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o. LoveSomeone. [ Chapter Eleven!]
"You're fine, everything's fine, everything's great," Brayden mumbled into Eliza's ear as they walked side by side into the gala — arms brushing against each other.
"Keep telling yourself that bub," Eliza muttered back nonchalantly; Brayden was by far the most nervous out of the two, ironically.
"Shu-"
"Hey! Pointer!" Victor Hedman strolled up to the two, a champagne glass in hand and a wide grin glued to his lips. After giving Brayden a bro hug, he stepped back and turned to Eliza. "Ah, and you must be Eliza! I've heard tons about you!"
Involuntarily, Eliza's cheeks turned a light red as she smiled sweetly, "it's nice to meet you Victor."
"The pleasures all mine," was the last thing he muttered before he spotted a waiter and rushed over to get whatever was on his tray.
Brayden faced Eliza with a small smile on lips, clearly happy with how the conversation with Victor went. It seemed to calm his nerves, as he stood straighter and his smile was now genuine.
Just as he was about to speak, Mikhail Sergachev stumbled into Brayden from behind, immediately turning around in surprise. "Oh sorry man - hey hows it going?" A small smirk was glued to his lips as his eyes darted between Brayden and Eliza.
"I-Uh- Eliza, do you mind getting some drinks?" The boy turned to his date and forced a grin, Eliza replying with a simple head nod and a suspicious expression on her face.
As she walked off, Brayden returned his attention to the young defence-man he's grown close with. Mikhail looked curious as he stared at Brayden who's jaw was now clenched. "So everything's going good?"
"Like I said before, everything's great," he forced out, unable to maintain eye contact.
"Ah-" Mikhail patted his friend on the back, "- so you still haven't sealed the deal or asked her to be your girlfriend. Disappointed but not surprised."
Brayden eyed Mikhail suspiciously, "and what do you mean by that?"
He shrugged, "I mean you're just better off as friends. Everything's going great you say, and you're friends. There's nothing wrong with that. I don't understand why you keep saying you're going to do this and you're going to do that-"
"We matched on Tinder. Tinder. We started talking and meeting up because we wanted to do this and that. Not for a friendship," Brayden bit back, though his eyes were pleading.
Mikhail shook his head, "you need to let go of all these expectations. You met this great girl, and now you're best friends. Boom, end of story. You all live happily ever after."
"But I like her. A lot. We've just been busy with other stuff," Brayden retorted, getting defensive.
"I'm just saying," he mumbled softly, giving the boy another pat on the back before scanning the room looking for his girlfriend.
"Well stop, you're sounding like Steven."
Mikhail spotted his girlfriend over at the snack table, so he nodded distractedly, "I'm not the only one..." he responded before walking away.
And boy was he right.
He wasn't the only one.
As Brayden and Mikhail talked, Eliza was grabbing drinks at the same time as Yanni Gourde.
"Hi," he smiled as he poured champagne into a glass.
Eliza looked up to see who it was before replying, "hey."
"I saw you walking in with Point -" he took a step closer to her with a soft smile on his lips. "- Are you his sister?"
Eliza shifted uncomfortably as she noticed the close proximity. "Um... actually I'm his girlfriend..." she stated slowly, taking a step back. "I think..." she mumbled lowly, only audible to herself.
Yanni instantly stepped back, the smile falling from his face in a heartbeat. "Oh fu- shit, my bad. I'm so sorry," his face immediately reddened.
"No, it's okay, don't worry about it. Honest mistake," she forced a laugh even though she really wasn't bothered by Yanni himself,
only his question.
AUTHORS NOTE! i feel like this is kinda crappy. oh well, regardless, i hope you enjoyed. — as always, I love you.
