Becoming Mrs. Seguin

The sound of my phone ringing woke me up the next morning. I groaned and prayed that whoever it was would hang up, but they didn't. Savannah was still fast asleep on the couch, so I got up as quietly as I could, careful not to disturb her. I turned the TV off then went to grab my phone. Apparently, it was already 10.

"Hello?", I answered drowsily.

"Hey, did I wake you up?" My face instantly lit up from hearing the sound of Tyler's voice.

"No, I was already awake. So what's up?", I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to do something today," he said.

"Sure. Where do you want to meet?"

"I was actually planning on driving up to the campus to pick you up. You're probably tired of having to drive for a whole hour each time just to get to Boston, right?" Tyler remarked.

"It's not that bad, unless there's traffic," I replied honestly.

We agreed on having him come pick me up at noon, then I went to shower. Whatever Tyler had in store for today, I didn't know. I decided to wear a pair of white shorts with a light pink lace top. My hair just wasn't at its best at the moment, so I wore it up in a messy bun. Savannah finally woke up while I was putting on mascara.

"Where are you going?", she asked.

"Boston with Tyler. You should come too," I told her.

"Ugh, I wish I could. My cousin's wedding is this weekend and I have to be at Cape Cod today no later than 3," she explained.

"How long will you be down there?"

"Until Sunday," she said.

That meant that I'd be at the campus all by myself for 5 whole days. What was I going to do? My stomach began to growl so I decided to eat some cereal. By the time I finished, there was a knock on the door. I went to open it and there stood Tyler...and Brad Marchand, whom I was not expecting. I guess they did have a legit bromance going on.

"Hey Christine. All set to go?", Tyler asked with a smile.

"Yup," I replied, then turned to Brad. "And you must be Brad Marchand."

"The one and only," he replied, grinning.

I invited them in and asked Tyler if there was a hotel I could stay at in Boston while Savannah was gone. He told me that I could just stay with him at his place, since he had a spare room. I recalled that he also had a roommate named Fred, which made me a bit hesitant to stay with him. I mean, they both were grown men and I would be the only girl. A lot could go wrong.

But I trusted Tyler. So in the end, I agreed to it. Savannah kept the guys company while I went to pack some of my belongings into a bag. We all left the dorm afterwards and then Tyler led me to his car. My eyes instantly widened when I saw it. A shiny black BMW with leather seats and a sunroof. What a ride.

"Have you ever played hockey before?", Brad asked me once we all got in the car.

"I can sort of skate, but that's it," I admitted. Tyler looked at me through the rearview mirror and nodded with approval.

"Good, because we're going to teach you," he said proudly.

"First stop, Ristuccia Arena," Brad bellowed.

Oh lord...

***

"So this is where the Bruins practice?", I remarked once we got to the ice rink.

"Yup. Some of the guys wanted to get a head start for the season, so they've been coming here everyday for the past week. Practice doesn't officially start until next week, though," Tyler explained. I remembered he told me that back at the beach.

It was quite chilly in the arena, so I couldn't help but shiver a little. Tyler noticed and went to get something for me to wear over my top from the locker room. He came back with a black Bruins hoodie. I thanked him and put it on. Surprisingly, it actually fit me.

"Brad and I are going to get dressed. We left a pair of ice skates for you by the bench," Tyler said.

While I was putting my skates on, I watched as the Bruins took turns taking shots at the goal. Milan Lucic smiled when he saw me and quickly skated over. Patrice Bergeron followed behind and they both took off their helmets.

"Christine, welcome to Boston! You ready to get on the ice?", Lucic asked energetically, handing me a hockey stick.

"I will probably make a fool of myself, but oh well," I replied, smiling.

"That's the spirit," Bergeron remarked.

By then, Tyler and Brad had come out of the locker room, both dressed in their Bruins gear. I went out onto the ice and was able to skate a whole lap before falling flat on my butt. This sure was going to be a long day. Tyler laughed and came over to help me get up. His skates made him look even taller than usual.

"Let's see how well you can shoot," he said with a grin.

We skated over to Niklas Svedberg, who stood in front of the goal. The rest of the Bruins were sitting on the bench, watching us with amused looks on their faces. Tyler flipped his visor up then taught me how to hold the stick properly, placing his hands on top of mine. The puck rested at my feet.

"Aim for the upper right corner and just hit it as hard as you can. That's what I always do," Tyler said into my ear. He gave me a pat on the shoulder then stood back to give me space.

Svedberg looked straight at me as I took a few steps away from the puck, focusing my eyes on the upper right corner. He slightly moved to the right, assuming that I would aim there. At that moment, an idea instantly popped into my head. I didn't know if it would work, but it was worth a try.

I kept my eyes on the intended target the whole time and took a shot, but right when my stick came in contact with the puck at the last second, I ended up slamming it at full speed towards the lower left corner of the goal instead of the upper right. Svedberg had been totally caught off guard and the puck went straight in. I dropped my stick and just stood there, stunned as a rock, while everyone else clapped and cheered. How on earth did I just do that?

"Holy shit, Christine, that was amazing!", Tyler exclaimed. Niklas skated over to us and stared at me with wide eyes.

"Wow, I definitely was not expecting that," he admitted. "You sure you've never played hockey before?"

"Yup," I replied.

The rest of the Bruins piled back onto the ice to congratulate me and then they went back to practicing. I stood by the side of the rink and watched them, occasionally passing the puck off whenever it came my way.

Being around the Bruins reminded me of Aaron's football team from high school. They all felt like older brothers to me, too. Once practice was over, the guys headed into the locker room. Tyler stayed behind to teach me some more basics about hockey.

At one point, he had possession of the puck and my goal was to try to steal it from him. We were moving pretty fast and being the terrible skater that I was, I ended up tripping over Tyler's foot. The both of us tumbled down onto the ice with a loud thud, our sticks flying all over the place. We just laid there, laughing our heads off.

"You know, I think I've had enough practice for today," I finally declared after catching my breath.

"Me too," Tyler agreed with a grin.

He got up and grabbed my hand, pulling me back onto my feet. I returned the hoodie that I had been wearing back to Tyler and went to take off my skates. Being out on the ice was actually a lot funner than I thought, especially since Tyler was with me most of the time. I enjoyed every minute that we spent with each other. To be honest, I really liked Tyler a lot.