Better Together (Patrick Kane)

8| Harmless Fun

Danielle

"Good practice boys, that's a wrap" coach yells as they wrap up practice. I take my notes to my office and file them away. I was a bit of a organizer and always liked knowing where everything was if I ever needed them. I learned a lot from school and one of the things I learned was how to maximize productivity. Kind of boring but very important in the business game.

I go downstairs to make sure Duncan Kieth's head is physically okay and I can file away his injury report for good. Mentally he is kind of awkward but omen of my favorite dudes to be around. I hated seeing him hurt, he just wanted to play and I missed watching him. He was a work horse so that's why I knew something was wrong when he wanted to come out of the game the other day. He had been seeing the trainer about concussion symptoms and was cleared this morning so I had him assure me he was okay. He does that and I feel a little better knowing he would be out on the ice at full strength once again. I start to head back to my office to put his file away and literally run into Patrick in the hallway and I had to laugh.

"Damn, watch where your going" I tease and he rolls his eyes.

"Please. You ran into me" he claims.

"Did not" I defend.

"Did too" he replies.

"Did not" I repeat.

"Did too" he smirks. This happens a lot more than I am willing to admit.

"Butt head" I mumble and his smirk turns into a playful one. He steps closer to me and I playfully hop back. I look up into those deathly blue eyes as her stares down at me.

"What did you just call me" he asks.

"Oh nothing" I claim.

"I am pretty sure I heard you call me a butt head" he recalls.

"Maybe I did. What are you going to do about it" I challenge. He quickly grabs me and I let out a squeal. I try to wiggle away but his large hands were latched around my hips and I was stuck.

"Jonny help" I beg but he just laughs along. Who's side is he on?

"You're doing great" he yells and I let out a huff. Patrick easily wrestles me to the ground and I fall into a fit of laughter. My hair goes everywhere as I struggle to get up. We do this a lot and even though he wants to wrestle he's so gentle with me. It was actually a lot of fun even though I can never seem to win these things. Finally he pins my hands to the ground not allowing me to get the hair out of my face as I smile up to him.

"I win" he claims and I shake my head trying to see anything.

"You cheated" I claim.

"How" he chuckles.

"You play hockey" I defend and he laughs. He moves some hair out of my face so I can finally see him he smiles down at me very proud of what he's done. He defiantly is a butt head.

"Are you doing to let me up" I ask.

"Not until you aplologize" he says.

"I've done nothing wrong" I smirk.

"You were being a meanie" he claims.

"I'm not apologizing" I stand my ground. Or lay I guess.

"Then I'm just going to tickle you" he insist.

"You wouldn't" I gasp. Next thing I know his fingers are tickling my sides and my hands were set free. I fall into a fit of laughter as I struggle to get him off. I try to fight off his hands but he was much stronger than I.

"Say it" he yells and I squirm under him.

"Fine. I'm sorry! I'm sorry" I laugh and he stops. By now he was hovering dangerously close over me as I stop jumping around on the ground. I look into his deep eyes as his face inches towards mine. I could feel his breath on my faces as his hands rest beside my head. He moves a piece of hair out of the way as he closely studies my face. I feel my breath hitch in my throat as his eyes meet mine.

"Uh hum" some say and Patrick shoots up.

"Amber" he says getting off of me and helping me up. I dust myself off and straighten myself up while he makes sure I was okay.

"Ready to go get lunch" she asks slowly and he nods. Her eyes burning through me as I try to act like I don't see it.

"Yeah. Um Danny, I guess I'll see you at home" he says and I nod.

"See you there" I say and they take off. I turn around and see Jonny standing there with a smile on his face.

"She did not look happy" he claims.

"We were just messing around. It was harmless fun" I defend.

"Maybe to you. But to her it looked like more than that. To most people actually" he says.

"I'm sure she understands we're just friends. She understands... right" I ask.

"Sure. Lets go with her being understanding" he laughs. He goes off to do whatever a Jonathan Toews does after practice and I go to my office. I put down that Duncs is fine and send everything off to Stan.

I think about what Jonny says and I hope it wasn't true. I didn't want her to dislike me but I can tell she wasn't a fan of mine. I had no problems with her personally, I just didn't like that she was with Patrick and I wasn't. As a person she was actually pretty cool. We would probably be friends if she was just about anyone else. But I was starting to think that she might have a problem with me. Patrick and I are really close, but it's just how we are. He understands me and my situation and I help him with hockey and life. Like two puzzle pieces fitting together perfectly. He moved in and it didn't take long for the rest to fall in place... I don't know. We were just different.

I drive home and find Suzanne in the kitchen fixing lunch. She gets the kids some sandwiches and chips and I sit at the island.

"Hello Dan, how was practice" she asks.

"It was good. The guys are getting healthy again and they all seem to mesh well together. Nothing to complain about" I admit taking a fresh pickle and chomping on it. Yummy.

"That's good, and how was Stan" she asks.

"He looked good today. His eyes were open wider and had a little pep in his step" I smile.

"That's great to hear" she admits. It is, isn't it. "Where's Patrick" she asks.

"Out with Amber" I say trying to hide the change in my tone of voice.

"Oh I am so sorry, I didn't know" she rambles.

"It's okay. He's happy and that's all that matters" I claim.

"That's not all that matters. Your happiness matters too" she says.

"I'm not sure what Makes me happy" I admit.

"That's okay, you're young. You got time to figure this stuff out" she assures me. I hope she's right.