Sophia - #1 in the ice series

Sophia - CHAPTER 3

Sophia takes a deep breath before she pulls the door open and walks in. Wade snaps his head up and gets off the stool and walks towards her.

"Hey." He smiles at her. "You look beautiful."

Sophia is taken by surprise since no guy is usually this upfront, not that she minds it. "Thank you. You don't look too bad yourself." She compliments back. "You're here early." She notices when she looks at the clock on the wall.

Wade nods. "Well, I had nothing to do back at the apartment, and I'd rather be early than late especially when it comes to coffee and free hockey tickets."  He admits.

Sophia laughs. "True, very true... Which speaking of, we should get some coffee. I've been needing it since I woke up."

They walk up to the bar and Wade gets an iced black coffee while Sophia gets her usual iced coffee with vanilla and almond milk. "That will be 7.55," The cashier says flatly.

Sophia tries to take her wallet out when Wade already has his out and hands the lady his credit card. He turns to her. "A lady should never pay on the first date."

Sophia throws her arms in the air as a joke and says, "What a gentleman."

"Only always," Wade responds with a smirk.

They grab their drinks and sit down at a table. "So, Sophia, tell me about yourself." He asks her after taking a long sip out of his coffee. Sophia can help but stare at how he holds it.

When she realizes the question he asked her, she didn't know what to say at first so it took her a couple of seconds. "Well, as you know, I love hockey. I don't have any siblings and I'm a sucker for sunsets and sunrises, especially by the beach. Concerts are my escape route and I hope that one day I get to be a journalist and travel the world." She tells him. "What about you, Anderson? Well, besides being the best NHL player in the league of course."

Wade chuckles. "I like hanging out with the guys on the team and family. I like golfing and going to the bar after games and interviews. I also love sunsets, concerts, and traveling just like you, and honestly, I love how traveling is part of hockey although it can get very tiring.  I also have an older and younger brother." He tells her.

"Hockey is pretty much your whole life, huh?" Sophia asks him almost murmuring.

He nods. "I love it though. I wouldn't trade it for anything else."

That's a  lot. Sophia feels as if she would barely see him. "Oh, I bet. I wouldn't either." She smiles trying to hide the fact that she's overthinking everything right at that moment.

"When we met you said your dad tried to coach you and Mackayla. Is he a coach in town?"

Sophia nods. "He used to be, my dad passed away a while ago."

"Oh, shit, Soph-"

She sakes her head, cutting him off. "Oh no, it's okay. He was a great man and an amazing dad. He was a cool person. Don't think many people are lucky enough to have that so I'm glad I did."

"Well can you tell me more about him?"

Sophia is glad that he asks that and she starts rambling about her dad. From the day he taught her how to ride a bike to the day he thought her how to drive. From forcing her to eat his burnt dinner he made when she was ten and her mom was out of town to push her to take her SATs. She really missed him but she knew that it was his time and that one day she'll see him again.

"That's a story I would've never told you if he was still alive. That was his job." Sophia laughs. When she lets her hand fall from holding the coffee cup. she feels it touching Wade and it gives her butterflies everywhere in her body. Before she can pull away, he grabs her hand lightly with two of his fingers and pretends as nothing happened.