The Life of a Fan-Fiction Writer

Dinner

Sid’s house was not at all how Lila had written it in her stories. It looked like an actual home, where human beings lived and had personal belongings. Sid showed her around a little before bringing her bags up to the guest bedroom.

“Make yourself at home,” he said.

“Thanks,” Lila smiled nervously, and remembered something Sid has said back at the arena. “You said your girlfriend would be here?”

“I think she’ll be home by dinner. That reminds me,” he pulled out his phone. “Olli Maatta wanted to speak with you earlier, but he had to leave before you woke up.”

“Oh,” Lila blushed more than she thought possible. ‘Uh oh, I hope he isn’t mad about how I wrote him in my fan-fiction…’ Lila worried the sweet Finn wasn’t so sweet after all.

“He’s the one who caught you when you fainted, so maybe he just wanted to make sure he didn’t hurt you or anything,” Sid scrolled through his contacts until he came to Olli’s number. “But here’s his number. Maybe you guys can get dinner or something.”

Lila swore she saw Sid smiling. ‘Was he trying to set us up?’ She thought as she took his number.

“Right, if anything I should be apologizing to him for how I wrote about him in my fan-fiction. But I will certainly thank him for not letting me fall on the floor,” Lila bit her lip and entered his number in her phone.

“I didn’t think it was so bad. That one was definitely better than the one you wrote about, uh, you know, the one with Brandon and me.” Now it was Sids turn to blush.

“You read that one too?” Lila groaned. “Have you guys read all my fan-fiction?”

Sid looked a little confused. “There’s more than just the two stories?”

Lila shook her head. “Nope, just those two.” That’s fine they didn’t know about the Kasperi Kapanen fan-fiction, or the Jake Virtanen story she wrote.

“Okay, well, I’m going to leave you up here for now, if you’re okay, I’ll be downstairs if you need anything.” Sid looked worried, like maybe Lila would faint again, but she was fine. She nodded and smiled as he left, then fell back onto the bed. ‘Is this real life?’ she thought as she looked around #87 Sidney Crosby’s guest bedroom.

Before she lost her nerve, Lila decided to text Olli. *Hi this is Lila, Sid said you wanted to talk to me?

She threw her phone onto the bed and tried to ignore it, instead looking out the window at the nice view of Sid’s back yard. His lawn was well taken care of, Lila had assumed that correctly, but it looked a little more friendly, or ‘lived in’ than she had pictured. There was some lawn furniture and a garden; it looked nice.

Her phone finally beeped and she rushed over to read the text.

Olli: *Yeah, I just wanted to make sure you were okay

‘He’s so sweet!!!’ Lila mentally squealed before replying: *I’m fine now. Thanks for catching me : )

He texted right back this time: *No problem, I didn’t want you to hit your head

Lila: *Thanks!

Lila didn’t know what else to say to him so she tried to distract herself by checking facebook and tumblr. She also tried to block the incoming ideas for new fan-fiction streaming through her mind. That’s how she got in this mess in the first place!

Sid appeared at her door suddenly and quietly knocked, even though the door was open. Lila put her phone down and smiled at him. “Hi.”

“Hey, sorry,” he scrunched his nose apologetically. “Geno just invited me out for dinner. Nealer is in town since we’re playing the Preds tomorrow, so...I guess I have to bail on you for dinner. Unless you want to come with us?” He looked doubtful, and Lila emphatically shook her head no. She was mentally replaying that threesome she wrote about with James Neal, and the pina colada sex scene she’d written in Sid’s kitchen involving Geno.

“No, thanks, I don’t think I could see either of them right now. This is already strange enough.”

Sid nodded. “I kinda thought so. So, uh, maybe you can get dinner with Olli after all.” He shrugged and tried to look innocent.

“Right,” Lila replied sarcastically, but her phone beeped with a new text from Olli.

Olli: *Do you have plans for dinner tonight?

She stared at her phone in shock. It’s like they had planned it somehow… She looked up at Sid in astonishment. “He just texted me, actually…” She said as she replied: *Nope, I’m free

“Really?” Sid pretended to sound surprised, and Lila started to wonder if Sid had invited himself out with Geno and Nealer. “Do you need a ride there? I’m heading in that direction.”

Olli: *Want to come over for dinner?

Lila laughed to herself as she replied affirmatively to Olli and looked back up at Sid. “Yes, that would be great.”

