Golden
Chapter 4
January 2017- Denver, CO
I woke up to the sound of the front door shutting. My head was pounding and the light seemed especially bright. After taking a moment to take in my surroundings and realize I was still in Nate’s bed, I groan and get up before taking another shirt from the dresser. As pull the shirt over my head, Nate comes in.
He shoots me a grin “feeling a little rough after all of those shots last night?”
“What was in those shots. This is the most hungover I’ve been in a long time.”
Nate giggles “I don’t think it matters what is in them when you have eight shots in half an hour.”
I feel the blush spreading across my face as I reply. “You’re probably right. I was promised food this morning. You ready to go out and get lunch?”
His glance slowly slides down my legs and then back to my face before he grins “I don’t think we can go out in public with you dressed like that though Myers. Want to go to your place and get a change of clothes?”
Nate gives me a hoodie and a pair of sweats that I have to tie and roll to keep on. With my dress and shoes from last night in hand, we head down to Nate’s car. Rap music blares as soon as the car starts and Nate blushes as he reaches over and turns the volume down. With music lightly playing in the background, I direct Nate to my apartment. Not even ten minutes later, we pull into the garage and Nate parks in the visitor spots.
“Do you want me to wait here?”
“Nate, I’m not going to make you sit in the garage while I change. You can come up.”
30 minutes later, both of us are back in Nate’s car on the way to a restaurant. Once inside the restaurant, we are quickly escorted to a booth in the back. Nate and I both look at the menu and order when the waitress comes. It takes maybe five minutes before a little boy no older than six comes up to our booth.
His face is bright red and he takes a deep breath before exhaling in one breath “Mr. MacKinnon, may I please have your autograph?”
Nate asks the boy his name before signing the paper provided. I glance at the little boy and then back to Nate.
“Bud, do your parents have a phone? I can take a picture of you and Nate.”
The little boy makes eye contact before nodding and running off. A few minutes later, he reappears with his mom in hand.
“I told you it was Nathan MacKinnon mom!”
The woman glares at her son before making eye contact with Nate “I’m so sorry he interrupted your lunch, Mr. MacKinnon.”
Nate quickly placated the mom, telling her that it was no problem and that he loves meeting young fans. He posed with the boy and mom and I snapped a picture before the two thanked him and walked away. The commotion had attracted more attention and a few more people approached Nate for autographs or pictures. By the time the crowd had left, our waiter had brought out food and drinks for both of us.
I bit into my food, but Nate paused and apologized “I’m sorry about that. I love our fans but sometimes they interrupt stuff like this.”
I bit my lip to keep from smiling. “It’s really not a big deal. I understand that you have fans. And it’s always nice to take care of the little kids that approach you. You never know what you could inspire them to become. I'm not as recognizable as you, but I do travel with Lindsey Vonn a lot and I lived with her for a while, so I’m used to it.”
“I didn’t realize that you guys were that close. You ski the same events, right?”
“We do. That’s how I really got to know her. We raced in the same events and then we both missed the Sochi Olympics. She was injured and I wasn’t consistent. She took me in after that I was 18, a little wild, and she saw that if I settled down a little and followed a strict training regimen, I could be really good.”
“That’s really cool of her. Especially when you guys are always racing against each other.”
I nod and mentally note to tell her that he said that. “I mean it’s kinda like you and Sidney Crosby, right? Like he’s technically your competitor but you guys still train together and push each other to be better.”
“I guess. I’ve never really thought about it like that. Speaking of hockey, do you want to come to our game tomorrow? Mikko wanted to text you, but I told him I’d ask you in person.”
“Is it at night? I have physical therapy and recovery in the morning, but I’m free tomorrow night.”
Nate shovels the rest of his sandwich into his mouth and nods. A minute later, he finally replies. “Yeah, it’s at 7. I’ll leave you a ticket and pass at will call so that you can come down to the locker room after the game.”
We both finish our lunches. Nate pays despite my arguments against it. He finally ends the argument by telling me that it doesn’t count as a date if he doesn’t pay, and he really wants this to count as our first date.
By the time he drops me back of at my apartment, I have as big of a smile on my face as I have had in a long time. I drop my keys and wallet in the tray by my door before popping some ibuprofen and heading to my bedroom. For the first time in a few hours, I look at my phone. It is lit up with a bunch of notifications, including 3 texts from Lindsey. I decide to call her instead of replying to the texts. Lindsey tells me that she got an angry call from Jennifer as well, but that she talked her down and told her to let me have my own social life. I tell her all about my night out with the boys and the subsequent morning and afternoon with Nate. We chat about my recovery and the timeline until I’m skiing again. I’m hoping to be back on skis by March, but my doctors aren’t sure yet.
I spend the afternoon napping before going to the gym in my complex and walking through my physical therapy. That is followed up in a hot tub and then ice bath. By the end of that, I’m more than ready to head to bed even though it's barely 8:30.
