Just For Now

Addison awoke to the loud buzzing of her alarm clock. She remained motionless for a few moments before groaning and leaning over to turn off the alarm. Sitting up and scooting back a bit to rest against the headboard of her bed, she wiped the sleep out of her eyes and pondered whether she should make herself breakfast or grab something while she was out. Deciding on the latter, she pushed her comforter off of herself, slid out of bed, and went straight for her closet.

It took her nearly thirty minutes to make herself presentable, taming her bed hair taking up a majority of her time. With several bobby pins and a good amount of hairspray, she managed to clip back her wavy blonde hair in a way that complimented the professional outfit she had picked out for herself. Nothing said ‘I’m here to be taken seriously’ more than black slacks and a classy button down top that didn’t show off a lot of cleavage. Not that she had much to flaunt to begin with, but she didn’t want to give off the wrong impression. To Addison, first impressions meant everything.

Today was the first day at her new job and she refused to give higher management a single reason to doubt what she was capable of bringing to the organization she would be working for. This was precisely the reason she arrived at the arena a half hour before she was expected to, to familiarize herself with the new building she would be spending most of her time in.

She used her time wisely, noting where all of the restrooms were and how to successfully get from the front door to the office floor. Before she knew it, she was knocking on her new boss’s door. Within seconds the door swung open to reveal a tall, lanky man in a suit.

“You must be Ms. James,” he immediately stood and held out his hand for Addison to shake. “Jim Harding. It’s so nice to finally meet you.”

Addison shook his hand and politely smiled and replied, “Please, call me Addison.”

Jim let out a laugh and nodded his head. “Well Addison, we are very pleased to have you here and hope that you find your time in Philly very pleasurable,” he paused as he walked towards the door. “Today I’m just going to give you a tour around the offices and the arena and introduce you to some important people you’ll be working with.”

“Sounds great!” Addison followed behind Jim as he guided her around the Wells Fargo Center. An hour had quickly passed by, Jim and Addison easily conversing and joking with one another like they had known each other for months. The two walked freely around the entry-level floor and eventually walked through one of the small hallways that led to the stands. As soon as the ice came into view, it was obvious by the orange and black jerseys and repeated whistles that practice was in progress. Jim suggested that they take a seat and watch the remainder of the practice. As Addison took a seat, she kept her eyes glued to the ice. It had been so long since she was this close to any form of hockey.

“So,” Jim began, “I was thinking that tomorrow we would get you set up on the computer system and go through some of the basics.”

He then described in detail what her job entailed, making Addison grin from ear to ear. In the pit of her stomach though, she was slightly nervous.

Public relations had always been Addison’s forte. She loved interacting with other people, but going from being in charge of the public relations department for a large corporation in Canada to an NHL hockey club was going to prove to be extremely difficult to adjust to. Even though hockey was her life growing up and she played for an all girls team in high school, she wanted nothing to do with the sport after she and Claude had gone their separate ways. That first summer after graduation, she had tried to watch a few of the local team’s games, but the continuous comparisons between those players and Claude took the enjoyment right out of hockey for her. It was easier to distance herself completely than be constantly reminded of a person she knew deep down in her heart would no longer be there for her to watch play.

Yet here she was, jump-starting a new career with the Philadelphia Flyers, a hockey team no less.

“Looks like they’ve just finished practice. Let’s head down there and I can introduce you to the team. Sound good?” Jim questioned.

Addison thought that it seemed a little unnecessary to be introduced to the team when she would be spending all of her time doing the behind-the-scenes work. Going to practices and keeping the fans updated through Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites as well as keeping tabs with the media was her job. Close interaction with the players wasn’t directly in her job description and she determined that it was more of an attempt by Jim to make her feel welcome than anything.

“Sure!” Either way, she put a smile on her face and let him lead the way to the locker room. The walk was quicker than she thought it would be and soon enough they entered the threshold of the locker room. Addison scrunched her nose as she walked in, the smell of both sweat and cologne instantly wafting into her nostrils. Eyes around the room immediately shifted to the two visitors and Addison noticed a few of them giving her a lookover from head to toe.

Pigs, she thought to herself. She continued after Jim until he stopped in the center of the room. Taking a quick look around, she realized that she was completely surround by half-naked men. Some were clad in only a towel around the waist, while others had on pants but no shirt. Addison could feel the heat slowly creep up on her cheeks.

“Alright guys!” Jim loudly boomed. The room became dead silent and he continued, “I have someone I’d like you all to meet. This is Addison James, the new public relations director.”

She gave a quick wave to the guys as Jim told them to introduce themselves one by one.

It was no surprise to the rest of the guys when Max Talbot shot across the room first. Addison was slightly taken aback when he grabbed her hand and placed his lips on the top of it.

“Maxime Talbot,” he purred. “But you can call me Max.”

It took everything within her to not burst out into laughter. Is this guy actually serious?

Another man stepped forward and slapped Max on the back of the head as he approached her.

“Danny Briere,” he grinned.

“Nice to meet you,” Addison warmly replied. The greetings continued for another ten minutes before someone shouted over the locker room chatter.

“What’s going on guys? Who’s this?”

The voice sounded all too familiar to Addison and when she peered around Danny’s shoulder, her breath got caught in her throat. She could feel all of the color draining from her face when she saw who was advancing towards her.

“New public relations head honcho,” she vaguely heard one of the guys inform him, but she was too caught up in taking in all of his features to actually decipher what was said. His hair was longer than it was when she last saw him, his body was far more toned, and he looked, dare she say it, more perfect than he did in high school.

Claude brightly smiled when he locked eyes with the beautiful girl who stood frozen in the center of the room. She looked oddly familiar to him, but he couldn’t quite place where he had seen her before. He pushed the thoughts out of his head and like all of his teammates, held out his hand towards her.

“Claude Giroux. Nice to meet you.”