𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 | 𝐣. 𝐡𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬

𝟏𝟖 | 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤

Today's the first day of All-Stars and Charlotte, Quinn, and I are having breakfast together again to grab a quick bite before we head to the Scotiabank Arena. We spent the entire breakfast talking and mentally preparing for the day ahead. Quinn and I are going to be signing hundreds of jerseys and other memorabilia fans brought first. Once that's all done we'll be getting ready for the draft and then media interviews to end the day. Charlotte decided that she was okay with sticking around for the entirety of the first day despite Quinn and I being busy. She's going to vlog little parts here and there of the weekend to put together for a video on her channel, which Quinn and I thought would be a great idea.

Arriving at the arena, Quinn is the first to get out of the car while I go next and hold a hand out for Charlotte as she gets out. A few event coordinators and security guards meet us and lead us towards the red carpet we'd have to walk before making our way to the fans. Char and I walk hand in hand and once we get close to the carpet, I turn to Charlotte, "Hey I gotta get going with Quinn, but you can stick with Jesper's girlfriend, Nicole." I turned my head towards where I saw Jesper saying bye to Nicole, Charlotte's eyes went to where I was looking. "I already talked to Jesper and Nicole said she'd love to hang out with you this weekend while we're here. I'll catch up with you before the draft kicks off." Our lips connect, sharing a kiss before my hand lets go of hers and waits to make sure she finds Nicole.

Quinn stands next to me as Jesper walks up greeting us, "Nicole is super excited to meet Charlotte. She was upset we had to cut our vacation short, but having someone else to talk to and hang out with will make her feel better." We're close to the wall branded with the All-Star Toronto logo and hear all the chatter of the fans and a few sports channel reporters. "Yeah, it's great that they can keep each other company while we're doing everything." We spend the next thirty minutes having our pictures taken and greeting and signing jerseys for fans.

Somewhere in the crowd, I spot Charlotte with her camera turned to face her and Nicole and they're both laughing at something. It warms my heart to see her happy and enjoying herself. Quinn pats my shoulder, "Jacky we have to head over to the locker room to put on our jerseys and get ready for the draft." Nodding my head I shoot a quick text to Charlotte letting her know we're heading to go get ready and watch as she checks her phone, looking up she finds me and shoots me a thumbs up. She's gonna be sitting with Nicole watching the draft and later we'll all go out to dinner.

~

So far the draft has been great and I'm having a great time. Quinn wanted to draft all the Canucks and the only way I allowed him to do that was if he allowed me to draft Jesper in return, which he did thankfully. It's the least I could do for Jesper since my inability to participate in the competitions interrupted his vacation in Mexico. While one of the other teams is drafting their next pick, I look into the crowd trying to get an eye on Charlotte. After a few minutes, I spot her recording with her camera and I send her a wave, watching as she passes her camera to Nicole, making a heart with her hands sending it my way. My face heats up and Quinn must've noticed our interaction since he pats my shoulder.

~

Once the draft is finished Quinn and I have to do some interviews before we'll officially be free for the night. "Rowdy, you and Charlotte make me sick sometimes." I already know Quinn is referring to the heart hands thing and pretty much any coupley interaction Charlotte and I have. "Shut up man." I laugh and hit him over the head knowing he's not being serious. Dramatically he pretends to stumble once we're close to Charlotte, but he ends up falling. Surprise is written all over Lotte's face, but instead of helping Quinn up, she's hunched over dying of laughter, phone in hand. Her laugh is so contagious to the point where I start to laugh and Quinny looks over at the both of us in disbelief.

"So neither of you guys are gonna help me up?" He's still on the floor holding an arm out hoping we'll help him, but we both shake our heads, "Nope." Lotte and I reply at the same time and Quinny just picks himself up and walks away from the both of us stomping like a little kid.

"He's ridiculous. I hope you caught that on camera so we could show Luke." I'm silently hoping she says yes because I could use that to blackmail him at any time. "Jack I'm offended that you'd think I didn't catch that on camera." She clicks a few things on her phone and points it towards me. On the screen I see Quinn and I walking up to her, talking, before Quinn ends up on the floor and the camera shakes and faces the floor before it ends.

"Oh, I love you!" The words fly out of my mouth before I can even think and I squeeze Charlotte in a hug. Once the words that left my mouth register in my brain, I freeze and so does Charlotte. Why did I say that? What if she thinks I'm thinking too far ahead? Before I can talk to Lotte, someone in charge of the interviews comes over to me and drags me away from Charlotte since I'm running late. I just hope I can talk to her about it later and she won't think me telling her I love her two months it is too early to even know something like that.

Edited: 12/09/24

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melissa speaks

Hey lovely people I apologize for the semi-short chapter, but Jack said the four letter word! For the next chapter, we'll see what Charlotte thinks about Jack saying the word. Reagrdless of the briefness of this chapter, I hope you still enjoyed. The next one will be better!

Have a great day or night wherever you are ♡