Into Yesterday

“You like him, don’t you?” Charlotte’s voice brought Roxie out of her reverie.

“What are you talking about?” the twenty-year-old asked, turning and looking at the only friend she still had in Tampa. She didn’t count her uncle, aunt and cousin, because they were family.

“Stamkos, you like Stamkos.” Roxie should have known better than to start drinking anything; she tried not to coke on her water, coughing as her mouth was finally free of any liquid. Her throat burned with the effort of not coking on her water.

“The only way I like him is as a hockey player. I don’t like him in any other way.” Roxie stared at Charlotte, who stared at Roxie. They were silent for a moment, and the bubbly blonde finally shrugged, turning her attention once more to the hockey game going on in front of the. Roxie was cold in the building, and she was glad she had stolen her uncle’s hoodie. Not only was she now warm, she also didn’t have to hear shit about not supporting the Lightning, because she was clearly wearing a Bolts hoodie.

“Well, whatever you say, Roe,” Charlotte replied her eyes following the little puck with almost little effort. Even though Roxie was born and raised in Canada, she was just not that hype on hockey. She preferred soccer. “I still think you like him more than you let on.”

“And what has lead you to this conclusion, pray tell?” Roxie asked after a moment, sitting back in her chair and propping her legs on the wall in front of her. The good thing about having an uncle that plays for the team was awesome club box tickets. Roxie had been to enough hockey games to know that club box tickets were the way to go.

“Well, you blush around him a lot for one thing,” Charlotte rattled off, still watching the play. She leaned forward as a playing in black skating up the ice towards the goalie in white. Roxie clapped along with everyone else after the goal. She was supposed to be a fan, after all.

“Okay, you saw him with me only once,” Roxie stated after the noise had died down. “And that was after I had literally ran into him full force. My face hit his sternum. It hurt!”

“And all the blood rushed to your face, right?”

“Yes!” Roxie groaned, finally realizing she just wasn’t going to win this round.

“I’m great at reading people, Roe. You like him, you just don’t want to admit it to yourself.”

Roxie just sighed, shaking her head. If you were really great at reading people, you would realize I hate when you call me Roe. That was what Roxie wanted to say but, like she had for the past few months, she kept her mouth shut. After all, Charlotte was her only friend in Tampa. She needed someone other than her family to keep her busy. And Charlotte was just the person for the job.



“So, I saw you talking to Steven after practice today,” Vincent started at the dinner table, addressing his twenty-year-old niece. Roxie just groaned, scooping mashed potatoes onto her plate.

“I was asking him about his car,” she replied slowly, as if she was talking to a two year old. She looked up to see Vinny giving her a look. “What? It’s the truth!”

“And that’s why you were hanging all over him, eh?”

“I was not hanging on him.”

“Leaning on him, same thing,” Vinny replied immediately. Roxie just shook her head. Caroline kept quiet, feeding little Victoria tiny pieces of chicken and mashed potatoes.

“Not exactly, Uncle Vinny,” Roxie stated with a roll of her eyes, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “And I was only leaning on him because there was something in my sneaker, I wanted to get it out. There was nothing to sit on and nothing is sturdier than a hockey player.”

Roxie watched as her uncle choked on his food, beginning to cough lightly. She just shook her head, before playing with her food. She did not like Steven Stamkos. She did not like hockey, and therefore she did not like hockey players. She refused to be lured in again like she had so many times before.

Besides, even if she did like Steven, not that she would ever admit that she did if she did, it wasn’t like her Uncle Vinny would let her date him anyway. After all, Uncle Vinny was the captain of the Lightning. Steven was a Lightning player. There had to be some kind of rule or something that would stop them from dating.

Or maybe she was thinking that there was a rule that caused coworkers and players to not date. It didn’t matter, she didn’t like Steven Stamkos, no matter what everyone else said.



“Your uncle is going to kill him, you know,” Marty St. Louis said, skating up beside Roxie. Roxie just groaned.

“Not you too, Marty. I don’t get it, everyone seems to think I like him. What is everyone on?!” Her voice raised at the end, and a few of the players looked over at her. She just made a face, turning to look at her uncle’s best friend. “Please, why is Uncle Vinny going to kill Steven?”

Marty just grinned at her, starting to skate backwards. “See, here’s the thing, doll. I never said he was going to kill Stammer. You just automatically assumed that it was him.” He was full-fledged grinning at this point and Roxie realized her mistake. Instead of being mad at Marty, which, really, was downright impossible, she grinned at him. Which made his grin drop, and hers become even bigger.

“Alright, you got me,” Roxie relented, leaning on the boards and looking down the ice where Steven, her uncle and a few others were doing drills. Steven caught her eye and gave her a little smile. She couldn’t help but smile back.

“You do like him.”

Yes I do.