Heaven Knows

Gabriel gazed out the window and watched as people started to scuttle in various directions like little ants. It had just started to rain seemingly out of nowhere; there hadn’t been a dim cloud in sight. It had been the first thing he learned about the weather in Colorado; constantly be prepared for a storm at any moment. His mom had told him numerous times to always carry an umbrella and coat in his car at all times, and he had learned the hard way to always listen to his mother when he caught the flu after being stuck in a ferocious downpour on his first day in Colorado.

Why do mothers always have to be right?

A loud ding disrupts the stillness of the nearly vacant diner, and he directs his attention to the glass doors where a female now stands, trembling from the icy rain as she tries to push the thick, brown locks of hair from her face. She must come here a lot, because one of the waitresses seems well acquainted with her. They talk for a few more minutes, well, the waitress does most of the talking while the drenched girl listens and nods her head before taking a seat in the table just a few feet across from him. She stares out the window, just like Gabriel had been previously doing before the pretty female had caught his attention. Her coffee coloured hair falls past her shoulders and stops just below her breasts, her lips are pink and curved into an infinitesimal smile, and there’s a minuscule freckle at the corner of her left eye.

Then he noticed her eyes.

They reminded him of large pools filled to the brim with honey, or maybe a sunset on a hot summer day. He couldn’t really make up his mind, and he found it hard to think as the lady finally glanced over to him, her honey eyes observing Gabriel apprehensively. He could already tell what type of personality she had: calm, reserved, and most likely distrustful towards new people.

“Weird weather, huh?”

She smiles at his attempt to make conversation, “Not really, you haven’t lived here that long, have you?”

He laughs, “Only for a couple of months actually… I’m Gabriel Landeskog.”

Recognition passes through those pretty eyes, and she wavers before speaking, “Madelyn Hyatt… everyone calls me Maddie though.”

Her tone is very soft, almost inaudible over the loud patter of raindrops thumping against the roof of the building. For some reason unbeknownst to the both of them, she was completely comfortable talking to the unfamiliar person.

“Have you lived here for a long time?”

She laughs, and he tries to imprint the sound into his brain so he never forgets it, “I’ve lived here my whole life.”

“Aren’t you bored of this place?”

Gabriel knows it’s a bad thing to ask, but he’s extremely curious as to how someone can even think about living in the same place for their whole life; he would go insane.

She shrugs, “Not really, this place is my home, and most of the people here are really nice,” her cheeks are red, and he instantaneously realizes that she’s not used to people asking her questions about her life, “I honestly don’t think I would be able to live anywhere else.”

If the statement was a lie, Gabriel never would have known. Her bright eyes were emptied of all emotion, as well as her voice. He watched as she played with a strand of her damp hair timorously. He was about to speak up again, but the diner was suddenly being infiltrated by 2 other rambunctious hockey players, all shoving themselves in the booth next to Gabriel. Maddie gazes down at her hands in her lap, and avoids any eye contact with the guys. She sets her backpack on the table, and pulls out a bulky text book, which is in all likelihood overpriced.

Matt Duchene snatches one of the fries off of his plate, “We’ve been looking for you for hours, man.”

“Yeah dude,” Ryan O’Reilly says with a mouthful of food, “we thought you tried to flee Denver or something.”

Gabriel shakes his head, “I’m not allowed to go out and get some food once in a while?”

Ryan smirks, “Nope, we wouldn’t want you to get fat, now would we?”

He rolls his eyes as Ryan literally grabs a handful of French fries and shoves them into his mouth, ‘yeah, I’m the one who has to worry about getting fat.’

Matt must be thinking the same thing, because there is a revolted expression on his face as Ryan tries to consume the large quantity of food. Gabriel glances up to see Maddie with the tiniest smirk on her face, no doubt from his ridiculous teammates, and Ryan’s crude manners. He wanted to talk to her more, but he was scared that his teammates would leave a bad impression on her.

Ryan sighs when there’s no more food left on the plate, and grabs a menu, “Hey pretty lady, what do you think I should get? What’s good?”

Maddie’s head snaps up, her honey eyes wide, “I don’t know… everything is good I guess.”

“So you’re saying I should buy everything?”

Maddie shrugs, “Only if you can eat it all, the chefs charge extra if you have too much leftover food.”

Ryan grins, “Trust me sweetheart, I could eat everything on this menu and still have enough room for dessert.”

She gazes at Gabriel, her eyebrows raised with uncertainty.

‘I need new friends.’

Maddie prayed that he would be there again.

He had been there the last 4 days she had gone to the diner for lunch, so he had to be there again, right? She inhaled profoundly as she stepped through the creaky doors of the diner, her prayers going answered as she spotted the Swedish hockey player sitting at the same table she had first met him at. Ruby, an elderly waitress, greets her like she always does and Maddie silently makes her way towards Gabriel’s table.

