The Hockey Life - A Patrick Kane Fanfic

Part Twenty-Three - One Week

PART TWENTY-THREE: ONE WEEK

“Hey loser, wake up. It’s a morning practice today, remember?” The first few times Tess said it, the phrase was muffled and unclear. Once I was awake enough, though, I realized that it was morning. After such a good sleep, I didn’t want to leave my bed, but I knew Tess would literally pull me out of bed if I didn’t get up myself. She had done it before.

Usually our weekend practices weren’t early since most of us on the team loved sleeping in. However, this practice had to be in the morning, since there were youth hockey events going on for most of the rest of the day.

Morning practices never sounded good to me, but they weren’t that bad. I actually liked the fact that they woke me up. Sometimes I needed that. I wondered if Patrick felt the same way when I realized that my practice was happening at the exact same time that his was.

Practice for me was actually pretty good. Surprisingly, our team was very awake and on-task. We did have a game the next day, though, so maybe that was why. I couldn’t be sure, but that was my guess.

“So, what do you and Patrick have planned for today?” my teammates asked in the locker room. Tess, of course, had told them all about Patrick and I. It didn’t surprise me at all. She was usually the messenger of all of my news at practice.

“Tess, are you ever going to just let me tell them things?” I asked her.

“Why would I do that? Me telling them for you just lightens your load. I’m only trying to make things easier for you,” she said. Every word was BS, but I didn’t even care. I would have to talk to my eager-to-listen teammates about my new relationship status anyways.

“We don’t have anything planned for today. I don’t know if we’ll even have time to hang out at all. He’s got a game in Vancouver tomorrow and I’m pretty sure the team is leaving tonight, but I don’t know when,” I admitted.

“Ouch. That whole long distance thing from October to June - give or take a few weeks - won’t be fun,” Jordan said.

“Well, I’ve already dealt with a week of only away games. That was pretty brutal, but for the most part, home and away games are pretty scattered. I’ll still get to see him a couple times a week for the most part,” I said. I figured I should get used to the hectic schedule right away. I had to brace myself for more lonely away game phases and learn to cherish days when we would have even just one hour to see each other.

“I’m sure you guys will work out times to be together. It’ll be fine. Maybe you can even travel sometimes to see him, too,” Carly suggested.

“Yeah, that’s true,” I answered. As soon as everyone was done discussing my love life, Tess and I headed out to my car. We carpooled whenever possible, and this time I had driven. When my phone told me I had a message, she had to answer it for me. Sometimes it was nice to have her act as an assistant for me while I was driving, but this time it was unfortunate.

“Patrick texted you. He says he wants to hang out if it’s possible. Hm. I wonder how I should reply…”

“Don’t be stupid,” I warned her. I tried to keep my eyes on the road, but I couldn’t stop myself from glancing over at her every few seconds. I didn’t like that she had my phone and she could type whatever reply she wanted.

“Oh babe, I’d love to hang out! I’ve missed you so much, please don’t keep me waiting!” Tess said in a ridiculous voice, pretending to type the words out.

“I swear to god, I will turn this car around right now!” I said sternly, reminding Tess that her life was in my hands.

“Okay, okay. What do you want me to say?”