Sequel: Run the Show ›
Somebody Needs You
Chapter 4
Being voted onto the team for the All-Star Weekend, including the YoungAll-Stars, was a massive thing in your career, so when he got the call, Drew had been ecstatic. And as he had no family (that wasn't his parents and siblings) the first person who came to mind was Katie, so after hanging up after talking to his mother she was the first person he called. Inviting her to come up to Montréal with him.
Having school and work, she wasn't able to fly up on the same plane as him, but she managed to arrive just some few hours later.
Paying her cab fare, Katie picked up her small duffle bag and approached the glass doors of the hotel Drew had stated she was staying at. It clearly wasn't a hotel she would have picked if she was footing the bill.
Walking inside the lobby, she looked around the area as she fished up her phone from her bag and broke out in a wide smile as her gaze landed on three boys whom she quickly recognized, though she only knew two of them. Quickly approaching them, she barely had time to say hi before she was wrapped up in a massive hug from Drew.
“You made it,” he smiled widely as he put her back down on the ground.
“I told you I’d be here,” she punched him lightly in the arm.
“Girlfriend?” the tall, very blonde guy asked Luke in what probably was supposed to be a low voice.
“Friend,” Luke replied smiling as she turned towards him, giving him a close hug before facing the tall blonde. “Katie,” she introduced herself. “You're Steven Stamkos,” it was a statement, not a question.
“Nice meeting you,” Steven smiled, shaking her hand.
“You too,” she smiled back at him as Drew grabbed her bag, suggesting that she should get checked in.
Announcing that he was meeting up with his girlfriend to see if she was ready to grab something to eat, Steven headed towards the elevators and Luke slowly followed Drew and Katie towards the large area cornered off for check-in. The All Star-weekend was a big deal and more than half of all participants and families were staying in that particular hotel; it was clearly a lot of people coming and going at the same time.
Upon returning to Toronto after the trip to LA, Luke had looked up Katie on Facebook and sending her a simple message, it had sparked the beginning of a very easy friendship. They didn’t talk any other way besides Facebook and the occasional e-mail, but they had learned a lot about each other in just a few weeks anyway.
Katie learned that Luke, who grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, hated having to miss out on spending the Holidays with his family because of the season, that he was worried about his sisters growing up too quickly and that he loved the life as a hockey player. He got to spend his days doing exactly what he loved.
Luke, in turn, learned that Katie, a London, Ontario native, was in LA to study fashion, design and merchandising, something she’d dreamt about since she was a little girl, even though she’d been a tomboy. He also learned that besides working at the Staple Center, she was interning at one of the many companies organizing fashion shows in the city and she also designed a lot of things on her own, some things that had already been picked up or bought by someone.
Getting checked in, Katie rejoined the two hockey players as they were standing around in the lobby. “Floor 17, baby,” she announced herself, hip checking Drew – he didn’t even move.
“Nice,” Drew smiled widely, draping his arm around her shoulders. “We’re on the same floor,” he nodded towards Luke.
“You two are sharing a room?” she questioned, cocking her eyebrow. “You're allowed to have your own room during All-Star Weekend,” she reminded them, glancing between them as they led her towards the elevator.
“We know,” Drew nodded simply, pressing the up-button.
“Okay…” she nodded slowly. Those two had a weird friendship…
Never having been in Montréal, Katie decided that they were going to go out and check out the city the same night as it was the only time they were off during the whole weekend. Not finding a reason to argue, both Drew and Luke agreed with her and they left her in her room to get ready after she stated that she had to shower, she claimed she smelled like the old man she’d sat next to on the airplane.
Leaving the hotel together, they decided to simply explore before finding some place they could eat at.
“So are you excited to be playing tomorrow?” she asked Luke as they were walking through downtown.
“Yeah, it’s amazing,” Luke nodded slightly, pushing his hands into his pockets. “I mean, it my first season in the NHL and I'm already voted into the All-Stars, it…it’s huge.”
“It is,” she agreed, nodding slightly. “But it also means that you have fans who like how you play, that you're making an impact on the league and that you are really good,” she pointed out. “That’s a really great form of flattery.”