“Would you like to sit with me this time?” He asks with an endearing smile.

She bites back the grin that threatens to spread across her face, and simply nods. She slides in the booth across from him and nervously folds her hands in her lap.

“How are you today?” She finally asks.

“I’m great, how are you Maddie?”

She nearly shudders at the sound of her name on his tongue, “Same… just really busy with school and all.”

“How many classes are you taking?”

He was always asking her questions, probably figuring that she already knew enough about him since he is quite possibly the biggest athlete in Denver right now.

“Only 2, but one is Calculus 2 and the other is Atomic Physics, so it’s kind of a lot of work.” She admitted sheepishly.

She didn’t want him to think she was a nerd like most people thought about her in high school. It was all she ever heard in high school, and was even bullied for her quiet personality on a regular basis. Maddie sighs as she plays with the strings on her Denver University hoodie that her dad had bought her the day she moved out of the house, and into the dormitory at school. She absolutely loved Colorado, the air was pure and unpolluted, the scenery was spectacular, and the rain always brought her a sense of serenity; but the people could be utterly atrocious.

“Jeez, I was lucky that I made it past Algebra I and Biology.” He laughs.

“You are lucky though, you get to do what you love everyday. I don’t even know what I want to do with my life yet, and you have yours all figured out.” Maddie tries unsuccessfully not to sound envious as the sentence leaves her mouth.

“Well, what are you good at?”

“Honestly?” He nods receptively, “I don’t know what I’m good at… I’m starting to think I can’t do anything right.” She whispers the last part, but Gabriel hears it.

“Don’t think like that,” he frowns, “Everyone is good at something, and sometimes it just takes a long time to figure out what it is.”

Maddie gazes up at his facial features, blushing when his beautiful blue eyes stared into her golden ones. His blonde hair seemed to be styled so carelessly and blonde stubble was starting to form on his sharp chin. He was unquestionably out of her league, and even though she really liked him, he knew there were prettier, and funnier, women out there for him.

Then she felt exceptionally insecure.

“Do you like Colorado so far?” Maddie quickly changed the subject before Gabriel could ask her anymore personal questions.

“Yeah, it’s great!” He answered enthusiastically, “I mean, the weather is still kind of weird, but it’s a lot better than I thought it would be.”

“You get used to it after a while, especially the rain. It could be 90 degrees outside and completely sunny, and it would end up raining anyways.”

“I still can’t believe you’ve lived here your whole life… what is there to do in Colorado anyways?” His eyebrows knit together as he tries to get a grip on the fact that someone can stay in the same place for 18 years.

“Well, my dad and I like to go fishing a lot, there’s always a place to go fishing here, even in the winter time. There’s constantly sporting events going on, Colorado is pretty diverse when it comes to sports, even though our baseball team isn’t exactly the best in the league… but our football team is pretty good!”

Gabriel snorts, “Tim Tebow fan?”

She childishly sticks her tongue out at him, and it’s the first time he’s seen her so… carefree.

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” He asks after Ruby sets two plates in front of us.

“Nope, just my dad and I.” Maddie instantly regrets her answer when Gabe’s face twists into confusion.

“What about your mom?”

“Gone.”

“What do you mean by ‘gone’?” He pushes, “Like, did she just disappear one day?”

“I don’t want to talk about it; I shouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.” She whispers desolately.

Gabriel notices her dark tone, “I’m sorry…”

He looks like a child who’s been yelled at by an adult, and Maddie feels even worse. She always hated seeing people sad, especially when she knew it was her fault. Lunch is eaten in an uncomfortable silence, and it makes her squirm around in her seat.

“Are you okay?” He asks when he sees her fidgeting around anxiously.

“Yeah, I’m fine… I think I should leave though, I have a ton of homework that’s going to take me all day to finish.” She says and quickly gets up from the booth, gathering all of her stuff together and slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

“Maddie wait,” he swiftly grabs her wrist and she turns to face him expectantly, “I was wondering if I could get your number so we could go do something together when you’re not so busy… I-I really like you.”

She’s definitely surprised by his statement; she thought for sure he had just been taking pity on her the whole time. Who knows, maybe he still was.

“Okay,” She says with a grin when they exchange cell phones. He feels awkward holding her simple phone with the slide out keyboard, but she feels the same exact way holding his iPhone. She scarcely knew how to use the device mostly because her roommate had one.

“I’ll text you later, yeah?” He questions with a hopeful smile. Maddie didn’t actually believe him at the time, but Gabriel Landeskog always seemed to have a tendency of proving her wrong.

Maddie bit her lip and nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, “Sounds good… bye Gabe.”

“Bye Maddie.” He responded with his signature smile that warmed her heart and soul.

Madelyn hoped that he liked her as much as she liked him.