Hello!
I want to send out a huge thank you to PennLady for her help with editing this baby.
Also, I can't recall now who said they liked this particular player. I think there were a few of you. So this one is for you guys! Enjoy!
Happy Reading!
M. ;)
***
After the first few weeks, Rebecca slowly started to get the hang of it. She learned how to get from campus to work and back again. She knew how to get home and to the library. The path to the local coffee shop a few blocks from both her apartment and campus was what she learned most quickly, though. Whenever she began to feel homesick, she'd take her computer to the shop, named Only a Mug Away, and email her friends and family back home. Sometimes she'd get lucky and someone would be on-line at the same time. She'd be doubly happy to get her friend Mary on-line.
Mary had been busy lately with her new boyfriend, Max, but usually tried to be on-line at the same time every day, just in case Rebecca wanted to chat. Occasionally Max would kidnap Mary's computer and chat with Rebecca as well. He was constantly trying to get her to meet up with some of his friends in the city. He'd been on the Penguins hockey team before being traded to Calgary. Not that Rebecca knew anything at all about that world. She just continued to repeat herself to him, explaining that between school and work, she didn't have time. Still, he kept trying, giving her several names; Bill, Marc, Sean. He'd often mentioned how some of the guys were still single as well.
Most of the time, she'd just laugh it off. Sometimes, like this evening, with a busy coffee shop around her and no one on-line, Rebecca felt the deep ache of wanting someone nearby. She gazed across the small table to the empty seat in front of her and sighed.
Well, nothing I can do about it now,
she told herself and decided to give her latest essay a shot.
It only took about five minutes before the words started to blur. With another sigh, she sat back and rubbed her eyes. A distant shouting floated into the coffee shop and she looked up to see a group of guys coming across the street. They were wearing black and white jerseys with a logo Rebecca was slowly becoming familiar with. She watched the group of five guys walk into the shop before her, talking and laughing about 'the game.'
What game?
Rebecca wondered with a smile as the guys high-fived a few other patrons sitting around the coffee shop.
Rebecca had grown up the only child of a single mother and sports had never really been a big part of her life. She was completely clueless about football, baseball, hockey or whatever. She could barely tell each sport apart. As she sat there, wondering which sport they were so excited about, she eavesdropped on their conversation. It wasn't difficult; they were practically shouting at each other.
"What an opener!" one guy said and laughed as he smacked palms with one of his companions.
"I know!" another guy said as he jostled his friends. "That last goal was great!"
Goal,
Rebecca thought with a nod as she casually shut her laptop and settled back in her seat.
That should be a clue. Max and Mary talk about goals all the time. Is it hockey these guys are talking about?
She sighed to herself and rubbed her face with one hand.
I'm so sad. I don't even know hockey and I'm from Canada!
She listened to the group of friends chatting about the game for a few more minutes before getting up and packing her things. She walked slowly towards her home and thought that maybe she should try to look up one of Max's friends. They weren't all men and then she would at least know one person she could talk to about something other than school.
Once she got home and got ready for bed, she decided to sleep on it and maybe call Max and Mary in the morning.
***
"Hey Max, how are you?"
Josh looked over as Sean answered a call on his cell phone. They were all still lingering in the locker room following their first game of the regular season. It had been a good win and they were still celebrating.
"Oh, you watched?" Sean went on with a broad grin. "Shouldn't you be more concerned with your own games?"
Josh grinned and shook his head. Marc met his gaze across the room and they shared a knowing look. Their old teammate and friend, Max, had been traded to another team in the previous season but he stayed in touch.
Never mind the fact that they were on opposing teams and would one day meet up again.
Until then at least, they were all still good friends.
"Yeah, most of us are still here," Sean said then and looked up at the faces left in the locker room. "You want to talk to someone? What do you mean you don't know who?" Sean paused after a short laugh and listened, his expression sobering. Then he burst out laughing and shook his head. "Don't you ever give up?"
Josh wondered what the other half of that conversation sounded like. He hadn't been Max's closest friend on the team but he remembered him as a guy who enjoyed hockey, loved life and lived to make his buddies laugh. Last they'd all heard, he'd somehow managed to score an actual girlfriend; someone who appreciated his sense of humor, apparently.
And someone who doesn't mind the beard,
Josh added silently as he leaned down to lace up his shoes.
When he looked up again, Sean was looking over each of the guys, one at a time. He had a considering look on his face and was murmuring to Max over the phone. His eyes came to rest on Josh and a slow smile spread across his face.