She met Sid downstairs after refreshing her make-up. He was waiting by the door with a bottle of wine, which she assumed was for his dinner.

“I had this laying around the kitchen, and it’s not really something I’d drink. Maybe you and Olli can have it with your dinner?” He presented the bottle for Lila to look at. It looked expensive, and fancy.

“You’re being too kind, but thank you,” she looked at him skeptically as she took the bottle.

They rode to Olli’s in silence, and when he stopped in front of a house, Lila hesitated before getting out. “This is weird.”

“The wine? It’s normal to bring a gift like that if someone invites you over for dinner, right?” Sid tried to act like it was normal that he was setting up his young teammate with the girl who had written fan-fiction about him.

“But…” Lila couldn’t think of a way to phrase what she was feeling. “Nevermind. Should I text you if I need a ride home? Or, maybe Olli will give me a ride.”

“If you need one,” Sid laughed. “I mean, maybe you’ll get an uber, or a taxi. Or you can just call me.”

This was definitely strange. “Thanks for, uh, this,” Lila held up the bottle as she got out of the car and nodded goodbye before walking up to the door. Sid waited a moment before driving away, and Lila felt weirdly calm about the whole situation. Maybe it was the calm before the storm, or the eye of the storm, or she had gone numb.

Olli heard the doorbell the second after he got Sid’s text: *She’s here, I can give her a ride home later (if she needs one ;)

Olli had never seen his captain use emoji’s in texts, so to see the winking emoji was a bit shocking, but it didn’t distract him from the guest standing on his front step. He didn’t know what he really wanted to say to her, but it would probably come out after a few drinks. He took a deep breath before opening the door to greet her.

“Hi,” he smiled and she smiled back, and he motioned for Lila to come in. “Would you like something to drink?”

She nodded. “Sure.” ‘That would certainly make this easier…’ Lila thought as she watched one of her favorite hockey players pour her a glass of wine. “Thanks,” she said as she took the glass.

“Dinner’s almost ready, if you want to have a seat.” He led her into the dining room before slipping into the kitchen to check on the stove. While in the kitchen he took a deep breath and another long drink.

“This is from Sid,” Lila was holding the bottle up to read the label as she ran straight into Olli leaving the kitchen. “I’m so sorry!”

“No, it’s my fault,” he untangled himself from their collision. “I’ll put this in the refrigerator; this would go well with dessert, probably. Dinner’s ready, if you want to have a seat at the table.”

Lila took a seat at one of the two places set at the table and sipped from her wine glass as she waited.

“I hope you like fish,” he said when he emerged from the kitchen again. “I probably should have asked.”

Lila nodded, “I like fish.” Olli dished some onto their plates and Lila helped herself to the salad on the table.

“Dessert is in the oven, if you hear the timer go off.” Olli sat down across from her and watched her carefully as she took her first bite.

“This is very good, thank you,” she smiled, and Olli seemed to relax.

“Thank you,” Olli replied, and the two ate in silence for a moment until the timer went off. “I’m going to get that,” he apologized as he left for the kitchen. When he returned he had a very delicious looking cake and set it on the table between them

“So, you actually can cook. I was just guessing, but I got that right.” Lila froze as she realized she had brought up her own fan-fiction as a topic during dinner. She drained her wine glass and avoided looking in Olli’s direction, which was difficult as he was right across from her at this small table.

“I can make a few things, it’s nothing really,” he replied. Lila glanced up and saw he was blushing exactly the way she’d written about in her story. She looked back at her plate and blushed. That was a topic she had hoped to avoid, but 2 glasses of wine seemed to have made her forget all that.

Olli got up from the table and left for the kitchen. Lila mentally slapped herself for bringing up the fan-fiction. She had hoped to avoid it, maybe Olli hadn’t even read it?

Olli returned carrying the bottle of wine Sid had sent with Lila. “Actually, I kind of wanted to talk about that,” he said as he opened the bottle and poured them both a glass.

“About what?” Lila paused and looked up at him.

“About ‘Film Strips and Hockey Sticks’.”
♠ ♠ ♠
Sooo sad to see Fleury leave, but we all knew it was coming : ( I hope he has fun in Vegas!


​PS. this is the fan-fic Olli mentions at the end: ​https://www.wattpad.com/story/36599781-film-strips-and-hockey-sticks

​​​​​(You don't have to read it, but I might reference it a few times)