That there, that’s not me.
I go where I please.
Strobe lights and blown speakers. Fireworks and hurricanes.
I’m not here. This isn’t happening.
I was so nervous for my first day at the rink that I couldn’t even bring myself to drive to the arena, so I called Brad’s house in the morning as soon as I got out of the shower.
“Hello?” a deeper voice resonated into my ear. The accent was definitely different from Brad’s and mine Prince Edward Island
“Um, hey, James?” I stuttered into the phone.
“Yeah?” he said, sounding confused, if not slightly annoyed.
“Um, yeah, it’s Hanna and I was wondering if Brad was around…” Of course he’s around, why do you sound like a teenager who can’t get out adult sounding sentences? Jeesh.
“He’s in the shower, do you need something?” he asked, now sounding a little un-nerved because I could swear I heard him squeak out his last word.
“Well, I, um, I kind of need a ride,” I stammered out.
“Your car broke already?”
I left out a nervous laugh, “No, I just don’t feel comfortable driving to the arena by myself for the first time.”
“Oh, didn’t Brad give you the GPS?”
Make me feel like a complete idiot why don’t ya? I looked up through the sky light trying to quell the butterflies and snapped out, “Look, I’m nervous, I just want Brad to drive me to the rink. Does that make any sense?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth I found myself smacking my hand over my mouth and instantly regretting how rude the words came out of my mouth. Before he could say anything I began spouting, “Oh, God, I’m soooo sorry. I’m not a rude person; I don’t know why that came out so rude. Please forgive me, it’s just that I’m a little embarrassed…”
“Hanna,” James yelled into the phone, causing me to shut up. Personally, I was shocked that he could be so loud because after his quiet talking last night at dinner, I was beginning to think his voice didn’t get much louder than a mouse.
“Yes?” I asked meekly into the phone.
“It’s fine. We’ll be there to pick you up in about 10 minutes, Brad just got out of the shower.”
“Oh, okay. Um, thanks.”
“Yeah, no problem,” he said in a short tone and hung up on me.
Oops. That is not the way to make friends with the dark, shy man that kept me up all night through my dreams.
They pulled up in a white Escalade that was decked out to the gills with rims and tinted windows. I didn’t realize it was them until Brad put the passenger side window down and yelled out, “Morning Hanna Montana!”
“Brrrraaaadddd,” I hissed out as I walked over to climb in the back of the over-priced SUV. He knew I hated the nickname and I hate Miley Cyrus even more for making my name a joke to so many people. Before I could get to the door, Brad was already out of his seat and coaxing me into the front, saying something about it being best if I sat up front so I could pay attention on how to get to the arena.
Like I can pay attention when brooding boy is giving me the evil eye-ball?! “Morning, James,” I said politely as I climbed up onto the plush leather seat. “Nice wheels,” I chewed out as I held back vomit for saying it. Really, I found the thing a little pretentious and completely not what I expected him to drive, but it just showed I knew absolutely nothing about him.
“Thanks, it was my ‘I just signed an NHL contract and I need to have luxury wheels to prove it,’ buy,” he said with the shy, close lipped smile I saw last night. I couldn’t help but smile back as I looked back out the front windshield.
As soon as we walked into the arena, Adam was cat calling me from the locker room. “Morning beautiful!” he called out, causing a couple of the players I didn’t know to turn around and look my way. Of course I blushed and just half waved to him as I looked at Brad for help.
Brad just chuckled and said, “The front offices are down that way,” which were, thank God, in the opposite direction of the locker room, “Just go in and let Sandy
I refrained myself from smacking my forehead for not even thinking about the possibility of being here when the players weren’t. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t cart myself here…”
“No problem, I can imagine you’re feeling a little overwhelmed,” he said with a reassuring smile that made me reach out and hug him, completely glad that my cousin was here to take care of me. “Go get ‘em Hanna!” he said as he held me and then sending me on my way down the empty hallway that smelled of sweat and cold ice.
I was caught off guard when I heard her voice on the other end of the phone this morning. She also sounded a little nervous about talking to me, but I realized it was probably because she was nervous about her first day, especially when she spouted off at me for supposedly asking too many questions.
