The Three C's

Not everyone that attended the draft was chosen, three of the seven girls that tried out were actually drafted, and I was happy to say that my cousin was one of them. Dana Rebecca Marshall was picked seventh in the first round; she was off to Carolina to become a Hurricane. Amanda Kessel, sister to my buddy Phil for Toronto, was picked in the second round and was going to Colorado, she was known for her skills in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, playing for the USA women’s team. Anna Bradford, a Canadian from Quebec was picked up in the third round and was going Vancouver.

I was happy to see that Phil’s sister was picked for the NHL and to know that now there was four women in the NHL. I was spotted by the media and they wasted no time rushing over to me to see what I thought about the draft this year. When it was all over, we headed out to dinner to celebrate the news to the start of Dana’s career.

“You’re going to like Carolina, D,” I said, sitting across from her and smiling, “You’ll probably play for the Checkers for the first year-“

“Two of the Staal brothers are there- Right?”

“Three,” I said and she smiled, “Jared is half and half, mostly is with the Checkers-“

“He’s cute-“

“Focus on hockey,” her dad said and I giggled, looking at her and shrugging my shoulders.

“What if they don’t like me?” she asked and I looked at her confused.

“Who?”

“The players- My teammates.”

“You’re a Marshall,” I said and she just looked at me, “I’m friends with them, they love me- They’ll love you.”

“Really?” she asked and I nodded my head.

“If it makes you feel better- I see the Staals’ this weekend coming up, I’ll tell them to keep an eye out for ya-“

“You were going to tell them either way, Mags,” Dana said and I giggled and shrugged my shoulders.

-Kane-
“That was the deal, Pat,” Maggie said and I sighed and shook my head, “Quit yer whinin’, you know you’re going to have fun!”

“But Mags, come on- I’m not friends with anyone here!”

“You sound like a little kid- Look, I said I would go to Seguin’s stupid boat party next weekend if you come to Jordan and Neal’s summer barbeque,” Maggie said and I sighed and nodded my head, “You’ll be fine, nothing to be nervous about.”

‘…Easy for you to say- Most of the guys here wanna fuck you and I’m the one that has you- They’ll hate me…’ I thought as I drove through the streets of Thunder Bay to find the Staal household.

“Make a left here,” Maggie said and I nodded my head, “Should be at the end of the road.”

“Should be?” I chuckled and she smirked and rolled her eyes.

However, Maggie was right, at the end of the road was Jordan Staal’s home and he was outside waiting for us. Maggie got out of the car and ran over towards him, I smirked, getting out of the car and leaned against the driver’s door watching as he picked her up, spun her around and hugged her tight. I looked around, took a deep breath and then headed over.

“It’s good to see you, Mags,” Jordan said to Maggie and I chuckled when he put her head in a headlock and started to rub her head, messing her hair up.

“Jordan, you asshole!” Maggie growled and I laughed as she pulled her head out and punched him in the shoulder, “Do you know how long it took for my hair to get like this?!”

“Typical girl!” he said and I snorted, “Kane,” I looked at him, “How are ya, man?”

“Good, you?”

“Better now that you brought my best buddy here,” Jordan said and wrapped his arm around Maggie.

“Merry Christmas,” I said and the two laughed.

“Glad the two could make it, come on it! Just about everyone’s here,” Jordan said and Maggie took my hand and started to pull me into the house.

We walked in and I heard people out in the back, walking through the nice home I saw a lot of Penguin and Carolina memorabilia, we walked through the kitchen and I saw a lot of booze. We headed outside and everything got louder, music was playing, fire was going, people were grilling. I heard Maggie’s name and followed the voice to be James Neal, he ran over and hugged her, and then more and more guys and even girls came over, I smirked.

‘…She is a little social butterfly…’ I chuckled and then walked up next to her.

“Kane, how are you?” Neal asked and I nodded my head, we shook hands and then I started to socialize.

A beer magically materialized into mine and Maggie’s hand and we found ourselves being pulled deeper into the Staal summer barbeque.

-Maggie-
“Ok, ok, ok, you have to understand that she was so nervous that-“

“Mags, come on- She almost fell off of the stage,” Jeff Skinner said and some of the guys laughed.

