Ice Hockey 101 Ch 01

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.

If she turns out to be a psycho stalker, I'm so out of there,

he thought as he climbed into his car.

***

Rebecca found herself sitting at the coffee shop in another few days, chatting on-line with Mary. Mary had called her late last night and told her to be on-line at this time in the morning and she'd be there too so they could chat. So Rebecca had happily bustled off to Only a Mug Away, sitting at a window table and turning on her computer.

She and Mary had been chatting for about an hour when suddenly Mary stopped responding. Frowning, Rebecca waited, sent another message and listened absently to the dinging bell over the coffee shop entrance as someone came in.

"Rebecca?" A male voice spoke quietly to her and she glanced up in surprise at the man who'd walked in.

Oh jeez, he's hot!

she thought and felt a blush stain her cheeks immediately.

He had to be several inches over six feet tall since he absolutely towered over her table. He was broad-shouldered and obviously worked out regularly to maintain such a body, though it was dressed up modestly in faded jeans and a heavy wool coat. He was fair, with reddish-gold hair cropped close to his head and his eyes sparkled a brilliant blue. At her confused scrutiny, he smiled, a cute crooked smile that revealed teeth not quite straight.

And for some reason, he looked vaguely familiar to her.

"Do I know you?" she blurted out.

"No, we've never met," he replied. "I know your friend, Max, though."

Rebecca relaxed and nodded, though the heat stayed in her face. "Oh, Max. Right."

The smile on this man's face drooped a little and he shifted nervously on his feet. "Did he not tell you?"

"Tell me what?" she asked, feeling incredibly underdressed. She shifted on her seat and pulled at the ends of her open jacket in an effort to look less frumpy.

"Uh, he told me to meet you here today," the man before her said. "He said you're new in town and didn't really know anyone."

Rebecca's flush deepened and she didn't know what to say to that. "I...uh, yeah, I am new...in town," she stammered as she stared up at him.

For a minute neither of them said anything. Rebecca had to look away from him and hoped that he didn't think she was a complete idiot. She noticed a blinking icon on her computer and clicked to see a new message from Mary.

Please forgive Max,

it read.

He means well.

And that was all. Mary had signed off.

"Huh," Rebecca commented with a rueful smile. "Looks like we're supposed to meet up today."

The tall, handsome man before her smiled again and she couldn't help the blush that stained her cheeks again.

"I'm Josh," he introduced himself and held his hand out towards her. "Josh Saunders."

"I'm Rebecca Junison," she replied. "Oh, but you knew that."

Stupid!

She silently berated herself.

He must think I'm such an idiot!

"Do you mind if I sit down?" he asked.

"Of course! Sit down, please," she said and rubbed one hot cheek with her hand, wishing she could get herself under control. She just hadn't been expecting to meet a hottie today. She didn't enjoy surprises.

"So what brings you to Pittsburgh?" he asked.

"I'm going to school at Carnegie Mellon University," she said.

"What are you taking?"

"Social Sciences," she replied and smiled when his eyes widened a fraction.

"Wow, so you're probably a genius, huh?" he asked.

She laughed and shook her head. "Hardly. I have been trying to get into this school for a while so I don't think that makes me a genius."

He grinned and she felt her stomach lurch. She cleared her throat and shifted in her seat again, trying to cover her discomfort.

"So, uh, what do you do?" she asked.

His blue eyes widened again and she blinked, stunned by their startling shade. "You don't know? Wow, Max really didn't tell you a thing, did he?" This he asked with that same crooked smile so Rebecca knew he wasn't upset.

"Oh wait!" she exclaimed and held a hand up, palm towards him. "Max plays hockey. You play hockey too?"

Josh blinked at her before bursting into laughter. "You could say that," he agreed with a grin.

Flushing, Rebecca looked away. Here was the usual moment with guys where she found herself awkwardly floundering. Sometimes they didn't care that she didn't know anything about sports and other times, they stared at her as though she had two heads. On the positive side, Josh wasn't giving her any strange looks.

"You don't follow the teams at all?" he asked when she still didn't say anything.

She shook her head, feeling the heat in her face grow.

