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“That was the best game ever!” Emily chirped as her and Steph walked out of the arena in Rexall Place. The Edmonton Oilers had just smoked the Phoenix Coyotes 12-2. It was one of their finer moments.

“Yeah, your boyfriend was pretty brave to take on Biz like that,” Steph teased Emily. Emily turned fifty shades of red. Only part of that statement was true.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” she stated matter of fact. Steph rolled her eyes.

“He so is,” Steph said in reply, “I saw what you two got up to when we hung out last,” she winked at her. Emily started for the doors, “where do you think you’re going?” Emily looked at her, confused.

“Leaving?” she said, “the game’s over is it not?” Steph laughed.

“Dude, do you seriously think that you’re going to just leave your first Oilers’ game as a player’s girlfriend without seeing him?” Emily turned red again.

“I didn’t think we’d be able to see them,” she said honestly. Steph grabbed her hand and led her down a flight of stairs. They noticed another girl standing at the bottom of the stairs. She smiled at them.

“Hey,” she said to Steph, excitedly.

“Hey!” Steph said back. They hugged, “how’s it going?”

The girl sighed, “alright, I guess. Still trying to nurse Taylor’s shoulder, but you know how it is,” they both laughed. Steph turned to Emily, who looked rather confused.

“Hey, Emily this is Sarah, Taylor’s girlfriend,” Emily waved a small wave, “Sarah, this is Emily,” she reached her hand out for Emily to shake.

“You must be the Emily Ryan’s been talking about,” Sarah said to her. Emily turned red a third time, “it was all good, I promise,” she smiled at Emily.

“That’s – that’s good,” said Emily, unsure of what to say. Before she could say anything else, the dressing room door opened. Taylor stepped out, freshly showered. He looked at Steph.

“Well whataya know,” he said, “I haven’t seen you around for a while. I was beginning to think that Jordan and you broke up,” he joked as Steph rolled her eyes.

“Shut yo face,” she replied jokingly. Emily was in awe. They were all friends, and she was having a hard time believing that she was soon going to be a part of this friendship. Steph introduced Emily to him, as her roommate, knowing that even though she could tease her about being Ryan’s girlfriend that it wasn’t really public information yet.

Taylor and Sarah left, only after Taylor made it a point to chirp Steph as hard as he could in three minutes. A trickle of players came out of the room, some tossing a nod of acknowledgement towards them, others stopping to say hi. Emily had met most of the team by the time Jordan and Ryan came out. She had been introduced to Justin Schultz, Sam Gagner, Nail Yakupov (who seemed to have faked nice as he chatted with them; Emily got the feeling him and Steph didn’t get along that well), Ryan Jones (who also teased Steph, just as Taylor did), Jeff Petry, Ladislav Smid, Ryan Whitney and Devan Dubnyk. The rest of them either walked right past them or gave them a strange look, like Nikolai Khabibulin did.

Finally, Jordan and Ryan came out. They were still wearing their skates.

“Nice skates,” Steph greeted them as they walked towards the guys. Jordan rolled his eyes.

“Nice to see you too,” he said back, sticking his tongue out at her.

“Hey,” Ryan said to Emily. Emily smiled shyly.

“Hey,” she said back. She looked at his feet, “what’s with the skates?” she asked, legitimately curious. He smiled.

“Didn’t Steph tell you?” he asked, kind of surprised. She shook her head. Next thing she knew, she was being pulled into the dressing room. She looked around. It looked a lot bigger than it did on television. There were two pairs of worn out figure skates sitting on the floor. She cast a glance towards Steph, who was already slipping off her shoes.

“Are you serious?” she asked her, getting excited and nervous. Steph nodded and gestured to the floor beside her. Emily flopped down and started putting her pair of skates on, “but I can’t skate,” she whispered to Steph. Steph turned to her.

“That’s the point though,” she whispered back. Emily’s eyes widened. She was going to learn how to skate from an NHL player. She was going to learn how to skate.

After they had their skates on, Jordan raced Steph to the ice surface, while Ryan and Emily took their time.

“I’m just warning you, I can’t skate that well,” she said to him, to get it out of the way. He laughed a little.

“That’s what I’ve heard,” he said as they reached the ice surface, “allow me.” He stepped onto the freshly zambonied ice, turning around to hold his hands out for her. She took them, and cautiously stepped down onto the smooth ice. Her feet felt uneasy, as she let Ryan pull her to centre ice. She glanced up and saw Steph and Jordan chasing each other around one half of the ice. She cast her focus back to Ryan, who was ready to help her skate. She firmed her grip on his hands as she apprehensively moved her feet.

“You’re doing well for someone who can’t skate,” Ryan said to her after a while. Emily giggled.

“Well, I have a good teacher,” she replied cutely. Ryan smiled at the compliment. He looked at her.

“You look cold,” he said. She shrugged.

