Your Hurricane
002
September 12th, 2015
“You’re going to do great, I promise. If anyone gives you trouble, you let me know and next year I’ll-”
“Next year you’ll what, Matty?” I laughed as I looked up and watched as the sign for Solar4America came into view. My heart was pounding as I adjusted the bookbag on my back. “Score on them? You can’t throw a punch for your life.”
The brunette on the other end of the phone sighed dramatically before sucking in a small breath and huffing. “Relax, Tyson, it’s not like you’re going to fight anyone, I won’t allow it.”
“Okay, dad,” I snickered as I watched a few slick luxury cars whizz by me. I could only assume they were the players that I would be mingling with for the rest of the day. With a small sigh, I watched as they drove down the road and turned into the large lot near the building. Huffing, I looked down at my sneakers and listened as Auston let out a long yawn on the other end of the phone.
Auston stayed silent for a moment before clearing his throat. “Will you call me after the physicals?”
Rolling my eyes, I shook my head and watched as a sparkling black Audi SUV sped past me. Rolling my eyes as some debris from the road kicked up and hit my shins, I looked up and watched as the brake lights came on and it quickly pulled to the side of the road.
“It’s going to be like three in the morning where you are, Matty,” I felt my voice get lower as I got closer to the car. “Call me when you wake-up, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, okay.” The brunette sighed before letting out another yawn. “Just shoot me a text and let me know you got there okay?”
“Yes, Father.” I groaned as I looked up and watched as a familiar dirty blonde got out of the Audi. As my eyes ran over him moving from the drivers side to the trunk, I felt my heart start to race in my chest. Bidding Auston a goodbye, I mumbled a ‘love you too, asshole,’ into the phone and quickly hung up.
When I was a few feet from the man, he pulled his sunglasses off and tucked them into the collar of his black v-neck. The smile on his lips nearly tripled as he took a few steps toward me and stopped. I could feel my whole body shaking as I my legs stumbled to a stop in front of him.
Over the last few weeks, I had worked out harder than ever before and watched what seemed like every video on YouTube about puck handling, skating, and anything else that could help me with the preseason tryouts. By the time of my flight to San Jose, I was drinking four shots of espresso twice a day, struggling to keep my eyes open, sore beyond belief, and freed of whatever emotions I thought I had for him when we met at the draft..
After two days of laying by a hotel pool in the middle of California, sleeping in the sun and eating complimentary room service healed whatever ailments I had given myself, including the ridding of the memories I had of his eyes in mine.
“You remember me, don’t you?” The blonde crossed his arms against his chest, the sleeves of his tee shirt taking a stranglehold on his biceps as he gave me a pointed look. Tearing my eyes from his arms, I looked up at him and huffed.
“Starts with a P, or something?” I shrugged, my lips struggling to keep the smile off of my face, “you got drafted three-hundredth overall like twenty years ago, right?”
Pavelski shook his head as a hearty laugh left his lips. Glaring at me, he pulled the hockey bag from my shoulder and tossed it next to his in the trunk. Once he shut it, he looked at me and shook his head. “Get in you little asshole, the last thing we need is for one of our top prospect to get clipped by a car.”
“One of?” I scoffed as I walked to the passenger side door. As he pulled it open, I turned to him and struggled to keep the shake out of my voice when I realized how close he was, “don’t you mean the, top prospect?”
Pavelski looked at me for a long minute before shaking his head and smiling. Jerking his head toward the car, he said a firm, ‘get in’, and then waited for me to climb in. Setting my backpack between my legs, I watched as he closed my door and then quickly got into the driver’s seat.
After pulling our seatbelts on, he quickly sped up and got back into the right lane. Looking over at him, I watched as he put his left hand on the steering wheel and peered over at me. As my eyes scanned his bare fingers, I felt my lips part.
I swore he was married.
“You’re not actually a little asshole, are you?”
“Nah,” I shrugged my shoulders as I glanced up at him. The way the sun soaked into his icy blue eyes made me more nervous than I had ever been around another guy before. “I just know you can take it,” I felt more words push at the back of my teeth. I felt them spill out before I could stop myself. “I know it makes you laugh, so…”
A silence fell between us as he pulled up to the entrance of the parking lot. Pulling in behind a silver Mercedes, he glanced over at me and ran his eyes over me for a few seconds. When I saw his tongue run over his bottom lip, I felt my skin start to burn up. I prayed I never had to see him look at me like that again.