“Aww, you're making him blush,” Drew smiled widely, dodging a swipe from Luke who was indeed blushing and ducking his head to keep her from seeing it.
“I'm just telling the truth,” Katie smiled, wrapping her arm around Luke’s sending a slight glare at Drew. She found the tall, blue eyed man next to her adorable, where Drew was slightly cocky he was shy and bashful.
Spending over two hours on exploring the city, the three of them soon found themselves sitting at a table in an Indian restaurant that seemed fairly popular and ordering things they didn’t fully know what it was, they had a great time together.
Katie and Drew hadn’t known each other more than six month, but they were still really close. And whilst he and Luke had known each other for year through hockey and different tournaments, it wasn't that weird when she was introduced to him and the three of them formed a strange form of friendship circle, triangle whatever. She knew a lot about hockey and therefore they all had common ground as a step-off point and everything just kind of flowed from there.
“So how much do you have to do till you graduate?” Luke asked as they’d gotten both their drinks and their food a short while earlier.
“Two more projects that we’re already in the middle of and a final, massive thesis due in late May,” Katie revealed, taking a long sip of her Coke in an attempt to numb her burning tongue. She loved spicy food, but it always had some bad side effects…
“You're looking forwards to that, right?”
“God yes,” she nodded. “It’s been four years of grueling hell, but at the same time it’s been so much fun,” she smiled widely. “I've always dreamt of going to some sort of fashion school, so it’s been a dream, but at the same time, I'm kind of missing Canada,” she admitted.
“Have you decided what you're going to do after graduating?” Drew wondered curiously. They’d talked about it a few times, but she always gave vague answers or didn’t know what to say.
“Still, no,” she shook her head. “I've actually gotten a job offer in LA, but I don’t know if I want to take it,” she revealed. “I've sort of been toying with the idea of heading to the East Coast, it is more me.”
“Where?” Drew raised his eyebrows at her.
“New York, Washington, Chicago,” she ticked off shrugging. “Maybe even Montréal,” she smiled slightly, pronouncing the city’s name in perfect French, surprising them both.
“You speak French?” Drew asked surprised, he hadn’t known that and if he did, he wouldn’t have insisted on being the one to ask for directions.
“Among others,” she shrugged slightly, she’d found the afternoon hilarious as the boys tried being gentlemanly and make fools of themselves as they tried talking to the people clearly not interested in using English.
“What other languages do you speak?” Luke asked smiling.
“Some Spanish and a few words of Norwegian, it’s where my ancestors are from,” she told them, to her it wasn't a big deal as she’d always been raised to want to know as many languages as possible. The world was becoming more international by the day and knowing more languages was only a good thing, and possibly also a negotiating factor when wanting a job or something.
“You never told me that,” Drew glared at her.
“You know I speak Spanish,” she smiled at him; she had translated once when they’d been out at a Mexican restaurant in LA.
“Yeah, but not the other languages,” he pouted like a five year old who was just told he wasn't getting any dessert.
“Don’t be such a baby,” she threw back at him. “It’s all in good fun, besides the afternoon wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun if I’d been doing all the talking,” she pointed out.
“Hey, hey! What do we have here?”
The new voice caused the three of them to look up and Drew and Katie smiled widely as they recognized the man standing there; Dustin Brown, captain of the LA Kings.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” Katie smiled as the older guy stepped closer and hugged her, quickly kissing her cheek before greeting his own teammate and being introduced to Luke.
“You the guest of these two?” Dustin asked, standing next to Katie.
“In the matter of speaking,” she surged, a smile still present on her lips. “Who are you here with?”
“The fiancée,” Dustin smiled.
“She said yes?” Katie asked surprised as she looked up at him.
“Don’t sound so surprised,” he shot back at her.
“I'm not,” she smiled widely. “I just wasn't even sure you were going to be able to go through with it, last time I saw you, you were shaking like a leaf and she wasn't even in the same state,” she reminded him.
“Right, I suppressed that,” he nodded slightly. “But it was nice seeing you again, though I have to get back to her.”
“Don’t worry about that, give her my love,” she waved off his apology. “I’ll probably see you guys again this weekend, at latest when we get back to LA.”
