[fourteen]

Lillianah's POV

Friday morning rolled around all too soon. My mother and sister were under the impression that we were going to the hockey game that night, but I was still undecided. I made my way down the stairs to the two of them chatting it up in the kitchen. "Liz, don't you have kids?" "Charlie took them skiing," she replied so proudly of her husband. I didn't know five year old's could ski, let alone three year old's. I gave her a questioning look but she looked right past it. "What are you wearing tonight?" I poured myself some coffee and looked over at my mom. "I usually wear my pajamas at night." I caught my sister rolling her eyes at me and I went and grabbed the milk out of the fridge. I sat down at the breakfast bar and started thinking. I didn't know how this whole hockey thing works, was he already in town or not yet? Chills went up my spine just thinking about it. Knowing we would be in the same city tonight gave me some excitement, I just wanted to see his smile, just to remind myself that these feelings are in fact real and that my mind isn't playing tricks on me. 

Hiding back in the room I grew up in I pulled my cell phone out of my backpack. Dare I turn it on? I decided against it and headed back down stairs. "Alright I'll go under one condition," I explained to my mom and sister. "And what would that be?" "You do not get to meet him. We're going to the game, we will enjoy ourselves, you two will go home, I'll talk to him, then I will come home. End of story, and don't try to sneak around me and try to meet him, it will get ugly if you do." I turned on my heal and headed back up to the room. What was I going to wear? I dug through my suitcase remembering how badly I stood out and felt uncomfortable at the last game so I headed back downstairs. "I don't know what to wear," I stated worried to how they would react, I dressed a certain way unlike their preppy style, but I wasn't expecting to be going out on my little run away trip. My mom went into her purse and pulled her credit card out, "well get ready, let's go." I groaned to myself as I made my way once again back up the steps. Shopping with my mother? I just keep screwing up don't I?

Was I feeling joy? What the hell is up with my emotions and feelings lately? I was actually enjoying shopping with my mother and sister. We went from one vintage shop to the next and my sister actually told me she wished she could pull off my style, that she really liked it. Seeing certain clothes I think really brought my mom back in time to when she was my age, I was seeing a side of them I had never seen before. We walked into another shop and I started pulling whatever looked awesome off of the racks. The thing with vintage is that you need to mix and match, five articles of clothing could give you a wardrobe for a week. I pulled on a pair of high waisted sailor style slacks that were grey with black piping and looked through the hoards of tops I had pulled down. I came across a sheer black Victorian style button up that had long sleeves and went all the way up your neck, where it ruffled out. I pulled it on, buttoned it up, tucked it into my pants and walked out. "Wow Lily, you look hot," my sister smiled as I turned around for them. "You got a new tattoo," my mother said holding her hand underneath her chin. "You need a jacket over that though," she smiled looking through a rack behind her.

So much for trying to blend in. Who was I kidding though, I wasn't a sport person, I didn't care that I didn't blend in either. I only came to hear what he had to say. I wanted to let him in, allow him to like me that way, but it was so foreign to me. I never in my life had a guy look at me past a piece of ass. He asked me to be his girlfriend. Girlfriend! I double fisted my beers as we made our way down to our seats, three rows up from the ice. The Penguins came out and started skating around right in front of us. "What number is he?" my sister leaned into my shoulder asking not taking her eyes off the players. "Um, 25 I think," I said as my eyes searched the ice, going from one player to another. Number twenty-five, Talbot. He turned around and was talking to the player next to him and he had that smile. Air got caught in my throat and my stomach shrunk to the size of a walnut, I felt my mom's hand grab onto my thigh. I gasped for air and then looked away. Why was this happening to me? "Wow Lily, you do get weak," she said to me picking my beer up off the ground and handing it to me. I couldn't look down there anymore, not with him standing that close to us, smiling. I nearly drowned in my beer before my sister started laughing telling me to calm down. If he does that to me from just looking at him from a distance, what's going to happen when I talk to him?

