Golden
Chapter 7
March 2017- Denver, CO
It was another day on the rehab grind. My morning had started early at 6 am. Two hours early in the morning were spent in the pool and underwater treadmill running at full speed. Something I couldn’t yet do on the ground.
I had meetings with my agent and Jackson about my next few months of media presence and sponsorship appearances over lunch. That was followed by an intense upper body lifting session and physical therapy for my knee. When physical therapy was done, my trainer shoved a towel and protein shake at me as I headed to the cool tub. After more than a half an hour in the cool tub, I was hooked up to the stimulator and texting Lindsey. She had finally started skiing again after her last fall and surgery. Her quick recovery had me somewhat frustrated, but I also understood that I wasn’t in the same situation as her. A broken forearm heals a lot quicker than an ACL replacement. And having an arm at less than 100% isn’t a big deal like a knee.
When the stimulator finally timed out, I headed to the locker room of the gym to shower and change into a clean Nike outfit. I chugged some water and began the walk to my car. Tonight was the night I would officially be sitting with the WAGs for Nate’s game. It had taken some convincing from Nate, but I finally had agreed. I had been able to avoid thinking about it all day, but now that my workouts were over, I was getting nervous. I knew that most of Nate’s teammates had wives or girlfriends. I had only met a few of them at the club the first night I was out with Nate. All of them were gorgeous and most of them lived the WAG lifestyle. I wasn’t sure that I fit in. Since then, he and I had kept things fairly quiet. Between Nate’s road schedule and my rehab schedule, things had been hectic. All of our dates had been dinner or lunch at each other’s places, facetime while Nate or I were on the road or coffee dates. It had only been a week since Nate officially became my “boyfriend”. Up until that point, we were just seeing where things would go and agreed not to sleep with anyone else. Now that we were official, it was time I made an appearance at his game again.
The plan was for me to go to Nate’s game, but our plans after that all depended on how the game went. Much to my dismay, Lindsey was still abroad skiing so I was going into the lion’s den of the WAGs box all by myself. I had heard so many terror stories about the box in other leagues and organization, but Nate had insisted the Avs better halves were nothing like that.
I was once again in some skinny jeans with torn knees, along with a plain white top, and a black Nike jacket. By the time I walked into the suite at the Pepsi Center, it was mostly full of women and a few children. Gabe’s girlfriend Mel was the first one to notice me and immediately invited me over to join her conversation. I had met Mel the first night Nate and Mikko took me out downtown. At first, I didn’t garner too much attention, but when Mel introduced me to a few people as “Nate’s girlfriend”, suddenly every woman in the room seemed to pay attention.
Matt Duchene’s fiancé asked what I did for a living and how I had met Nate. I could feel all of the eyes in the room focus in on me, waiting for my answer. I understood that all of them were protective of Nate and wanted him with someone that was with him for good reasons. I also knew that some of them would google me later and some stories from my early career as a “wild child” “orphan skier” as many articles labeled me, would pop up. So the next time I was in the box I would have a lot more questions to face.
As soon as I told them I met him at a photo shoot and could feel the tension in the room grow. When I explained that I was a professional alpine skier and that Nate, Mikko and I were all involved in a sports magazine spread, a few exhales could be heard. From the whispers, apparently, they were relieved I wasn’t some model messing with Nate to grow her career like the last girlfriend. I filed that information away to ask about later when it was just me and Mel.
The Avalanche were playing the Carolina Hurricanes. The conversation between the ladies flowed about fashion, kids, and social events throughout the game. Mel could tell I was out of my element a bit and began asking about skiing during one of the intermissions. Talking about skiing was something that came easily for me. I was extremely passionate about it and despite the less than ideal childhood I had growing up, the slopes had always been an escape for me. I could talk for hours about training and skiing.
By the end of the game, I had gotten to know, and like a small group of the girlfriends. The next time I was back, I would be a lot more comfortable in the room. And for the first time in person, I got to see Nate score a goal and his team win. The lot of us took our time wandering down to the lounge outside of the locker room after the game. This time, I knew that all eyes would be on Nate and me when he walked in. There was no Rantanen family for me to hide behind. Matt’s girlfriend Ashley had grown up in Colorado as well. We spent some time discussing Vail and my place there. By the time the guys began to come out, Ashley and I had been talking for at least 20 minutes.
Nate came out shortly after the first group of guys with Tyson, Gabe, and Mikko. Mikko was actually the first to reach me. I squealed as I was lifted off of the ground as he hugged me and greeted me in Finish. I gently reminded him of my knee, and he quickly set me down on the ground. If everyone wasn’t watching before, the commotion Mikko made definitely caught their attention. Nate’s approach was a bit calmer. He walked up to me once I was standing again and wrapped his arms around me before kissing me. A few of the boys began catcalling, so he pulled away and uttered a soft “hey My.”
“Nice win.”
“I see how it is, no comment on my goal, huh?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a puck with a smirk “and to think, I was going to give this one to you”
I giggled before leaning up to press a chaste kiss to his lips again before telling him nice goal and snatching the puck from his hand.
The two of us headed out with Tyson, who carpooled with Nate to most games. I had planned on walking back to my apartment since it wasn’t more than a 10-minute walk from the Pepsi Center, but Nate was having none of it.
As we drove, the boys talked quietly about their win and I surfed through my phone. It seemed that my presence tonight made things much more official between Nate and me to his teammates and their significant others. My Instagram account had 80 new follower requests. Not entirely unusual when fans or other people attempted to add me. Tonight, however, about 20 of the requests were Avs players and significant others. I accepted follow requests from those 20 and declined the other 60. By the time I looked up, we were at Nate’s place instead of my own and Tyson was no longer in the car.
