Off Ice.

Chapter Fifty-Seven.

Finn

There have only been a few moments where I truly felt on top of the world, and they've all come in the last four or so years.

The first I can remember was scoring my first goal with the Thunderbirds. The second was when Avery told me she loved me. The third was getting drafted. The fourth was scoring the game-winner in OT during the first playoff game with the T-Birds. The fifth was her showing up at my door step to tell me she was still in love with me. I have a strong feeling I'll be experiencing a few more over the course of the next week.

I'm currently driving back to my apartment from the airport after Games 3 and 4 in Edmonton. They didn't go like I wish they would have and the Oilers are making it pretty difficult to knock them out. We won the first two at home but they won the next two, so now we're coming back here for Game 5 which will be tomorrow.

My head has been wrapped up in the game the last four days, but now that I'm almost there - I feel myself getting more and more excited at the fact that Avery is at my apartment. I gave her a key to the apartment before she left for Seattle and she just got in to San Jose yesterday, so she spent the night here alone. It was strange knowing she was there while I wasn't and she used it all to her full advantage.

She's gonna pay for sending me those pictures of her in my bed, that's for damn sure.

Once Grace, Casey, and my family left our apartment in Seattle the day they moved her stuff in, Aves hung back and FaceTimed me while she was there. I had just got in from Game 2 and was already on a high, so when her name popped up on my phone I was surprised my mood was able to be elevated even more.

She was sitting in the bay window while we talked for a bit, but then she showed me around the apartment again and was going on about all of the things she wants to do. We're going to be really busy the first few weeks of us living there but I couldn't be more excited about it.

She did mention that we should figure out what we want to do with the spare room, so I'm really gonna need to figure out a way to get her out of the apartment for a couple days so I can build out that library. I'll get Casey and Grace in on it.

I'm just about back at my apartment and I'm getting a bit antsy not just being there already. Jack is staying at his girlfriend's house tonight so we've got the place to ourselves, and I plan on utilizing it. We haven't really been alone since I got to LA, the only time was after she picked me up from the airport in the middle of the night so we were both exhausted - and then the night of her graduation, but she had an early drive and just wanted to go to sleep.

Which all of that is obviously fine and I definitely don't expect us to have sex every night, but knowing she slept in my bed back at my mom's house in Seattle and in San Jose without me is really some kind of weird and sick torture. And like I said, those pictures really hit the rest home.

When I pull into my parking spot at the complex, I take my suit jacket, slide out of my car and head to the trunk to grab my bag and suitcase. I unbuttoned the top couple of buttons of my shirt on the drive over and undid my tie, really feeling over this suit. I've had it on since this morning and I'm ready to get into some sweats.

I put my backpack on top of the suit case and sling my suit jacket over my shoulder as I start to head inside, nodding at the doorman that's always there with a smile. "Hey, Larry."

"Hey, Wild," he nods back, before he taps my shoulder a few times as I walk past him. "Don't sweat those two, you'll get 'em in Game 5."

I laugh lightly with a shake of my head since he's never really made it a secret that he's a fan of the team, but I don't mind. He's respectful and hasn't even asked for so much as an autograph, which I appreciate. Some fans don't understand boundaries and I was a bit nervous when I realized one was the doorman and knew where we lived. But he's a nice dude. We like Larry.