Coming Up for Air (cole caufield x oc)

Four

𝕗𝕣𝕖𝕪𝕒

Kirby Dach scores once, and the Canadiens' captain, who Freya is too embarrassed to look at, ends up scoring the only other goal of the game. Even though Freya is desperate to escape the arena, Jess isn't so quick. "Okay, he's giving me directions about where they will meet us," she announces, swiping through her phone.

"Us?" Freya repeats incredulously.

Jess reaches for her hand, offering a squeeze of assurance. "He's going to bring some teammates and we're going to a bar," she replies. "It will be so much fun, I promise."

It doesn't sound like fun at all to Freya, especially not the part about Kirby's teammates coming along. Hell, Freya would rather third-wheel Kirby and Jess all night than risk seeing the Canadiens' captain or the guy whose jersey she is apparently wearing. A jersey which, by the way, was all she'd brought with her to wear.

"I can't go out wearing this jersey!" she exclaims, her eyes moving quickly between the logo on her chest and Jess's pleading eyes.

"Mon Freya," she murmurs, disappointed.

Jess is quite possibly the sweetest girl in the world, and the last thing Freya wants is to ruin her night by refusing. With a dejected sigh, Freya agrees. "Fine—but not too late."

Jess squeals with excitement. "Merci!" she yells, and Freya can't help but laugh. She loves when Jess switches excitedly between French and English.

Still reluctant, Freya allows her friend to lead her all the way to the bar a few blocks from the arena. The whole place is buzzing with life, mostly hockey fans celebrating the win. Several men pat Freya on the shoulder, raising their glasses to her jersey. She learns quickly that this Cole Caufield is pretty popular in Montreal. Not that Freya cares. The jersey isn't even hers.

-------

𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙚

"I'm not going unless Cole goes," Nick announces to Kirby as he strips off his gear.

Cole can only roll his eyes. Ever since he learned the pretty girl in the front row was there with Kirby's date, he knew this would be coming. When the final buzzer went off, Kirby started chanting "Double date!" as they ran through the tunnel, though Cole turned him down right away.

Despite being nearly twenty-one years old, Cole feels like he hasn't outgrown the awkward around girls phase. The fact that he and all of his teammates are professional hockey players and so attract plenty of attention doesn't help. Despite their pestering, Cole has refused to download a single dating app or even try hard to flirt with anyone when they go out. Even at college back home in Wisconsin, he had only a handful of hook-ups, and even those were short-lived.

Still, Nick and Kirby will never give up that easily. "Come on," Kirby goads. "Mikey will come, and Kaide, too, right boys?"

Always the first to volunteer, Michael hollers, "I'm always down for a night on the town."

Kaiden glances at Cole and then shrugs. "Could be fun," he remarks.

"Well then you guys can go have fun!" Cole declares, heading for the showers. He doesn't give Nick or Kirby any chance to respond, opting instead to fish his phone out of his bag as he throws a towel over his shoulder.

Messages

All-American Gentlemen

Luke
cole, tell Nicky that last goal
was a beauty.

Jack
and a great pass from the little
man himself, of course 🤝

Trevor
excuse you losers but i scored
yesterday and got no congratulations

Jack
congratulations 🎉

Trevor
well now it doesn't count.
i always liked your brothers more
than you anyway

Cole
Sorry, just managed to escape Kirb and Suzi
tryin to get me out to a bar

Trevor
why would you b tryin to escape that??

Jack
^^what Z said

Cole
because its not even about me
going out with them. kirby invited this
girl to our game and now he wants
me to go out with them and the friend
his date brought along

Trevor
ew.
like a double-date?

Cole
i mean some other guys will
be there, but he and Suzi think
i'm into the friend
that she came to the game with

Luke
oh?

Alex
now you have my attention

Brady
now what would make him think
that, mr. caufield?

Quinn
🤨

Cole
its literally so dumb, i just
noticed this girl in the front row was
wearing my jersey, and i pointed
her out to suzi and when he was like
who cares, i just said something like
"oh i mean look how beautiful she
is" or something idk.
i didn't even know she was there
with Kirby's date

Key
I lived with this kid for two years
and did not once hear him call any girl
beautiful ever.
literally ever.

Jack
I'm w Miller on this one. sounds
like suzi and kirb might actually
know what they're talking about 👀

Alex
so you're definitely going then, right?

Brady
sounds like you have to go cole

Trevor
the boys have spoken

...

...

...

Josh
sorry just woke up from nap, whats
goin on?

Key
cole called a girl beautiful and now won't
go hang out with her

Luke
how bout checkin your phone once
in a while norris?

Josh
bro i just said i was napping

...

...

Trevor
whered cole go

Quinn
maybe he threw his phone down a toilet bc
we were bothering him

Cole
that's what i should've done
but i just showered.
i'm not going out with them

Trevor
yeah u are. just texted suzi that you
are coming with them

Jack
lmao

-------

Sure enough, it only takes a minute or two for Nick to appear in the doorway, asking Cole if he's ready to go.

Grumbling, Cole slips on a t-shirt and jeans before joining his captain at the door.