As Long As You Love Me

I parked the car into the condo's garage. Taylor and I got out and gathered all of our things. Taylor opened the door to our condo. "Hey Sam I was thinking, what if you passed Mr. Chef Hottie's class, will he give us tickets to a game?" I gave her the death stare. She put her hands up in defense. "Kidding, kidding." I shoved her a little bit and looked at my watch. I have 3 hours till I had another date night with Nick. "I'm gonna take a quick shower before I have to meet Nick." I told Taylor. She nodded checking her phone. I laughed and I walked into my room, unpacked a little and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.

After the shower, I dried and straightened my hair a little bit. I walked into my room and glared at my closet to see what I could wear. My mom bought me this cute floral sundress the last time she came for a visit. Considering I didn't know what the dress code for the date was, I decided to go with it. Either way it's still cute. I applied a natural coat of makeup so I didn't look too fancy or anything. I looked at the clock. 5 o'clock. I walked into the living room and put my shoes on. "Tay, I'm leaving to meet Nick." She waved at me goodbye not looking up from her phone. "Tell Jon I said hi." I said walking out the door. "Shut up!" she yelled through the door. I laughed walking to the elevator.



I got to Grant Park and sat at a bench near Buckingham Fountain. It took me about an hour to walk from the condo. I didn't want to pay for parking so I just walked. I looked at my phone, the clock just turned 6. "Excuse me miss, is someone sitting there?" I voice said. I looked up from my phone to see Nick standing in front of me. I tucked my back into my clutch. "Why no." I replied. He walked closer and sat down next to me. Nick wrapped an arm around me.
"So, what did you think of the convention."

"I thought it was awesome. I've always wanted to go to one but as always too expensive."

He kissed my cheek. "Well I'm glad you came."

"After these past couple days, I feel like fate brought us together again. Like it was meant to be or something."

He took ahold of my hands. "Sam, if it wasn't meant to be we wouldn't have ran into each in the hallway on your first day." I laughed at the memories.

"Seems like forever since we meet."

"Six years. It was the best six years I've had." he said pulling me into a side hug. I blushed. "We should get going. We don't want to be late for our reservations." he said getting up and extending his hand. I got up taking his hand.

"Where exactly are we going?", grabbing his hand. He hailed us a cab, which took us down Lake Shore Drive towards the John G. Shedd Aquarium. I looked at Nick, "Why are we at the Shedd?" "This is where we are having dinner." The taxi cab stopped, I playfully hit him in the chest. "Seriously." He chuckled and paid the driver. We got out of the cab and walked towards the entrance. "How exactly did you get this done?" "Jon told the guys about you some one them and well like most teammates do. Crow thought it was cute that we've made like this pack thing to find each other after college." "Oh geez." "So I told them that I wanted to take you out officially without Jon or your roommate. Kind of like a welcome back/nice to see you again gesture. So then they decided to help out with this date and setting it up here." "Well I think it's adorable that your teammates opted to help out with this date." I said pinching his cheeks as if he were a toddler. "Okay you can stop that." he said pulling my hand away from his face, "You know when you do that, I sometimes want to slap you for doing that. Like I told you pack in Minny, I hated it when my relatives do it and I won't take it from you." "The only thing that you will do is try to seduce me. You won't slap me. I know you. You'll try but won't have the guts too." he was taken back. "Oh really now." I shrieked and ran up the steps away from Nick. No matter what age we are, I will never be able to outrun Nick. He caught up to me and grabbed me from the waist, lifting me off the ground. Kind of like the movies. I held my hands up in defeat. "Okay you win." "Alright! Let's go!" he said still carrying me towards the entrance. I laughed, "Nick, I have feet you know." "Yeah, I know but this is more fun." I huffed wrapping my arms around his neck for support. If he dropped me, which I know he won't, I'd make him pay.

When we got inside the aquarium he put me down. "Thank you." he chuckled. "Come on." He grabbed my arm and lead me through the building. We passed many of the exhibits but Nick said that we'd come back for it later. "Nick do we have this all to ourselves?" "Yes, I know how much you loved marine life." He kissed my cheek. We arrived at Soundings Café. We were greeted by a Corey Crawford dressed up as a waiter. "Nick, what's going on?" "The guys lost a bet with me and now their helping out with this date." I shook my head laughing at what the other Hawks players could be contributing today.