Max's POV

My gloves were pointing the right way, my sticks were where they should be, and my jersey hadn't been washed, it was going to be a good night for me. Would she show up? I had no clue, I could only hope so. Luckily I don't know where she's sitting so I can't look for her. I was on a five game scoring streak, any slight change in my routine I knew I was doomed. I pulled my socks down from the locker and a book fell to the ground. "The Secret Psychology of How We Fall in Love? FLOWER!!" I sat down and looked around the empty locker room. I held the book in my hand, I was waiting for him to walk through the doors. I had two close calls as Crosby and then Dupuis walked through the door. Finally I heard his little French accent and saw his whispy hair come through the door. I lifted the book in the air and chucked it right at his head. He ducked down only to have it hit Staalsy right in the shoulder. "What the hell Talbot!!" He turned around and picked the book up reading the cover. "Oh this is funny, but I did not do this," he smiled handing the book back to me. "Then who did it?" I asked looking around the room. Then Geno walked through the doors, "oh Talbot you got the book, you like?" I couldn't bring myself to throw it at the poor Russian, it would just confuse him. 

Where were we going to meet after the game if she was here? Would she have her phone? Would it be on? A million questions were going through my head as I laced up my skates. I slapped myself a bit and started focusing on the game. I was on a hot streak, the team was on a hot streak, I couldn't allow a girl to screw that up for me. I took to the ice for the warmups and kept my eyes on the ice. I wasn't going to allow myself to look in the stands. "You're looking mighty pretty tonight Talbot, got a date?" Dupuis asked laughing as he stood next to me. I skated around in circles a bit, hitting him with my shoulder each time I turned around. "Shut up Pas," I hissed just as my eyes hit a beautiful woman in the seats looking like she was hyperventilating, it was Lil. The woman next to her was basically forcing a beer down her throat. She was chugging the beer, what was going on? The woman on her other side saw me watching and formed her fingers together to let me know that she was okay. Now that I knew where she was sitting, how was I ever going to focus on the game.

"Excuse me sir, do you see that beautiful woman sitting right over there, in between the two blonds," I pointed Lil out to one of the attendants in our runway. He nodded his head. "Her name is Lillianah and I have to talk to her after the game, if you can somehow get her down here after the game, if she wants that is, I would greatly appreciate it." He once again nodded his head and I made my way back to the locker room. After getting my head back into the game it was time for us to head back out for the start of the game. Flower and I had our ritual, we would box. Out of no where though his blocker hand slapped me across the face. Then he did it again. "You just bitch slapped me!!!" "Get your head in the game Talbot! No funny business tonight!" I jabbed him right in the mask and we headed out onto the ice. Not once did my eyes look out into the stands, I was having a career night, two goals and an assist after two periods. I had to pull my jersey off in the locker room to make sure I wasn't wearing number 87 or even number 71, nope that's number 25, with my name above it. I didn't want to think about it when we took the ice for the third period, but it was in the back of my head. I didn't have to think about it very long, five minutes into the third period it happened. The puck, that flew off of MY stick, found the back of the net. Never in my life had I enjoyed the sound of seventeen thousand people booing at me. 

My head popped up as I heard a 'Mr. Talbot?' I still had shaving cream smeared all over my face that one of my lovely teammates attacked me with while I was being interviewed, on television. "A Miss Jenkins is outside for you." Miss Jenkins?! I threw a towel over my shoulder and slipped into my shower shoes. I walked out of the locker room and immediately pulled the towel off my shoulder and wiped the rest of the shaving cream off my face. "I'm happy you came," I smiled as she stood in front of me playing with her fingers. "You played a good game, three goals right?" I didn't know why but I was excited that she payed attention to the game. I don't know what else she would have been doing, but it made me happy. "Yeah my first ever hat trick." "Hat trick?" I chuckled a bit, she knew nothing about hockey. "If you score three goals in a game, it's called a hat trick." "Oh." She looked confused, but she wasn't confused about the hockey, she was confused why she was there. I had scared her away, I was a lucky son of a bitch for her to even show up. "So we're staying here tonight before we fly to DC tomorrow afternoon, want to go get a drink?" I was taking a huge leap here. "Yeah, I can do that." "Okay, give me about twenty minutes, I need to shower." She looked me in the eyes and nodded and I froze. The only thing I could do was stand there and stare into her eyes, a goofy smile coming over my face. "If there's a cure for this, I don't want it. If there's a remedy, I'll run from it. Think about it all the time, never let it out of my mind, cause I love you!" SHUT UP DIANA!!