The Hockey Life - A Patrick Kane Fanfic

Part Twenty - It's Official

PART TWENTY: IT’S OFFICIAL

Back in Lena’s P.O.V.:

At nine in the morning, an alarm on my phone woke me up. I was confused by the wake up call at first. It was a Saturday. Weekends were my opportunities to sleep in as much as I wanted to. However, I had a reminder in my phone that told me there was a morning skate. Of course! I had promised Patrick that I would be at his practice. I was allowed to come to practices anytime I wanted, after all, since I was a former intern.

Even though it was early for me (for a Saturday, at least), it was relatively easy for me to get up and get out of bed. I didn’t mind being up early if it meant that I got to go to the UC. I showered and let my hair air-dry while I applied some light makeup. I threw on jeans, a v-neck, and a Hawks sweatshirt, and after I slipped my feet into my cozy sequined UGGs and grabbed my coat, I was out the door.

It wasn’t until I arrived at the United Center that I realized how much I had missed it. After being in the internship for two weeks, it had become something like a home to me. I knew the people working there as well as the players, and I knew my way around too.

By the time I got there, practice had already begun. I said hello to Brad when he spotted me. He seemed happy to see me and he told me to sit wherever I wanted. I found Dylan sitting a few rows up from the Plexiglas and I sat down next to him.

“Hey you,” I said. I was glad to see him. We hadn’t really talked very much since New Years.

“Hey. I was kinda hoping you’d be here,” he answered.

“Well, here I am. So what have you been up to? My phone’s been lacking texts from you since the internship ended.”

“Oh, you know. Same old, same old. School, hockey. Hockey’s been my main focus lately, since my grades have been pretty solid. I actually have practice today,” Dylan answered.

“Nice. When’s your practice?”

“It’s not for a few hours. Once this practice here is over I’ll still have a few hours to kill. It’s a mid afternoon practice. It’s at an awkward time, but only because my coach has something going on today. I don’t know what, exactly. He never actually told us…” We continued talking throughout the whole practice. Even though we hadn’t talked for a week, it seemed like I had only seen him just yesterday. Everything was normal, just like it had been throughout the whole internship. We talked about hockey, our futures, and all the little things in between. We both admitted that it was great to be back at the UC, and although it had been fun working practices, it was nice to be able to sit back and just enjoy watching one for once.

In the middle of practice, when they had a moment to take a break, the players acknowledged Dylan and I and invited us to stay and talk after practice. In fact, they invited us both to lunch. As fun as lunch with the Blackhawks could be, I didn’t want to be the only girl in a huge group of guys. I thought maybe I’d ruin their fun, so I decided to politely decline their offer later.

When practice did end, I waited around for a few minutes outside of the locker room for the guys to shower and change and everything. When the players filed out, I laughed at how Corey Crawford went straight for Dylan. Dylan and I were lucky. It seemed that we had both quickly become good friends with our favorite players from our favorite team. Although for me, it was a bit more than a friendship.

“Hey, I’m glad you made it,” Patrick said, hugging me as soon as he saw me.

“Me too. I’ve missed this place, and it’s only been a week,” I answered. It felt nice to be hugging him again. That was another thing I had missed throughout the week, but I didn’t tell him that.