Oh crap,
was Josh's immediate thought, followed quickly by,
This can't be good,
when he saw Sean rise from his seat.
He strode across the room, weaving in between some of the guys and then stopped in front of Josh. "Phone call for you," Sean said and handed his phone over.
Rolling his eyes, Josh took it from him. "Who is it?" he asked sarcastically to which Sean merely shrugged innocently and walked away to finish changing.
"Max, what's up?" Josh said into the phone.
"Hey, Gronk, what's happening?" Max's boisterous voice filled his ear and Josh laughed at the old nickname. No one had really called him by the comic book character's name for some time.
"Not much, just laid waste to some unfortunate team," Josh replied.
Max chuckled. "Sure, whatever you say. Just wait until your western road trip this year."
"Is that a challenge?" Josh asked.
"Not really," Max answered and then moved on to a new topic entirely. "Hey, you're single, right?"
Josh blinked and looked across at Sean who was watching him with a goofy grin on his face. Josh narrowed his eyes, not liking where this conversation was going already.
"Why do you ask?" Josh replied cautiously.
"Well, I got a huge favor to ask and I just wanted to make sure it wouldn't be pissing off a girlfriend or fiance or something," Max told him.
"Oh God, you want me to go on a blind date or something?" Josh asked as memories of his last experience with that rose up. He hadn't been on a blind date in five years, not since he'd hit the NHL.
Max laughed at him. "Not exactly," he said. "I've got a friend who just moved there for school and she doesn't really know anyone."
"This
is
a blind date, isn't it?" Josh demanded, glaring as Sean hooted with laughter from across the room. A few of the other guys had quieted down as well to hear what was going on. "I won't do it!"
"It's not a blind date!" Max shouted over the phone. "Calm down, jeez. Just listen for two minutes."
Josh listened as Max explained that his friend was in town for school, didn't have any friends or really any social life that he knew of. He was asking Josh to meet up with her a couple times, show her the sights, maybe introduce her to some other people.
"Why doesn't she have any friends?" Josh had to ask.
"She's kind of quiet around new people," Max replied slowly. "She's great once you get to know her, or if she's in familiar surroundings but Mary tells me she just has a hard time introducing herself to new people."
"Mary?" Josh repeated and smiled. "Is that the woman who took pity on you?"
Max laughed. "Yeah, man. And she takes pity on me
every
night. Sometimes twice in one night!"
Josh burst out laughing and shook his head. "It's nice to know that you haven't changed, Max."
"So will you meet up with her? Show her around?" Max asked after the laughter had died down.
Josh sighed and wanted to think of a reason to say 'no' but he couldn't come up with anything. "All right, fine."
"You're awesome!" Max exclaimed. "I'll owe you one for this."
"You can let me beat you up when we come out west in January," Josh replied.
"You can try, shorty," Max replied and Josh had to laugh again. He was easily several inches taller than Max and probably outweighed him by thirty pounds.
They made arrangements for Josh to meet up with his friend, Rebecca, in another couple days, after an early road trip for the team. He hung up the phone and tossed it back at Sean who was still watching him with amusement.
"So you think just because you're married off you have to destroy everyone else's lives too?" He asked.
Sean scoffed as he caught the phone. "Destroy lives? Hardly. You just don't know what you're missing."
Josh shrugged as he stood up and pulled his jacket on. "I don't know, Sean. Limiting yourself to one woman forever, seems kind of... inhumane."
A few of the guys overheard and started laughing. Josh glanced around at them with an amused smile. Every one of the guys laughing just then was either married or in a long-term relationship.
Why does that not surprise me?
He wondered and gave the guy nearest him a shove.
"Josh, one of these days some woman is going to knock you over and you're not going to know what hit you," Bill spoke up, his wide grin revealing his missing front teeth. "Then we'll all have this conversation again."
Josh laughed them off and walked out of the room. It's not that he dated numerous women at once or that he was a real hound dog on the road or anything. He just didn't feel he had time to work on a real relationship. So instead he focused on hockey and having a good time with the guys.
Now he had to meet this Rebecca and find time to show her around.
That thought led him to others that he'd forgotten to mention to Max. Like, was she even close to his age? Did they have anything in common?
Oh God,
Josh thought and paused in the corridor leading to the parking lot.
I hope she's not some Penguins groupie.
Shaking his head, he decided there was no reason to keep worrying about it. He'd meet up with her as he'd agreed to and he'd let things happen as they would.
