Secret Santa

Addie wasn't expecting to be this nervous as she waited for Ricky to pick her up for the game. She wanted to blame the butterflies in her stomach strictly on her anticipation for the Penguins game tonight, but then she would be lying to herself. She'd never had any feelings for Ricky, but the fact that he had gotten her tickets to a Pittsburgh Penguins game for a Secret Santa gift made him move up on her list.

She could hear footsteps coming towards her room, and before she knew it, there was a knock at the door. She slowly walked over to it, opening it up, seeing Ricky on the other side, wearing a Penguins jersey identical to hers, though his showed the number 87, while hers displayed a 58. "Letang?" Ricky spoke the first words, breaking the silence between the two of them. "Let me guess, you find him to be the hottest guy on the team, so that's why you got his jersey," he said, though Addie could tell he was completely joking.

"Actually," she said, following Ricky out the door, making sure to lock it behind her. "Kris Letang is a badass. He's a fantastic offensive defenseman. He knows how to defend against the best, and he can check a guy into the boards no problem," she told him, glancing over at him to see that he had an impressed look on his face. "And, he's got sweet hair. I wish I had it," she added, cracking a smile.

"I knew it, you're all about the hair," Ricky smiled at her.

"Unfortunately, he's out with a concussion, which kind of sucks, because I really wanted to see him play in my first NHL game, but what can you do?" she said as they got into Ricky's car. She was surprised by how easily their conversation was flowing. Sure, it was just about the Pittsburgh Penguins right now, but that was a topic she could easily talk about for hours on end.

"This is your first NHL game?" Ricky asked, picking up on that little tidbit she had given him.

Addie nodded her head, a little embarrassed. "Yep. I've always wanted to go, I just never had the money to do so. So, I really owe you a thank you for the gift. You really didn't have to get these tickets, I’m sure they were super expensive," she said.

"It's really okay," he assured her. "I actually got the tickets through one of the guys on the team," he admitted. "His dad has season tickets, and I got them out of him."

"How do you like it in Texas?" she asked him, changing subjects. This was the first time that she had really asked him about Texas.

"The university or the state?" he asked.

"Both?" Addie inquired. She figured they needed something to talk about on their drive to Consol Energy Center.

"I like them both," he told her. "I'm glad I chose to stay in the south. I don't think I could handle up here," he said with a slight laugh. "What about you? How do you like it here?"

Addie got a smile on her face. "I love it," she told him, and he knew she was being sincere. "I'm very glad that I chose here," she told him.

The rest of the ride went fairly fast with the conversation continuing. By the time they reached the arena, they had somehow moved onto the topic of Christmas and what their worst gifts were as kids. "I once got socks. And, not cool Christmas socks. No, I got a bag of cheap white socks," Addie recalled. "That's got to be the worst gift ever as a kid!"

"You were a kid?" Ricky asked with a laugh. "How old were you?" he wondered aloud.

"Like seven!" Addie exclaimed. "What seven year old wants socks for Christmas? My aunt, she's crazy," she laughed, with Ricky doing the same. "What about you? Worst gift?"

"Without a doubt, it'd be when I was five years old," he stated matter-of-factly. "All I wanted was this water gun that one of my neighbors had. It was the coolest thing ever. And, I had asked my parents for it, and they just kept saying 'maybe Santa will get it for you'. Guess what Santa got for me that year," he told Addie as they stood in line, waiting to get inside the arena.

"What?" she asked, not even bothering trying to guess.

"A suit to wear to my cousin's wedding that February," he stated, obviously still angry about the situation. Addie burst out laughing. "You think it's funny, don't you?" he asked her.

"That's why I'm laughing," Addie joked, still laughing. Ricky couldn't help but just smile at her. Addie caught him and stopped laughing. "What?" she asked slowly, wondering why he was looking at her.

Ricky shook his head. "Nothing," he told her, though Addie wasn't buying it.

"What?" she continued. "You're looking at me really weird. Why?" she wanted to know.

Ricky knew she wasn't going to back down and he'd have to answer her eventually. "I like it when you laugh," he told her, and as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he immediately regretted them. They were the most cliché words in history, and he just hung his head, not wanting to look at her right now.

"Thanks," he heard her say, and he slowly turned to see that she was being sincere. He returned the smile as they made their way into the arena.

Addie looked around in awe. She had always heard such great things about the arena, but being inside it was unbelievable. "This is crazy," she mumbled more to herself than to Ricky, who was starting to get separated from her in the crowd that was rushing inside. She pushed her way through people, grabbing his hand, trying to stay close to him. Ricky looked from her to their hands and back up to Addie's face again but didn't say anything.

He walked with her around the concourse, letting her see everything before finally guiding her to their seats. As they moved closer and closer to the ice, passing by the further away rows, Addie's jaw opened wider and wider. "Where are our seats?" she asked, not having paid attention to them when she had first gotten hers.

"Right….here," Ricky told her, finally moving forward and motioning for her to go into the row first.

Addie quickly counted the rows in front of her. "Fourth row, Ricky?" she said, her eyes wide, as she looked at him, slowly moving down the row. "I can't believe you got these. Seriously, this is too much for a Secret Santa gift!" she told him.

Ricky's expression turned sad for a split second hearing her say that this was just a Secret Santa gift, but he immediately changed it back to normal, not wanting Addie to see he was disappointed by this. "It's not problem," he told her. "Like I said, I got the tickets from someone. I just wanted to give you a good gift."

"Good gift?" she questioned. "Uh, this is like the best gift ever!" she exclaimed as she looked out at the ice, seeing the guys make their way out there. "Oh my God, look!" she said, grabbing Ricky's arm, which he noticed, and didn't want her to let go.

He chuckled at her, seeing how happy she was, and he couldn't help but be happy himself. Even if he had wanted something more to come out of this date, it was enough to make Addie happy right now, and he was content with just that.

Addie continued to get excited throughout the rest of the game, grabbing Ricky's arm or hand every time something exciting happened. Ricky would always just smile at her, while Addie rarely turned her eyes away from the ice, not wanting to miss a moment. When Pittsburgh scored, she would stand up and yell and cheer. And when the Rangers would score, she would boo along with the rest of the crowd.

By the time the game was over, Addie's voice was cracking from yelling so much. Ricky couldn't help but laugh every time she tried to say something to him as they made their way out to the car. "That was such a good game!" she squeaked. The Penguins had won four to two, and Addie had yelled so loud at the end of the game.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," he smiled at her as he unlocked the doors to his car and the two of them got in. "Hopefully it was a good Christmas present," he spoke.

"The best ever," she said with a wide smile as she leaned her head back against the headrest and looked out the window as Ricky drove her back home.

The ride back was pretty quiet, but both of them were content in the silence. As Ricky pulled up to her house to drop her off, he looked over at her. "I really had a good time, I hope you did, too," he told her.

Addie was still beaming from the game. "I did," she told him. Without notice, she leaned over kissing him hard on the lips. She slowly pulled away from him. "Thank you for tonight. And, why don't you call me? Maybe we can go out again while you're in town?" she suggested.

Ricky was too shocked to say anything but instead just sort of nodded his head as Addie smiled at him and got out of the car, giving him a small wave before turning her back and walking into her house.

Ricky leaned his head against the headrest. "Best. Secret. Santa. Ever," he smiled to himself.