The Hockey Life - A Patrick Kane Fanfic

Part Fifty-Seven - Chills

PART FIFTY-SEVEN: CHILLS

Other than the New Years party, the first week or so of 2014 was pretty average. People always came up with resolutions and said they would try to make changes and do really cool, fun things, but it was just business as usual for Patrick and I. We kept busy with work pretty easily. The Blackhawks were remaining high up in the standings, which was a really good sign that they’d at least make it to the playoffs again.

After a little over a week, things got a bit more interesting. Our one year anniversary was on the ninth, so we of course had plans for that. Well, Patrick did. I wasn’t really sure what we were doing, since he told me he had a surprise for me. When the night came, I just played along. I got dressed up nicely in a little black dress and put on my favorite, nicest jewelry, including the necklace he bought me for Valentine’s Day. I did my makeup a little more dramatically that normal, but I made sure it wasn’t too much. I curled my hair as well. I wasn’t exactly sure how nice I needed to look, but I wanted to feel sexy, being that we hadn’t had a romantic date night in a long time.

“Damn, Lean. Where exactly are you guys going again?” Tess asked when I walked out of the bathroom and headed for my black heels that were sitting out by the door.

“I don’t know, that’s the thing. Patrick didn’t tell me where we were going, he just told me to look nice. I could easily be completely overdressed, but I kind of doubt that. He goes big with plans and gifts, and our first anniversary is a big deal,” I answered, smiling at my added height. I wasn’t very tall, so it was nice to feel average every once in a while.

“I think once he sees how you look he’ll make an excuse to take you somewhere nice,” Tess decided. The doorbell rang a couple minutes later, just on time. I opened the door and laughed at the expression on Patrick’s face when he saw me.

“Hey, my eyes are up here,” I reminded him.

“Sorry,” he apologized. “You just look really nice in that dress.”

“Thanks. You look really nice too. I guess I’m not overdressed,” I decided as I observed his gray dress shirt, black and silver striped tie, and black pants peeking out from underneath his unzipped coat, along with black dress shoes. Somehow we had managed to match.

“I brought you some flowers,” he said, revealing the bouquet of white roses he had hidden behind his back. I thanked him and put them in a vase. I went into my room quickly to grab Patrick’s present and then we were out the door.

“So, where are you taking me?” I asked him once we were in the car.

“I can’t tell you, that’s why I said it was a surprise,” he said. I pretended to pout but he just chuckled at me and kept driving. A few minutes later we arrived at Ciao Bella, the cute little Italian restaurant that I had been to only once before.

“Are we re-experiencing our first date?” I asked when he opened the door for me.

“Yeah. I guess it’s not much of a surprise anymore,” he responded. We sat at the same table we had been at for our first date, and it felt a little bit like déjà vu. This time, we both ordered different things and our conversations were about different topics, but this dinner date was just as perfect as our first. Patrick even seemed a little nervous, which was odd, but cute. It made me feel like he was trying to make sure everything went right. So far he had done a good job.

Once we were done with dinner, we got back into the car for the second half of the date. By then I already knew where we were going next, so I put on the hat and scarf that Patrick had for me in the backseat. Once we arrived at Millennium Park, he got bundled up as well.