The Trouble with Girls and Hockey Players

“No. No. Ugh, never.” Lane was completely submerged in her closet, throwing almost every piece of her wardrobe haphazardly around her bedroom. She was in the midst of a crisis. Derick was supposed to pick her up in an hour, she had no idea what to wear, and Billie wasn’t even home yet. Lane had called Billie during her lunch hour and managed to tell Billie about her date, even though the conversation consisted mostly of shrieks. Lane was pretty sure the Dunkin Donuts workers wouldn’t let her in to buy her habitual iced caramel latte anytime soon.

“Lucy, I’m home!” yelled Billie as she walked in the door. Lane could hear her chuckling at her own joke as she walked down the hallway towards Lane’s bedroom. “Oh, Lucy, you got some ‘splaining to do,” Billie said when she saw the state of Lane’s room.

“Oh thank god,” Lane said, emerging from the closet with a pair of floral leggings in her hand and a wrinkled top thrown over her shoulder. “Derick’s going to be here in an hour,” she checked her watch, “make that fifty seven minutes. What am I going to wear? I’m flipping out, like literally flipping out. I can’t do this, maybe I should call him and say I’m sick. I think I might be sick. Oh god, what if I puke on him?”

“Okay let’s breathe a little,” Billie said, detaching Lane from the leggings she was clutching. “You’ll be fine. I’ll help with the clothes, you go do your hair.”

Exactly fifty six minutes later, Lane was pacing around the living room in a dark red, knee length, long sleeve dress. She kept her eyes trained on the small scuff marks on her dark brown combat boots.

“Everything is gonna be great, Lane,” Billie said. “I can feel it. Do you think you could swipe a couple of his teammates’ numbers for me? I’m gonna be awfully lonely if you’re out gallivanting with Derick all the time.”

“Sure, Billie, that would be a great conversation starter,” Lane said. “Hey, Derick, can I have the number of all the single hockey players you know? My roommate wants to stalk them.” Lane nearly fell over when there was a knock at the door and felt like she had the wind knocked out of her when she saw who was on the other side of it.

Derick’s hair flopped over onto his forehead, just the way Lane liked it. He was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a light blue button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He had a bouquet of daisies in his hands and was shifting his weight awkwardly from one foot to the other. Simply put, if Lane had a choice between an Abercrombie model or Derick, she would have picked Derick.

Derick was having a similar experience. Lane’s brown hair fell just past her shoulders and he felt an overwhelming urge to run his hands through it. She had a small smile on her face that grew when she saw the flowers. Derick would gladly have risked any amount of physical injury or public embarrassment just for this moment.

“Hey, these are for you,” he said, handing Lane the flowers.

“Thanks,” Lane said, opening the door a little wider. “Come in. I just have to grab my jacket.”

“I, uh, hope they’re all right,” Derick said as he scratched the back of his head nervously. “I asked the lady at the flower shop for help. I’m hopeless with these things.”

“They’re beautiful,” Lane said. Billie causally strolled into the hallway from the living room. “This is my roommate, Billie. Billie, this is Derick.”

“Hmm, now I know why you keep running into him,” Billie said. Both Lane and Derick turned a bright shade of red. Billie took the flowers and walked into the kitchen presumably to put them in water.

“I think we should go now,” Lane said, putting her hand on Derick’s arm and gently pushing him towards the door. Derick realized that he would have gone anywhere Lane asked him to right now, even Philadelphia. And he hated Philadelphia. But he couldn’t help it. It had something to do with the way Lane kept glancing at him out of the corner of her eyes or the smile that made her eyes light up.

It was this smile and the lingering thoughts from a pre-date pep talk from John that gave Derick the confidence grab Lane’s hand once she let go of his arm.

At that moment, Lane had no doubt that she was the happiest person on earth. Or at least in the tri-state area.