Shooting Stars

**Second chapter today**

“COREY!” I shouted towards him as he got off the bus. He smiled and I ran to give him a hug. He was expecting to pick me up at the Sharps' house, but I went with Abby to the arena instead to surprise him. And was he surprised! His face lit up when he saw me running towards him.
“Never following the plans, huh?” he asked. I shook my head as we hugged. He stepped back to look at me with a smile before leading me to where he parked his car. He threw his big bag of goalie gear in the trunk and quickly ran around the car to open my door for me. From there we went and had a quiet dinner at a small bistro with a private room to celebrate his shut-out.
“You played amazingly today, Corey.” The guys played a Sunday day game against the Capitals before traveling home.
“Thanks, Soph. How have you been feeling?” he asked in reference to my morning sickness and the joys of being pregnant. I mean, I obviously hate how I got into this situation, but I am pretty excited for the baby to actually get here. Not that I know how I am going to support the baby, but I'm sure the Hawks will help me figure it all out.
“There is still morning sickness. And Doctor Phelps says I could start to show any day, I've already gained a little weight. But I feel pretty good considering."
“I’m glad. You look great tonight, if I haven't mentioned that already.” He smiled at me and was going to kiss me when the waiter came over. I was a little glad that the waiter came because I don’t know what I would’ve done had Corey actually kissed me. He is ten years older than me. Hell, I'm still really young, even if I am mature.
We ate dinner talking about the game and the team. Before long he was making me promise him that I would learn to play hockey just so he could kick my butt. I couldn’t turn down the challenge and so it was set for me to learn the next day.

“Sophie, you know better than to talk trash with my team,” Coach Q said as I showed up for my lesson on how to play hockey. Coach is a really fun guy. I have been tagging along to most of the practices that Patrick can bring me to, I go to almost all the home games, and I am always in the locker room post-win to mess with the guys. So I have gotten to know him pretty well too. It's awesome that he accepts me too.
“This should be fun, Coach Q.”
“I wish you luck,” he replied with a laugh. I met up with Jon in the hallway that gave me some gear and told me how to put it on before he shoved me into the bathroom to put it all on. I did as told and walked awkwardly to the ice in the skates Jon had given me.
“About time you showed up, Soph. We didn’t think you would end up coming,” this came from Seabrook. He definitely was a prankster and a smart-ass of a guy.
“Now you all know me better than that. I don’t give up a challenge. Especially to Crawford over there.” They all got a chuckle out of that as we took a quick glance towards the net where he was getting comfortable. He had practiced on the other end of the ice today, so he wanted to get in some practice on the other side now.
The team showed me the techniques to puck handling after I got used to the ice and than it was on. Two on two with separate goalies. I was against Corey. Jon and Sharpie were on my team while Bolland, Frolik and Johnson were against us.
“You want to do the faceoff?” Jon asked. I nodded and went against Ryan Johnson. He was relatively new and I wanted to kick his ass. He wasn't expecting what I was about to give him either.
“Alright, when the puck drops, it’s all stick,” Patrick Kane said. I just nodded and watched the puck. It dropped and I was a second faster than Johnson. I sailed it to Jon who broke away from Bolland and headed towards Corey. I skated to the left side of the ice right past the blue line and Jon passed it up to me since I was wide open. I took the chance and shot it past Corey who turned to look at the puck as it went in and than back at me. I shrugged and smiled as he gave me an evil look.
“Damn, Soph. No one on our team can make that shot on old Crawf over there,” Sharpie said. I smirked and we reset. Jon took this faceoff and lost it to Frolik. They took it down towards Turco, but as the puck was being passed from Johnson to Bolland, I stole it and broke away down the ice. It was one on one, me versus Corey, and I went top shelf without any faking. He went down as the puck went up and I won yet again! I knew he would go down, damn butterfly goalie.
“Too bad you’re with child, Soph. We’d recruit you on the spot otherwise,” Jon told me. I smiled knowing that I could out play Corey. We played once more and Johnson scored on Turco before the game was called.
“Don’t let me ever challenge you to a game of hockey again,” Corey said coming towards me. I stole his water bottle and drank from it.
“Sounds good,” I replied and went to sit on the bench. I caught my breath and than went to change again. It was so much fun learning to play hockey and beating Corey was just the icing on the cake.