“Have you met anyone else aside from Jumbo and I?” Pavelski glanced at me quickly before navigating to the far row of cars and pulling into a spot.
“Nope, that’s it.” I whispered as he killed the engine.
“I’ll introduce you,” the blonde said quickly, “so they know.”
“So they know…” I looked up at him as we unbuckled our seatbelts. Staring at each other, I felt my heart start to pound as he smirked and pulled his sunglasses from his collar. Tossing them into the center console, he flashed me a wide smile and turned away.
“So they know that if they fuck with you, they have to deal with me.” He slammed the car door shut and walked around the car to my side. As he opened the door, I looked up at him and couldn’t help but to roll my eyes.
“I had no idea you were such a gentleman,” I looked up at him and watched as he flashed me a wide smile.
“Too many of us are going to like your asshole personality,” Pavelski said as he grabbed my bookbag and closed the door. As we walked to the trunk, he opened the door and grabbed his bag. As I tossed mine over my shoulder, he looked over at me and lifted an eyebrow. “You better be good.”
“You’re the one that said you had a spot for me on your line,” I glanced up at the blonde as we walked side by side through the lot. When we reached the front doors, he smiled at me and nodded.
“I still do,” as he opened the door for me, he leaned down, his lips nearly touching my ear and whispered, “don’t fuck it up.”
--------------
The physicals of NHL training camp redefined the words over-exertion and exhaustion. In the last eighteen years of my life, I had never seen this much sweat pour out of my body. Every layer of clothing and padding I had on was drenched by the time the coach blew the whistle for the last set of suicides. Sucking in a deep breath, I looked down and pushed my muscles past their breaking point as I skated from line to line. Keeping my focus, I skated down to the end of the ice and then pushed it as hard as I could to the other end. When I stopped, I leaned against the backboards and watched as a few other guys stopped at the line after me and dropped to the ice.
“Stevens, solid job,” DeBoer looked up at me with a smile. “Third best time so far, good work.”
“Thanks…” I sucked in a deep breath and then sighed, “Coach.”
As he let out a chuckle, he pointed to the bench, “Showers guys, good job. I’ll see you all tomorrow morning.”
The ten of us that were on the ice slowly made our way over to the doors that lead back to the locker rooms. As I held it open, the rest of the guys skated by, thanking me, and stumbling along down the hallway. Once they were gone, I glanced back to make sure everyone was in. When I looked up, I watched DeBoer look over at me, smile, then turn and jot something down on his clipboard.
Shrugging a shoulder, I headed into the hallway. Halfway to the locker room, I felt someone shove me into the wall. Gasping, I felt the last bit of energy leave me as I dropped to the floor. Groaning, I looked up and watched as the familiar blue eyes filled my vision.
“Suicides fucked you up, huh?”
“Third best time so far,” I smiled up at the blonde as I stretched my hand out to him. As he slipped his hand in mine, I felt a jolt of electricity rush through my body. Once I was back on my feet, I leaned against the wall and watched as the blonde darted his eyes to mine.
“Any of the guys mess with you yet?”
“Couture tried tying my laces together. Jumbo saved me.” I admitted as I let out a long sigh and blinked hard, trying to get some of the sweat out of my eyes.
“Fucking Dads, man.” Pavelski rolled his eyes as he punched my shoulder and chuckled as I instantly groaned. “See you on the other side, Sophie.”
“See ya’ Pavs.”
As I turned and started to walk with my shoulder against the wall, I heard the blonde call out my name. Huffing, I turned around and watched as he sent me a dazzling smile. “Wait up for me, we’ll get lunch.”
With a nod, I turned back toward the locker room and looked down at the floor, a wide smile on my lips as I thought about getting another chance to let the blonde soak up all of my attention.
When I reached the locker room, most of the guys were already stripped down to their underwear. Ignoring all of them, I headed to my cubby and pulled off my equipment. Tossing it into my bag, I looked up and watched as Couture walked out of the showers and spotted me. Luckily he was already in jeans, he seemed like the ‘walk-around-naked’ type.
“How was it, Soap?” Couture dropped down next to me, his eyebrows raised as he ran a hand through his wet hair. “You good?” Looking at him, I felt my body warm as he used my nickname.
“Jell-o?” I joked as I tossed a few more things into my equipment bag. Pulling a towel off of the shelf, I reached into my bookbag and grabbed shampoo, conditioner, soap, a pair of underwear, workout pants and a sport bra. “I smell like a corpse, I need a shower.”
