Flightless

"Jordan, you cannot be for real! I mean, really?"

The man in question was down on one knee in the doorway of my apartment, a beautifully simplistic diamond and onyx ring held out before him. His hockey bag forgotten on the floor behind him, Max laughing as he squeezed his way passed his teammate to see his girlfriend.

Since the game had been on so early, the team had decided to head back home for the next two nights, only heading to Philly for a short morning skate before game 4. Apparently Jordan had taken it upon himself to visit a jeweller to, "Do this whole thing properly."

Shaking my head at his absurdity, I left him there in the entrance while I tried to work my thoughts into something I could actually understand. The ridiculousness of this whole situation just kept escalating, it was becoming more ludicrous than even the most farfetched Hollywood script could portray.

In the background I could vaguely hear Lucy telling Jordan, "I told you you're an idiot."

Heading towards the kitchen in dire need of alcohol to make some sense of the situation, I could hear Jordan shifting his things into the entranceway before feeling his arm snake around my waist as I twisted the cap off a beer.

"I thought this whole thing was a joke, Jor. Why on earth would you get a ring?"

Jordan was quiet while I took a long swallow of the amber liquid, letting the silence and taste calm me a little.

"Can't you just make this into a good night for me, and complain later? In case you forgot, we got our asses handed to us today. You know most girls would be screaming and jumping up and down if a guy showed up at their door with a ring. And before you complain," he rushed to stop my objections, causing a huff of annoyance, "I love that you're not like those girls. Yes, this whole thing started out as joking around, but it's the first, and possibly only time I'll ever be engaged, so I want to do it right."

Getting sick of him speaking into my ear, scruffy beard scratching my skin with his head gently placed on my shoulder, I turned around to eye him warily. Sincerity and embarrassment laced his features, the latter no doubt a side effect of Max and Lucy still watching us with laughter escaping every so often.

"Please?" He offered the ring once again, using his pout as a very convincing weapon.

Narrowing my eyes at him before rolling them, I held out my left hand. "Fine! You are evil, and as soon as you guys win this series, and you don't score the winning goal this is being thrown straight back at you."

Thankfully, that was the moment TK and Tanger chose to interrupt our little gathering, announcing they'd brought supplies to properly drown out the memory of their awful game. Several beers, half a bottle of vodka and a full bottle of wine later I was cosily snuggled up in my bed with Jordan on one side and much to my fiancé's disgust, TK on the other. Kris had decided the couch was comfortable enough for him, while Max and Lucy had decided Jordan wasn't to be trusted with me by himself.

For some reason a threesome never entered their minds, probably because we were all so passed tipsy that it was a major improbability, not to mention Tyler did absolutely nothing for me, and was very much in love with his girlfriend who I'd apparently met at the game my first night.

I faced grumbling and lighthearted abuse from every angle when we finally awoke the next morning. I was the only one without a killer hangover; apparently mixing drinks had the effect of cancelling out all bad consequences for me, instead of the usual intensifying.

x

After a couple of gruelling practices, the Penguins played like a completely different team in the next game. They were full of confidence, almost to the point of being cocky about taking back this series.

There were a couple of insanely close chances in the first, before the Penguins finally capitalised on their dominance when Captain Crosby followed the puck into the net early in the second period. Much to the crowd's dismay, the ruling stood after being reviewed.

Tyler scoring only a few minutes after Sid had us jumping up and down as we cheered. The fire the team showed made it apparent there was no way they'd lose this game, but we kept from voicing our own confidence in fear of jinxing them.

Philly stepped up their game, throwing everything towards the net but Flower stood strong, stopping everything that came flying his way with a deceptive ease.

The first time Flyers even looked close to scoring didn't come until late in a power play early in the third, with the puck bouncing off the post. Landing only inches from the crease, Marc-Andre was quick to cover it as sticks stabbed furiously, trying to poke it over. The goal light had gone on, but once again the video review went in the Penguins favour.

A rebound off his pads was lifted over Flower's sprawling attempted glove save, closing the deficit to one goal but the Penguins never panicked. They kept at their game plan that had served them well, working with their limited shots on goal.

With only a minute to go the Flyers pulled Biron in favour of the extra attacker, but that only gave Max the perfect opportunity to seal the game with a shot from in front of the bench into a wide open net.

"Someone's getting laid tonight," Lucy giggled as we watched the entire team celebrate the win moments later.

"As long as it's not here, he deserves it."