My dreams last night did no justice to her face and I realized it as soon as she climbed into the front seat, next to me. Today her hair was pulled back off her face in a sleek ponytail and her make-up was done up more business like. She had on a black pair of dress pants, a pink button-up shirt and a black suit coat with pointy-healed boots. She was dressed to impress and I couldn’t help but think about laying her out on an office table. After my dreams last night, I was revved up and thinking things I shouldn’t be.
I had found out quickly that girls were just a distraction to my goals with hockey. I wanted to be as focused as possible and after trying to have a relationship here or there, I decided that the only way to stay focused was to keep away from women as much as possible. All I did was break their hearts, which in turn would break mine. I figured some day I’d learn how to juggle the two, but I was 23 and right now wanted to keep my eyes on hockey, especially since I had just signed a new deal over the off season and I wanted to prove management that last year was not a fluke.
The last relationship wrecked me the worst and if it wasn’t for Brad harping on me to keep my chin up, I probably would have quit the NHL. Looking back, I found that I wanted to fall in love so bad that instead of just letting it happen; I tried forcing it and being everything she wanted me to be. I was so deep in shit that I didn’t realize how unhappy I had become. My mom always told me that I tried to hard to please others and hockey seemed to be the only thing that I did to please me while I was growing up; that was why she drove me all around Canada to my games and letting go of her own dreams so that I could have mine. My dad worked his ass off in the steel mill to make the money to pay for my gear and to this day I never forget that; a reason I have sworn to keep my eyes on the puck and worry about love later on down the line.
Unfortunately I have to admit that my breath caught for a second when she laughed at my joke about my SUV. Her laughter was contagious and it was like she was a siren leading me into the dangerous rocks that were begging to cut me like a knife. Hunnie, you don’t want this. I just rolled my eyes when Burish yelled out to her. It took all I had not to turn around and say good luck to her, but I kept my head down and followed the rest of the guys into the locker room. I had to get my game face on for tonight.
After our short practice and video study, Assistant GM, Provenzano came into the conference room to introduce all the new interns. There were probably about 20 of them that would be working in all the different departments. They all looked scared and I always felt like we were putting them in front of the firing squad each semester they brought these kids in. If it wouldn’t be for hockey, I probably would have been one of them, fresh out of college and looking for a way to make it in the world. Instead I was here making a couple million, playing a sport.
When Provenzano got to Hanna, a couple cat calls from Otter, Loui, Burish and Richie came out, which prompted the Assistant GM to give Hanna a better introduction. It seemed that the other interns were unaware that Hanna’s cousin was Brad and I instantly felt bad for her as I watched the color rise up from her neck and onto her cheeks. She probably was trying to keep it a little hush-hush for the first few days to make it that she was on even playing ground with the other interns. Not that people can keep many secrets around this place.
As soon as everyone was dismissed, I watched Burish make his move on Hanna. For some reason my feet led me over to the two of them, quickly piping up my own question before Burish could get it out.
“Hanna, you want to go out to lunch?”
“W-wait!” Adam sputtered out, shooting me a confused look. “I was just about to ask her out on a date.”
“Um, yeah, about the date,” Hanna slowly spoke, obviously trying to hide a triumphant smile. “We were just told in our little orientation meeting that we are strictly forbidden to get romantically involved with any of the players during our internship. In fact we aren’t really supposed to hang out with any of the team members unless it’s a team function. Of course I get some leniency to that rule because of Brad being my family, but I basically can only go places with you guys if he is along.”
I have to admit that I felt my heart drop a bit at first when she told him about the rule, but then I saw something in her eyes that told me she was pulling his leg. What a little liar. I was going to call her out on it but I held my tongue and attempted to also hide a smile as I saw the disappointed look on Adam’s face.
“You aren’t actually going to follow their silly rules, are you?” he growled quietly.
“Um, yeah, I am because unlike you, I don’t have a job and this is my step to getting one,” she said with another victorious smile that told me she was actually relieved to have a legitimate excuse not to go out with Adam, alone.
“Well then I guess she isn’t doing lunch with you,” Adam spat as he looked over at me.
“Brad’s coming along,” I said quietly, biting on my lip as soon as I got the words out because I was totally close to losing it.
Adam stood there for a moment, seeming like he was expecting an invite, but I didn’t oblige him. After a minute he slumped his shoulders and turned around to walk out of the conference room.
