The Hockey Life - A Patrick Kane Fanfic

Part Thirty-Four - Let's Get Awkward

PART THIRTY-FOUR: LET’S GET AWKWARD

The next day Tess and I made sure to watch the Hawks game. It was an important one. In fact, if the Hawks won, they would get a spot in the playoffs for sure. Our neighbors probably hated us for yelling and cheering so much, but we didn’t care. The Hawks ended up winning and getting the spot.

It was April now, so they only had a few weeks left of regular season games and then the playoffs would officially begin. To some, it almost seemed like the regular season didn’t even matter anymore. They had their spot reserved, so why would it matter if they won or lost at this point? Well, the Hawks were in a very good spot so even if they didn’t do their best, they still wouldn’t have to worry too much. But to them, the last few games of the regular season were everything. They wanted to play their best games of the season then so they would be prepared for the most anticipated time of the year for hockey.

Because of how important it was to do well now, Patrick was putting a lot of pressure on himself. He practiced harder, he mentally prepared himself more than ever, and he was focused purely on hockey. I was glad that he was trying so hard and that he cared so much, but at the same time, I now knew how he felt when I would turn him down. He never made any promises that we would go out anymore, because he knew there was a chance he would have to break them if he did. We mostly just had quick lunch dates or hangouts at my place or his that only lasted for about an hour. It was a little upsetting to me that we barely had time for each other anymore. I wanted to be able to spend the whole day with him doing whatever we wanted like we used to be able to. I knew going into this relationship that it was going to be difficult to be with each other, though. I knew I had no reason to feel let down.

As much as it hurt sometimes to say goodbye after only an hour or less of free time, I really couldn’t complain, though. I enjoyed my time with him. It was always the highlight of my day when I got to be with him. It seemed to be the same way with him. The longer we were together, the closer we got emotionally. I trusted him with more things and I realized how important he was to me. I would get mad at him for stupid little things, especially since we were both stressed out and we made ridiculous mistakes because of it. I never stayed mad at him though. I couldn’t. I liked him too much. Way too much. I wasn’t the only one who was having this epiphany, though.

On one of the last weekends of April, I went to Brian’s place to visit him. We used to hang out all the time, mostly during my first two years of college, but now that rarely happened. We had to stick to Skype dates mostly, so we could multitask. We finally got a chance to actually hang out, though, so we decided on me coming to his apartment. His place was a lot nicer than mine, and more spacious too. Plus, he had a cute roommate. Brian lived with his childhood friend David, who I used to have a crush on when I was little. Of course, I grew up and realized that he wasn’t my type at all, but he still wasn’t bad looking. I wasn’t disappointed that I got a glimpse of him when I first arrived at Brian’s place. David was leaving so he wouldn’t interrupt our brother-sister bonding time, I guess.

“You’re still crushing on him, aren’t you?” Brian asked once David had left.

“No, I’m not crushing on him. I just think he’s attractive. There’s actually a difference, Brian. You can think someone is good looking without having an interest in dating them,” I explained. Besides, I was perfectly happy with my current boyfriend. I’d take him over David any day.

Speaking of Patrick, he became a topic of conversation. Neither of us brought him up for a while, surprisingly. We played a game of darts, ate a meal, and had a Wii bowling tournament before he ever came up. When he did, though, I almost wished he hadn’t. Things actually got very awkward.

“So, I hear you and Patrick are getting pretty serious,” Brian said as he made a bowl of popcorn.

“Yeah, you could say that. I really like him, and things are going very well.”