The Opportunity Has Just Begun

“How you feeling?” Chris knelt down in front of me putting his hand on my knee as I sat in my stall wrapped in my tracksuit, Sid’s suit jacket slung over my shoulders to help me keep warm.
“The headache is still there but otherwise I feel ok,” I took a sip of my water.
“Well just let me know if you feel any worse, ok?”
“Ok,” I nodded taking another sip of my drink.

I was still a little annoyed at Geno about lunch. I get he was excited to be with his friend and they could speak Russian to each other but if that was what he wanted I don’t know why he just didn’t go on his own. He never made sense though.

“You ok?” Geno sat down next to me as everyone else headed out into the hall.
“I wish people would stop asking me that,” I groaned standing up.
“Cam,” he followed, “I ask because I worry.”
“I know,” I stopped when he stepped in front of me, “but please just stop with this nice stuff for a while. You have a girlfriend and I don’t want to get in the way of that,” I pushed his helmet into his chest.
“Sorry,” he looked down like a sad child and it almost hurt to see him like that.
“It’s ok just go,” I pushed him towards the door, “good luck.”

I found myself a chair to sit in at the end of the tunnel. I didn’t want to go up into the booth on my own and this way I could sit with Kadar for some of the game.

“What are you doing?” my favorite trainer sat in the seat next to me.
“Playing solitaire,” I continued to flick through my phone.
“How is it?” he leant over to look at my screen.
“I am done,” I put the last card up and watched as the screen lit up.

“You ready for me to kick your ass when we get back to Pittsburgh?”
“Of course I am.”
“Good because we are making up for this,” he gestured to me slacking off and missing a game.

If it was up to me I would be out on the ice but Chris wasn’t going to let me. I knew it would dumb for me to play, there was no way I was fit enough to be out there but every part of me wanted to be.

It was the only place I really felt at home. The guys all came together, everyone cheered for each other. Sure I got pushed around a lot being a girl but it didn’t matter to me, I wasn’t going to them ruin something that meant so much to me just because I was a girl. I was going to get better and be ready to hit the ice when we got back home.

My phone buzzed in my hands and I thought at first it was a text message only to be surprised by a direct message on my twitter. I hardly ever been on my twitter lately having been too busy with hockey but I was even more surprised who it was.

@a_hen14: 'How’s your lip? I hope you’re not out because of me.’
@camstar: 'It’s ok but you’re not that good of a hit. I am sick.’
@a_hen14: 'That sucks. You with team?’
@camstar: 'Yeah in Washington. Hopefully I get to play the Islanders on Tuesday.’
@a_hen14: 'So will you be in New York tomorrow?’
@camstar: 'Yeah?’
@a_hen14: 'Do you have the day off?’
@camstar: 'I might do.'
@a_hen14: 'We should get lunch together.’
@camstar: 'And why would I do such a thing?’
@a_hen14: 'So I can say sorry for hitting you.’
@camstar: 'You don’t have to say sorry but I wouldn’t mind going out for lunch with someone other than the team.’
@a_hen14: 'Exactly. So you come?’
@camstar: 'I guess it couldn’t hurt.’

So I wasn’t completely sure whether I was agreeing to it because I was heavily drugged up or because maybe I thought Adam was kind of cute. Heck it was probably both but I really wanted someone else’s company or at least some time away from Geno to just cool off.