“Maybe a little,” she admitted. He smiled at her again and told her to stay put. He raced off of the ice. Emily looked back down at the other end of the ice. Steph was teaching Jordan how to do jumps. She used to figure skate. They looked like they were having a lot of fun.
Ryan came racing back onto the ice, with a sweater in hand. When he returned, she saw that it was one of his hoodies. He held it out to her. She took it and put it on. It smelled like him. It smelled good.

“Thanks,” she said, as he grabbed her hands and led her around the ice again.

After forty five minutes, she was able to skate on her own. Emily was getting tired, and she could sense that Ryan was too, which was understandable being as he just played a full game of hockey. Jordan and Steph were already sitting on the bench, whispering things to each other.

They left the ice, and went to change back into their shoes. Emily forgot she was wearing his hoodie.

They left for the parking lot. Emily noticed that Steph had parked beside Jordan’s truck. The guys tossed their bags into the back of the truck and got in. Steph gestured towards the truck, signaling for Emily to get in. She crawled into the back beside Ryan, and Steph got in beside Jordan. Jordan turned the stereo on. Someone’s iPhone was connected to it.

You know I’d fall apart without you, I don’t know how you do what you do, cause everything that don’t make sense about me makes sense when I’m with you.

Steph started singing along and Jordan kept casting glances at her as he drove. Emily was wondering where they were going, because they just left Steph’s car at the arena. She wondered if Ryan could feel her apprehensiveness. They were sitting pretty close to each other.

Cause I wanna wrap you up, wanna kiss your lips, I wanna make you feel wanted and I want to call you mine, wanna hold your hand forever and never let you forget yeah I, I want to make you feel wanted.

Emily felt Ryan grab her hand in the dark. She squeezed it, feeling slightly more relaxed. Jordan pulled into a Tim Horton’s parking lot.

“Is hot chocolate good?” he asked Ryan and Emily, who both said yes. Him and Steph jumped out of the truck, and walked across the parking lot, and into the building, leaving Ryan and Emily alone. She leaned into his side, feeling the coldness creep into the truck as she started to shiver. She felt his arms slip around her, holding her close.

“You’re really warm,” she said to him quietly. He chuckled.

“You’re really cold,” he replied, squeezing her tighter. She smiled to herself, resting her head on his shoulder. They sat like that, even when Steph and Jordan came back. The rest of the drive consisted of bad jokes, and Steph singing very off key to the country music that played.

“You’re all I ever WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANTED,” Steph sang dramatically to Jordan, totally butchering the note, “ALL I EVER WANTED!” Jordan shook his head and cast another loving glance in her direction. You could tell that he was blushing, even though it was dark out.

They drove for around ten minutes, until Jordan pulled into a driveway.

“Where are we?” Emily whispered to Ryan, after they got out of the truck and were walking up the driveway.

“This is our place,” he whispered back, “Jordan, Hallsy, Whitney and I share this house. Hallsy’s out with his girlfriend and Whitney’s at the Cactus Club, so it’s just us four,” he reassured her. She sighed a sigh of relief. They went inside, and walked through the house, to the kitchen (which was located at the back of the house).

“Well, this is home,” Jordan said to Emily. She looked around. It was rather big, even for three people. Jordan and Ryan disappeared down the hall with their hockey gear, leaving the girls alone.

“So what exactly is going on now?” Emily asked Steph, who had taken a seat at the counter on a barstool. Emily sat down as well.

“Campfire?” Steph replied. Emily smiled.

“I love campfires,” she said back. Steph smiled at her. The guys soon returned, armed with blankets and campfire skewers. They went outside through the patio door, and the girls followed. Emily was still wearing Ryan’s hoodie.

After a few minutes of struggling with the wood and a barbecue lighter, Steph and Ryan managed to get a fire blazing.

“I wasn’t a Girl Guide for nothing,” she joked.

Jordan and Steph shared a blanket, while Ryan and Emily shared another. They started drinking their hot chocolate and roasting marshmallows, which proved to be a disaster when Ryan almost set the blanket on fire, and Steph accidentally got melted marshmallow in Jordan’s hair. Jordan repaid her by smearing a melted marshmallow all over her face. It became a full out battle between them. Steph jumped on top of him, and rubbed her sticky face against his, getting some marshmallow caught in his stubble. They were laughing at each other. He held onto her so she couldn’t get away and kissed her. Emily smiled. They were both covered in sticky marshmallow, but they couldn’t care less. Ryan caressed Emily’s knee, and she put her hand over his. They looked at each other, feeling a connection.

After they managed to eat a bag of marshmallows, and the fire was put out, they went inside. Jordan and Steph went to get cleaned up, while Ryan and Emily sat in the living room on the giant couch. Emily could feel her eyelids drooping, and she felt Ryan’s arm slide around her shoulder. She curled up under the blanket that they had brought in from the fire. Her eyelids shut for the last time, as she leaned into Ryan, and she fell asleep.