Chapter 3

(AL)


I absolutely loved going to hockey games. I grew up in Ottawa (luckily not brought up as a Sens fan) and my dad used to get free tickets once in a while through his work, so I got to go see some. And for my birthday one year, my parents gave me tickets to go see a game in Montreal for the Habs (my favorite team) against the Caps. Going to hockey games were some of my fondest memories as a child, and that was one of the reasons I was so excited for the game the next day.

I was looking forward to the game all day long, but when Kayleigh and I finally arrived at the Mellon arena, I began to feel kind of nervous. I had no idea why, but there were butterflies in my stomach. We went and got the tickets just like Jordan had said, and the lady who gave them to us also gave us a pair of little laminated cards to wear around our necks.
“Excuse me, what are these for?” I asked her.
“Those are to get into the dressing room after the game,” the lady said, making the butterflies flutter around even harder. Jordan had really spoiled us, I thought, and even more so once I saw where our seats were; they were right at the glass, next to the penalty box. We sat down and waited for the game to start, and Kayleigh couldn’t stop talking about how cool this was. It was then that I realized I was so nervous I had forgotten to check the tickets to see who we were playing. I quickly whipped them out of Kayleigh’s purse (I never carried one around) to see who the visitors were. Just my luck: The Montreal Canadiens. Great, now I had to choose between my favorite team and my new friends.

The Habs were a different team now though after all those trades during the summer; Koivu was gone, along with Kovalev, Komisarek and Higgins, all of my favorite players on the team. They had had to replace all of the captains and I hardly recognized the style of play anymore. After debating this inside my head for a while, I decided to cheer for the home team, only because Jordan had invited me, and also because Kayleigh and I were completely surrounded by white Pittsburgh jerseys, and I really didn’t feel like getting booed.

When the players came out onto the ice for the warm-up, I kept a special eye out for number 11. When he skated smoothly onto the surface, I felt my face go hot, and there were those damned butterflies again, along with the tingly feeling. As he skated around he looked to where he knew our seats were, and when he saw me, smiled widely and winked. A group of young girls sitting near us all giggled, thinking he had winked at them, and I just chuckled to myself, smiling back to him. Once they got off the ice and the zambonies came on, I felt my cell phone buzzing in my pocket. It was from Jordan, he had probably sent it from the dressing room.

Watch out for my slap shot, I’ll be testing you later.

I sent one back quickly, knowing he’d have to be out on the ice soon.

I’ll keep an eye out. Don’t mess up :P

It was a truly great game to watch, and a real nail-biter. It was 0-0 at the end of the first, but then early on in the second the Habs went ahead. The goal was scored by Scott Gomez, the guy who had replaced Kovalev on the team, so, naturally, I hated him. What irked me was that all the new guys seemed to be doing so well. The starting line-up for this game was made up completely of the replacements. Luckily, Geno got a goal with ten minutes left in the second on a beautiful cross-ice pass by Sid, tying it up once again. A few minutes later Tyler Kennedy scored, ending the second period 2-1 Pens. Most of the third went scoreless, up until 17:00 when the Pens had a power play and were keeping possession in the opposing zone. Kris Letang went in deep with the puck and Jordan took his place on the blue line. A few seconds later Jordan received a pass from Sergei Gonchar and hammered in an amazing one-timer slap shot from the point, ending the game at 3-1. Wow, this guy sure did keep his promises.

After the game Kayleigh and I showed our passes to a security guard who led us down to the dressing rooms. The moment we entered the room my nose was filled with the smell of sweat and my ears with the sound of cheering. I loved this; it was how I had grown up. This was one of my favorite moments of the sport. Kayleigh, on the other hand, didn’t seem too excited about it. Jordan was in the middle of talking to the media, so we just stood by the door waiting. Once he noticed us there, he quickly finished up his interviews and waved us over.

