Dancing Through Life

Steven Stamkos sighed frustratingly when he hit the puck hard; missing the empty net just by an inch, making the puck hit the post with a hollow clang. He turned to his right to find the source of his distraction and saw a young girl no older than he was laughing and giggling as she talked to his team captain, Vincent Lecavalier.

He stopped shooting pucks and stood up straight. He examined the young girl much more closely. Steven was sure he hadn't seen her before. She was pretty with long brunette hair, short –maybe 5'4–, and was average built. She had a sun kissed tan, like she had been spent most of her life in the south. Everything about her screamed average, but she had one of the friendliest smiles he had ever seen.

She seemed really close to Vincent, touching his arm, sometimes even punching it following it with a laugh. He knew that Vincent had a girlfriend and he wasn't the type to cheat, and if he was, there was no way he would cheat in public. He had been with the Lightings for two years now, this being his third and he couldn't remember seeing Vincent with any girl but his long time girlfriend, Caroline.

Watching her for a bit longer, he turned his head to his right when he saw his good friend, Steve Downie skate to his side.

"You seriously aren't checking Brooklyn Church out are you?" he asked rhetorically.

"You know who she is?"

Downie laughed and shook his head. "Who doesn't? That's Caroline's sister. Vincent made a big deal about not touching her when he introduced her to the team."

"Sister? They don't look alike," he commented, trying to find any similarities between Caroline, Vincent's girlfriend and mother of his baby girl, and Brooklyn Church.

Sure they had the same brown hair, but Caroline's was darker. Not to mention Caroline was taller and had a curvier figure. Also, Caroline's last name was Portelance, and the age gap between them would be at least five years.

Downie nodded. "Yeah, she's Caroline's younger half-sister. Same mother, different fathers. She used to live in Orlando with her mom and dad but moved here with Caroline four years ago when her parents died. She goes to school here," he explained. "But seriously though, Vin is super protective of her."

"Don't look now, but your resident superstar is looking at us," Brooklyn pointed out when she looked past Vincent when she felt eyes on her. "He's cute."

Vincent groaned and rolled his eyes. "Don't you dare, the last thing I need is you dating one of my team mates."

Brooklyn shrugged and kissed Vincent on the cheek. "I'll see you later and bring the car back. Oh and Car wants us to pick her and Victoria up from the doctors," she reminded him.

Nodding at the girl that was practically his sister, Vincent took off skating and joined his team members.

*

Putting his things back into the locker, Steven rubbed the back of his sore neck. The locker room was eerily quiet, but he was used to it. He was usually the first one to practice and the last one to leave, practicing his shots and accuracy. Ever since his rookie year where he had a bad first season, Steven was determined to never repeat it and prove to the organization he belonged in the team.

As he began to undress, he stopped removing his undershirt when he heard the locker room doors open to reveal a head of brown hair.

"Hi," the same girl that was with Vincent said timidly when she saw him in front of his locker.

She didn't seemed phased by the fact that he was half naked from the top and kept her eyes on his face, she must have been used to it.

"Is Vin around? I was running a little late and I borrowed his car and he hasn't called me yet. I tried calling him but, he's not answering."

"The coach wanted to talk to him. He probably left his cell phone in his locker."

Brooklyn nodded her head. "I'm sorry, I must come off as rude. I'm Brooklyn Church, but everyone calls me Brooke," she introduced herself and walked over to him, her hand outstretched. She had a friendly smile on her face, making it less nerve racking for Steven.

"Steven, Steven Stamkos, its nice to meet you," he responded politely and shook her hand.

Her smile widened if it was possible. "Well it was nice meeting you. I should let you change," she said, looking him up and down. "I'll just wait for Vin outside. It was nice meeting you."

Steven nodded and gave her a small smile before she turned around and made her way back outside the locker room. Just as Brooke left, the door from the opposite side of the locker room opened, revealing his team mate and captain.

"Did I just hear someone talking?" he asked.

Steven nodded again. "Yeah, Brooke was looking for you."

Vincent nodded. "I see that you met Brooke." Vincent didn't like when Brooklyn would visit the rink or the locker room simply because he didn't like any of his team mates becoming interested in her or vice versa as much as he could; he tried to shield Brooklyn from meeting hockey players in general because he knew what they were like.

Brooklyn was like his little sister and he'd be damned if he ever let his little sister date some cocky and arrogant hockey player who would treat her like dirt. Even though most of them her gentlemen and kind, there were so many temptations on the road, especially for the younger players, even then nicest of guys get tempted.

In his eyes she was still the meek ten year old girl he first met when Caroline introduced him to her mom and step-dad back in Orlando. He remembered it like it was yesterday. Brookelyn barrelling down the stairs when her mother called her saying that Caroline was home. She stopped near the bottom of the steps when she saw her big sister with a tall guy.

It took awhile for Brooklyn to warm up to him, but once she was comfortable with him it was like they've been siblings their whole life. Then when her parents died, Caroline and Vincent immediately offered to take custody of her since she was only sixteen since she had no one else to take care of her.

He had been especially protective of her since her parents died, filling in the role of protective father/older brother since Brooklyn was an only child between Caroline's mother and step-father. And it didn't help that Caroline lived in Tampa with her father and step-mother, so Caroline was only able to visit in the summer when Brooklyn was growing up. It also didn't help that there was nine years between the sisters.

"She probably called earlier and wondered where I was," Vincent mumbled more to himself but it was loud enough for Steven to hear.

"Is she your cousin?"

Vincent shook his head. "No, she's Caroline's younger sister.

"Serious? I never met her before," Steven played it off nonchalantly.

"Brooklyn doesn't visit practice, I don't let her and she doesn't go to the locker after games. She only came with me today because she needed to take the car to buy some stuff for her room and her car is small," he explained, not picking up that Steven was interested in her. "'I'll see you later."

Steven nodded and said his goodbye before stuffing the last of his things into his duffle bag and exiting the locker room a couple of seconds after Vincent. He was a few feet away from Vincent and Brooklyn; he couldn't help but stare at them.

Steven couldn't help but hope that he would see Brooklyn again and maybe be able to say something to her other than his name, but since it had taken him two, almost three years, to meet Brooklyn Church he couldn't help but feel disappointed knowing that this was probably the last time he would ever see Brooklyn Church.