My prince in shining hockey armor

The fact that I had finally realized that I was in love with Geno didn’t mean that I was going to do anything about it. I was certain that it was a lost cause, and it would be foolish to risk my heart on a feeling that couldn’t be returned. So, I did what every confused and slightly emotionally challenged person would do: I started avoiding any sort of contact with him.

My plan didn’t quite work out the way wanted it to. For starters, it was part of my job to be around him, so I couldn’t completely avoid him. And I couldn’t just stop talking to him; it would be noticeable that something was going on with me, and the last thing I wanted was to have everyone making questions.

I was able to make things work for about a week. I remained hidden in my office and put all my attention in the stuff that needed to be done. No one questioned me, after all, we were all drowning in work and the players were a bit distracted with the winning streak and the cameras following them around.

It almost seemed as if my plan could actually work. But then the worst day I’d had in a very long time happened.

First I woke up late and had to rush like a madwoman to get on time to work. When I finally got to Consol I was informed that one of my co-workers couldn’t make it in so I had to cover for her. Little thing after little thing just kept piling up until I exploded thanks to yet another prank from the boys.

They thought it would be funny to put a bunch of glue boards outside my office door. And of course, when I decided I needed a cup of coffee to get me trough the rest of the day I got the damn things stuck to my fabulous shoes.

I took my heels of and marched to the locker room with them in hand. Practice had finished nearly an hour before so most of the guys were just finishing getting ready to leave.

“Not funny guys,” I said barging in holding up my ruined shoes. Some of them started to laugh but as soon as they noticed I wasn’t amused the laughs faded. “Not funny at all,” I added sounding upset.

They didn’t say anything and just starred at me. I simply shook my head and turned to leave. I could hear them whisper as soon as I was out the door.

I locked myself in my office and attempted to calm down. If I didn’t manage to get a grip I wouldn’t be able to finish all that I needed to take care of. Not five minutes after my little appearance at the locker room there was a knock on my door. I was reluctant to answer but it could be my boss so I ended up telling whoever was outside to come in.

It was Geno, of course.

“Hi,” he said looking a little uncomfortable.

“Hello Geno,” I said back trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

He took a seat across my desk and stayed silent for some long minutes that were absolutely excruciating for me. But I wasn’t about to start a conversation, I was in no mood and he’d been the one that came looking for me.

“You okay?” he finally asked, more concern that I had expected him to sound.

“I’m fine.”

He looked incredulous at me but didn’t argue my answer. “You mad at me?”

I hadn’t expected him to ask me that even thou I should have, I had been distant with him and it was just a matter of time before he noticed, and my little outburst probably didn’t help my cause.

“No, not at all.”

“You not talk to me anymore,” he reasoned.

“I’m busy and I have a million things going through my mind. But I’m not angry at you,” I tried to explain.

I thought he would be satisfied with my logic but no.

“You not smile or laugh with me either,” he added, obviously not satisfied with my answer. “It like you not want to be my friend.”

“Geno… I just don’t have the time to hang out with you right now.”

“There is something weird with you,” he continued. “I not know what but you different.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say.” I was starting to get annoyed. I honestly didn’t know what to tell him, because saying ‘I realized that I’m in love with you and I don’t know what to do about that’ was most definitely not an option.

“Just say what happening with you,” he answered, as if it was the simplest thing to do. “We always tell when we not feel good.”

“I’m perfectly fine Evgeni,” I tried once again but my upset tone betrayed me.

He didn’t argue; he simply remained there sitting across from me and looking at me as if trying to find the mystery of life scribbled on my forehead.

“Stop that,” I said. His scrutiny was beginning to get on my nerves.

“No until you talk to me,” he said sternly. If there was something I had learn about Geno was that he was very determined and even more stubborn than me.

“Fine!” I exclaimed. “I’m having an awful day okay,” I finally gave in, “I have tons of work, a headache from hell and I can’t concentrate to save my life. If that wasn’t enough, my brother called to tell me he can’t come up for Christmas. And to top it all off your teammates decided it would be funny to ruin my favorite shoes which happen to be Louboutins,” I spitted out so fast that I wasn’t sure if he’s understand me. “So excuse me if I’m not in a mood talk to you… the one person in the world that makes everything even more complicated for me right now.” I didn’t even realize what I was saying until the words left my mouth, and I regretted them immediately.

Once I realized what I had just implied I bolted from there. I left him sitting in my office while I ran bare foot through the hallways and eventually to my car. I sat in the front seat of my red Volvo for god knows how long thinking about what had just happened.

Geno probably thought I was crazy; I had just gone off on him for no reason. I hated that I had acted that way, that I wasn’t able to control myself. I felt like a teenage girl all over again and it wasn’t a good feeling at all. I decided that I needed to start acting like the twenty-four year old woman that I was and deal with my emotions with maturity, like I always had.

I went back to my office after finding the pair of ballerina flats I kept in my car. Luckily when I got back the giant Russian wasn’t there anymore. I was determined to stop letting my feelings for Geno get in the way of my life.

Apparently Geno wasn’t going to make things easy for me. Next morning when I got to work there was a box wrapped in gold paper with a little a card on top that read: “Everything will be okay - Geno”.

Inside the box I found a brand new pair shoes, exactly like the ones that had been ruined the day before.