21 Guys, 1 Girl

When I finally got back home that day, it was already 9 o'clock and my roommate was sitting on the couch watching tv. As soon as the door closed, her head spun around and she stared at me like she was possessed. 
"Connie," I said. "don't look at me like that. You're making me feel like I should be afraid for my life."
"Get your ass over here and tell me exactly what happened at your practice today." 
I walked over to her slowly and slumped onto the couch next to her. "That bad? Tell me all about how much it sucked, and then I'll make some popcorn and we can watch True Blood." I smiled at her. 
I met Connie my senior year of high school. We had the same lunch period and we had eaten together a few times, and after a few weeks of knowing each other, we realized we were both going to the same college. Connie Silverman was nothing like anyone I'd ever met before. She's one of those people that don't really give a shit about anyone's feeling and says and does what she wants. She's never tried to spare anyone's feelings. She really doesn't take shit from anyone and she could care less what everyone thinks about her. Not that what people think about her would really lower her confidence though, because everyone Connie meets falls in love with her instantly. Saying Connie's gorgeous isn't doing her any justice. She's stunning. She has red hair and amazing blue eyes. And her skin is pale and perfect. She's also about 6 feet tall. You'd never expect a girl who looks like her to play any sort of sport let alone hockey, but she's always one of the best players on her teams. 
I don't want to be mean to her or anything because Connie's always been there for me, but sometimes I hate how completely amazing she looks. Every time we go out, guys can't keep their eyes off her. It's not like I'm unattractive or anything, but I'm more average than beautiful.  I have straight black hair that goes down to my shoulders, big green eyes and I'm about 5'10". Connie always tries to tell me I look phenomenal, but my perpetual lack of a boyfriend has convinced me of otherwise. 
I look up to Connie a lot. Much more than I'd care to admit. She's like the sister I always wanted but never wanted at the same time, of you know what I mean. I have 4 brothers and that's plenty. 
Connie and I became really great friends in high school and in college we decided we didn't want to live on campus so we got our own apartment. With some financial help from connie's wealthy father who doesn't talk to her. Without Connie, college would be sucking, and I'd be living in a shitty dorm room with a crazy roommate. 
I looked at Connie feeling hopeless and said, "It fucking sucked."
"A little more specific."
"Everyone hated me. They tripped me over and over during practice, and no one passed to me! It was like I didn't deserve to play with them" I finished. 
 "What assholes!" Connie yelled. "Everyone did that? What did Valairy do?"
"Well he flipped a shit in the locker room after practice. But I don't know if that's really gonna do much."
"If it doesn't, you tell me and I'll kick their ass." 
"Oh, there was this one guy who was pretty nice though. He apologized to me after practice. He was so sweet and on top of that, he was sexy as fuck." I told her remembering how great Nash had looked standing outside my car. 
"Oh really?" Connie said suggestively. "Just spend all of your time with Mr. Sexy then. He's a goalie right."  
   I nodded. I'd always had a thing for goalies. I don't know what it is about them, but they really turn me on. They're nice and flexible.
"Which goalie was it? Tucks or Marshy?" 
"Marshall"
"Thank god," Connie replied. "Tucker's. Dick face." 
"You don't have to tell me."
"Well you know what?" Connie said. "I know how to make you feel better." 
I sighed. "How?" 
"We're going to Martha's party tonight." Connie said grinning. 
I looked at her like she was stupid. "You know Martha always invites the hockey team to her parties."
"Exactly." Connie said like this was the smartest thing in the world and she couldn't understand why I didn't get her logic. 
"What the fuck do you mean exactly?" 
"I mean that you've gotta act normal. You've gotta go out and party and look upper than you ever have before on your life. You can't let those scumbags know they're getting to you because then they'll think you're weak and they can step all over you. You have to show them who's boss. We're going to Martha's party." She was smiling like an idiot because she knew she'd won the argument.
"Ugh! I hate it when you say things that make so much sense I have to go along with them." I said frowning, but standing up nonetheless and walking to my room to get dressed. 
45 minutes later I walked out of my room wearing the outfit Connie had chosen for me. Originally 35 minutes earlier I was wearing a green T-shirt and a pair of dark skinny jeans. Connie had taken one look at me before she shoved me back into my room along with a mini skirt and a very low cut red V-neck sweater. "You want them to think you're there to have a good time, not because someone made you come."
 "Hot damn!" Connie said when I came out the second time in the outfit she had chosen for me, and she dragged me to the door barely giving me time to slip on a lair of black sandals. We hopped into Connie's shiny red sports car, a belated birthday present from her father and made our way to Martha's apartment building.
We got there just after 10:30 and after Connie parked I started to get out but she pulled me back in and took some makeup out of her glove compartment.
When she was finished with me, I have to admit, I felt pretty sexy. The makeup, which I never wore very much of, and the outfit made me feel really confidant and I was almost excited to go in there and see the guys after what had happened that morning, but as I got into the elevator my confidence began to falter. 
"I can't go up there. I look stupid." I said. 
"You don't." Connie replied. "You look hot as fuck and all those guys on your team are gonna wish they hadn't been such dicks today."
I gave her a small smile and then turned toward the elevator doors. 
I was ready for this. 
 The second the the doors started to open, we could hear the music coming from the party. It was some kind of rap music, Eminem or Kanye West. I don't really know. I was never very good at distinguishing between rappers because all the music just sounds the same. 
The door was propped open with an empty bottle of beer  and when we pushed it open we bumped into some hammered partyers. They stumbled away further into the party and we made our way in as well. The first player I spotted was Matthew Carson. He was sitting on a chair with a girl on his lap. She was giggling flirtatiously and he had his hands on her ass. 