“We probably should have invited him,” Hanna said quietly, shaking from keeping her own laughter inside.
“Nah, he would have been overly annoying like last night,” I said without thinking as a smile crept across my face.
“Oh, so you do care that he was hitting on me,” she remarked straight up.
Her forwardness knocked me off kilter for a moment and all of a sudden I felt like I could possible lose control with this woman. I wiped the smile off my face and hardened my look. “You can think what you want,” I grumbled as I proceeded to walk out of the conference room. “Oh and you should be worried about how easy it was to lie to him about that stupid rule. I’m sure he’ll find out sooner or later.”
I heard her suck in a breath but I just kept walking, smirking to myself and willing myself not to turn around and press her up against the wall and rip off her suit that hugged her curves in all the right places. Lunch is going to suck.
“Are you sure you can get yourself to the arena tonight or do you want us to pick you up again?” Brad yelled out the window.
“I’m fine, I don’t need to be there til 6pm. I’m only selling programs tonight,” I said with an exaggerated swirly motion of my index finger in the air, showing my non-enthusiasm about the job. I think even James cracked a smile, something he didn’t do all during lunch.
It was like he was being strapped down against his will to sit across from me at lunch. Every now and then he’d put his two cents in but otherwise it was terrible. I was getting some hope when he came over and saved me from Adam’s dating wrath, but I probably ruined it with my forward questioning. I just was trying to feel this guy out and figure out what made him tick. I was itching for some time alone with Brad to question him about James, but I didn’t want to make it obvious that I was beginning to harbor a crush on the guy. Not quite sure why I always go after the ones that seem to have no interest in me, especially when there are guys like Burish who practically fall over me. I guess it’s the fact that I can’t stay away from the dark, brooding type. He had me so frustrated at lunch with the way he treated me. If I was the violent type, I think I would have punched him. I’d catch him looking over at me with soft grey eyes, but the next time I’d look at him his eyes were stone cold.
Selling programs bit the big one. I was forced to watch the game on one of the in-house TV’s they had scattered around the arena concourse. I was glad we were on a rotating schedule for program selling; it was basically a job that all the interns had to share throughout the semester. I was jumping up and down for Brad’s goal when a geeky looking guy in a suit walked up to my stand.
“Oops, sorry,” I blushed as I straightened out my team polo shirt and brushed a few pieces of hair out of my eyes.
“Funny, you even talk like Brad,” the man said with a sly smile.
“Excuse me?”
“I’m Jimmy, your new boss for the semester,” he said as he jutted his hand out for me to shake. “Hope you don’t like selling programs too much because we are going to have you pretty busy the next few months.”
I smiled and said, “If you can get me out of selling these for the rest of the season, I will run to the moon if you ask me.”
He chuckled and said, “I think we can do that. So, your cousin said that you have experience in DJ’ing?”
“Yup, did it for a lot of parties and a couple guest spots at clubs in Denver
“How would you like to be in charge of the next games warm-up selections?”
I jumped down from behind my program selling podium and put my hands on Jimmy’s arms and squeaked, “Are you serious?!”
He started laughing and just nodded his head.
“That’s fucking awesome,” I blurted out, immediately cupping my hand over my mouth for the explicative that I just said. “Sorry,” I whispered, still excited.
“Hunnie, it’s not the first time I heard the word and it won’t be the last. Just don’t do it in front of the big-wigs and we should be golden. I’m not here to make your life miserable…”
“Well that is quite obvious!” I exclaimed with a laugh as I began bouncing up and down until I realized he was staring at my boobs reverberating with my movement.
“So can you be here by 10am tomorrow morning?”
“Yup,” I said as I stupidly saluted him like a tard.
He just laughed and said, “Alright, see you tomorrow Hanna. Nice to meet you.”
“Like-wise,” I said as I watched him walk down the concourse, allowing me to begin my little celebration dance once more.
“You’ve got to be kidding me, Ref! Are you fucking blind?!” Hanna yelled dramatically at the TV when the ref blew a call on the Sabres/Avalanche game. I couldn’t help but laugh at her enthusiasm but she was right, it was a bad offsides call that might have cost Duchene the goal.
“Guess you became a Colorado
“And here I thought you’d be a life-time Maple Leafs fan,” he chuckled as she threw the kernel back at him.