It was another day on the rehab grind. My morning had started early at 6 am. Two hours early in the morning were spent in the pool and underwater treadmill running at full speed. Something I couldn’t yet do on the ground.
I had meetings with my agent and Jackson about my next few months of media presence and sponsorship appearances over lunch. That was followed by an intense upper body lifting session and physical therapy for my knee. When physical therapy was done, my trainer shoved a towel and protein shake at me as I headed to the cool tub. After more than a half an hour in the cool tub, I was hooked up to the stimulator and texting Lindsey. She had finally started skiing again after her last fall and surgery. Her quick recovery had me somewhat frustrated, but I also understood that I wasn’t in the same situation as her. A broken forearm heals a lot quicker than an ACL replacement. And having an arm at less than 100% isn’t a big deal like a knee.
When the stimulator finally timed out, I headed to the locker room of the gym to shower and change into a clean Nike outfit. I chugged some water and began the walk to my car. Tonight was the night I would officially be sitting with the WAGs for Nate’s game. It had taken some convincing from Nate, but I finally had agreed. I had been able to avoid thinking about it all day, but now that my workouts were over, I was getting nervous. I knew that most of Nate’s teammates had wives or girlfriends. I had only met a few of them at the club the first night I was out with Nate. All of them were gorgeous and most of them lived the WAG lifestyle. I wasn’t sure that I fit in. Since then, he and I had kept things fairly quiet. Between Nate’s road schedule and my rehab schedule, things had been hectic. All of our dates had been dinner or lunch at each other’s places, facetime while Nate or I were on the road or coffee dates. It had only been a week since Nate officially became my “boyfriend”. Up until that point, we were just seeing where things would go and agreed not to sleep with anyone else. Now that we were official, it was time I made an appearance at his game again.
The plan was for me to go to Nate’s game, but our plans after that all depended on how the game went. Much to my dismay, Lindsey was still abroad skiing so I was going into the lion’s den of the WAGs box all by myself. I had heard so many terror stories about the box in other leagues and organization, but Nate had insisted the Avs better halves were nothing like that.
I was once again in some skinny jeans with torn knees, along with a plain white top, and a black Nike jacket. By the time I walked into the suite at the Pepsi Center, it was mostly full of women and a few children. Gabe’s girlfriend Mel was the first one to notice me and immediately invited me over to join her conversation. I had met Mel the first night Nate and Mikko took me out downtown. At first, I didn’t garner too much attention, but when Mel introduced me to a few people as “Nate’s girlfriend”, suddenly every woman in the room seemed to pay attention.
Matt Duchene’s fiancé asked what I did for a living and how I had met Nate. I could feel all of the eyes in the room focus in on me, waiting for my answer. I understood that all of them were protective of Nate and wanted him with someone that was with him for good reasons. I also knew that some of them would google me later and some stories from my early career as a “wild child” “orphan skier” as many articles labeled me, would pop up. So the next time I was in the box I would have a lot more questions to face.
As soon as I told them I met him at a photo shoot and could feel the tension in the room grow. When I explained that I was a professional alpine skier and that Nate, Mikko and I were all involved in a sports magazine spread, a few exhales could be heard. From the whispers, apparently, they were relieved I wasn’t some model messing with Nate to grow her career like the last girlfriend. I filed that information away to ask about later when it was just me and Mel.
The Avalanche were playing the Carolina Hurricanes. The conversation between the ladies flowed about fashion, kids, and social events throughout the game. Mel could tell I was out of my element a bit and began asking about skiing during one of the intermissions. Talking about skiing was something that came easily for me. I was extremely passionate about it and despite the less than ideal childhood I had growing up, the slopes had always been an escape for me. I could talk for hours about training and skiing.
By the end of the game, I had gotten to know, and like a small group of the girlfriends. The next time I was back, I would be a lot more comfortable in the room. And for the first time in person, I got to see Nate score a goal and his team win. The lot of us took our time wandering down to the lounge outside of the locker room after the game. This time, I knew that all eyes would be on Nate and me when he walked in. There was no Rantanen family for me to hide behind. Matt’s girlfriend Ashley had grown up in Colorado as well. We spent some time discussing Vail and my place there. By the time the guys began to come out, Ashley and I had been talking for at least 20 minutes.
Nate came out shortly after the first group of guys with Tyson, Gabe, and Mikko. Mikko was actually the first to reach me. I squealed as I was lifted off of the ground as he hugged me and greeted me in Finish. I gently reminded him of my knee, and he quickly set me down on the ground. If everyone wasn’t watching before, the commotion Mikko made definitely caught their attention. Nate’s approach was a bit calmer. He walked up to me once I was standing again and wrapped his arms around me before kissing me. A few of the boys began catcalling, so he pulled away and uttered a soft “hey My.”
“Nice win.”
“I see how it is, no comment on my goal, huh?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a puck with a smirk “and to think, I was going to give this one to you”
I giggled before leaning up to press a chaste kiss to his lips again before telling him nice goal and snatching the puck from his hand.
The two of us headed out with Tyson, who carpooled with Nate to most games. I had planned on walking back to my apartment since it wasn’t more than a 10-minute walk from the Pepsi Center, but Nate was having none of it.
As we drove, the boys talked quietly about their win and I surfed through my phone. It seemed that my presence tonight made things much more official between Nate and me to his teammates and their significant others. My Instagram account had 80 new follower requests. Not entirely unusual when fans or other people attempted to add me. Tonight, however, about 20 of the requests were Avs players and significant others. I accepted follow requests from those 20 and declined the other 60. By the time I looked up, we were at Nate’s place instead of my own and Tyson was no longer in the car.
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So Myers finally meets the teammate's girlfriends. On a side note, I'm so excited that the Avs are back in the playoffs again!