Netting Crow (Blackhawks Fan-Fiction)

Chapter 18

"Corey.  Corey." I hear a voice whisper in the dark.

"Yea, buddy.  Is something wrong?" I hear Corey sleepily reply.

"There's something in my room." Nathan whispers loudly.

"Let's check it out, eh?" Corey says as I feel him roll out of bed.  A few minutes later, I hear Corey come back into the room and crawl back into bed.

"Everything, okay?" I ask.

"Yea." He replied as he pulled me into his arms.  "I'm glad you're up.  I wanted to ask you something earlier before you...distracted me."

"I didn't hear you protesting to the distraction, Mr. Crawford." I say smiling into the dark.

"You won't ever hear me complaining about being distracted like that."

"What's up?  What did you want to ask me?" I get him back on his focus.  Although, I am a little nervous about what he wants to talk about at 3 a.m.

"This weekend is the AllStar break in Columbus, and my family is going.  Do you think you or you and Nathan would want to come?  I'm flying straight into Columbus from Pittsburgh, but you could fly out of here Thursday night or Friday morning."

I catch my breath as I am astounded that he just asked me to travel with him.  Sadly, I think through the rest of this week and what my schedule looks like.  

"Corey, I would love to, but my dad and I have Soxfest tickets this weekend.  He wanted to do the whole weekend this year, and it's really expensive.  I can't bail on him.  It's our thing."

I felt him exhale like he had been holding his breath waiting for my response.  

"Okay.  I understand."  He says sadly.

"I'm sorry. It would be totally awesome, and I am so grateful that you invited me.  If it had been anything else, I would have blown it off, but..."

"No, don't be sorry.  It's fine."  He kissed me.  "It was really short notice, I know, but I just didn't want you to think that I was an asshole who didn't invite his girlfriend to AllStar weekend." 

GIRLFRIEND?!?!  Did he just call me his girlfriend? OMG! OMG! OMG!  I rolled off of him.  

"Danelle? You okay?" He sat up and turned the light on. His face was filled with concern.

"I'm fine.  We just hadn't talked about the whole girlfriend-boyfriend thing." I admitted.

"Oh, I guess you're right.  I kinda just assumed.  I'm sorry.  I don't have to call you that."

"No, no.  It's fine.  I'm just saying we never talked about what we were titling this, so it caught me off guard, but in a good way."

Relief flooded Corey's face as he replied, "This seems so natural with you, I guess I never thought we might need a discussion about what we were to one another.  Here will this help...Danelle, will you be my girlfriend?" He asked.

"Ummm, well..." I say jokingly.

"Watch it!." He says.

"There's nothing more that I want Corey. I would love to be your girlfriend."  I lean in and kiss him.  "Now that we have worked that out, can we go back to sleep?"

Later that morning, I wake up to an empty bed.  I looked over at the clock to see that it was after nine. I head down toward the living room and hear voices from the kitchen.  Nathan and Corey are up and enjoying some breakfast as I walk into the kitchen.  

"Hi, Mommy!" Nathan says.

"Morning, guys. What's happening?"

"We are having some cereal and planning our day." Corey informs me.

"Awesome.  What's our day look like?"

Nathan leaps right into a description. "Corey doesn't have practice today, so he said we could spend the whole day together.  And I decided that I want to go to the aquarium.  Then Corey said after that we could go somewhere else fun, but that it will be a surprise.  Doesn't that sound like fun?"

"It sounds like so much fun. I can't wait."

The rest of Saturday passed in a blur.  We spent the whole day at the Shedd Aquarium.  We had the best time.  We were allowed a ton of different experiences that normally wouldn't be offered to the public.  Nathan's expression the whole day was one of awe.  

After the aquarium, Nathan reminded Corey that he had promised a second fun place, so we went to Dave and Buster's.  We had dinner and played games.  While we were out in public, there were probably only a handful of people who recognized Corey.  He had worn a baseball hat low over his brow, so people wouldn't notice him.  He signed a few autographs, but refused pictures because "I'm out with my family."  My heart leapt into my throat the few times I heard him say that to someone.

We arrived back at home well past Nathan's bedtime.  Corey carried him up to the extra bedroom and put him down.

I sat down on the couch exhausted.  Corey came back into the room.  "So what's your plan for tomorrow?" He asked.

"Crap.  I have no idea."  I replied honestly.  "I have to take Nathan to Sue's sometime before the game. Luckily, Amanda and her Dad are going, so I don't have to drive her to the game.  I could probably just meet them at the game, and then stay here overnight."

"That sounds good.  Are you going to ask Amanda and Jodi to come to the game on Tuesday?  I probably won't play, but I would like to see you before I go."

"I can ask them.  I'm sure they would love it. "

"You'll have to sit in the box again."

"That's okay.  I'm a big girl.  I can handle it."

"Thank you for giving it another try."

We spend the evening cuddle of the couch watching a movie.  It was one of the most peaceful moments that I can remember.  It's amazing how finding someone can make you feel better than you ever have before.  I was excited to know that we had defined our relationship, and that we were on our way, hopefully, to our own happily ever after.