The Hockey Life - A Patrick Kane Fanfic

Part Twenty-Six - Paparazzi

PART TWENTY-SIX: PAPARAZZI

The next week passed by quickly. It was more of the same that always happened. Tess and I went to classes and practices, she and Jonathan flirted back and forth constantly but still hadn’t even gone on a date yet, and I worked out some time with Patrick. Everything that happened seemed to go smoothly, but by the end of the week I realized that my new relationship wasn’t going by unnoticed.

On Friday night, Patrick took me to Harry Caray’s, which was well known as his favorite restaurant in Navy Pier. Because of that, I expected it to be a date he’d be more interested in than me, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a really nice restaurant. It was beautiful inside and the seafood fettuccine that I ordered was top notch. The fact that it was in Navy Pier made it even better, because afterwards, we walked around the pier, all bundled up in our coats, hats, and scarves. It was seemingly perfect. However, I got a big surprise the next day.

It started off with the looks. I got a few in public when I was with Tess, getting lunch. People didn’t usually pay much attention to me, so I found it a little odd. Then later, at hockey practice, my teammates were asking me all about my date and commenting on it, even though I hadn’t mentioned it to them.

“Tess, why do you keep telling them everything before I can?!” I asked her.

“I didn’t tell them anything, Lean. I swear!” Tess confessed. I didn’t want to believe her but her eyes looked honestly into mine.

“Then how do you guys know so much about my date?” I wondered, looking at all of my fellow hockey players surrounding me.

“It’s everywhere, Lean. There are articles and pictures online,” Captain Carly said.

“Yeah, all you have to do is look up Patrick Kane and the latest posts are about you and him. If you type in Patrick Kane girlfriend, even more stuff will come up,” Jordan added. Practice was over by then and we were in the locker room, so she took out her phone and showed me. There were pictures of Patrick and I walking out of the restaurant and some of us just walking the pier as well. I honestly couldn’t believe that neither of us had really noticed the photographers at the time. They must have been dedicated, because they had managed to be sneaky.

“Wow. How’d you guys find this stuff in the first place?” I asked.

“By looking up stuff about the Hawks. I saw it on Tumblr first. Not all of us know the players personally like you do, so we still fan girl on occasion,” Jordan explained.

“Oh…well, what do the articles say?” I wondered. I knew I’d probably just get mad at the words I read, but I was too curious.

“They’re all pretty much the same. They just talk about how Patrick Kane was hand in hand with an unknown girl and that it appears that they were on a date. Some say they saw you two kiss or something and they’re all basically putting it out there that it seems like he’s got a girlfriend now. Rumors about your relationship are now becoming public.”

I read a few of the articles and looked at the pictures for a moment before getting back to changing out of my hockey gear. I should have expected this, but I often forgot how famous my boyfriend was. I didn’t even think about the fact that everybody would know about us soon enough. Now that we had made one appearance on the Internet, I knew that paparazzi would be sure to catch us again and again every time they saw us. We couldn’t escape them now.

I texted Patrick as I walked out of the locker room. It was partially to see how things were going in Buffalo, since he was currently there. The team had to be there for a game, but he also found time to visit his parents and sisters. Mostly, though, I wanted him to know that the paparazzi were on to us.