Hockey Misfits

    I have never been a spontaneous person, that's why my close friends and family were rather surprised when I spontaneously moved to an ample city in Ontario, Canada for the summer. There were actually multiple reasons for this. I was 20 years old and still in college. A small college in Kinsville, Ontario was offering summer classes for people who wanted to become a biologist (like me). Another reason was because this class was actually cheaper than the one at KIU, the university that I went to last school year.
    Moving into my apartment was a struggle, because no one came with me when I drove into Canada. I was originally from Maryland.
    The day after I made it into my new apartment, I started decorating and organizing the furniture in my house. My apartment had three rooms and a built-in laundry room (which I was VERY grateful for).
    Before I left Maryland I made a plan for my goals when I was away. My first goal was to pass my classes, my second goal was to get a part-time job to pay off some of my student debt.
    In order to pay off some of my student debt, I needed a job, so the first thing I did after organizing my stuff was looking at job openings on my laptop. I eventually found one for a custodian and concession stand worker at an ice hockey stadium.
    The first day at my new job went pretty well. I met the manager and then he explained to me my work schedule and payment. His name was Joe Duowingtoe and he was a middle-aged man, who was the brother-in-law of the owner of the stadium.
There wasn't a hockey game that day so I got to leave as soon as the manager explained everything.
    On the second day, I was casually mopping the floor in the hallway around the stadium and listening and singing the entire Les Miserables soundtrack.
My favorite part of that job was that I didn't always have to talk to people, so one day when someone talked to me it was a strange situation.
Whenever there were hockey games Joe said that I could sneak into the game toward the end of the third quarter and watch. I didn't usually do that though, because I liked having more time to work on assignments from my classes.
Occasionally some of the hockey players would walk by after hockey practice on weekdays, but they never talked to me until that one day.
"What would it take for my friend over there to get your number?" A dark-haired and dark-eyed hockey player guy said to me, as he pointed at a lighter-haired boy behind him.
It was a group of four of them that came up to me. The dark haired one, the lighter-haired one, and two others.
"Maybe if your friend asked me himself," I said while pausing my music.
The three guys in the back laughed and walked away while making fun of the lighter-haired one, but the dark-haired one stayed for a moment.
"Aiden is actually a nice guy if you catch him at the right time, but it's totally understandable if you don't care," he said.
I nodded my head.
"Also Les Mis is a great choice for angrily sweeping the floor," He said.
He must have understood the confused look on my face because he said, "I heard you singing it."
I nodded my head.
"Anyway, my name is Will," he said while shaking my hand.
"I'm Elizabeth," I said.
"Well it was nice to meet you," He said, and when he said it he smiled a smile that gave me butterflies.
I smiled as he walked away.
Every day after that I prepared myself for if he would walk by. I thought I could flirt and get to know him or I could get straight to the point, but I wasn't very good at either of those strategies.
About a week later he walked straight up to me when I was cleaning up the concessions stand after a game.
"How's it going?" He said.
"It's going as great as cleaning can be" I replied.
He smiled after I said, oh how I had longed to see that smile again after we first met.
"How was the game?" I asked him.
"Oh, we won by a landslide." He said.
"That's good", I said while wiping up the puddle of popcorn butter on the countertop.
"Anyway, I know we just met and we don't really know each other, but I want to get to know you" he said.
I froze and stared at the puddle of butter until I looked at him and said, "I'd like that."
"Well can I have your number?, he said, putting an emphasis on 'I'.
    "Yeah," I giggled.
    He handed me his phone to put my number in a contact, so I did.
    "Thanks, I'll text you later." he said.
"Bye."
"Bye."   
Later that night he texted me.
"Hey"
"Hello!"
"Do you wanna go get coffee tomorrow?"
"Sure!"
We went on the coffee date and more dates from then on. A couple of years later we got married. My story just shows how sometimes you just have to be spontaneous.