When We Write the Stars

Chapter 26: Hayden

 "No matter what happens now or for the rest of my life, I'm happy now because I love you." – Groundhogs Day

     I'm not sure if life could possibly get better. We'd recently won our conference championship, guaranteeing us a spot in the playoffs. Tomorrow we'd be flying to Vegas where we'd play our first two playoff games, then when we won those we'd go to St. Louis where the Frozen Four was held and we'd win. I wasn't using the word if at all, it was going to happen. It needed to happen.

     I'd been laser-focused on hockey lately, I couldn't remember the last time I went to class and actually paid attention, hell I couldn't even tell you what classes I was taking right now. All that mattered was my academic standing was good enough to play, and my professors wanted me to play. They wanted that championship to be brought home, so they made sure I was passing. I spent almost all my time focusing on hockey. I was either working out, reviewing tape or doing my various duties as captain. It was the hardest I'd ever worked for this in my life, and I'd been working incredibly hard the past four years.

     On top of that, I had Cassie forcing me to take breaks and exist as a person outside of hockey every now and then. I probably hadn't been the greatest boyfriend ever, but she was the most understanding girlfriend. I think she knew, we both did getting into this that hockey would remain my main focus, and school was hers. We texted every day and made sure to see each other at least once a week for something other than a game or to study.

     A lot of the time when I was studying play footage, I'd do it while she was doing homework so we could at least be together in a way, but I tended to get distracted when she was around. It wasn't a distraction I was really complaining about though.

     Dating Cassie had been great, we were both so busy, but in a way, I think that's what helped us work so well, we both understood when and why the other couldn't always do things, and we'd gotten this joint calendar app to make it easier to make plans with each other. At one point our entire text history was just trying and failing to find times when we were both free.

     Also since we didn't see each other as often, I made sure to make things as special as possible when we did. Our time together was limited, so I was pulling all the strings making sure we had the best and cheesiest rom-com-worthy dates possible. Sure we also spent a lot of nights in playing games with our friends, or watching movies together, but I also made sure there were dates that counted.

     A week or two ago, honestly, time passes by so weirdly fast in college, especially during hockey season, but a week or two ago there was a meteor shower. So I borrowed one of the guys on the team's truck and surprised Cassie with it.

     "No, I'm not going to wear a blindfold, just tell me where we're going Hayden," Cassie had said crossing her arms and giving me a look. I'd quickly learned that Cassie loved to unintentionally ruin my romantic surprises. You'd think that'd teach me to stop trying to surprise her, but hell I was a hockey player and that meant I was more determined than most to get things right.

     "Just let me surprise you, woman."

     "Just tell me where we're going, and why it requires a truck."

     "Fine, no blindfold, but I'm not saying where we're going, now get in the truck."

     She crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow at me. As much as I like Cassie, sometimes she can be the most frustratingly stubborn person alive.

     "Please," I say, holding the door open for her, "I promise it's going to be fun and worth it and you'll be wishing you'd just let me follow the plan."

     "Hayden, anytime you start talking about your 'plan' something always goes wrong."

     "Okay, but most of the time that's because you won't let me go through with it."