the upper right corner of the net.

“Woooo!” Adam yelled, as he skated over to Raylene, putting his hands on her waist, lifting her up, and spinning her around. “Hell yes, that’s what I’m talking about!” he exclaimed, putting her back down on the ice and skating over to Patrick, gloating about how he had just gotten beat by Raylene.

“You told her to do that, didn’t you?” Patrick questioned, narrowing his eyes at Adam, who simply shrugged his shoulders innocently. “You tricked me,” he complained.

“She simply outplayed you,” Adam argued, as Raylene skated over to the two men. Adam put his arm around her shoulder, telling her, “Good job. Now you can tell everyone that you’re better than Patrick Kane at hockey.”

“Sorry,” Raylene apologized to Patrick, realizing he wasn’t happy that she had beaten him.

“Don’t apologize to him!” Adam chastised. “You did nothing wrong.”

“Except take Bur’s advice and cheat!” Patrick argued.

“She didn’t cheat! You’re just a sore loser!” Adam exclaimed.

“She cheated. I totally could have beaten her if you hadn’t told her to distract me!”

“You’re just upset because she’s better than you are in a shootout,” Adam told him.

“No, she’s not!”

“Guys!” Raylene called out, wanting the two of them to stop fighting with each other, but they ignored her.

“Yes, she is,” Adam stated. “She’s one for one in shootouts, meaning she’s got a one hundred percent record. You’re way under a hundred percent.”

“She wasn’t shooting against a real goalie!” Patrick argued.

“Guys!” Raylene yelled even louder, causing both men to look at her. “Stop arguing,” she told them. “Adam, thank you for defending me, but Pat’s right, I did trick him. And, he’s not a professional goalie, so there’s really no reason to compare our shootout records,” she added with a laugh, realizing how ridiculous she sounded right now, talking about comparing her shootout record to Patrick Kane.

“You’re still better than he is,” Adam muttered.

“Adam!” Raylene warned, and he stopped talking. “Thanks for the challenge, Pat, but I think I’m going to have to pass on them from now on,” she told him with a smile as Delaney called out that it was time for all of the girls to leave now. “I’ll see you later,” she added, waving to both of them.

“Bye,” Patrick called out to her, as he watched all of them file off the ice.

“You’re such a sore loser,” Adam told him, skating off the ice as well.

Delaney looked out at the ice, seeing Patrick was still out there, well after everyone else had already left the rink. “Pat, you coming?” she yelled out to him.

“Do you think there’s any way I can stay out here a little longer?” he asked her.

She could see that he really wanted to stay, and she nodded her head. “Sure, I’ll have a car come pick you up later,” she said, walking towards the door.

“Wait!” he called out, and she turned back around to see what he wanted. “Why don’t you stay a little longer,” he suggested.

“I don’t think so,” she told him.

“Come on, I have to teach you how to skate. Don’t think I forgot about it,” he told her.

She shook her head, but he knew she was about to cave in. “Fine,” she sighed. “Let me go tell the driver I’m staying here for a little while longer,” she said, running out to the car and then back inside to see Patrick skating around on the ice, shooting the puck in the empty net.

She stared at him a while longer before he turned around and saw her standing there. “Well, put some skates on,” he said, skating over to the bench. She slowly sat down on the bench, reaching for a pair of skates, trying to find her size before putting them on.

Standing up, she suddenly stopped. “Can I just say that I am not the most coordinated person,” she told Patrick. “So, this probably isn’t the best idea in the world.”

“Come on,” Patrick insisted, taking her hand, and guiding her out onto the ice. Thirty minutes later, Delaney had finally gotten the hang of skating, and she was able to get from one point to another with the aid of Patrick. “Okay, why don’t you try it once on your own?” Patrick suggested, letting go of her waist, which he had been holding on to.

“Okay,” Delaney said, unsure of herself, as she slowly started skating in the opposite direction. She was doing well until she got near the end of the rink. “Pat!” she yelled out, suddenly realizing she didn’t know how to stop on skates. “Pat!” she cried once again, and Patrick skated over to her as fast as possible. But, he wasn’t fast enough, as she promptly slammed into the end boards, immediately falling to the ice.

“Oh my God, Delaney!” Patrick yelled, stopping next to her and bending down on one of his knees, trying to help her sit up. “Are you okay?” he asked her, worriedly.

“Ow,” she said, rubbing the back of her head that had hit the ice.

“Sorry,” he apologized. “It didn’t even register with me that you hadn’t stopped on your own yet,” he admitted.

“Thanks a lot,” Delaney said sarcastically, laughing at the end to let him know she wasn’t too angry at him.

“Here, let’s get you up,” he said, extending his hand. She took it, but as she put one skate blade on the ice and tried to stand up, she immediately fell back onto the ground, accidentally pulling Patrick down with her, only to have him land on top of her.

She tried to sit up as Patrick tried to stand up, and her forehead pounded against Patrick’s, causing both of them to fall back down, laughing. Patrick resituated himself, making sure most of his body weight was off of her. He looked down into her eyes, and Delaney instantly stopped laughing, knowing what was going to happen next. Almost as if it were in slow motion, Patrick leaned down, kissing Delaney. He was surprised when he felt her kiss back, but nothing shocked him more than right when he ran his tongue along her lower lip, she immediately pushed him off, scurrying to get up off the ice. In the process, she ended up falling three times before she finally succeeded in standing on her skates, and she skated back to the bench as fast as she could, trying to keep her balance.

“Delaney!” Patrick called, skating after her, easily catching her as they reached the bench. “Delaney, talk to me,” he requested, putting a hand lightly on her arm.

“I…not right now,” she told him, shaking her head, as she pulled her skates off of her feet, grabbed her shoes and sprinted out of the door of the rink, leaving Patrick on the ice, wondering what to do.