NHL Short Stories

grattis på födelsedagen- joel eriksson ek *

WC: 2832
*Sexual content*
*Translation of title: "happy birthday"

Three players for the Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks got into position at center ice for sudden death overtime. The score was tied at two after Ryan Hartman got a goal behind Petr Mrazek to tie the game up in the second period.

The referee dropped the puck and Joel won the draw against nineteen-year-old phenom Connor Bedard to begin the Wild's offense.

Forward Matthew Boldy rushed into the offensive zone with Joel and captain Jared Spurgeon. He passed it back to Jared, allowing Joel to set up in his usual spot in front of the goaltender. Jared passed it back to Matt, then Matt tried the one-timer. The puck ricocheted towards Mrazek's left blocker and falling into the net from a tip-in from Joel. The crowd erupted, standing up and cheering for the goal to secure a second point for the game to continue to climb the Central Division board standings. Of course I cheered for the goal, and I watched Joel lead Jared and Matt to high five his teammates for the goal and win.

—

As I was sticking the birthday candles into the cake, the door to our apartment opened. I glanced up to see Joel walking in bundled up in warm clothes, and some snowflakes were sprinkled on the shoulders of his black coat.

I smiled. "There's the overtime goal scorer and birthday boy," I said, watching him take his coat off and hanging it up on the coat rack next to the door.

His face reddened as a smile widened across his rectangular, defined face. "Oh, stop it," he said playfully as he walked over to the island and wrapped his arm around my back. He planted a kiss on my forehead, then messed with my hair.

I giggled, then ignited the lighter so I could light the candles in his mini chocolate cake. The icing read Happy 28th Birthday Joel! in blue on top of white buttercream frosting.

As soon as I finished lighting the candles, he sat down in a chair and I snapped a photo of him and his birthday cake. Afterwards, I sang happy birthday to him before he made a wish and blew out the candles.

"Thank you," Joel said as I took the cake away so I could cut up two pieces for us to enjoy, "you didn't have to get me a cake and all of that."

I rolled my eyes as I took the candles out and threw them away. "Uh, but I had to. It's your birthday, and you deserve a birthday cake and a gift." I told him, then I grabbed the present I had gotten him off of the counter and set it down in front of him.

His face reddened before he took the blue gift tissue out and set it on the island countertop while I cut up our pieces of cake. He pulled out a box of authentic Swedish chocolate and some more rolls of hockey tape. His face brightened as he read the chocolate box, then smiled. "Thank you, again. I appreciate everything here," he said as I slid him the piece of cake.

His smile widened before we dug into the pieces of cake I had cut up for us.

Once we finished eating, I headed upstairs so I could take a shower and get a start on the homework I had for my grad classes. Joel probably didn't have to be in bed until midnight as the team doesn't have practice tomorrow, but I would appreciate it if he settled down on his games so I could focus on school and sleep.

I finished stripping myself from my clothes before I turned the handle to turn on the water. I took a deep breath, then stepped into the shower and closed the curtain, feeling the cold water patter onto my skin.

The door suddenly opened and closed. I let out a gasp, even though the curtain was closed and the only person it could be was Joel. Joel was pretty understanding of understanding one's boundaries, but I guess this wasn't one of those times.