“Hey buddy!” he said as I came over and sat down next to him in his stall.
“Hey kid!” I responded smiling.
“Wait…” He told me, holding his hand up, looking rather confused, his blond eyebrows furrowed. I raised my eyebrow at him. After a few seconds, he looked up.
“What?” I asked him.
“We were supposed to reverse that,” he responded, looking amused, waving his hands around in a reversing motion.
“Oh, its okay, I’m sure no one noticed,” I said, looking at the hustle and bustle around us. “Oh, Jordan this is my best friend Kayleigh, Kayleigh this is Jordan.” I introduced them.
“What, I don’t get a title?” Jordan asked, pretending to be hurt.
“I’m sure I’ll think of something eventually,” I told him. Just then, a rather sweaty looking Brooks Orpik came waltzing over to us.
“Brooks, Al; Al, Brooks,” Jordan introduced nonchalantly, as Brooks and I shook hands. His eyes weren’t on me though, they were glued to Kayleigh. I chuckled.
“Kayleigh, this is Brooks Orpik,” I told her.
“Hello,” Brooks said shyly; he was obviously nervous talking to someone as beautiful as Kayleigh.
“Hi,” she said, intrigued.
“Um…why don’t you two go talk, okay?” I said, and Kayleigh grinned at me, mouthing something about how hot Brooks was as they walked away. I just chuckled to myself, until I noticed Jordan looking at me in awe.
“What?” I asked him.
“Did you just set Brook up with a girl?”
“Yeah, pretty much. Why?”
“I have been trying to do that for like two years!” Jordan exclaimed incredulously, obviously impressed. I blushed. “He’s so afraid of girls, it’s insane. Oh, and thanks for that encouraging text before the game by the way,” Jordan said sarcastically.
“What? I thought it was motivating,” I retorted jokingly. Jordan just shook his head and stood up, beginning to take off his gear. As he pulled his shoulder pads over his head, I couldn’t help but marvel at his skin-tight under-armor, molding perfectly to every muscle in his torso. I quickly thought up something to say to distract myself.
“That was a pretty good slap shot,” I said, as it was the first thing that popped into my head. He chuckled.
“It was for you,” he told me, looking into my eyes for a moment. I was once again captivated by his beauty, and I couldn’t look away. He gave me a lop-sided grin, before saying, “Unless you want to see me naked, you might want to look away now,” gesturing to the bottom half of his equipment that he had yet to remove. I blushed before turning around and shielding my eyes. Let me tell you, you have no idea how difficult it was for me to sit there listening to his equipment rustling around, knowing what he was doing, and not turning around for a peek. The minutes dragged on, and after a bit he told me,
“I’m going to go have a shower, if you feel uncomfortable at all you can just wait outside, and if any of the guys give you a hard time, just let me know.” I could hear him smiling, as if he knew something I didn’t. I shook it off and looked around the room for Kayleigh once Jordan had left. I saw her in Brooks’ stall; they seemed to be having a rather close discussion, as their faces were only a couple inched apart. I thought Brooks was a good guy, so I hoped this would really work out for the both of them.

