She Makes Me Wanna

“Come on boys, pick it up!” I screamed, slamming my stick against the boards as I watched the second line dash down the ice. Evgeni made a beautiful saucer pass to Dupper, but Dupper fanned and missed his opportunity to score on Clemmenson. Sean Bergenheim picked up the puck and moved down the ice quickly. Marc-Andre moved to save the puck, but it flew over the top of his glove and went in. The home crowd groaned alongside us, and Flower hung his head. The final horn sounded a few seconds later, and we returned to the locker room, having been defeated after a five game winning streak. The locker room was almost unbearably quiet as we changed, and Jack sighed heavily next to me.

“I could’ve made that goal,” he muttered, referring to the first period. He had gotten a beautiful pass from Lovejoy, but hadn’t been able to produce on it. Jack had a lot of assists, but he had yet to score his first NHL goal.

“It’s alright man…I mean, none of us produced tonight,” I said, patting him on the back before pulling my shoulder pads off. Just then Dan walked into the locker room, and we all hunkered down for a long talk. However, Dan didn’t seem all that pissed, and he said that while would could have done better it wasn’t a terrible game. After his talk I just hit the showers, letting the hot water and silence calm me down. However, the silence didn’t last long because Kris Letang came bounding into the shower room, blasting music.

“Just put your paws up, ‘cause you were born this way baby,” echoed throughout the shower and I began to crack up.

“My mama told me when I was young we all born superstars!” Tanger sang, and laughter began to spread throughout the shower room.

“Come on guys!” he shouted, trying to get the others to join him. I rolled my eyes, and turning off the water I smiled.

“So hold your head up girl and you’ll go far! Listen to me when I say I’m beautiful in my way ‘cause God makes no mistakes. I’m on the right track baby, I was born this way!” I sang, and a few of the guys cheered. Soon enough, the entire team was singing Born This Way at the top of their lungs, and anyone who was at least half dressed (including me) was dancing around the locker room and the shower room like a bunch of idiots. Jack grabbed me and spun me like a ballerina before flinging me over towards Patrick. Patrick and I did some weird disco dance before he pushed me in the general direction of Flower. Flower was still sitting at his stall, his hair sopping wet and a scowl on his face.

“Come on man, we don’t blame you! Everyone has their bad days,” I yelled over the music before pulling him to his feet. He began to laugh as I grabbed his hands and made him dance, and eventually he began dancing himself. By the time the song ended, everyone was in tears from laughing so hard, and the mood had lightened significantly.

“Leave it to Tanger to make us feel good after a loss,” Gronk chuckled just as Party Rock Anthem came on.

“DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO SHUFFLE?!” Tanger screamed, and I raised my hand.

“Get the fuck over here!” he said, grabbing me and pulling me to the front of the locker room, where there was the most space. We danced a little awkwardly at the beginning, which wasn’t fast enough to shuffle to, but as soon as we heard “shake that” we began to shuffle. A few of the guys tried to imitate us, but Gronk ended up tripping and falling, Jack and Patrick crashed into each other, Asham knocked over Cooke, and Geno and Sidney just gave up and started fist pumping.

We spent more time than we normally would have in the locker room because we were having so much fun, but by the time we left everyone was in a good mood.

“See you guys tomorrow!” I called, waving cheerfully to Jack and Patrick as they headed towards their cars. I threw my backpack into the back seat of Sidney’s car and hopped in the front seat, just as Sidney and Geno did their weird bro-five that they had made up, and Sidney got in the driver’s seat.

“Hell of a night, huh?” Sidney asked, laughter still echoing on his face. I nodded, a smile forming immediately.

“You said it. Who knew that Tanger could turn the mood around that fast?” I asked.

“Well before he got traded, Talbot was the team jackass, but now that he’s gone I guess Tanger’s taking over that position,” Sidney explained, pulling out of the parking lot.

Sidney’s Point of View

I went to bed that night in a better mood than I usually would have after a loss. The next morning however, I didn’t wake up to the sound of my alarm clock, but rather, the smell of pancakes. I yawned widely and stretched my back before rolling out of bed. I looked at the clock, which read 9:06 AM, and raised an eyebrow.

Heading down the stairs, I heard Emily humming happily to herself and I laughed as I saw her dancing around the kitchen with her headphones in. She had already made a large stack of pancakes, so I walked in and grabbed the top one before biting a huge chunk out of it.

“Who said you could have some?” she cried jokingly as she turned and saw me.

“My house, my kitchen, my pancake!” I retorted, my mouth full.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, you’re gross,” Emily snapped back, sticking her tongue out at me, grabbing a pancake for herself and dipping it into a small bowl of maple syrup before taking a bite. I stuck my tongue out at her, and we both began to laugh.

“Oh my God, don’t choke!” I said as she coughed violently, and she waved me off before taking a gulp of water from the water bottle that was also sitting on the counter.

“I’m fine. Grab some plates will you?” she said, waving towards the cabinets. I rolled my eyes before taking out two plates and setting the table. She turned off the stove and brought the food over, and I laughed.

“What?” she asked.

“Where did you get all of that Penguins stuff? I swear you have almost as much as me and you’ve been here for like…three months,” I laughed, pointing at her pajamas. Emily laughed and shook her head.

“I think my mom bought the entire Penguins merchandise line and mailed it to me. She’s crazy,” Emily explained, and I smiled.

“Yeah, my mom did the same thing when I got drafted,” I said before sitting down. Emily sat down across from me and before I could say anything, pegged me in the face with a pancake.

“What the hell?!” I cried, and she burst into laughter.

“I couldn’t help it!” she said, tears rolling down her cheeks. Scowling, I grabbed a pancake, stood up, and stuck it to her face. It flopped to the table, we looked at each other for a second in silence, and then we both began to crack up. This was definitely a good idea I concluded, having been worried about the outcome of having Emily move in for the past few days.