I woke up to the sound of the front door shutting. My head was pounding and the light seemed especially bright. After taking a moment to take in my surroundings and realize I was still in Nate’s bed, I groan and get up before taking another shirt from the dresser. As pull the shirt over my head, Nate comes in.
He shoots me a grin “feeling a little rough after all of those shots last night?”
“What was in those shots. This is the most hungover I’ve been in a long time.”
Nate giggles “I don’t think it matters what is in them when you have eight shots in half an hour.”
I feel the blush spreading across my face as I reply. “You’re probably right. I was promised food this morning. You ready to go out and get lunch?”
His glance slowly slides down my legs and then back to my face before he grins “I don’t think we can go out in public with you dressed like that though Myers. Want to go to your place and get a change of clothes?”
Nate gives me a hoodie and a pair of sweats that I have to tie and roll to keep on. With my dress and shoes from last night in hand, we head down to Nate’s car. Rap music blares as soon as the car starts and Nate blushes as he reaches over and turns the volume down. With music lightly playing in the background, I direct Nate to my apartment. Not even ten minutes later, we pull into the garage and Nate parks in the visitor spots.
“Do you want me to wait here?”
“Nate, I’m not going to make you sit in the garage while I change. You can come up.”
30 minutes later, both of us are back in Nate’s car on the way to a restaurant. Once inside the restaurant, we are quickly escorted to a booth in the back. Nate and I both look at the menu and order when the waitress comes. It takes maybe five minutes before a little boy no older than six comes up to our booth.
His face is bright red and he takes a deep breath before exhaling in one breath “Mr. MacKinnon, may I please have your autograph?”
Nate asks the boy his name before signing the paper provided. I glance at the little boy and then back to Nate.
“Bud, do your parents have a phone? I can take a picture of you and Nate.”
The little boy makes eye contact before nodding and running off. A few minutes later, he reappears with his mom in hand.
“I told you it was Nathan MacKinnon mom!”
The woman glares at her son before making eye contact with Nate “I’m so sorry he interrupted your lunch, Mr. MacKinnon.”
Nate quickly placated the mom, telling her that it was no problem and that he loves meeting young fans. He posed with the boy and mom and I snapped a picture before the two thanked him and walked away. The commotion had attracted more attention and a few more people approached Nate for autographs or pictures. By the time the crowd had left, our waiter had brought out food and drinks for both of us.
I bit into my food, but Nate paused and apologized “I’m sorry about that. I love our fans but sometimes they interrupt stuff like this.”
I bit my lip to keep from smiling. “It’s really not a big deal. I understand that you have fans. And it’s always nice to take care of the little kids that approach you. You never know what you could inspire them to become. I'm not as recognizable as you, but I do travel with Lindsey Vonn a lot and I lived with her for a while, so I’m used to it.”
“I didn’t realize that you guys were that close. You ski the same events, right?”
“We do. That’s how I really got to know her. We raced in the same events and then we both missed the Sochi Olympics. She was injured and I wasn’t consistent. She took me in after that I was 18, a little wild, and she saw that if I settled down a little and followed a strict training regimen, I could be really good.”
“That’s really cool of her. Especially when you guys are always racing against each other.”
I nod and mentally note to tell her that he said that. “I mean it’s kinda like you and Sidney Crosby, right? Like he’s technically your competitor but you guys still train together and push each other to be better.”
“I guess. I’ve never really thought about it like that. Speaking of hockey, do you want to come to our game tomorrow? Mikko wanted to text you, but I told him I’d ask you in person.”
“Is it at night? I have physical therapy and recovery in the morning, but I’m free tomorrow night.”
Nate shovels the rest of his sandwich into his mouth and nods. A minute later, he finally replies. “Yeah, it’s at 7. I’ll leave you a ticket and pass at will call so that you can come down to the locker room after the game.”
We both finish our lunches. Nate pays despite my arguments against it. He finally ends the argument by telling me that it doesn’t count as a date if he doesn’t pay, and he really wants this to count as our first date.
By the time he drops me back of at my apartment, I have as big of a smile on my face as I have had in a long time. I drop my keys and wallet in the tray by my door before popping some ibuprofen and heading to my bedroom. For the first time in a few hours, I look at my phone. It is lit up with a bunch of notifications, including 3 texts from Lindsey. I decide to call her instead of replying to the texts. Lindsey tells me that she got an angry call from Jennifer as well, but that she talked her down and told her to let me have my own social life. I tell her all about my night out with the boys and the subsequent morning and afternoon with Nate. We chat about my recovery and the timeline until I’m skiing again. I’m hoping to be back on skis by March, but my doctors aren’t sure yet.
I spend the afternoon napping before going to the gym in my complex and walking through my physical therapy. That is followed up in a hot tub and then ice bath. By the end of that, I’m more than ready to head to bed even though it's barely 8:30.
♠ ♠ ♠
Slowly but surely coming along.