Then I saw Captain Amazing on a couch with a girl on each arm, and they were hanging on his every word. It was disgusting. 
After Warrenville, I turned to my left and saw Nash. He was standing with Paul Tucker and laughing. I couldn't help but notice how adorable he was when he was happy. When he stopped talking to Paul, he took a sip of the beer he was holding and looked over at me. 
The second he saw me, he grinned and started walking over to where I was standing awkwardly with Connie.
"Look who's coming over." Connie whispered. "I just remembered I have to do something far away from here. 
"What the fuck are you talking about. Don't leave me here alone." I hissed. 
"Too late. Have fun." Connie said in a sing-song voice, then she turned and quickly walked away. 
"Hey." Nash said coming up to me. I noticed that he looked a little nervous and he kept glancing down and checking me out. "You look..." he glanced down again, his eyes shining. "amazing." he whispered. I looked down awkwardly and mumbled a thanks.
"Oh. I didn't tell you earlier, you were incredible at practice. You're a great player and on top of that you looked like all the shit the guys did wasn't even bothering you. I know I probably would have quit the team already if I was you." he said giving me a small smile. 
"Well it's a good thing you're not me then," I replied. "because I'm sure you'd miss me if I was gone."
"You don't even know how much I'd miss you." Nash said under his breath gazing into my eyes. 
I smiled slightly and said, "You're such a charmer."
Nash let out an adorable giggle and I couldn't stop myself from laughing along with him. Suddenly the music got significantly louder and Nash raised his voice to be heard over the music. "You wanna go somewhere a little quieter to talk?" He looked a little hesitant, as if he was unsure of what my reaction would be. I just smile and nodded, and Nash took my hand gently and led me to the door. 
In the hall it was a little quieter, but not by much. "Do you want to take a walk or something?" Nash suggested running a large hand through his hair. 
"Sure." I said, pulling my hand from his and heading toward the elevator. He followed after me and grasped my hand again firmly, tangling our fingers together. "I wasn't finished holding your hand yet." He said quietly, walking forward and pressing the down button. The elevator dinged and the doors began to open. 
Behind me I heard Martha's door close loudly. I turned my head slightly. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Captain Incredible standing next to the door watching us, but before I could turn further to get a better look, Nash was tugging me into the elevator saying, "Come on slowpoke. Coach won't be happy if you're getting out of shape this early into the season."
"Out of shape?" I asked sounding offended. "Come on!" I scoffed. I held my arms out and said, "Does this body look out of shape to you?" 
Nash looked me up and down, then put his hands onto my waist. "Fuck no." he said. He pulled me a little closer to him and moved his hands so they were resting on my lower back. "You're gorgeous." he said. I smiled and looked down bashfully. The doors opened a second later and Nash took my hand again before we stepped out. I hadn't realized before, but my heart had started to beat extremely fast and I felt like I had a fever. 
We walked to the doors outside and Nash said, "Do you want me to walk you home?" I nodded and we made our way to the sidewalk. 
"So." I said trying to make conversation. "When did you start playing hockey?" 
"I've been playing pretty much since I could walk." He said. "I never really had to worry much about what I wanted to do because every man in my family back to my great grandfather has been a lawyer. If I didn't become a lawyer I'd he like, the family outcast." 
"Is that what you really want to do though?" I asked. 
"To be honest, I never really thought about what I wanted because my whole career was already planned out for ms. I know that sounds bad, but I kinda always loved that about my life because I was able to focus almost all of my time on hockey." 
I turned my head to the right slightly and said, "This is my building." 
"Do you mind if I walk you up?" Nash asked, rubbing my hand gently with his thumb. 
"I'd like that." I said quietly walking inside the building. 
When we finally got up to my door I said, "Thanks for walking me up." and I pulled my hand away on order to get my key out of my pocket. 
"I'd love to do it again sometime." He shook his head smiling. "Sorry, that was stupid."
I giggled and leaned up to kiss his cheek. He smiled widely and said, "I'll see you tomorrow at practice Anna." 
I smiled and walked inside. I went into my bedroom and flopped down on my bed. I decided I should probably call Connie to let her know I left. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and quickly dialed her number. "Well, well, well." Connie said slyly. "I expected youth stay longer than 20 minutes. I guess my clothes work magic on the right person. Where's Mr. Marshall now? In the bathroom getting ready for some hanky-panky?"
"No!" I said. "He just walked me home. You really need to get your mind out of the gutter."
"Ok fine. But Nash is so into you. And I believe his infatuation has another badger green with envy." Connie was talking in this whimsical voice that was really getting on my nerves. 
"What the fuck are you talking about? How many drinks have you had? Sweetie do you need me to come get you?" 
"Oh don't worry about me, but a sexy player by the name of Eli Warrenville couldn't keep his eyes off you."
I'll admit, for about 30 seconds, I think I forgot how to breath. 
"What the fuck are you talking about? Are you high and wasted right now? Warrenville hates me. In fact I've never been so sure of anything in my whole life."
"Well, I think you should be a little more observant because I've never seen someone look so angry and jealous in my life. I gotta go, Anna. This party's just getting started. I'll see you later, don't wait up." 
I dropped my phone onto my bed. I could t believe what I was just hearing. There was no way that Captain Fantastic had feelings for me other than loathing. Connie sounded smashed as fuck anyway so everything she said was probably just BS. I decided I would just forget about it and get some sleep. 
I just couldn't get it out of my head though. If what Connie was saying wasn't just a drunken assumption, then maybe the man standing at Martha's door watching me leave holding Nash's hand was Warrenville.