“You must be Al,” a voice said, and I looked to my other side to see two figures standing in front of me. I knew who one of them was, but the other I couldn’t quite place.
“Last time I checked,” I responded, and they proceeded to sit down on either side of me. The one who had spoken grinned at me and said,
“Wow, I’ve never seen a hockey player who looks like you before,” I was uncertain on how to react to that comment.
“Don’t worry, he’s trying to complement you,” the other guy laughed, who I recognized as Max Talbot. “TK isn’t quite as skilled as I am on the ladies front, but he’s learning, slowly but surely.” Tyler Kennedy, that’s who the other guy was! Max continued, “He was trying to tell you that he thinks you’re very beautiful,” he said, making me blush. He probably said that to every girl he met; I knew he was a huge womanizer. None the less, his words made me smile.
“Well, thanks,” I told him.
“No problem,” Tyler and Max said in unison, making me laugh.
“So uh…I’m Max, and this here is Tyler, and we have come here on the Gronk’s behalf,” Max said.
“The Gronk?” I asked, confused.
“Yeah, Staalsy,” Tyler said, as if I should already know that that was what they called him.
“Why do you call him the Gronk?”
“It’s after a cartoon character, it’s a very long story,” Max said quickly, dismissing the subject. “What we came here to talk about is Jordan, and as I said we are here on his behalf,”
“Did Jordan ask you to come?”
“Uh…well, no, not exactly,” both Max and Tyler said at the same time, stuttering. “But that’s not the point.” Tyler said, regaining his composure.
“Yeah. We would like to know what your intentions are with our young teammate,” Max said seriously. I gave him a blank look. “Are you planning on breaking his fragile little heart?” he clarified. I opened my eyes wide with shock and opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“Hah, we’re just messing with you,” Tyler laughed, patting me on the back, as they both stood up.
“It was a pleasure meeting with you,” Max said as they both walked away. I could tell that those two were probably the pranksters on the team; the guys who teased and made fun of everyone else. Right then, I was joined by yet another companion.
“Hey soul-mate,” someone said, and I turned around again to see the one and only Sid Vicious looking back at me, a goofy grin on his face.
“Hi Sidney Crosby,” I responded as he sat down.
“Please, call me Sid,” he said.
“Sid, then,” I smiled.
“So I’ve been thinking…” Sid began slowly, before breaking out into a toothy grin. “We should watch Friends together!”
“Okay!” I answered, acting just as excited as he was.
“Great! I’ll ask Jordan to bring you by sometime,” he said. Just as he began saying something else, I saw Jordan walk into the dressing room, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. Once again I felt that tingly feeling in the pit of my stomach take over, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away. He was muscular, but not overly buff like those body-builder guys, he had just the right amount of muscle dispersed over his body. I truly believed that hockey players’ bodies were the best out of any sport. As he walked across the room, his abs and stomach muscles shifted in synchronization. He had that perfect ‘V’ starting from his hips and going somewhere beneath the towel, Kayleigh called it ‘man cleavage’. His skin was the perfect color; not too pale and not too tanned, and it looked so smooth and soft. His hair was wet and hanging in front of his forehead.

“Al, close your mouth or a bug will fly in,” I heard Sid say, and I was snapped out of my trance. I felt my face turn ten shades of red. But Sid just laughed and told me,
“I’ll see you around,” I said bye right before Jordan showed up beside me.
“Hey, sorry about this,” He said, gesturing to his nakedness, obviously embarrassed. “I usually just change out here and I forgot my clothes, and I only realized it by the time I was done showering,” he apologized, giving me a slight nervous smile.
“That’s okay, you can change out here, I’ll just go wait outside.” I told him. I felt like adding, “It’s really okay, I don’t mind seeing you naked at all. Quite frankly, I’d enjoy staring at you all day long.” But I didn’t. It wouldn’t have been appropriate; we had only known each other for two days, not even.
“I’ll be out in five minutes,” Jordan yelled after me as I got up and walked out the door. I glimpsed out of the corner of my eye, Brooks, running his hand through Kayleigh’s hair. Wow, they sure weren’t taking it slow at all.
I waited outside for Jordan and sure enough, five minutes later, he emerged from the locker room. He was now wearing a navy suit with a black tie, and his hair wasn’t wet. I personally liked his previous look much better, but I couldn’t lie; he looked damn good in a suit.
“So, what now?” I asked him.
“Well, usually after wins we go celebrate at Diesel.”
“Diesel?”
“Yeah, it’s a club,”
“Aren’t some of you a little young to be getting into a club?”
“Uh…well, yeah. But they let us all in anyway. Being recent Stanley Cup champions kind of gives you certain advantages.”
“Uh-huh, I see. So are you going to go?”
“I’m not really in the mood tonight.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because I saw the look on your face when I said club.”
“And what did that tell you?”
“That you don’t really like the idea of overly loud music and drunken men. It’s alright, I understand. The guys mostly only go there for the feeling of self-importance. It’s usually where they get drunk and pick up their one night stands.”
“Really. Are you included in that theory?”
“Occasionally.”
“Now?”
“No.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because I want to hang out with you.”
“And where can you do that?”
“Come with me, and you’ll soon find out.”