"So you really don't have any idea that I'm on the hockey team Max used to play for?"

"That's right."

He smiled at her. "Well, how interesting. I guess you probably don't meet a lot of people who know about the Penguins where you're going to school anyway."

Rebecca thought back for a moment about all the students she'd met and slowly shook her head. She could honestly say that no one had ever started a conversation about the Antarctic creatures. Though why they would when she attended the social sciences school was beyond her. She said as much aloud to Josh and watched with a smile as he laughed again.

"This is great!" he exclaimed. "I know exactly what to do with you now."

Blinking, Rebecca drew back slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Max called me a few days ago and asked me to introduce myself to you," Josh explained. "He said to show you around, maybe meet some more people."

"Oh, I see," she said. "So what

do

you plan to do with me now that you know I know nothing about sports?"

For a second, he didn't respond and Rebecca watched in fascination as a light blush crept over his cheeks. She looked down, hiding a smile when she thought about how her question must have sounded to him.

Check another one off in the stupid column for Rebecca,

she thought.

"Uh, I think we should go watch a game," he said finally in response to her question.

"What kind of game?"

Josh shrugged. "What interests you the most?"

She stared at him. "I know nothing about any of them so I couldn't even take a guess about which one is the most interesting."

"Right. Well then, do you trust me?"

"I don't even know you!" she replied with a laugh though her stomach flipped just a little bit at the grin on his face.

For a second they just stared at each other, grinning broadly. Then someone else walked into the shop, setting off the bell over the door.

"Whoa!" A male voice exclaimed and both Rebecca and Josh looked over to see a man bundled up against the cold weather. He was staring at them; or rather, staring at Josh. "You're Josh Saunders!"

Rebecca sat back in surprise. She didn't know he was famous.

Maybe if I knew more about sports, I'd have known that,

she thought.

"Yes," Josh replied mildly with a smile for the man.

"Oh wow," the man said and walked closer. He reached into his jacket for something, keeping his eyes on Josh as though he might disappear. "I'm a huge fan. And my son would kill me if he knew I'd seen you and not asked for your autograph." As he spoke, he pulled out a small daytimer and pen. "Will you sign this for me?"

Josh nodded and took the daytimer as the fan flipped it open to a blank page. "What's your son's name?"

"Wesley," the man replied.

Josh wrote a quick note and signed the bottom of the page before handing it back to him. Grinning widely, the man shook his hand and thanked him several times before heading to the counter for his coffee.

"That was really nice of you," Rebecca commented quietly. "I don't know that I'd have the patience to deal with people when I'm not working."

Josh shrugged it off though she could see the smile on his face and in his bright blue eyes. "I don't actually get recognized that often. People are more into the football and baseball teams." Then he grinned and shook his head. "Even my friend Sean, who is like, the biggest star in the league, doesn't get harassed in this city."

Rebecca smiled, relaxing a little bit more with him. "It's still nice."

"Hey, I figure if someone wants my autograph badly enough to ask, it's the least I can do," Josh said.

They sat silently for another minute, just staring awkwardly into each other's faces. Then the man who'd asked for his signature walked past on his way out, thanking Josh again.

"Well, are you in the middle of a term paper, or can we go somewhere else?" Josh asked, surprising her.

She blushed and looked down at her closed computer. "I... don't have anything important to do," she confessed. "What were you thinking?"

"We'll start with a football game since its Sunday," Josh said as he stood up. He waited patiently while she stood and gathered her things. "There's a nice pub not too far from here and they'll be showing all the games."

Rebecca nodded in agreement and went with him out onto the street, wondering what had just happened.

***

When Max had set him up, he definitely had not been expecting the dark-haired knockout who'd been in the coffee shop. As Josh sat sipping a beer next to Rebecca in the dim pub, he kept sneaking glances at her, enjoying the way her forehead wrinkled in confusion at what she saw on the big screens around them. She'd been pretty quiet for the past hour or so, watching the football game that was currently being shown on the main screen. The home team was the Steelers and the visiting team, the New York Giants. So far, the Steelers were trailing but Josh knew they were a tough team who could probably pull out a comeback like it was nothing.