Meet Me at the Rink

Chapter 9

~ Allison ~

" So you and Austin..." Lucy says as I back out of the parking space. "Yeah, what about it?" I ask putting the car in drive and making my way to the exit and onto the main street. "Friends eh? How'd you two meet?" She asks with a mischievous smirk on her face as she wiggles her eyebrows at me. "Well, it's kind of a long story." I reply, putting my focus back on the road. "I've got time." Luce smiles as I make a left turn.

"Okay well, Friday night Leah and I went to the Marlies game. One of the players had tossed me a puck over the glass at the end of warm-ups and when I looked up, I was met with the brown eyes of number 24. So I gave him a warm smile and he smiled back at me before Leah started teasing me." I start to tell her as we pull up to a red light. "Okay but that still doesn't explain how you and Austin met." Lucy says, eager to hear more.

"Give me a minute, my story isn't over yet!" I laugh as the light turns green and I go. "So after the game, Leah and I were making our way to the exit to get to the parking lot when a drunk guy ran into me. Leah helped me up and we kept walking before a guy started shouting at us. So we stopped, Leah asked him what he wanted and he told me that I had dropped something and that's when he held up the puck." I continued. "So I thanked him then he asked if I was okay before he looked at me sort of confused and then he asked me if we had met before. Leah freaked out cause she recognized him and then I saw the bag slung over his shoulder and saw he had the Marlies crest on the bag." I say before taking a pause.

"Wait so Austin plays for the Marlies?!?" Lucy exclaims as I turn into the parking lot of the restaurant. "Yep, he does." I reply. "So is he the one that tossed you the puck?" She asks as I nod. "And the puck he gave me... He autographed it and put his number on it too." I add. "Ally! Tell me you texted him when you found his number!" Lucy exclaims. "I did text him but only this morning and we've been talking ever since." I say as I feel the heat rise to my cheeks.

** At Home **

Once I got home from dropping Lucy off at her team dinner, I packed my gear up and put it in the car before going into the house to chill out for a while before I have to leave again. "Hey Als!" Jack says coming down from upstairs as I'm walking through the garage door. "Hey Jack, how was your game?" I ask. "Good, I scored a hat today." He replies. "That's my little bro!" I exclaim as I run up to him and give him a proud big sister hug. "Thanks." He laughs as I let go of the hug. "Where's mom and dad?" I ask. "They dropped me off and then went to do groceries before Lucy's game." Jack replies. "Ah okay." I reply before going upstairs to my room.

I plop down on my bed and pull my phone out and notice a text from Austin. What time is your game tonight? It read. I open up the chat and reply that I play at 8 pm. Jack appears in my doorway and asks. "Can I drive with you to hockey tonight?" I look over and smile. "Sure! You can drive my car if you want. I already put my gear in the back." I reply. "Okay cool." He says before going down the hall to his room.

My phone buzzes in my hand. Would it be okay if I came to watch it? I read as a huge smile appears across my face. Sure but fair warning, I'm no Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews or Austin White. I reply before hitting send and setting my phone down on my night table before picking up the tv remote and turning my tv on to catch up on Yellowstone.

** Couple Hours Later **

"Jack you ready to go?" I shout coming down the stairs. "Yeah! I'm coming!" He shouts from the kitchen. "Protein bar?" He asks appearing in the front hall with a couple of protein bars and game day shakes in hand. "Thanks!" I reply taking both the drink and a bar from his hand and stepping outside to go to the car.