Butterflies {Corey Crawford}

Worst/Best Game Ever (Chapter 1)

(The entire story will be written in Evelyn's POV.)

It's October 9th. The first game of the Chicago Blackhawks' season is tonight. Actually it's in 2 hours. I just finished getting ready, wearing my Crawford jersey and ripped jeans. I'm gonna be cold as hell but I'm willing to suffer. I'm currently sat on the stairs outside my apartment building waiting for my best friend Kayla to pick me up. The doors to the United Center just opened and she was supposed to be here 10 minutes ago.

Speak of the devil. Here comes the princess driving carelessly up my street. She's a good two blocks away and I can hear Green Day blaring from her car. She stops along the curb in front of me and I hurry and get in. She turns down the radio as I slam my door closed.

"Took you long enough." I tease, smiling at Kayla.

"Ha ha, cute. But for your information there was traffic." She answers, her voice muffled as she looks out her window, trying to turn.

"How was work?" She asks, finally starting for the rink. I sigh, thinking about my day. Being a nurse is a roller coaster of ups and downs. Some days are good and some are really bad. And I love for the days that my patients get better, but it hasn't happened lately.

"It was alright. No good news today."

"Can't get it everyday, kid." Kay laughs and I nod.

"How's it going looking for jobs?" I question, glancing at her. Kayla is an aspiring model. She hasn't done much work but I think she's getting there.

"No luck. I'm either too fat or too inexperienced." She snorts. I roll my eyes as she turns into the United Center parking lot. After slowly driving up and down the aisles, we find a parking spot. We jump out of the car and literally run to the front doors. There's no line so we cooly slide our way inside. We get our tickets checked and take the path we know by heart to the ice.

"Oh how I've missed it!" Kayla squeals as we step in the rink.

"Wow me too." I sigh. My cheeks burn and my hands slowly become numb from the cold. Kayla grabs my wrist and pulls me to our seats above center ice. Even though Crawford is my favorite, I like to be in the middle so I can see both sides of the ice. As I sit down, I admire the fresh ice that I haven't seen in nearly five months. Hockey is the only thing that makes me happier than being a nurse. I grew up with this team and they never fail to entertain me. Bleed It Out by Linkin Park starts to play and I smile. I'm so caught up in my thoughts that I don't notice Kayla talking to me. She shoves me and I jump, looking over at her.

"Darren told me that the Stars have been doing pretty good so far." She says. Darren is Kayla's boyfriend who keeps up with every single team like its his religion.

"Well so have we, I'm not worried." I answer leaning back in my seat. Kayla shrugs and starts to play on her phone. Sadly, Kayla isn't as much of a hockey fan as I am. Sure she keeps up with the Hawks, but she could live without coming to the games. I force her to go with me. I watch the people coming into the rink and see how excited they are. Even the little kids are jumping around because they can't wait for the game to start. Eventually, both teams come out to warm up. I watch the Hawks as they stretch. After a while, they circle around and shove each other into the boards. Just as soon as they came onto the ice, they're gone.

"The Stars looked pretty focused." Kayla chimes

"So did we. It's a fair game, Kay." I say, rolling my eyes. She's always so doubtful and negative about our team. We continue to talk for a while until the teams come out on the ice again. It's game time. Before I know it we're stood listening to the national anthem. Everyone cheers as it comes to an end. I can feel my heart beating in my chest. I've been waiting for this game for what feels like years. Everyone gets settled and it's time for the first face off between the captains.

The first period was nerve-wracking. So many amazing chances for us to score and we came up empty. Benn scored halfway through so the Stars are up 1-0. Kayla and I leave the rink to warm up and grab some food. We walk around a bit until we need to get back to our seats. Of course Kayla won't shut up about how we're going to lose. No wonder she's a terrible model, she has no damn confidence. We sit down in our seats and soon enough everyone else files in. The guys come back out on the ice and it's time for the first face off.

Period two was insane. Kane scored minutes into it with a spin-o-Rama. There were lots of amazing stops by Crawford. Overall it was a quick-paced period but at least we're tied. Again Kayla and I walk around a bit and then sit and talk to the other people around us. I hear the skates on the ice and finally it's time for the last period. We really need to start scoring, like now.

No goals in the third period or overtime. However it was very intense. Now it's shootout time. Kane is first for the Hawks. He beautifully dangles towards the net and fakes out the goalie, sending the puck in the top shelf. Everyone goes insane and I can hear a few people yelling "peanut butter." The crowd settles down and Seguin is up for Dallas. He pulls a Kaner and fakes out Crawford. Crow quickly dives towards Segs and swings his stick as hard as he can to stop him from scoring. He hits the puck straight on and it flies up and heads straight towards us. A few people reach up to catch it. I lose sight of it because the lights are so bright. I don't see it again until it's a foot away from my face. I have no time to react. It smashes into the bridge of my nose and I can't even comprehend what just happened. Kayla is screaming my name as I bury my face in my hands. I can feel blood trickling down the sides of my face and getting all over my hands. Everything goes black as I grab onto Kayla's arm.