Stop One- The Air Canada Centre

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  • Dedicated to My best buddy, Alex.
                                    

Everyone is awake and in the hotel lobby by 8:30 am. We're rushed onto a huge touring bus exclusively for me and the guys. I hop on, pumped for today, and find a seat all for myself. 

The ride is pretty quiet as most of the men are taking advantage of this opportunity to nap. And I sit in my here and just stare out the window, thinking about how crazy my summer is about to become.

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I sit in the stands, waiting for the go-ahead to film. I can't help but smile at the sight of these guys skating around such a huge rink with these fans and their family. 

Not to mention how adorable it is to see these little kids wearing their jerseys.

Jonathan is kneeling down, whispering and giggling with a young Blackhawk fan.

Pavel and Geno are trying to outskate some teenagers.  

Alex is conversing with some older fans, mid 20s.

And Hank is playing tag with a small group of boys.

"Alright, Hailey. We're ready." The camera man (Stevie) says.

"Great." I say enthusiastically.

"In 10...."

Here we go, this is it.

"6..."

Everything is going to count on this, the opening to the tour.

"3...2...1...Live." He mouths.

"Good Morning, I'm here in the heart of Toronto, at the Air Canada Centre where today will kick off the first detour on our 'All-Star Tour'. The point of the tour is to bring hockey stars to your hometown. Right now we have Jonathon Toews, Alexander Ovechkin, Henrik Zetterberg, Evgeni Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk skating around with their young fans. In less than two hours there will be an autographing session which we invite everyone to come down and enjoy. Hailey Watson, TSN."

"ANNNNNND CUT!" Stevie shouts.

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"Hey, Hailey. C'mon!" Geno shouts to me.

"One second, I'm terrible at tying laces." I reply in a hurry.

I wobble onto the ice, unaware of how rusty I really am. It's been at least a good five years since I've been skating.

So I decided to go on a tour with hockey players and I can barely move on ice...Great.

Using the boards to support me, I scoot behind the closest goal post where the Russians are goofing around.

"Wow, you suck." Pavel says, laughing.

I mimic his giggling, and scowl. 

"Hey boys, mind if I steal her for a second?"

My jaw drops.

Of all people, it's the person I least expected..It's Jonathon, and he's asking me to skate with him...I thought the guy hated me.

What if he does hate me, and this is some twisted way of getting revenge, publicly humiliating me.

"I dunno why you would want her, but sure." Pavel says teasingly.

Jon gives me a tiny smile. While attempting to skate towards him I fall backwards on the ice.  

"That doesn't feel very good." I murmur.

That's when he leans down to help me up, and places his hand on my waist. He pushes me forward and we both start to just kind of...glide along.

"But...why are you so nice to me?...I was such a jerk to you the day we met...and-and you barely know me." I ask him honestly.

Jonathan turns to me, and looks me straight in the eye, his face blossoming into a smile,"I have no idea...I just know that I'm always pretty happy when I'm with you."

He skates me in his arm for a while longer, neither of us speaking.

But what does that mean? I ask myself over and over.

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"The NHL players will now be signing, please head towards the....." An announcer says, dragging on.

"Thanks for the help, Um...Jonathan. I'm good to go now." I say brightly.

He nods his head in my direction and skates away.

That's when I remember about Henrik, and how I had practically begged him to skate with me. I couldn't see him anywhere and was about to head off ice when something swooped behind me and grabbed me by the stomach, lifting me off the ground.

"Hey! I thought you said you were going to skate with me! Now it's almost time to go!" Henrik says enthusiastically.

OH MY GOSH. Is he skating me around....?

He stops pretty quickly and carefully puts me back down. When we're back at eye level I see that he's beaming, ear to ear. My heart leaps in my chest a little.

"Ahaha! Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. Just got all caught up in the...the fans!" 

Henrik doesn't seem very satisfied with my answer, and escorts me off the ice.

"Sorry..for picking you up. Wouldn't want to cross any boundaries. I was just so sad that I missed you before." He says quietly.

What's happening?Honestly, I don't understand....

"I was wondering if.." He takes a second to clear his throat,"Ahh, you would maybe like to have dinner with me, tonight..." 

Before I can process the request I immediately agree, nodding my head furiously.

"Oh, yeah. For sure. Yeah. Sounds good. Great, I will be there. Hands down. For sure." 

Henrik smiles at me again before heading off to the autograph table, and leaves me there speechless. This day has just been becoming weirder and weirder.

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After everyone's hands are sore we head back to the hotel. We'll be leaving tomorrow and taking a flight to JFK tomorrow afternoon. The following day we'll be traveling New York City. Apparently on behalf of the tour we've have rented a handful of the tour buses. I don't know what they expect us to use them for, but I bet it'll be pretty fun to watch unfold.

While searching through my clothes I find a nice shirt and I decide to match it with some dark wash jeans.  Henrik Zetterberg is definitely not going to dress up fancy for me, right? We barely know each other. Not to mention he's married

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A/N: Sorry that it's so short...Is it short? It felt like it dragged on and on! It's getting juicy, though, eh? Who do you 'ship right now? 

(I'm not telling how the 'date' went just yet.)

 Oh, and as always thanks for reading!

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