“Yeah but- Come on, she was nervous and excited- If I was her, I’d probably fall- She made first round! That’s huge!” I said, and the guys smirked and nodded their heads, “Not even I made first round.”

We were talking about how, when Dana’s name was called at the draft she was so overcome with emotion that when she walked onto the stage to accept her jersey, she almost fell off. She quickly recovered from her shock though and everything continued as normal, I was happy that a lot of people on the networks weren’t talking about it.

“She’ll be happy in Carolina,” Jared Staad said and I smirked and nodded my head.

“Happy for her- Kessel’s sister made it too,” Stamkos said and we all nodded our heads.

“Who’s the Bradford chick?” Talbot asked, I was really excited to see his face when he appeared in front of me.

“I don’t know, she kind of just popped out of nowhere,” Sidney said and we looked at him.

“Ok, you know she’s a nobody when even Crosby’s saying that he’s never heard of her,” Skinner said and Pat chuckled.

“I didn’t even get the chance to see her skills during the showing,” I said and they all looked at me, “I only saw her when her name was announced.”

“Did you stay for the whole thing?” Sidney asked and I shook my head.

“I would have if Dana was called, but no, I didn’t,” I said and the guys nodded their heads. I looked down, I was sitting on Pat’s lap and we were sitting in a fold out chair around the campfire with the others. He was sipping his beer listening to everyone talk, Pat looked up at me and I felt his arm around my waist give me a little squeeze, “You ok?” I asked and he nodded his head, “Good.”

The rest of the night was spent around the campfire talking, laughing, drinking and having a good time. At one point, some of us were on the ground in front of the first roasting marshmallows and making s’mores, which ended with me getting laughed at because my face was a mess.

Pat and I were staying the whole weekend, taking over one of Jordan’s guest bedrooms and promising to keep it quiet at night if Pat decides to get horny. The next morning I woke up to a loud crash of thunder outside, I gasped, because it woke me up from a pretty deep sleep. I looked at the clock to see that it was after seven in the morning, Pat was still asleep, I snuck out of his grip and looked outside to see it pouring.

“Well this sucks,” I muttered and then heard whispering outside of the room. One last look at Pat, he had rolled onto his stomach, and was lightly snoring. I smirked and then walked outside of the room, down the hallway and down the stairs, following the voices to the kitchen to see some of the guys around the island. Jared, Eric, Jordan, James and Steven were around the island, Eric the only one dressed in clothes, he was the first to see me.

“Well lookie here,” Eric said and smirked towards me.

“What woke you? Jordan’s snoring?” Jared asked and I giggled and walked over.

“That what that was? I thought it was thunder,” I teased, knowing that it was and listened to the guys laugh, “Why are we up so early?”

“Thunder,” all the guys but Eric said, I looked at him.

“Kids,” he said and I giggled, “Kane still sleeping?”

“The boy can sleep through anything,” I said and he smirked.

“You happy with him?” Jared asked and I looked at him, “Not judging, just curious- Noticed that his attitude has changed.”

“I’m happy with him,” I said and he smirked and nodded his head.

“Good.”

“Now,” I said and then wrapped my arms around Jared and Jordan, well, I tried to with Jordan, he was too tall, “Jordy, be a dear and shrink, you’re too damn tall,” I said and the guys chuckled as Jordan ducked a little, “Thanks.”

“Anytime,” he scoffed.

“Now, I need a favor from you three,” I said looked at the three brothers and ignoring James and Steven.

“See, I told you this was coming,” Jordan said and I looked at him confused and then looked at Jared and Eric.

“Shut up,” Eric and Jared said.

“Well she was my teammate; I would think that I know her.”

“What are you babbling about?” I asked and Jordan chuckled.

“As soon as Dana got drafted to Carolina, I told them that you were going to come to us with a favor to make sure that we looked after her,” Jordan said and I smiled towards him.

“Will you?”

“Don’t ask stupid questions,” Eric said and I smiled towards him, “If she’s anything like you-“

I snorted, “I’m ashamed that she is,” I said and the guys laughed.

“Then we’ll love her,” Eric said and I nodded my head, “Nothing to worry about, no one’s going to bother her.”

“Except Skinner,” Jared said and the brothers and I sighed.

“Except Skinner.”