“Yeah, have a good evening,” Dustin nodded before bidding goodbye to them all and the three of them went back to their previous conversation, the hours passing quickly till they had to get back to the hotel. It was almost vacation, but the boys did have a game to play the next day…
Having school and work, she wasn't able to fly up on the same plane as him, but she managed to arrive just some few hours later.
Paying her cab fare, Katie picked up her small duffle bag and approached the glass doors of the hotel Drew had stated she was staying at. It clearly wasn't a hotel she would have picked if she was footing the bill.
Walking inside the lobby, she looked around the area as she fished up her phone from her bag and broke out in a wide smile as her gaze landed on three boys whom she quickly recognized, though she only knew two of them. Quickly approaching them, she barely had time to say hi before she was wrapped up in a massive hug from Drew.
“You made it,” he smiled widely as he put her back down on the ground.
“I told you I’d be here,” she punched him lightly in the arm.
“Girlfriend?” the tall, very blonde guy asked Luke in what probably was supposed to be a low voice.
“Friend,” Luke replied smiling as she turned towards him, giving him a close hug before facing the tall blonde. “Katie,” she introduced herself. “You're Steven Stamkos,” it was a statement, not a question.
“Nice meeting you,” Steven smiled, shaking her hand.
“You too,” she smiled back at him as Drew grabbed her bag, suggesting that she should get checked in.
Announcing that he was meeting up with his girlfriend to see if she was ready to grab something to eat, Steven headed towards the elevators and Luke slowly followed Drew and Katie towards the large area cornered off for check-in. The All Star-weekend was a big deal and more than half of all participants and families were staying in that particular hotel; it was clearly a lot of people coming and going at the same time.
Upon returning to Toronto after the trip to LA, Luke had looked up Katie on Facebook and sending her a simple message, it had sparked the beginning of a very easy friendship. They didn’t talk any other way besides Facebook and the occasional e-mail, but they had learned a lot about each other in just a few weeks anyway.
Katie learned that Luke, who grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, hated having to miss out on spending the Holidays with his family because of the season, that he was worried about his sisters growing up too quickly and that he loved the life as a hockey player. He got to spend his days doing exactly what he loved.
Luke, in turn, learned that Katie, a London, Ontario native, was in LA to study fashion, design and merchandising, something she’d dreamt about since she was a little girl, even though she’d been a tomboy. He also learned that besides working at the Staple Center, she was interning at one of the many companies organizing fashion shows in the city and she also designed a lot of things on her own, some things that had already been picked up or bought by someone.
Getting checked in, Katie rejoined the two hockey players as they were standing around in the lobby. “Floor 17, baby,” she announced herself, hip checking Drew – he didn’t even move.
“Nice,” Drew smiled widely, draping his arm around her shoulders. “We’re on the same floor,” he nodded towards Luke.
“You two are sharing a room?” she questioned, cocking her eyebrow. “You're allowed to have your own room during All-Star Weekend,” she reminded them, glancing between them as they led her towards the elevator.
“We know,” Drew nodded simply, pressing the up-button.
“Okay…” she nodded slowly. Those two had a weird friendship…
Never having been in Montréal, Katie decided that they were going to go out and check out the city the same night as it was the only time they were off during the whole weekend. Not finding a reason to argue, both Drew and Luke agreed with her and they left her in her room to get ready after she stated that she had to shower, she claimed she smelled like the old man she’d sat next to on the airplane.
Leaving the hotel together, they decided to simply explore before finding some place they could eat at.
“So are you excited to be playing tomorrow?” she asked Luke as they were walking through downtown.
“Yeah, it’s amazing,” Luke nodded slightly, pushing his hands into his pockets. “I mean, it my first season in the NHL and I'm already voted into the All-Stars, it…it’s huge.”
“It is,” she agreed, nodding slightly. “But it also means that you have fans who like how you play, that you're making an impact on the league and that you are really good,” she pointed out. “That’s a really great form of flattery.”
“Aww, you're making him blush,” Drew smiled widely, dodging a swipe from Luke who was indeed blushing and ducking his head to keep her from seeing it.
“I'm just telling the truth,” Katie smiled, wrapping her arm around Luke’s sending a slight glare at Drew. She found the tall, blue eyed man next to her adorable, where Drew was slightly cocky he was shy and bashful.
