The Hockey Life - A Patrick Kane Fanfic

Part Seven - A Surprise Visit

PART SEVEN: A SURPRISE VISIT

When day four came, I felt really satisfied with the extra hour of sleep I got. As much as I liked going home to my family, it was nice to be back in my tiny little apartment with my best friend only a few minutes away from where I was working every day. I got up and got ready as usual and Tess was still sound asleep when I left. I went to the UC and met up with Dylan and the other interns like any other day. We were always a little early so we waited for Brad to show up, and when he did, he did his usual explanation of what we’d be doing.

“Today you all will be working with our personal trainer, Paul Goodman, to see what it’s like to tend to the players and help them with their work outs. You’ll mostly be observing today, but you will be around the players again,” Brad explained.

“Uh oh, we’re going to be around the team again. Are you going to be okay there, Lena?” Dylan asked with a huge smirk on his face.

“Oh, shut up. I’ll be fine,” I retorted.

When we got into the training room, Goodman was already there, working with the players. I knew it wouldn’t be a good idea, but I scanned the room for Patrick anyways. I couldn’t help myself. I found him next to Andrew Shaw on a bike, working on cardio.

Brad had been right; we did a whole lot of observing and listening, and not much actual work. We weren’t all exactly able to do much anyways, though. I definitely didn’t think I could be trusted to work with any of the guys, especially not with a certain someone there to distract me. Everywhere I went, Patrick seemed to be there. It was almost like he was trying to be around me on purpose. I wasn’t exactly complaining, but at the same time, he was kind of making things worse. All it did was make me more nervous.

The day went by a little slower than the others had, but I suspected that was because of the minimal work we had to keep ourselves occupied. It was the least eventful day since the first one, but the next day made up for it.

Day five was a review and competition day. Brad told us that we’d be doing all the things we had practiced and learned to do in the past few days. We’d work in teams of two and Brad would observe us. Whoever he thought did the best would win a spot at the bench during the home game the next day.

“Partners?” Dylan asked me. As if he even needed to ask. I really wasn’t close with any of the other interns. Who else would I partner up with, Puck Bunny?

“Definitely,” I told him. He linked arms with me as if to claim me. Once we had all paired up, we went out on the bench again as the Hawks started practicing. We did the whole equipment manager job like we had on the second day while simultaneously making sure everyone was staying hydrated. Afterwards we hung around for the post practice stretching. That was pretty much all we could do, so once practice was over, we all were done. I had thought that Dylan and I had done pretty well with everything; I did a better job at not letting my crush get to me too much. As it turned out, that hard work paid off.

“Well, each team did very well today, and I was very impressed with how smoothly things went. I know it’s only been a few days and it doesn’t seem like you’ve done that much, but you guys all seemed very comfortable as if you’ve been doing this stuff forever. However, it was a competition and there can only be one winning team. Today I have chosen Dylan and Lena as the winners. Congratulations you two, and I will see you at the game tomorrow night.”

“Holy crap, we won! We’re gonna be sitting with the team at the game!” Dylan exclaimed. We both did our own little celebration together as if we were playing hockey and our team had just scored. Puck Bunny seemed very disappointed and she pouted, but the others congratulated us. They might not have been very happy either, but they didn’t let it show.