“Catch you later?”
“Absolutely,” I sent him a smile and stood up. Before I left, I turned to him and smiled, “don’t mess with my things, I’m tired.”
Couture let out a loud laugh as he stood up and put his hands in the air. Sending me a wide smile, he reached out and stuck out his pinky to me. As I wrapped mine around his, he promised not to touch anything.
With a small thank you, I headed into the showers and to the last stall. Walking in, I turned the water on, threw my things over the door, and let out a long sigh as the steaming hot water hit my muscles.
I spent nearly fifteen minutes in the shower. I felt like I needed to use a whole bar of soap to get the horrible scent of sweat off of my skin. After every scrub and rinse, I would smell myself and see if it was gone. Around the sixth time, I finally smelled like the bar of soap i had brought with me.
Turning the water off, I dried off and quickly pulled on my clothes. Throwing the towel around my shoulders, I walked out of the stall, kept my eyes up, and back into the locker room. When I walked into the bright lights, I let out a long sigh and smiled when I noticed my things went untouched.
Throwing everything in my bag, I zipped everything up and dropped down onto the bench. Pulling out my cell phone, I looked down and watched as Auston’s name popped up a few times.
You didn’t TEXT ME, SOPHIA ANN STEVENS
YOU SNAKE
Let me know you’re alive, PLEASE
Rolling my eyes, I bit down on my lip and sent Auston a quick text that I made some friends, feel like jello, and will talk to him later. After hitting send, I went to scroll through instagram when I felt someone sit down next to me.
Glancing over, I watched as the blonde came into view, his body wrapped up in jeans and a white tee-shirt. His blonde hair was perfectly slicked back and his beard looked perfectly trimmed just like the first day I met him.
“Talking to your little boyfriend?” Pavelski snickered, an unrecognizable glint in his blue eyes as he looked at me, impatiently waiting for an answer.
“First of all, ew?” I stood up and tossed my bookbag over my shoulder. “I thought I was the rude one here?”
“We all have our moments,” Pavs chuckled as he grabbed his bag and waited for me to grab mine. As we headed out of the locker room and into the hallway, he glanced over at me again and sucked in a sharp breath. “Is he at least a hockey player?”
Rolling my eyes, I shook my head and then looked over at him with an unamused glare. “No boyfriend, best friend playing in the Swiss National League who doubles as my worry-stricken father. Satisfied, crazy?”
Pavs smiled a little and shrugged a shoulder, his big blue eyes not darting back to mine until we reached his car in the parking lot. Opening the trunk we tossed our things in and then turned to each other. As I looked up at him, I watched as his eyes jerked up from my exposed stomach.
“Are you going to put a fucking shirt on, at least, Soap?” A small smile flashed on my lips as his voice calling me by my nickname soaked into my brain.
“What are you my father, now?”
“I’m your captain,” Pavs sent me a sht eating grin as he turned from me and unzipped my bag. Reaching in, he pulled out a few things until he finally pulled out a tank top. Throwing it at me, he shut the trunk and waved me toward my side of the car. “We can’t get lunch with the guys if you’re fucking naked.”
“I’m really starting to not like you,” I huffed as I pulled the tank top over my head and climbed into the car. Pulling my seatbelt across my body, I looked over and watched as he slipped his sunglasses on and flashed me a smile.
“Like seafood?”
“Not at all.” I answered quickly.
“Perfect, you’ll love this place then.”
“Yeah, what is it?” I asked eagerly.
“Home of the best seafood in San Jose!”
Slamming my head back against the seat, I looked up out of the panoramic sunroof above me and couldn’t help but to let a smile surface on my lips as Pavelski’s laughter filled the car. Shaking my head a little, I rolled it to the side and watched as he leaned back into his seat and ran his tongue over his lips.
After a few minutes, he stopped at a red light and turned his head toward me. As I looked at him, he quickly turned it back and made believe to focus on the road.
“You made the first cut, by the way,” My heart crawled into my chest as my eyes tripled in size, “finished off in the top ten. DeBoer told me before I hit the showers.”
“Are you fucking with me right now, Joe Pavelski?”
“Oh, I do not like that,” The blonde shook his head, “You’re not my mother and you’re not my wife. Pavs or nothing.”
“Whatever you say…,” We looked at each other for a moment, I could tell his eyes were right on mine as my lips curled into a smirk, “...Joe.”
“Oh, fuck you, Soap” We shared a laugh and then fell back into a comfortable silence for the rest of the ride to the restaurant.
