Smile

Saturday
“Hey Johnny Boy, meet the mystery girl last night?” Burish asked with a smile on his face as he walked into the locker room.

“Yea I did. So Sharpie why did Arabella tell me to ask you about tonight?” I asked confused about how he knew her but never told me.

“Well because, you see Abby and Arabella are good friends. Plus she’s a cool girl.” Sharpie said while putting on his gear for practice.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you knew her in the beginning?” I asked slightly mad at him.

“I couldn’t because of the bet that they made. Arabella didn’t believe that a guy would go out of his way to find or chase a girl so Abby made a bet with her. So since you found Arabella, she is going to be sitting across from us tonight.” Patrick said explaining things but I think it just got me more confused. But I couldn’t be mad at him since Arabella was coming to the game.

“Let’s go boys.” Joel yelled into the locker room. Today’s practice was just going to be a morning skate since we had a game tonight.
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“So explain everything to me!” Abby asked me as we were sitting in Starbucks at 6:45 in the morning.

“You were correct and that means I’m coming with you to the game tonight.” I said taking a bit out of my blueberry muffin.

“Lover boy came to find you?! You have to tell me who he is!” Abby asked excitedly. I couldn’t help but laugh at her eagerness.

“You’ll find out tonight because I need to get to class. I’ll meet you at the UC tonight?” I asked grabbing my bag and standing up.

“I hate you! See you then I guess.” Abby said laughing. I had class at 7 and I left Starbucks a little later than usually so I hope I would make it to class.

As I rushed down the sidewalks to my class it was times like these that I wished I had a car. Everything would be so much easier and I wouldn’t need to worry about taxis or metros. But I was only going to be in America for college then go back to France so I told myself that buying a car would be a waste of money.

“Just in time Miss. Arabella.” Professor Ernst said as he was about to close the door while I ran down the hall like an idiot.

“Thank you, Professor.” I said walking in and immediately took the seat next to Emma.

Today’s lesson was…..well I forgot since all I could think about tonight. I just wanted tonight to come already. It was now lunch time so Dean, Emma and I have decided to out and have lunch. We chose CPK since we all were craving something from there. Dean ordered pizza, Emma ordered pasta and I got the Cobb Salad.

“Are you going to watch the game tonight?” Dean asked taking a bit from a pizza slice.

“How are we going to do that? We don’ t have tickets.” Emma said, she was a Washington fan but since she can’t go to their games she got Blackhawk tickets. We bought the 9 game ticket thing.

“Actually I’m going to the game tonight; I got a ticket from a friend.” I said nervously. They knew who Abby was but they didn’t know that she was dating Patrick Sharp.

“Oh yea, Jonathan Toews came looking for you yesterday.” Dean said with his mouth full earning a glare from Emma.

“Why was Jonathan Toews looking for you?” Emma asked slightly hurt that I didn’t tell her about this.

“Well I met him at an art gallery and some how I’m going to tonight’s game.” I said finishing up my Cobb salad.

“If he knew Alex Ovechkin and you didn’t tell me that you met Jonathan Toews then I don’t think I would talk to you.” Emma said laughing while Dean and I just looked at each other and rolled our eyes.

“Caveman!” I shouted earning a high five from Dean but a scowl from Emma.

After lunch I had to head to my interior designer job. I wasn’t really an interior designer but I answered their calls, I was the receptionist. It was the most boring job but it pays the bills so I couldn’t really complain. I sat that the desk from 1-6 and as soon as I was done I quickly made my way to my apartment.

“Sam I need your help.” I said as I opened the front door and started to take off my shoes.

“One step ahead of you.” Sam said popping his head out of my room. I couldn’t help but laugh at his eager face/

“I got a Hawks jersey customized by your truly.” He said holding up a Toew jersey. He cut the sides and re-stitched them so it would actually give me a shape instead of drowning in the jersey.

“Thank you so much, I love it.” I said immeditaly taking off my top to try on the new one. But I put a tank top underneath the jersey.

“Looking fab, wear these heels and coat.” He said pointing to the items laying on my bed.

“You are such a life saver.” I said changing and putting on makeup. I went with a cat eye and lip gloss. I put on my jeans, heels and the black pea coat.

“I try.” Sam said laughing reappearing in my room dressed nicely.

“Where are you going?” I asked putting money, my phone, and keys into my black wristlet.

“You’re not the only one that gets to go on a date.” He said bumping me out of my mirror to fix his already short perfect hair.

We both left the apartment at the same time which was at 7. The game started at 7:30 and it wouldn’t take me half an hour to get to UC. I caught a taxi to the UC and met Abby in front. I was still wearing the coat so she couldn’t see the jersey and Abby doesn’t know that I own one so yea.

“Come on, let’s go.” Abby said as I followed her into the gates and down the stairs to our seats. We were directly across from the Blackhawks bench.

“Now you have to tell me who Lover Boy is!” Abby shouted just as the Blackhawks came out for the warm up.

“Fine.” I said smiling and took my coat off. I showed her the back of the jersey and she just looked beyond shocked.

