Gonna Steal Your Heart Away

“You really asked a girl on a date?” Brayden’s teammate, Matt Read, asked as the pair was gathering their belongings from their stall in the locker room after practice. Brayden pulled his hat onto his freshly washed head and turned to Matt to explain the situation.

“WOAH WOAH WAIT!!” James yelled before Brayden could even get a word out. He was walking from the locker room’s showers to where Matt and Brayden stood. “Girl as in female? Date as in…date?” Matt nodded in response and James started grinning from ear to ear while he excitedly slapped Brayden arm like giddy teenage girl.

“It’s not a date,” Brayden told the other two with a roll of his eyes and hopes of them acting a little more there age—and their gender. “She asked me how it was to be back and I mentioned that we were all going out for pizza to that new place tonight. She told me that she’s been there the weekend it opened and it was fun so I told her she could join us if she wants.”

“That’s a date, bro,” James commented, patted Brayden on the shoulder, and walked away to go gather his things from his stall.

“So everyone else can bring a girl when the team hangs out, but I can’t?” Brayden questioned with a slight annoyed huff to his voice.

“No one said you couldn’t,” James called from his stall. Even though he was on the complete other side of the room, he still considered himself part of the conversation.

“And we bring girlfriends if we have them…” A mumbled ‘lucky son of a bitch’ could be heard from James while Matt continued “or go solo.”

“I just met her last night. I’m not sure I can even call her my friend. I don’t have her number or anything. Pretty sure she only agreed to tag along so she could meet everyone; she’s a fan,” Brayden concluded as the three friends finally made their way out of the locker room.

*~*~*~*~*

“Don’t you look dapper?” Danny questioned Brayden – in a genuine, non-mocking tone – and gestured to his appearance. Dressed in a maroon polo, black fitted Philadelphia Phillies hat and jean shorts, Brayden sat down next to Danny at the team’s table that seemed to go on forever. Brayden gave Danny a small, thankful nod in return for not making fun of him. Claude never gave Brayden that courtesy.

“Only took him long enough to pick out what to wear. He’s such a girl,” Claude mocked before running off to talk with Max Talbot and Scott Hartnell. Brayden just rolled his eyes and began to scanning the room for Olivia.

This place was basically a Chuck E. Cheese for people who have out grown Chuck E. Cheese. Pinball and skeeball machines lined one wall with pool, ping pong, and air hockey tables in the center. One wall contained a stage where people could sing karaoke. Brayden made a mental note to avoid that area all together; his teammates would get too much joy out of forcing each other up there to sing. Bright ceiling lights lit up the giant room to keep it from having a dark, bar-type appearance which Brayden was happy about. This was a place where the Flyers could shine. All of them were children at heart and this is where they could let it out.

“Sean told me you invited a girl,” Danny commented, pulling Brayden away from his search. News travelled through this team faster than wildfire and apparently Brayden even thinking about a girl was the top headline.

“Yeah, but I haven’t seen here. She might not even be coming.”

“Is that her?” Danny questioned, pointing at the entrance as two girls were walking in. Brayden looked in the direction Danny was pointing and his eyes instantly brightened. He gave Danny a quick grin before standing up and making his way over to the girls.

Brayden quickly took in Olivia’s appearance and could not manage to wipe the smile off his face. Olivia noticed Brayden approaching and beamed. She gave a small wave, grabbed her friend’s wrist and pulled her towards Brayden.

“Hey,” Olivia excitedly greeted Brayden as if they had been friends for years instead of just having met the previous night. “I brought my roommate, Rachel. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Nah, of course not,” Brayden answered with his smile still permanently on his face. “The more the merrier.” The three of them began to make their way to the back where the team’s table was. Brayden turned back to the quiet girl behind him, while still walking, and spoke. “Nice to meet you, Rachel.” She gave a small, shy smile and looked down at her feet. Brayden threw Olivia a light-hearted, questioning look and she just mouthed, ‘nervous’ in response.

Brayden introduced a couple of his teammates to the two girls and everything seemed to be going smoothly. That was until Claude came strolling over with Max to the table the group was sitting at after Claude beat Max in what sounded to be an intense game of air hockey.

“Ay, Schenner! Is this her?” Claude questioned and pointed to the girl sitting directly next to Brayden, Olivia. Brayden was so shocked by his roommate’s words that all he could do was stare at him in horror. He opened his mouth as if to respond, but no comeback came to mind. Before anyone could notice Brayden’s lack of words and gaping mouth, Olivia spoke.

“Oh yeah, because I’m totally the famous one here,” she said with a cheesy smile on her face. She leaned in closer to Brayden, head still facing Claude but eyes connecting with Brayden’s. “Is this Claude Giroux?” she questioned in a mocking tone, smirk obviously planted on her lips, as she gestured towards the man standing across the table with her eyes. Brayden simply laughed in response.

“Alright, Miss Sass,” Claude laughed out. “Quit flexing your sarcasm muscles. How’s your skeeball?”

“Better than yours,” she stated nonchalantly and rose to her feet. “Come on, Brayden. Let’s show the superstar that his only skills are on the ice.”

A little later – after three rounds of Olivia beating Claude’s score in skeeball – Matt Read decided to show up fashionably late. He claimed his tardiness was because he was waiting for his girlfriend to get off work. When he was walking towards the team with her right by his side, they actually decided to believe him.

“Reader! Get over here! Olivia is completely embarrassing G,” James called when Matt stood by the team’s table talking to a few of the guys. He jogged over with a smile on his face and a small chuckle in his voice.

“There is no embarrassing going on here, Reemer,” Claude retorted and rolled his first ball to start their fourth game. He let out an exaggerated huff when he only got twenty points.

“He’s got too big of an ego to even know what the word embarrassment means,” Olivia added with a laugh as she rolled the ball up her machine. After getting the ball in the fifty point hole, she got a round of high fives from Brayden, James, Max, and now Matt.

“You must be Olivia,” Matt commented after the girl rolled her second ball, scoring another fifty points compared to Claude receiving thirty points. She turned to face him and held out her hand for him to shake.

“That’s me. Olivia Brimm,” she greeted with a genuine smile. He told her his full name while he shook her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Matty,” she joked, stuck her tongue out at him, and returned to her game so she could continue to wipe the floor with Claude.