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january 1, 2019.
word count: 627
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"With the 3rd overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft, the Montreal Canadiens select Jesperi Kotkaniemi."
You're sitting on your plush leather couch watching as a tall, boyish teenager rises from his seat and hugs his family.
"There's that centerman the Canadiens might have been going after, though he most likely won't be playing in the NHL this season," the announcer conversed, "so no Filip Zadina for the Habs. It'll be interesting to see where he winds up."
You watched as the lanky boy walked up the stairs leading onto the stage in order to gather his jersey and hat for a picture. He turned around, and you instantly had heart eyes. He was grinning from ear to ear, and his eyes were beyond sparkling. He looked ecstatic, like he was living in pure bliss.
He threw the red jersey and hat over his perfectly gelled hair as he beamed for the picture. And then he was gone. The Senators, your hometown team, were on the clock, and they ended up drafting the cheeky brother of Matthew, Brady Tkachuk.
You were very happy that they chose Tkachuk over Zadina, but still, you could not get the sight of Jesperi's blinding smile out of your head.
You took your phone off the charger next to you and went onto Instagram. All you had to type was "Jesperi" before you saw your first recommended option was @ jesperikotkaniemi. You went to look through his feed and came face to face with his NHL Combine pictures.
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You sighed as you were able to see his beaming smile once again. You followed him and set your phone down beside you once again. You continued to watch the rest of the draft but at some point in the second round, you became drowsy and eventually drifted off into sleep.
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You woke up in the pitch black darkness.
You sat up and turned on your phone to check the time. 4:36 AM.
You let out a groan as you came to conclusions on how early it was. It's not like you didn't get a full night's rest, either. You just know there's no way you'll ever be able to fall back asleep, so you decided to scroll through your notifications.
Twitter
Mitchell Marner, William Nylander, and 12.3k others liked Auston Matthew's tweet.
(+14 more notifications)
Snapchat
from Jesperi Kotkaniemi
(+1 more notification)
You stopped.
You tapped to see the other Snapchat notification.
Jesperi Kotkaniemi added you as a friend!
You slid over to open your phone, and it automatically launched Snapchat. You hesitantly opened the single picture from Jesperi.
It was taken through his back camera, knees down of his black suit pants and dress shoes he wore at the draft. You looked to see when it was sent just to see it was delivered only 15 minutes ago.
You snapped him the top of your face. "How'd you get my snap?" A few seconds passed.
Opened just now
About 25 seconds passed before the red square returned.
It was the top of his face. "You followed me on Insta, it's in your bio"
You snapped back. "Oh okay sweet! congrats on getting drafted btw"
He started typing seconds later.
Thanks :) You from Ottawa yes?
In fact, I am, why?
Wanna get to talk sometime the next time the team comes in?
I would love to, but I thought everyone says you're going back to Finland for another year?
I guess you get some inside information then :) It's a date?
