Just A Hockey Player

“Not again!” Ryan whined as Tess pulled her across the threshold of yet another store.

“Quit your bitching. This’ll be the last one, okay?” Tessa snapped. “Why do you hate shopping so much? Don’t you want to look good?”

“Tessa, I could really care less.”

“Why?” Tessa viewed Ryan’s comments as sacrilegious, considering how much time and money Tessa spent on her appearance.

“I’m a hockey player!” Ryan nearly shouted. “I get paid to hit people and score goals, not to look good. And it doesn’t help that people try and single me out,” explained Ryan indicating the cut above her eyebrow from the night before. “Why do you like it so much?” Ryan asked a few moments later while making a face at a dress Tessa had pulled off a rack.

“I like knowing I look good. Helps with self-confidence, you know?” answered Tessa as she replaced the dress only pull a pair of hot pink heels off a shelf.

“Never,” shuddered Ryan, wincing at the thought of having to skate after wearing those torture devices all day. “And I’m sure the fact that guys flock to you isn’t a reason you like playing dress up.”

“It’s not dressing up! And this coming from the girl who is on intimate terms with twenty smokin’ professional hockey players.”

“Only because I play with them! And they think of me as one of the guys, you know that.” Ryan finally relented and bought a sweater. After all, it wasn’t the worst thing Tessa had suggested, even in the last couple of minutes.

“I’m sure if you would dress like I told you to, you wouldn’t be one of the guys anymore!” Tessa was obviously frustrated, and Ryan could tell that Tessa thought Ryan was wasting a golden opportunity.

“Tess, I think I would rather things stay this way.”

“C’mon don’t tell me you would want to get a little friendlier with Chris. Or maybe even Stu…” Tessa trailed off, no doubt thinking about the guys.

“Tessa! I told you, hands off my team!”

“Alright, alright. But they’re not all yours for the record. The second you got traded, which would suck, but if you did, I would be all over them-“

“And no doubt wreaking havoc on the locker room,” interrupted Ryan.

“Ryan don’t tell me you don’t like at least one of them,” begged Tessa.

“I like them all. They’re my teammates.”

“Don’t avoid it, Ryan. You know what I mean.” Tessa gasped as an idea occurred to her. “It’s
Derek isn’t?”

“No,” Ryan asserted quickly, but the blush creeping across her freckled face gave her away.

“It totally is!” said Tessa with a satisfied smile. “I am just too smart. Although I don’t know why you would pick him, he’s such a goof ball. Why was he on the floor this morning?”

“Ugh don’t get me started,” sighed Ryan. “Let’s get back. I bet the boys have managed to mess
something up.”



The girls arrived at the apartment to find that the guys had indeed messed up something. More than one something, actually. The fridge door was open, the TV was blasting, and the couch had been upended. However, the apartment was empty.

“What-“ began Tessa.

“Just roll with it. That’s what I do,” sighed Ryan while righting the couch.

“Where’d they go, then?” wondered Tessa. Her question was answered when a hoard of
hockey players emptied the apartment, hands full of grocery bags.

“Finally! Someone decided to get some food!” Ryan looked the happiest she had been all day.

“Yeah,” said Step, setting the eight bags he was carrying, all filled with sports drinks, on the island in the kitchen. “And I made all them pitch it since they eat us out of house and home.”

“How can we eat you out of house and home? You don’t even pay for this place,” retorted Mac as he threw boxes of cereal haphazardly into one of the cabinets.

“And neither do you,” Bick chipped in, frowning at the open fridge. “If I put the milk in here, will it go bad?” he directed his question at Ryan.

“Why are you asking me?” Ryan responded, but she walked over to test the fridge’s temperature anyway. “It should be fine. Who left it open anyway?”

“Kreids,” the guys, except for the one named, answered.

“Hey! That’s only because Boyler tackled me!” Kreids tried to shift the blame.

“I swear, why you can’t call act like normal human beings is beyond me,” Ryan had lost interest, throwing herself on the couch.

“So, what’d you buy, Ry?” grinned Step.

“Nothing that will ever see the light of day,” she was a little nervous about where this conversation bight be headed.

“Oh, I know!” Tessa practically screamed. Ryan’s nerves grew even more. “We should go out for dinner!”

“No!” shouted Ryan.

“Yeah!” shouted everyone else.

“Majority rules, Ryan. Let’s go get ready!” For the second time that day, Ryan was being dragged around her apartment unwillingly.

“Help me!” she mouthed to the guys behind Tessa’s back. They just grinned, and Step even had the audacity to give Ryan a little wave. Once they were in Ryan’s room, Tessa started throwing articles of clothing at her, not taking no for an answer.

“No! Ryan Davis you take those horrid flip flops off right now!” screeched Tessa. Ryan could hear a chuckle from Step in the other room as she removed the Giants flip flops she had tried to wear.

The guys had dispersed to their respective apartments, leaving Step alone in the living room. Ryan was glad of that when she emerged, clothed in the outfit Tessa had forced on her.

“Don’t say anything ,” she warned as she walked out the door, leaving Tessa behind. She was hurrying down the hallway to the elevator hoping to avoid the other guys until absolutely necessary.

“Damn, Davey!” shouted Boyler, who was already waiting for the elevator, “Is that really you?”

“Shout your mouth, loser, before you catch some flies in it,” snapped Ryan. The others caught up, and kept their comments to themselves after seeing the scowl on her face.
They walked into a sports bar, one of Ryan’s choosing. She just hoped this night out would be better than the last one.

Ryan groaned when she saw all the girls around the bar waving and trying to catch the attention of the guys. “I can’t take this anymore! First my mother, then Tessa, now these bimbos. Hockey players aren’t that great!” Everyone was surprised at Ryan’s outburst, except for Step, who burst into laughter.

“What did your mom do?” asked Kreids.

“I would rather not say…” Ryan rolled her eyes.

“She…she…” Step tried to fight his laughter. “She had a whole conversation with Ry about how hot Richie and Hank are!” he finally spit out before breaking into a fresh fit of hysterics.

“No!” said Tessa.

“I think I’m mentally scarred for life,” sighed Ryan.

“I’m think I might be physically scarred,” said Step, wiping away tears from his eyes.

“Why?” Mac asked, looking a little concerned.

“He fell off the couch laughing,” responded Ryan with a straight face. The dam finally broke and the entire group dissolved into laughter, earning their fair share of weird looks from the people in the bar.