CBJ

"His name is WHAT!?" Whit exclaimed, nearly flinging her clipboard across the room.

"Boone," Ryan simply replied, confused as to why this intern was questioning the legitimacy of his teammate's name.

"No," Whit shook her head in disbelief. "That's not a real name."

"I guess you'd have to take that up with the Jenner's," Ryan smirked. "But I can assure you it's his god-given name."

"Boone?" she scrunched her face.

"Boone," Ryan gave her a crooked smile and clasped his hands together.

This was only the second day of Whit Calhoun's communications internship with the Columbus Blue Jackets and so far, it had been nothing short of exciting. It was fast-paced with little room for error, leaving Whit to self supervise herself with her head spinning from all the craziness. Joe, the Director of Public Relations, had assigned her the task of gathering players personal information to put in the tiny booklets that they hand out on game nights. Going down the list of players names, none of them really stood out to her, not that she was paying a lick of attention. Sure some of the foreign ones were a little hard to roll off the tongue but it was nothing she couldn't handle. Until she got about halfway down the list and noticed a name that couldn't possibly be stamped on someone's birth certificate: Boone Jenner.

BOONE!? No. No that couldn't possibly be right. It had to be some kind of typo, right? No one gives their kid that kind of name just for the hell of it. There had to be some truth behind it and Whit was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"I heard my name," a scruffy-faced, chiseled, thirty-something looking man interrupted the conversation.

"Sup man?" Ryan slapped hands with the undeniably attractive stranger.

"Hold up," Whit held her hand up. "You're Boone?"

"Yup," he flashed her a tight-lipped smile.

"It says here you're 20..." Whit began to trail off, studying Boone's masculine features. "There's no way."

"Swear," Boone put his hands up in protest.

"So you expect me to believe that your real name is Boone and that you're the same age as me?"

"Yeah?" Boone raised his eyebrows and looked at Ryan for backup.

"I tried to tell her but she didn't believe me," Ryan shrugged.

"Do you have something against my name?" Boone feigned disgust.

"Oh god no," Whit smiled. "I've just never met anyone named Boone before. That's all."

"I'm sorry," Boone folded his arms. "I don't believe I caught your name."

"Oh, my bad," Whit cocked her head to the side. "I'm Whit, the new comm-."

"And exactly what kind of name is Whit?" Boone cut her off.

"A normal one?" Whit snapped, her tone oozing sarcasm.

"No, no," Boone took a step closer to her. "It's gotta be short for something. Whitney maybe?"

"Whitby," she corrected him.

"Like Whitby, Ontario?"

"Like Whitby, Ontario," Whit reiterated him.

"Then you're one to judge on names," Boone smirked.

"My parents went there for their honeymoon and my mom fell in love with the name, hence why I'm named after a city," Whit defended herself. "It's not like I had any choice in picking my own name."

"Are you guys seriously arguing over names?" Ryan intervened.

"Quiet, Murr," Boone shushed him, eyes never leaving Whit's tiny frame. "I like you."

"Thanks?" Whit sounded repulsed but on the inside she was dying. No doubt Boone was easy on the eyes but why let him know that?

"Boone!" a guy donning a number 17 practice jersey called out from down the hall, breaking the budding lust-filled stare down between the two.

"Yeah!?" Boone shouted back.

"Coach wants us in strength and conditioning!" number 17 yelled.

"I gotta help her with something really quick!" Boone nodded his head towards Whit.

"No, go," Whit shook her head. "If you have somewhere you have to be, this can wait."

"Shit," Boone muttered. "Yeah I should probably go. I'll catch you sometime later though. Sound good?"

"Sounds perfect," Whit peered up at him and couldn't help but give him a tiny smile, a gesture in which he returned.

"Nice meeting you, Whitby," Boone smirked before running off down the hall.

"Fucker," she giggled to herself.

"Well, now ya know Boone," Ryan moved closer to her.

"Is he always that forward?"

"Honestly, no. He's usually a lot more reserved. I don't really know what that was," Ryan said.

"Huh," Whit pulled her clipboard in close to her chest. "This is about to be an unforgettable summer."

"Welcome to Columbus I guess," Ryan smiled.

"Yeah," she smiled to herself. "Welcome to Columbus."