Your Hand In Mine

After waiting for fifteen minutes, I finally saw Alexa. Her excuse for being late? She got lost. How? I don't know. She lives in the city, she's been to the Igloo before, and it's kind of hard to miss the huge ass hotel right across from the arena we were meeting at. But then again, it's Lexa. She can barely get herself around the corner. She was also wearing jeans, a really tight, low cut Penguins shirt, and heels--something I would never be caught dead in. I was wearing jeans, my new jersey, and a pair of Nike's. It was the middle of October, and still fairly warm here.

She bombarded me with questions about Kris. She thinks we're going to fall in love, get married, and have little Letangs running around. Then live happily ever after. One little problem, though. I don't like him like that. I tried telling her this, but she wouldn't have any of it.

We finally got to our seats after getting some nachos. Lex complained about waiting in line and that they were just nachos. She didn't seem to understand though. These weren't just nachos. These nachos were like a gift from God. I'd even give up my first born for them. Well, not really, but you get my point.

After waiting in a line that "could break a heel from standing so long" we made it to our seats. And man, were they some nice seats. We were three rows back from the glass. Kris really didn't have to get us such good seats. I didn't need the best seats in the house. I just liked being there, mixed in with the crowd, even if that meant my seat was in peanut heaven. But by no means was I going to complain about where we were sitting. On the other hand, Alexa complained that we didn't have glass seats. I just rolled my eyes at her and watched the boys warm up.

Kris came over to where we were sitting and mouthed a 'hey'. We gave him a small wave back, and then he skated back to where Max and Pascal were standing. The three of them of started talking, and Maxime motioned over to us. He said something to Kris that made him blush and become embarrassed. Then he playfully punched his arm and skated away to shoot a puck at a wide open net, which he completely missed. Just because people joked around and called him "Superstar" does not mean he's a superstar when it comes to shooting a puck. Well, I guess he did score those two pretty important goals that won us Game 7 in the Finals last season, but it's not like he's exactly racking up the points.

The Pens ended up beating the Devils three to nothing. Sid, TK, and Gonch scored. And it was nice to see someone other than Marty get a shutout. That guy has enough shutouts for every goalie in the league. In my opinion, he should either share some, or retire.

Me and Lex cheered with everyone else, danced to Cotton Eye Joe, and sent a text to the Jumbotron saying something about Alex Goligoski's mustache. We also had some Miller Light spilled on us when the guys behind us stood up to cheer when TK put one in past Marty. They didn't even apologize. And when I turned around to say something to them, they were hugging and jumping up and down, so I just let it go and laughed at the amount of bromance that was going on.

When the game was over, we stayed in our seats until the majority of the fans were gone.

~!@#$%^&*()_+

"We're so going the wrong way. We passed this section at least six times. You said you knew where you were going, even though you've been here a grand total of three times," I told Lexa. She has absolutely no sense of direction. It's kind of sad, actually.

"Ugh," she huffed. "I give up. Will you just ask someone where the locker room is?"

"Why didn't I think of this before?" I mumbled to myself as I walked over to an older guy in a dark green vest that worked there.

"Um. Excuse me, sir, but do you know where I can find the Penguins locker room? My friend and I have done six laps around the arena looking for it," I said to the guy.

"Sure, I'll take yinz there. Just let me see those passes to make sure yinz ain't making this up," he told me.

"Lex! Come here!" I called over to her. We showed him our passes, and he led us down some hallways to the locker room door.

"Thanks," Alexa told him.

"Anytime, ladies. And I suggest you crack the door open and ask if they're decent in there. I don't think yinz would want to see them in their birthday suit, now would ya? I know I definitely wouldn't," he replied and pretended to cringe when he talked about them not being fully dressed before walking away.

"Okay, crack open the door and ask," Lexa told me.

"Um, hell no. You do it."

"No way. It's not happening."

"Okay. Thumb War or Rock Papers Scissors Shoot?" I asked her. This is how we settled everything.

"You can pick."

"Thumb War it is then." We grabbed each other's hand and stuck our thumbs up. "You're going down. One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war." She was fairly easy to beat. "I won! In your face! Now, ask."

