Knock Knock

New Message From: Coots

Hey girl hey. The boys and I are having a little banger tonight, and we want you to bring everyone. Don’t worry about cops, our house is out of the way and with Groo here it won’t be a problem. He’s got a way with the locals ;]

I rolled my eyes as I read Sean’s text, but forwarded it to everyone in the house. A few seconds later Mike came barreling into my room, a crazed look in his eyes.

“Dude, we’re gonna party with the Flyers?” he asked excitedly.

“I guess,” I shrugged, not bothering to get up from my bed.

“Sweet!” he chirped before rushing out of the room again. I got a text from Marie, who said she’d go but she refused to drink or carry anyone who got drunk home, which didn’t surprise me. Rose and her boyfriend were opting to go out on a date, but John was almost as excited as Mike was. They dragged me out of my room and practically threw me into the shower with my clothes on in an attempt to get me to get ready.

“Sean Couturier, what have you done to me?” I sighed as I locked the bathroom door, texted him back, and stripped down to take a shower.

Claude’s Point of View

By the time I got back to the house with all of the booze, Sean and James were practically bouncing off the walls in excitement. They loved to have parties, especially when there were new people coming. I shook my head as Sean raced to the car to help carry in the rest of the stuff I had gone all over the place to get, and then checked my phone. I had a few unread texts, mostly from the guys, and raised my eyebrows in surprise. Max, Wayne, and Scott were on their way down early.

Nathalie’s Point of View

I twirled around in front of the mirror to make sure that my long, fiery red hair was loosely curled to perfection. I then readjusted my sundress, which fell a few inches above the knee, grabbed my backpack, slipped on my Toms, threw my sweater over my arm, and headed out into the kitchen. Mike wolf whistled at me from one of the barstools in the kitchen and I flipped him off before grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge.

“You look hot, who are you dolling up for?” Mike asked, and I raised my eyebrows at him.

“Ew Mike, don’t say I look hot. It’s like my brother telling me I look hot,” I teased, and he smiled before shaking his head.

“I tell my sister she looks hot all the time,” he shrugged, and I shook my head before taking a sip of my water.

“You’re not answering the question though; who are you getting dolled up for?” Mike asked, and I laughed.

“I don’t think I’m dolling up for any one of them in particular. They’re all damn good looking guys, and they’ve all got qualities I like…besides, what if I just want to look cute for once?” I retorted, and Mike laughed.

“Whatever you say Nat, whatever you say,” he smirked knowingly.

Claude’s Point of View

I pulled on my throwback Flyers tee and glanced at myself in the mirror. Frowning, I grabbed my snapback and put it on backwards. With my hair curling out from under the edges of the hat, I looked slightly cooler so I nodded in approval before heading down the stairs again.

“Woah Roo, looking sharp bro,” Wayne commented, heading up the stairs at the same time.

“Thanks man. When did you get here?” I asked, giving him our traditional ‘bro hug’.

“A few minutes ago, Coots let us in. I’m taking the third room on the left, is that okay?” Wayne asked.

“Hell yeah,” I laughed before heading into the kitchen. Max immediately pulled me into a tight hug, screaming something at me in a rapid mix of French and English that even I couldn’t understand. Scott simply gave me a fist bump before taking a sip of a beer.

“Starting the party already?” I chuckled, pointing to the beer.

“Nah, just relaxing,” Scott shrugged, and I nodded before pulling a beer for myself out of the fridge. Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was just after 9:30 and I grinned. The party was just about to start.

A few minutes later the doorbell rang and Coots ran to answer it, screaming the whole time. I shook my head; he was a weird kid. Everyone thought he was a quiet one, but outside of the Wells Fargo Center and the Skate Zone he was your average nineteen year old guy.

“Hey Coots!” I heard Nathalie chirp, and I felt myself swallow roughly. It was weird; I hadn’t really had much interest in her, but as soon as the guys got me talking to her I got all nervous.

“Damn, nice place guys!” John said, looking around. It was a large 10 bedroom shore house that was more of a mansion than a house. It cost us almost six hundred grand to rent for the summer, but with our paychecks, and the fact that we were splitting it between 9 people it wasn’t too bad. I jumped as Rinaldo began to blast the music, and Nathalie laughed before starting to bob and weave to Kesha.

As the night wound on we slowly got more and more drunk, and I was feeling braver by the beer. Nathalie had been wrapped up by Max as soon as he saw her which pissed me off for some reason, but I let the Frenchie have his fun because I certainly wasn’t going to be the cock block of the night. However, when he tried to kiss her she shook her head and slipped away to join Coots and Wayne, who were dancing like animals. Some way or another Zac had gotten about 20 other people to show up, so it was a packed house, but I didn’t mind. I slipped through the crowd and found Nathalie, and I took a swig of my beer before tossing the empty cup aside and grabbing her hips.

“Hey there,” she laughed as I pulled her into me and began to bump and grind along with her.

“Hey,” I smiled, and her cheeks flushed a pretty shade of pink. We didn’t talk much after that, opting to dance until we couldn’t stand up anymore. We crashed on the couch, Nathalie landing in my lap, and I grinned at her.

“You look cute,” I said, sweeping a loosely curled strand of hair off of her face. Her cheeks flushed again and something in my chest purred triumphantly.

“Thanks, so do you,” she said, stealing my hat and putting it on her own head. I flipped the brim so it was on backwards before nodding in approval.

“It looks better on you,” I smiled, and she blushed before shrugging.

“Eh, I’m more of a black and scarlet girl,” she smirked, and I rolled my eyes.

“I’ll change that by the end of the summer, I promise,” I grinned, and she rolled her eyes at me this time.

“Good luck,” she said, tapping my cheek with one finger. I grabbed her wrist gently and raised my eyebrows.

“Is that a challenge? Because I’m Claude Giroux, and I never lose,” I said cockily. Nathalie let out a laugh, her hair cascading down her shoulders as she threw her head back.

“Give me one good reason I should change teams Claude,” she said, and I felt my heart skip a beat. She hadn’t called me Claude until now.

“How about me?” I suggested, pressing my forehead against hers. Our noses brushed and something in the back of my head said that the alcohol was talking more than Claude was, but I didn’t care. I liked being brave for once. Nathalie brushed her lips gently against mine before slipping out of my lap.

“I’ll think about that one Giroux,” she smirked before disappearing into the crowd, my hat still on her head.

“Damn,” I said quietly, leaning back and grabbing another beer off of the table behind the sofa.