“I can root for a Western Team and Eastern Team…not like the Maple Leafs are making it to the Stanley Cup finals anytime soon,” she said as she plopped back into the couch cushions.
“Don’t diss my team,” I spoke up, having to clear my throat from not talking most of the evening. Of course my silence hadn’t gone unnoticed from her.
“Oh, look! The mute talks!” she said with a silly grin that made me smile back at her.
“I don’t find a need to speak incessantly,” I informed her before take a swig of my bottled water.
“Well that’s funny, cause most of the time I can’t get you to shut up,” Brad commented while giving me a humored look. “She’s right, you sure have been quiet lately.”
I looked back at the TV, suddenly finding the commercials quite entertaining. “Just haven’t had much to say.”
“He just doesn’t like me,” Hanna piped up, obviously not afraid to push my buttons.
“I’ve never said that,” I informed her, feeling my feathers become ruffled.
At this Brad got up off the couch and waved his hands at both of us. “You two can duke it out for yourselves. I’m an old man and I’m going to bed. See you both tomorrow,” he said as he leaned down and kissed his scowling cousin on the cheek.
We sat in silence for a few moments before Little Miss Talk-a lot couldn’t stand it any longer. Of course I held my smirk at bay.
“So seriously, what is your problem with me?”
“Who said I had a problem with you?” I asked back in an even tone, loving the glaring eyes she was shooting me at the moment.
“You play all shy and coy, but I have a feeling that isn’t your deal.”
“I am shy around people I don’t know.”
“I’ve been here for a week and basically hang here when we all aren’t at the rink, how much more do you need to know me?”
I just shrugged my shoulders, pissing her off even more and making me happy in the mean time. She had me so wound tight this past week that I found myself having to jerk off before my afternoon nap times and before bed. All I could see was her hair all around me, her perky breasts in front of me for the taking and her soft lips willing to let me kiss them. I was fascinated with her fiery personality and even more with everything I was learning about her each day.
Turns out she is quite the music aficionado.
Wednesday she came around to all of us in the locker room and compiled a list of our favorite songs and bands. The next day at practice she put some pretty sick mixes together that incorporated basically everyone’s likes. I was actually so impressed that I gathered the guts to tell her that night when she came over to the house for dinner. She just blushed and whispered, “Thank you.” It was then I was going to actually try and talk to her a little more, even if it would be the death of my heart. That idea was quickly changed when she later informed Brad and me that she was going out on a date with Adam on Friday night.
“Just watch him,” Brad rightfully warned her.
“Don’t worry, I will. I know his type all too well but this is the only way to get him to stop bugging me, especially since someone told him I lied about the no dating rule,” she hissed the end part as she shot daggers at me. Probably was stupid on my part, but I had a moment of sympathy for Adam when he was sulking around the locker room. Now I was quickly regretting my decision especially since I had begun to wish I asked her out on Friday night.
I took a deep breath as I pulled myself out from replaying the last week and tried to come up with an intelligent answer, unfortunately I couldn’t really think of anything except… “Well for starters, I don’t even know how old you are.” Real slick, Neal.
She furrowed her eye brows and opened her mouth to speak, but promptly closed it again, like she was afraid that a fly might find its way in. “Are you serious?”
No, maybe not, but it sounded good at the time. “Sure.”
“I’m 22, be 23 in May.”
“Huh,” was all I could reply as I went un-muted the TV.
She sat there for a while and I could feel her staring holes in the side of my head. “You are fucked up,” she uttered suddenly and proceeded to get up off the couch, grabbing her sweatshirt off the back and walked out of the house, leaving me alone in my thoughts of stupidity.
How do you get me hooked every time with your stories? You definitely got me hooked! I find it very funny how she tries to push his buttons already! He needs to loosen up and be himself more! I hope we get to see more of his personality more! Can't wait for the next chapter!:)
ReplyDeleteOhhh and I wonder how the burish date goes? Haha
“Yup,” I said as I stupidly saluted him like a tard. I actually laughed out load on that one.
ReplyDeleteI love this story and can't wait to see how Mr Neal can make things more awkward between them.
If they keep frustrating each other like this it is going to be explosive when and if they hook up!
Love it!