"Oh, come on. Best two out of three? Please?" she begged.

"Fine, but just because you're my BFF," I joked with her.

She won the next round, but I came out on top when it was all said and done.

"I won again. Now, open the door and ask. Stop being a sore loser," I teased her.

She took a deep breath then opened the door a little bit. "Um, are you guys dressed or are we going to be scarred for life if I open the door any further?"

There was some silence then it was followed by laughter. A minute later Max popped his head out.

"You definitely wouldn't be scarred for life if you saw me naked. In fact, you'd be amazed," he told us and opened the door up the whole way, revealing himself in only a towel, wiggling his eyebrows at us.

"Ha. In your dreams, Max," I said. He seemed a little surprised that I wasn't drooling over the sight of him, like almost every other girl.

I just kind of stood there a moment, looking around the room, completely shocked and excited that I was actually meeting the Penguins, in their locker room of all places. If I were to die tomorrow, I'd die happy.

As I looked around the room, I noticed that everyone's eyes were on Lexa and I. And I mean, everyone's. If my math's correct, that's forty four eyes. Scary, especially when I don't like to be the center of attention. Thankfully, Kris spoke up and made his way over to where we were standing. "Guy, this is Shane, and um.. sorry, I don't know your name."

"It's Alexa. Nice to meet you," she said with extra perkiness in her voice. I rolled my eyes and heard Kris laugh then try to cover it up with a cough.

"Well," Kris began, "I know you 'ave wanted to meet these guy for a while, so, go for it."

"Really? This is awesome. Thanks so much for doing this. We really appreciate it."

"Yeah, thanks for all of this," Alexa piped up. Kris gave his head a nod, along with a smile.

I walked around the room and talked to each of the guys. They were so nice, it was ridiculous. I found out some interesting things about them, though. For instance, Mike Rupp is a huge Cleveland Browns fan, even though they pretty much suck. Jordan said that he was the best golfer next to Tiger Woods, but said he'd never cheat on his wife. Max laughed at that, and said that wouldn't happen unless hell froze over, twice. Sidney admitted that he called his mom at least once a day. I thought that was sweet. Hell, I don't talk to my mom for a few weeks, sometimes. Max had something to say about that, also. He said that Sid was too much of a Momma's Boy and should grow up. I think Max needs to grow more than Sidney, actually. He said Sid was self-conscious about his huge ass and big lips, too. Sid laughed it off and said Max was lying and that he was constantly made fun of for having a big butt. Alexa talked with the guys, too, but didn't seem to really know what to talk about since she wasn't a big hockey fan. Kris was the only person left that I hadn't really talked to, so, I made way over to where he was sitting.

"Hey. Thanks again for all of this. The guys are really nice," I told him.

"It was no problem, really. Some of the guy wanted to go out and get something to eat.. and I was wondering if you want to come with me?"

"Yeah, sure. Is Alexa invited? I can't exactly leave her here, she'd never find her way back home."

He laughed a little. "Yeah, she can come. By the way, I like that fact that you don't dress up for Penguin game. It just doesn't fit. Not that I have anyt'ing against Alexa, I'm just saying..," he drifted off, scratching the back of his head, trying not to insult her.

"It's okay. It sort of bothers me, too, but that's just how she is, I guess," I shrugged.

He nodded his head. "'ey, I like your jersey," he said as he pinched some of the fabric on my shoulder and gave it a little tug. "I 'eard that guy 'as got some amazing skill. Where did you get it?" he asked with a smirk.

"Thanks. Some guy gave it to me. And you heard that, really? Because that's not what I heard. I heard that he was full of himself, turned the puck over too much, and took too many penalties," I joked with him. He put his hands on his heart and pretended to be hurt. "But the guy who told me that, was just kidding. He really said that this Letang guy was one of the fastest in the league, a great passer, and had some sick shootout moves," I told him.

He smiled. "Well, that guy seem to know 'is 'ockey. Come on, everyone is leaving," he said and we made our way to his car, eager to get something to eat.