The Hockey Life - A Patrick Kane Fanfic

Part Fifty-Two - November Birthdays

PART FIFTY-TWO: NOVEMBER BIRTHDAYS

Still in Patrick’s P.O.V.

Lena and I woke up unbearably early in the morning. We had to be up to catch our flight since I had practice in Chicago. We both were up before anyone else in the house was even close to being awake, so I left a note to let them know we had left in case they forgot.

Our flight luckily gave us an opportunity to catch up on sleep. Usually neither of us slept very much on plane rides, but we were both tired enough to catch some z’s. It was unfortunate when we had to wake up to get off the plane, but we both grabbed some Starbucks and drank it on our way to the United Center. By the time we got there, we were alert enough to function.

We had a game that night, so I made sure to focus and work hard during practice. However, once I was in the locker room with my teammates, I realized I had a lot to talk about.

“We’re still on for tomorrow, right guys?” I yelled to get everyone’s attention.

“Yeah, definitely. How about another run-through, though, just to refresh our memories?” Bollig suggested. Lena’s birthday was the next day, on November 24, and I wanted to surprise her. She said she didn’t need any big celebration for her birthday, but I felt like it was necessary. I had a game on my birthday, which was on the 19th, so we didn’t do much. I went to practice, celebrated with Lena, my parents, and my sisters (who had traveled to Chicago) during the afternoon, and then I had a home game. I didn’t mind that I didn’t get a big celebration. After twenty-five years of them, I didn’t really feel like it was necessary for me. However, I figured at least one of us needed to do it big for our birthdays.

“Okay. When we get here, Brad’s going to be at the entrance to distract her. He’s going to take her to his office to give her a calendar for December, and when he does he’s going to go into way too much detail about it and create small talk so it buys us time. While that happens, we’re going to make sure the balloons and confetti and everything is set up, plus we’ll be getting dressed and ready for practice of course. We’ll put on the letter jerseys and get in our places and Coach is going to text Brad when we’re ready. Brad will signal us when we need to turn and everything will go off then,” I explained.

“Sounds good. So do you guys know what you’re doing after practice?” Shawzy asked.

“Party at my place. Mostly her friends are invited, but you guys should come too, if you can. I know she’d like for you to be there. Plus, I’m pretty sure her friends would be excited to meet you all. They’re huge Hawks fans,” I told them. Most of them said they’d be there, so that team conversation ended and everyone broke off into side conversations as we changed into normal clothes.

“How did everything go yesterday?” Tazer asked as he slipped a shirt on over his head.

“It went really well. My family loves Lena, and she seems to like everyone she met yesterday. Plus I had a good talk with my dad.” I explained our conversation to Johnny and when I finished, I waited nervously for his feedback.

“I agree with your dad, I think it’s a good idea,” he finally said.

“Really?” I let out a breath.

“Yeah. I’m around both of you almost every day and I can tell there’s something there. If you’re ready, go for it,” he continued.

“Thank god. I was afraid everyone would think I was crazy,” I admitted.

“I do think you’re crazy, just not for this,” Jonathan retorted. I just rolled my eyes. “So, is this going to happen soon?”

“I don’t know exactly when it’s going to happen. I have some work to do first, but I just wanted another opinion before I got started on that,” I explained. I didn’t want to tell the whole team yet, but I talked to a couple more guys in the locker room and everyone seemed to have the same response. I decided I had a lot that I needed to get done, but I couldn’t worry about it that day. I still had a game to get through, plus Lena’s birthday the day after.