“You’re going to do great, I promise. If anyone gives you trouble, you let me know and next year I’ll-”
“Next year you’ll what, Matty?” I laughed as I looked up and watched as the sign for Solar4America came into view. My heart was pounding as I adjusted the bookbag on my back. “Score on them? You can’t throw a punch for your life.”
The brunette on the other end of the phone sighed dramatically before sucking in a small breath and huffing. “Relax, Tyson, it’s not like you’re going to fight anyone, I won’t allow it.”
“Okay, dad,” I snickered as I watched a few slick luxury cars whizz by me. I could only assume they were the players that I would be mingling with for the rest of the day. With a small sigh, I watched as they drove down the road and turned into the large lot near the building. Huffing, I looked down at my sneakers and listened as Auston let out a long yawn on the other end of the phone.
Auston stayed silent for a moment before clearing his throat. “Will you call me after the physicals?”
Rolling my eyes, I shook my head and watched as a sparkling black Audi SUV sped past me. Rolling my eyes as some debris from the road kicked up and hit my shins, I looked up and watched as the brake lights came on and it quickly pulled to the side of the road.
“It’s going to be like three in the morning where you are, Matty,” I felt my voice get lower as I got closer to the car. “Call me when you wake-up, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, okay.” The brunette sighed before letting out another yawn. “Just shoot me a text and let me know you got there okay?”
“Yes, Father.” I groaned as I looked up and watched as a familiar dirty blonde got out of the Audi. As my eyes ran over him moving from the drivers side to the trunk, I felt my heart start to race in my chest. Bidding Auston a goodbye, I mumbled a ‘love you too, asshole,’ into the phone and quickly hung up.
When I was a few feet from the man, he pulled his sunglasses off and tucked them into the collar of his black v-neck. The smile on his lips nearly tripled as he took a few steps toward me and stopped. I could feel my whole body shaking as I my legs stumbled to a stop in front of him.
Over the last few weeks, I had worked out harder than ever before and watched what seemed like every video on YouTube about puck handling, skating, and anything else that could help me with the preseason tryouts. By the time of my flight to San Jose, I was drinking four shots of espresso twice a day, struggling to keep my eyes open, sore beyond belief, and freed of whatever emotions I thought I had for him when we met at the draft..
After two days of laying by a hotel pool in the middle of California, sleeping in the sun and eating complimentary room service healed whatever ailments I had given myself, including the ridding of the memories I had of his eyes in mine.
“You remember me, don’t you?” The blonde crossed his arms against his chest, the sleeves of his tee shirt taking a stranglehold on his biceps as he gave me a pointed look. Tearing my eyes from his arms, I looked up at him and huffed.
“Starts with a P, or something?” I shrugged, my lips struggling to keep the smile off of my face, “you got drafted three-hundredth overall like twenty years ago, right?”
Pavelski shook his head as a hearty laugh left his lips. Glaring at me, he pulled the hockey bag from my shoulder and tossed it next to his in the trunk. Once he shut it, he looked at me and shook his head. “Get in you little asshole, the last thing we need is for one of our top prospect to get clipped by a car.”
“One of?” I scoffed as I walked to the passenger side door. As he pulled it open, I turned to him and struggled to keep the shake out of my voice when I realized how close he was, “don’t you mean the, top prospect?”
Pavelski looked at me for a long minute before shaking his head and smiling. Jerking his head toward the car, he said a firm, ‘get in’, and then waited for me to climb in. Setting my backpack between my legs, I watched as he closed my door and then quickly got into the driver’s seat.
After pulling our seatbelts on, he quickly sped up and got back into the right lane. Looking over at him, I watched as he put his left hand on the steering wheel and peered over at me. As my eyes scanned his bare fingers, I felt my lips part.
I swore he was married.
“You’re not actually a little asshole, are you?”
“Nah,” I shrugged my shoulders as I glanced up at him. The way the sun soaked into his icy blue eyes made me more nervous than I had ever been around another guy before. “I just know you can take it,” I felt more words push at the back of my teeth. I felt them spill out before I could stop myself. “I know it makes you laugh, so…”
A silence fell between us as he pulled up to the entrance of the parking lot. Pulling in behind a silver Mercedes, he glanced over at me and ran his eyes over me for a few seconds. When I saw his tongue run over his bottom lip, I felt my skin start to burn up. I prayed I never had to see him look at me like that again.