“Oh My God!” She shouted pointing at my jersey then at Jonathan then back at me.

Abby couldn’t believe that I had met Jonathan Toews and made him come look for me. Of course she knew he would because that was just the kind of guy he was, nice. Throughout the whole warm-up she kept saying how he was staring at us well mostly me but still.

“He’s still staring.” Abby whispered just before the national anthem started. I turned my attention to the number 19 boy who was staring at me as the crowd started to scream the national anthem.

I smiled and mouthed to him ‘good luck’ while holding up my thumbs. He just smiled back before turning forward and focused on the game. Tonight the Blackhawks were playing against the Coyotes. I was hoping that the Hawks would win since they lost Wednesday’s game.

“I hope they win tonight.” Abby said just as the puck was dropped.

“Me too.” I said and that was pretty much at the end of our conversation.

We talked here and there when they played but it wasn’t that much. Fraser scored the first goal just 4 minutes into the game. That got the crowd going wild. Between the periods we talked more during then. There were these two obnoxious guys behind us that kept trying to get our names the whole time.

“Come on sugar, just tell us your name.” The guy sitting me behind me said kicking my chair a little.

“See the guy giving you the death glare? That’s her boyfriend!” Abby hissed at them. I turned around to see Jonathan glaring at the two guys behind us.

“Freaks.” Abby muttered under her breath.

The Chicago Blackhawks lost during the shootout which was sad because this was their second lost in a row. Sure it’s happened before but they were all going on Olympic break soon and a lot of teams wanted to finish strong. We let the fans empty out before making our way to the locker room. The security guard had to make sure the guys had some sort of clothing on and that the press were gone.
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“Hey you’re wearing heels! How does it feel to be above 5 feet?” Sharpie shouted to Ara as her and Abby walked into the locker room.

“Hey you’re wearing a cup! How does it feel not to have a dick?” Ara retorted with a smirk. The whole locker room went into a roar of laughter; it was nice to have a laugh after a lost.

“Sharpie just got owned!” Versteeg said laughing, Sharpie just stuck his middle finger at him. Sharpie then got up from his seat walked over to where the girls were standing and dragged Ara to where I sitting.

“Here, take her. She’s being a meanie.” Sharpie said leaving Ara in front of me while he went back to his own stall with Abby.

“Nice jersey.” I said smirking when I saw that she was wearing my jerseys that could be bought in the stores.

“Thanks it’s my only hockey jersey.” Ara said looking down at her shirt then back up at me.

“Well I feel special then.” I said laughing a bit. Just then Buff suggested we all go out and have a few drinks because we would have a game tomorrow and we couldn’t dwell on tonight’s loss.

“Did you drive here?” I asked Ara as I was carrying my duffle bag on one shoulder and wrapped my free arm around her.

“Nope, I caught the taxi here.” She replied as we stepped outside into the cold weather.

“Well then let me take you there. The only thing is that Kaner is going to catch a ride with us.” I said leading her to my car with Kaner standing in front. It looked like he was freezing.

“Finally! I’ve been waiting here since forever!!” Kaner exclaimed as I unlocked the doors so he could get in.

The drive to the Don’s Burger Joint was eventful. Kaner wouldn’t shut up through the whole time but Ara didn’t seem to mind. Usually I would tell him to shut up after about 5 minutes since he would about the game for a good 5-10 minutes before moving on to the girls sitting near the glass. Of course we’ve all checked the girls out at one point during our careers. It was just that me and Kaner were the younger and single ones we checked out the girls. But tonight Kaner was the only guy who looked at the different girls.

“Hey, Don. Thanks for keeping this place open.” I said after I walked in behind Ara. He owned this burger joint and would let us come to eat and drink after our games.

“Hi, Jon. No problem I just expect a win tomorrow.” He said laughing. We were the only people in here because this place closes at 9. Everyone combined tables and brought chairs over so we all could sit down.

“What are you going to order?” I asked Ara as she looked through the menu.

“Um, nothing I’m not that hunger.” She replied closing her menu.

“You don’t need to feel shame about eating in front of us!” Kaner said flipping through his menu.

“Oh, no I’m not ashamed. It’s just that I’m a vegetarian.” She replied taking a sip from the water that was on the table.

“You want to go some place else?” I asked her. I didn’t want her to starve because we wanted to eat a burger.

“No it’s okay, I’m fine.” She shook her said smiling. It seemed like she could never stop smiling. It was nice.

Dinner was fun with everyone, Ara got along with everyone especially Cristobal Huet since he was from France as well. Of course Ara and Patrick threw some jokes at each other. It seemed like Patrick was an older brother figure while Ara played the little sister that he never had. After dinner I had to drop off Ara before heading back to my apartment. My flight was a 6 in the morning. I felt bad after having to finally found Ara I had to go on a trip.

“See you when I get back?” I asked nervously scratching the back of my neck.

“See you then.” Ara replied kissing me on the cheek.

“Bye Kaner.” She said as she got out of the car and went to her building.

Tonight was one of the best nights I had after I lost a game.