It Could Happen To Anyone

Jill

“You ready for this?” Jeff asks me as we get out of the car.

I shrug, “I hope so,”

Jeff smiles, “You’ll be fine,”

He opens the door for me, “I have never been here before,” I say as we step inside Angus Barn.

Jeff nods, “Me either,”

“Jeff!” I see Cam Ward waving from the table in the corner. As we walk over I get more and more nervous. Who knew hockey players could be so intimidating?

Jeff and I both sit down quietly. “Hey I’m Cody,” Cam Ward’s wife says reaching over the table to shake my hand.

“Nice to meet you,” I answer.

I see Brandon roll his eyes, “Well Jeff? Are you going to introduce her?”

Jeff grabs my hand under the table, “Everyone, this is Jill Lee, she’s my-” He pauses thinking of what to say.

“Girlfriend,” I say for him, “I’m his girlfriend,” Under the table Jeff squeezes my hand. We haven’t used official terms so I could understand why he didn’t know what to call me.

“Hi I’m Lucy,” A petite girl sitting beside Brandon Sutter says.

I nod not knowing what else to say. Why is this so awkward? I’m usually so calm when I meet new people.

“Hi what can I get for you?” The waitress says in a really southern accent, “Oh my gosh! Are you, wow Eric Staal? Cam Ward? Brandon Sutter? Brian Boucher? Jeff Skinner?”

I try to muffle a laugh; this girl was seriously overwhelmed. Everyone at the table looks at me. I feel my face turn red.

“I’ll have an iced tea,” Tanya Staal says, breaking the silence. The girl nods quickly going back to her waitress self.

“Same for me,” Cody says. As everyone goes around the table, a lot of the guys ordered beer, I was the last person she asked. I was so overwhelmed thinking about how I’m eating dinner with all these hockey players that I didn’t know what I wanted. I was embarrassed as I sat there saying “Um,” and “Uh.” Finally I blurted out, “Just a Coke thanks,”

She nods and walks away. “So Jill,” Cam asks, “Are you still in college?”

I nod, “Yeah McGill University in Montreal,”

They all nod. For the next minute or so we sit in an awkward silence. Then the waitress comes back, “Alright here are your drinks, and do you know what you’ll have?”

None of us have looked at our menus so we shake our heads. She nods and says, “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes,”

We all pick up our menus, “Jeff,” I whisper from behind my menu.

He looks at me, “Yeah?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what it is but I’m just so scared!”

He laughs, “It’s okay, they can be a pretty intimidating, try talking with Eric and Cam. They’re the easiest to be around,”

I just nod, “So Eric?” I say since he’s sitting right next to me, “What are you going to have? I’ve never been here before so I wouldn’t know,”

Eric Staal raises his eyebrows, “You’ve never been here?”

I shrug, “I moved her when I was twelve,”

Eric nods, “From where?”

I smile, I feel so much more comfortable, “Calgary, Alberta,”

He smiles, “A Canadian,”

I laugh, “Yup,”

“Really?” Tanya, his wife asks. I nod.

I finally start opening up to everyone. Even though they’re all really intimidating they’re also really funny how they get along. For the rest of the night I got along really well with everyone.

Finally when Dessert came, Jeff and I shared a huge piece of chocolate. “Jeff!” I complain as he dots my nose with a piece of whipped cream. Everyone at the table laughs.

When we all finished eating, the guys paid at the register while I stood behind with Lucy, Cody, Tanya, and Melissa.

“You two are so cute” Melissa says smiling.

“Thanks, I’m so glad you think so!” I say.

“So how long have you guys been together?” Tanya asks.

I bite my lip. “A couple of days,”

“So are you guys still in the honeymoon phase?” Cody asks.

I laugh, “The what?”

“You know, when it just starts and you feel like that he’s is the one for you?” She tries to explain.

“I guess?” I say. I didn’t think it was a phase.

I walk up to Jeff. I get a quick glance at the receipt before he puts it in his wallet. “One hundred dollars for two people?” I ask.

He nods, “That’s Angus Barn for you,”

My eyes grow wide. “I could never afford that! No wonder why I’ve never been here before,”

Jeff laughs, “See you guys later,” Jeff calls to everyone as we all get into our separate cars.

I wave, “See you later”

“Bye Jill, Bye Jeff,” I hear Lucy say.

"Bye!" I answer.

I guess I had a troubled face because Jeff looks at me and says, “What’s wrong? You were great,”

"Nothing I'm just tired," I say, and I was.

For the rest of the drive to his apartment Jeff started cracking jokes about really anything. Just trying to keep me awake.

Jeff jumps out of the car and runs over my side to open the door. I laugh as I get out. "Such a gentleman."

"I was raised right!" He answers.