“Have you met anyone else aside from Jumbo and I?” Pavelski glanced at me quickly before navigating to the far row of cars and pulling into a spot.
“Nope, that’s it.” I whispered as he killed the engine.
“I’ll introduce you,” the blonde said quickly, “so they know.”
“So they know…” I looked up at him as we unbuckled our seatbelts. Staring at each other, I felt my heart start to pound as he smirked and pulled his sunglasses from his collar. Tossing them into the center console, he flashed me a wide smile and turned away.
“So they know that if they fuck with you, they have to deal with me.” He slammed the car door shut and walked around the car to my side. As he opened the door, I looked up at him and couldn’t help but to roll my eyes.
“I had no idea you were such a gentleman,” I looked up at him and watched as he flashed me a wide smile.
“Too many of us are going to like your asshole personality,” Pavelski said as he grabbed my bookbag and closed the door. As we walked to the trunk, he opened the door and grabbed his bag. As I tossed mine over my shoulder, he looked over at me and lifted an eyebrow. “You better be good.”
“You’re the one that said you had a spot for me on your line,” I glanced up at the blonde as we walked side by side through the lot. When we reached the front doors, he smiled at me and nodded.
“I still do,” as he opened the door for me, he leaned down, his lips nearly touching my ear and whispered, “don’t fuck it up.”
--------------
The physicals of NHL training camp redefined the words over-exertion and exhaustion. In the last eighteen years of my life, I had never seen this much sweat pour out of my body. Every layer of clothing and padding I had on was drenched by the time the coach blew the whistle for the last set of suicides. Sucking in a deep breath, I looked down and pushed my muscles past their breaking point as I skated from line to line. Keeping my focus, I skated down to the end of the ice and then pushed it as hard as I could to the other end. When I stopped, I leaned against the backboards and watched as a few other guys stopped at the line after me and dropped to the ice.
“Stevens, solid job,” DeBoer looked up at me with a smile. “Third best time so far, good work.”
“Thanks…” I sucked in a deep breath and then sighed, “Coach.”
As he let out a chuckle, he pointed to the bench, “Showers guys, good job. I’ll see you all tomorrow morning.”
The ten of us that were on the ice slowly made our way over to the doors that lead back to the locker rooms. As I held it open, the rest of the guys skated by, thanking me, and stumbling along down the hallway. Once they were gone, I glanced back to make sure everyone was in. When I looked up, I watched DeBoer look over at me, smile, then turn and jot something down on his clipboard.
Shrugging a shoulder, I headed into the hallway. Halfway to the locker room, I felt someone shove me into the wall. Gasping, I felt the last bit of energy leave me as I dropped to the floor. Groaning, I looked up and watched as the familiar blue eyes filled my vision.
“Suicides fucked you up, huh?”
“Third best time so far,” I smiled up at the blonde as I stretched my hand out to him. As he slipped his hand in mine, I felt a jolt of electricity rush through my body. Once I was back on my feet, I leaned against the wall and watched as the blonde darted his eyes to mine.
“Any of the guys mess with you yet?”
“Couture tried tying my laces together. Jumbo saved me.” I admitted as I let out a long sigh and blinked hard, trying to get some of the sweat out of my eyes.
“Fucking Dads, man.” Pavelski rolled his eyes as he punched my shoulder and chuckled as I instantly groaned. “See you on the other side, Sophie.”
“See ya’ Pavs.”
As I turned and started to walk with my shoulder against the wall, I heard the blonde call out my name. Huffing, I turned around and watched as he sent me a dazzling smile. “Wait up for me, we’ll get lunch.”
With a nod, I turned back toward the locker room and looked down at the floor, a wide smile on my lips as I thought about getting another chance to let the blonde soak up all of my attention.
When I reached the locker room, most of the guys were already stripped down to their underwear. Ignoring all of them, I headed to my cubby and pulled off my equipment. Tossing it into my bag, I looked up and watched as Couture walked out of the showers and spotted me. Luckily he was already in jeans, he seemed like the ‘walk-around-naked’ type.
“How was it, Soap?” Couture dropped down next to me, his eyebrows raised as he ran a hand through his wet hair. “You good?” Looking at him, I felt my body warm as he used my nickname.
“Jell-o?” I joked as I tossed a few more things into my equipment bag. Pulling a towel off of the shelf, I reached into my bookbag and grabbed shampoo, conditioner, soap, a pair of underwear, workout pants and a sport bra. “I smell like a corpse, I need a shower.”
“Catch you later?”