Spending over two hours on exploring the city, the three of them soon found themselves sitting at a table in an Indian restaurant that seemed fairly popular and ordering things they didn’t fully know what it was, they had a great time together.
Katie and Drew hadn’t known each other more than six month, but they were still really close. And whilst he and Luke had known each other for year through hockey and different tournaments, it wasn't that weird when she was introduced to him and the three of them formed a strange form of friendship circle, triangle whatever. She knew a lot about hockey and therefore they all had common ground as a step-off point and everything just kind of flowed from there.
“So how much do you have to do till you graduate?” Luke asked as they’d gotten both their drinks and their food a short while earlier.
“Two more projects that we’re already in the middle of and a final, massive thesis due in late May,” Katie revealed, taking a long sip of her Coke in an attempt to numb her burning tongue. She loved spicy food, but it always had some bad side effects…
“You're looking forwards to that, right?”
“God yes,” she nodded. “It’s been four years of grueling hell, but at the same time it’s been so much fun,” she smiled widely. “I've always dreamt of going to some sort of fashion school, so it’s been a dream, but at the same time, I'm kind of missing Canada,” she admitted.
“Have you decided what you're going to do after graduating?” Drew wondered curiously. They’d talked about it a few times, but she always gave vague answers or didn’t know what to say.
“Still, no,” she shook her head. “I've actually gotten a job offer in LA, but I don’t know if I want to take it,” she revealed. “I've sort of been toying with the idea of heading to the East Coast, it is more me.”
“Where?” Drew raised his eyebrows at her.
“New York, Washington, Chicago,” she ticked off shrugging. “Maybe even Montréal,” she smiled slightly, pronouncing the city’s name in perfect French, surprising them both.
“You speak French?” Drew asked surprised, he hadn’t known that and if he did, he wouldn’t have insisted on being the one to ask for directions.
“Among others,” she shrugged slightly, she’d found the afternoon hilarious as the boys tried being gentlemanly and make fools of themselves as they tried talking to the people clearly not interested in using English.
“What other languages do you speak?” Luke asked smiling.
“Some Spanish and a few words of Norwegian, it’s where my ancestors are from,” she told them, to her it wasn't a big deal as she’d always been raised to want to know as many languages as possible. The world was becoming more international by the day and knowing more languages was only a good thing, and possibly also a negotiating factor when wanting a job or something.
“You never told me that,” Drew glared at her.
“You know I speak Spanish,” she smiled at him; she had translated once when they’d been out at a Mexican restaurant in LA.
“Yeah, but not the other languages,” he pouted like a five year old who was just told he wasn't getting any dessert.
“Don’t be such a baby,” she threw back at him. “It’s all in good fun, besides the afternoon wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun if I’d been doing all the talking,” she pointed out.
“Hey, hey! What do we have here?”
The new voice caused the three of them to look up and Drew and Katie smiled widely as they recognized the man standing there; Dustin Brown, captain of the LA Kings.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” Katie smiled as the older guy stepped closer and hugged her, quickly kissing her cheek before greeting his own teammate and being introduced to Luke.
“You the guest of these two?” Dustin asked, standing next to Katie.
“In the matter of speaking,” she surged, a smile still present on her lips. “Who are you here with?”
“The fiancée,” Dustin smiled.
“She said yes?” Katie asked surprised as she looked up at him.
“Don’t sound so surprised,” he shot back at her.
“I'm not,” she smiled widely. “I just wasn't even sure you were going to be able to go through with it, last time I saw you, you were shaking like a leaf and she wasn't even in the same state,” she reminded him.
“Right, I suppressed that,” he nodded slightly. “But it was nice seeing you again, though I have to get back to her.”
“Don’t worry about that, give her my love,” she waved off his apology. “I’ll probably see you guys again this weekend, at latest when we get back to LA.”
“Yeah, have a good evening,” Dustin nodded before bidding goodbye to them all and the three of them went back to their previous conversation, the hours passing quickly till they had to get back to the hotel. It was almost vacation, but the boys did have a game to play the next day…
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I'm really not sure about the ending on this one...