"Hello Mr. Leddy. Table for two I presume. " he said.

"Yes, thank you Crow." Nick said.

"Right this way."

He lead us to the outside terrace with a view of Lake Michigan. "Wow.", was the first thing I said seeing the view. We walked towards the table for two that was set up just for the both of us. Nick pulled out my chair for me. I smiled, knowing chivalry was never dead with Nick.

"Thank you."

"Not a problem." he said headed towards his seat across from me.

"Your waiter will be right with you." Crawford said.

A few minutes later John Scott in a copy of Crawford's outfit. "My name is John and I'll be your waiter for tonight's event." he said placing some menus out in front of us. "Any drink selections for this evening." "We'll have the top one." John nodded and walked away. I glanced at the menu, then at Nick. "Please don't tell me your teammates are cooking us dinner." Nick's face showed guilt. "Yeah, I didn't want them too but they are. Sharpie, Hjammer, and Duncs said that they'd get the help of their wives and girlfriend for the dinner. No worries their all in the kitchen." I took a deep breathe.

"Okay. I'm somewhat okay with this. But at the same time I'm scared." John Scott came back with a bottle of sparkling water and two champagne glasses. "Here we go. A bottle of Sparkling Water and two glasses. Now will you two lovebirds be having the chef's specialty?" He said putting the bottle and glasses on the side table next to ours. Nick and I exchanged glances. "Well since it's the only thing on the menu then why not." I said. John collected our menus and said, "Now here the evenings performance. Good luck." he walked off. I giggled seeing Brent Seabrook, Ben Smith, Patrick Kane, Marcus Kruger , and Jonathan Toews all stood before us with microphones, a keyboard, and a guitar. I sat up in my chair preparing myself for what was going to happen in the next couple of minutes. "Hello we are the Hawks players and we will be your evening entertainment for you tonight." Started Patrick Kane. "Oh dear god." I said quietly. Nick chuckled across from me in his seat. "Our first selection is L.O.V.E. by Nat Cole. Music started playing. Seabs, Kaner, and Benny were singing and Kruger and Tazer were playing the instruments. L is for the way you look at me "Chef Specialties are here." He carried a tray from the kitchen. He placed them in front of us. He lifted the covers revealing a plate of salmon, veggies with a little bit of mashed potatoes.
I started to take a bite out of the salmon when I started 'choking'. "Sam, are you okay?" he got out of his chair urgently. I put my hand out signaling that I was okay. I swallowed that salmon piece and said sorry. "Are you sure your okay?" I nodded. "It's just that this is the worst dinner entertainment ever!" I laughed. "Hey!" Jon spat. "We're trying our best!" "It's fine, it's actually funny." I said towards them.



Nick and I walked around the aquarium for the next few hours after the dinner. We walked around to see creatures like dolphins, whales, penguins, and the jellies exhibit. I was actually really excited, about this. After 3 and a half hours of walking around, Nick and I decided to hit it out. We left and walked out into the sweet summer Chicago night. When we got to my condo, we felt like two little awkward turtles right now. We kept a silence between us for a few minutes. "Well maybe I should get going." I said tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. His body shook a little.

"Yeah." he said.

"Are you staying in Chicago for the rest of the summer?" I asked.

"Uh I'm here for a couple more days and I'm headed back to Minny."

"Oh. Right. I wish I was able to come back to Minny." He stood close to me.

"Why?" "I have classes until next summer."

"Really? That's a long time."

"I know, but I've been waiting to head back to Minny for a while."

"Well, we could hang out until then. Then I'll be back for pre-season." He kissed my
forehead.

"Nick, I wanted to ask you something."

"Okay." I sighed. "Nick, I just. I guess. Uh."

"Sam just tell me what's on your mind."

"Okay. Earlier today at the convention this fangirl came up to me and asked if we were
dating. By the way it was like a couple minutes after you left."

Nick was stunned. "What did you say?"

"I told her that we were just friends. I didn't know how else to respond. I really don't want to wake up tomorrow morning getting hate mail because I'm dating you."

He pulled me into a hug. "Sam, don't listen to them. Their just jealous that they're not as
amazing as you. Good night Sam." He said walking away.

"Night Nick." I smiled. As I opened the door, Taylor fell on the other side.

I looked at her. "Were you eavesdropping?"

"Pssh. NO."

"Right." I walked away to my room.