“Absolutely,” I sent him a smile and stood up. Before I left, I turned to him and smiled, “don’t mess with my things, I’m tired.”
Couture let out a loud laugh as he stood up and put his hands in the air. Sending me a wide smile, he reached out and stuck out his pinky to me. As I wrapped mine around his, he promised not to touch anything.
With a small thank you, I headed into the showers and to the last stall. Walking in, I turned the water on, threw my things over the door, and let out a long sigh as the steaming hot water hit my muscles.
I spent nearly fifteen minutes in the shower. I felt like I needed to use a whole bar of soap to get the horrible scent of sweat off of my skin. After every scrub and rinse, I would smell myself and see if it was gone. Around the sixth time, I finally smelled like the bar of soap i had brought with me.
Turning the water off, I dried off and quickly pulled on my clothes. Throwing the towel around my shoulders, I walked out of the stall, kept my eyes up, and back into the locker room. When I walked into the bright lights, I let out a long sigh and smiled when I noticed my things went untouched.
Throwing everything in my bag, I zipped everything up and dropped down onto the bench. Pulling out my cell phone, I looked down and watched as Auston’s name popped up a few times.
You didn’t TEXT ME, SOPHIA ANN STEVENS
YOU SNAKE
Let me know you’re alive, PLEASE
Rolling my eyes, I bit down on my lip and sent Auston a quick text that I made some friends, feel like jello, and will talk to him later. After hitting send, I went to scroll through instagram when I felt someone sit down next to me.
Glancing over, I watched as the blonde came into view, his body wrapped up in jeans and a white tee-shirt. His blonde hair was perfectly slicked back and his beard looked perfectly trimmed just like the first day I met him.
“Talking to your little boyfriend?” Pavelski snickered, an unrecognizable glint in his blue eyes as he looked at me, impatiently waiting for an answer.
“First of all, ew?” I stood up and tossed my bookbag over my shoulder. “I thought I was the rude one here?”
“We all have our moments,” Pavs chuckled as he grabbed his bag and waited for me to grab mine. As we headed out of the locker room and into the hallway, he glanced over at me again and sucked in a sharp breath. “Is he at least a hockey player?”
Rolling my eyes, I shook my head and then looked over at him with an unamused glare. “No boyfriend, best friend playing in the Swiss National League who doubles as my worry-stricken father. Satisfied, crazy?”
Pavs smiled a little and shrugged a shoulder, his big blue eyes not darting back to mine until we reached his car in the parking lot. Opening the trunk we tossed our things in and then turned to each other. As I looked up at him, I watched as his eyes jerked up from my exposed stomach.
“Are you going to put a fucking shirt on, at least, Soap?” A small smile flashed on my lips as his voice calling me by my nickname soaked into my brain.
“What are you my father, now?”
“I’m your captain,” Pavs sent me a sht eating grin as he turned from me and unzipped my bag. Reaching in, he pulled out a few things until he finally pulled out a tank top. Throwing it at me, he shut the trunk and waved me toward my side of the car. “We can’t get lunch with the guys if you’re fucking naked.”
“I’m really starting to not like you,” I huffed as I pulled the tank top over my head and climbed into the car. Pulling my seatbelt across my body, I looked over and watched as he slipped his sunglasses on and flashed me a smile.
“Like seafood?”
“Not at all.” I answered quickly.
“Perfect, you’ll love this place then.”
“Yeah, what is it?” I asked eagerly.
“Home of the best seafood in San Jose!”
Slamming my head back against the seat, I looked up out of the panoramic sunroof above me and couldn’t help but to let a smile surface on my lips as Pavelski’s laughter filled the car. Shaking my head a little, I rolled it to the side and watched as he leaned back into his seat and ran his tongue over his lips.
After a few minutes, he stopped at a red light and turned his head toward me. As I looked at him, he quickly turned it back and made believe to focus on the road.
“You made the first cut, by the way,” My heart crawled into my chest as my eyes tripled in size, “finished off in the top ten. DeBoer told me before I hit the showers.”
“Are you fucking with me right now, Joe Pavelski?”
“Oh, I do not like that,” The blonde shook his head, “You’re not my mother and you’re not my wife. Pavs or nothing.”
“Whatever you say…,” We looked at each other for a moment, I could tell his eyes were right on mine as my lips curled into a smirk, “...Joe.”
“Oh, fuck you, Soap” We shared a laugh and then fell back into a comfortable silence for the rest of the ride to the restaurant.