The Poet Sings

A pounding sound on the door woke Ryan up. He rubbed the sleep in his eyes before walking down the steps. Opening the door, Ryan did not expect to see Brooke standing on the other side, a bright smile on her face. He blushed as he remembered he didn't put on a shirt, and then crossed his arms over his chest.

Brooke tried not to stare to much at Ryan's muscled chest, so she looked up to his face.

"Happy Birthday Ryan!" She flung herself on him, completely forgetting about him being shirtless.

That woke him up, and he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Thanks, but, uh, why are you here so early? Couldn't you wait till later today?"

She laughed and shook her head, "sorry, but I'm leaving for Minnesota in like, two hours."

"So you won't be here to spend the day with me on my birthday?" He pouted out his lips.

"I'm sure the guys will fill my place," she walked past him and into the house. Entering the kitchen, she opened a bag. "I already planned out that we will spend all day Monday together for your birthday. Anyways, I have donuts!"

Ryan rushed right over to her side, "okay, that's fine, but as long as you don't tell the guys I'm eating these," he stuffed one in his mouth and moaned.

Brooke giggled and grabbed one, ripping a piece off of it.

The two chatted as they at their breakfast, Brooke telling that Brendan was home sick and wanted to go home, but in all reality, she was the one the was missing home. She was a complete momma's baby. Having a single mom was hard because she was always out working, or getting something that would contribute to the family. Her mom was really the only one she looked up too. The mother would do anything to make sure her babies were healthy and safe. And Brooke admired that.

Brendan texted his little sister saying that she needed to get back home so they could leave.

"I'll see you later okay, Nuge?"

He laughed as he wrapped an arms around her shoulder, giving her a side hug, "so now you're calling me Nuge?"

"It's grown on me."

"Just because Jordan told you to call me that!" He accused, kidding. "I'll miss you for these couple days."

"The tables are turned, I'm the one leaving now."

"I don't think that's what that means," Ryan responded.

Brooke rolled her eyes and put her hands on Ryan's hips, "whatever. I gotta get going, I'll text you," She gave his hips a light squeeze before completely wrapping her arms around. Looking up at him, she leaned up and gave a quick peck to Ryan's cheek. "Bye."

When she was walking out, Ryan wanted to run up to her, spin her around, and kiss her on the mouth. Instead, he just stood there, his finger lightly tracing where her lips touched. The first time ever where her lips had touched his body.

▲

"She's the one that made the move? Come on, Nuge. Step up your game! You can't have the ladies doing all the work."

"Shut up Taylor," Ryan mumbled and continued flipping through the channels.

"I'm just saying, you should be the one kissing her on the cheek and all that crap. No wonder why she doesn't try to go after you, you're hiding your feels!" Taylor exclaimed and stood up from the couch.

Ryan rolled his eyes, "okay, I took her on a date, how more obvious could it get?"

Taylor thought it over for a second then shrugged. "Well.. okay. So maybe she didn't really realize it was date, but remember, she was the one who kissed you."

He rolled his eyes again and shook his head.

"It's your birthday today!" Taylor stated the obvious. "And it's Maggie's too, so I say we go clubin'."

"Is that really the best thing to do if I'm trying to win over Brooke?"

"I never said you had to pick up chicks. Be ready at 9:00."

Ryan rolled his eyes, but listened to Taylor and got off the couch.

By 9:00 Ryan was ready to go celebrate his birthday with the guys at a popular club in downtown Edmonton. Once they all got to the club, someone ordered shots for everyone on the team.

"Happy birthday to you!" Everyone finished the song for him and Maggie.

Ryan turned to Maggie and both guys laughed at their teammates horrible singing. Then, he went and sat down next to Ladislav Smid, who was downing a beer.

"Hey man, happy birthday."

Ryan nodded and said, "thanks, I'm a little overwhelmed right now."

Ladi laughed, "I felt the same way before-"

"Hi Ryan," a blonde walked up to him and sat next to him. Ladi got up, not wanting to interrupt anything, but Ryan wished he had stayed.

He cleared his throat, "uh, hey."

The girl with no name put her hand on Ryan's arm and scooted closer to him, basically sitting on his lap. "So it's your birthday.." her face leaned in closer.

Ryan only nodded, he did not want to be any where near this woman.

"Maybe I could give you a present," she leaned into kiss him, but Ryan moved away from her before her lips would touch him.

"Um, I don't know about that."

She pouted out her full lips, and stuck out her chest slighty, trying to make something out of nothing. "Why not?"

Again, she made a move to him, and he was getting nervous.

"Hey hot stuff," Taylor tapped the blonde's shoulder, which caused her to look away from Ryan and onto him. "Why don't we dance?"

It seemed like she instantly forgot about him as she went along with Taylor and onto the dance floor. Hall looked back at Nuge, who gave him an appreciative smile.

▲

"Brendan says that you have a boyfriend," Brooke's mom, Katie, stated before she took a bite of the pasta she made.

Brooke almost spit the water all over the table. "Oh no, I'm not dating."

"You're not? Then why'd you say that, Brendan?"

"They act like they are all the time, so I just kind of guessed. Plus they went on a date," he shrugged simply.

"Sounds like a boyfriend to me," Katie said while looking at Brooke. "What's he like anyways? How'd you meet? Tell mom all about this fellow."

"His name's Ryan and him and his friends moved next to us in January. He's really sweet, but also slightly.. awkward, but he's also outgoing too."

Her mom's face held a giant smile.

"Oh, she seemed to forget that he plays for the Edmonton Oilers," Brendan piped up, smirking.

"Edmonton Oilers.. isn't that a hockey team?" Brooke nodded. "Oh, honey, that's bad news. Do you even know what he does when he's away on road trips? Do you know what he's doing right now?"

"Mom," she sighed and dug her fork in the rest of her food.

"We're talking about this after dinner."

Right after the dishes were all washed and put away, and also the leftover food was stored away in the refrigerator, Katie called her daughter to talk in the living room. Brooke knew that all she was going to do was bad mouth Ryan, yet she didn't even know who he was.

"I'm so glad to see you, hun," her mom started as she patted the spot on the couch next to her.

"Yeah, I'm happy to see you, I've missed you."

She smiled then said, "now I really want to finish up what we started at dinner. I'm happy that you're getting out there and trying to find love, but do it with someone who has more.. maturity? Well of course this Ryan has to be mature, but he most likely parties when he's away."

"Mom, he's not like that trust-"

"What is he doing right now?" She asked suddenly.

Brooke shrugged, "well it's his birthday so he's most likely out with the guys."

"And what does 'out with the guys' mean?"

"A club," she shrugged again.

"Exactly. He's probably dancing with another girl right now. He probably does truly like you because, well, you are beautiful and amazing, but he's young and famous. Honey, I'm just trying to protect you."

Tears sprung to Brooke's, she knew it was probably true. He was probably clung to another girl's side, planning on taking her home for the night because she wouldn't be there to ruin everything. "I know you're just looking out for me, and I respect that, mother. I understand what you mean by that because hockey player's reputations really aren't that great."

"From what you said, Ryan does sound like a gentleman though, I'll have to meet him sometime."

Brooke smiled and hugged her mom, "I hope you will."