The Letter

Auston sat around his friends, feeling good after the win. Everyone was enjoying themselves and these were the type of nights that he really loved. They felt like a family.

"Mo!" one of the guys yelled out.

Morgan had finally found his way to the group, after an hour of being missing.

"Where the fuck have you been?" Travis asked.

Morgan just heaved his arms at the redhead next to him, making everyone laugh. "We did not take that long!" Lilly said.

"Yeah, okay," Morgan breathed, plopping down next to Auston. "And before you ask, she's down at the bar."

Auston furrowed his eyebrows. "Who?" Morgan looked at him knowingly. "Oh."

Lilly plopped down on Auston's other side. "Just so you know, Olivia definitely thinks you're cute and she's going to play uninterested forever, so don't give up."

Auston opened his mouth to say something but got cut off. "You didn't hear this from me, but she has this weird thing going on in her brain that because her parent's marriage ended so brutally that she should never, ever get married or love someone," Lilly spilt out. "She deserves the moon and the stars, and I'm not saying you're the guy who's gonna give that, but you know, just so you get the picture."

"Lilly, he's just got a crush, he doesn't wanna propose," Morgan said.

Lilly shrugged. "Liv's kinda taking a while."

"I could go over there-" Auston tried to say.

"Gards just went down to order and find her," Mitch chimed in.

As if on cue, Jake walked into their private area with Olivia right beside him. Auston watched him crack a joke, making her laugh. Gards was married and knew he had nothing but pure intentions, but the thought didn't make Auston's face heat up any less.

Jake parted to find his wife again, leaving Olivia to rake her eyes around the room. They finally landed on Auston's little group, making her shoulders slump with relief.



Jake left Liv after they got to the private room to find Lucy, his wife. She looked around at the large private area, raking her eyes over who was here.

Steph was taking shots with a bunch of other girls, which she had learned from Morgan that most girls here would be girlfriends and wives. Not many boys on the team were single.

Pretty boy Andreas was on the other side of the room with two girls flanking his sides because single.

In the middle of all the noise, she saw Morgan and Lilly sitting beside Auston. Lilly seemed to be chatting Auston's ear off, while Morgan made side comments, which prompted Auston to roll his eyes.

Olivia sighed in absolute relief before making her way to them. Morgan and Auston had noticed her on the way over, both scooting over so she could sit between them. "About time," Morgan teased.

Olivia handed Lilly her drink and then plopped down, sipping hers. "Sorry, Jake had to fend off a very persistent man who wanted to buy my drinks."

"Why wouldn't you let someone buy our drinks?" Lilly asked.

"Because we're buying your drinks," Auston chimed in, making eye contact with Liv.

"Yeah," Morgan said. "Only we can harass you guys to spend money on your drinks."

Olivia noticed Mitch and Steph having a slight disagreement off in the corner. Steph rolled her eyes one too many times at her boyfriend, which seemed to tick him off more.

"He's probably telling her to slow down," Auston said, leaning his head slightly toward her. "Steph has a tendency to drink too fast and then Mitch has to bring her home early."

Olivia looked over at Auston, through her eyelashes. His eyes had a way of rendering her without words. "You look beautiful, by the way," he said, making sure only she could hear.

"I-thank you," she stuttered. "You, too."

Liv closed her eyes while Auston laughed at her mistake. "Thanks, Russo."

Lilly and Morgan seemed to disappear as soon as Olivia had sat down. How convenient. She knew full well why they'd left her with Auston.

Olivia had no intentions of getting with any of the Toronto Maple Leafs, ever. She didn't know how many times she could express that to everyone before they stopped trying to get Auston and her alone.

However, the more and more she came under the eyes of Auston Matthews, she could feel her built-so-high walls shudder like an earthquake was coming.

"Liv!" Steph's voice penetrated her thoughts. Auston was having a new conversation with Mitch and Willy. "Come dance with me!"

The three boys watched as Liv stood and placed her drink down. Before she took a step towards the blonde girl, she looked over at Auston. "See you later?"

Auston nodded. " 'Course"

Liv grasped Steph's waiting hand and let her pull her downstairs to the dance floor.



Lilly eventually joined Steph and Liv downstairs and the three girls danced their asses off for as long as they could. They even took a bunch of pictures together, making Steph scream for Liv to post them on Instagram.

Lilly and Olivia headed over to the bar when Mitch came down to grab Steph. As they waited for shots, Olivia began questioning her friend.

"So where'd you and Morgan disappear to?"

Lilly laughed. "Why? Are you jealous I stole your puppy dog?"

"He is not my puppy dog," Liv said. "Is he?"

"He follows you around like one. Anyway, how was Auston?" Lilly waggled her eyebrows.

Olivia leaned up against the bar top. "He told me I looked beautiful."

Lilly grinned. "See, Morgan told me he's just shy and that's why he stares so much, but I believed in him."

"Lil..."

Lilly waved her hands. "Yeah, yeah. You won't, but whatever. I think you should go for it."

Olivia took her shot and clinked it with Lilly's. "I don't know. To puppy dog's."

"Puppy dogs!" Lilly screamed, laughing.

The girls threw their shots back and then pushed through the crowds to get back upstairs. An intense game of pool had broken out in their absence.

Auston and Morgan were up against Jake and Tavares. Lilly sauntered away quietly to "get a good look at Tavares' ass," as she so gracefully whispered to Olivia.

Liv walked around the table, across from the side Auston was on, getting ready to try and sink the 8-ball.

She watched him lean down and flex his arms through his tight shirt. Her mind was telling her to roll her eyes at the announcement of testosterone that he made, but it made her face get hot.

And as if Auston could feel her eyes, he looked up to lock eyes with her while he was lining up. For what felt like hours they held each other's eyes until he winked, looked back down, and sunk the last ball in the pocket.

Lilly came out of nowhere with a drink in her hand for Olivia, muttering, "I'm wet for you,"

Olivia's eyes were like saucers as she sipped her drink, not even bothering to scold her friend. She watched Morgan and Auston laugh about beating their teammates.

Olivia saw a flash of long blonde hair and pulled Lilly with her over to Steph who was sipping a water bottle her boyfriend had instructed her to drink.

"Mitch has ended my drinking for the night," she pouted.

"Can I ask you something, Steph?" Liv said quietly. The girl nodded at her serious tone.

"Auston...what's his story?" Steph smiled from ear-to-ear as Olivia finished her question.

"Oh, Liv, please tell me you like him. He's really such a sweetheart once you get to know him!" Olivia rolled her eyes, knowing that was coming.

"I'm neither confirming nor denying my opinions on him. Just give me the scoop, Steph."

Without taking a breath (or so Liv swore), Steph gave her anything and everything she knew about Auston Matthew's love life and personality.

"When he first got here, he had a girl back home, but it didn't work out with the distance, I think, but they're still good friends. And then he dated this model, Jordyn, for a while, but she was kind of a bitch if we're being honest. Anyway, he's been single for a while, just focusing on hockey, I guess," Steph explained. "But, as I said, he really is a sweetheart. He can be really quiet and shy, Mitch told me he would stare at you a lot and that's most likely why. He's not that smooth when it comes to girls."

"How good of a fuck you think he is?"

"Lilly!"