NHL Short Stories

Auston Matthews | Something Like Romeo And Juliet

Auston's P.O.V

I stare from afar, with warm ups just starting, there was barely anyone in the stands but from the people already seated only one or two were wearing Maple Leaf jerseys the rest were Red Wings fans. From across my teams zone, where I am currently stretching on the ice, through the glass I spot a beautiful girl. She is wearing a red wings jersey but I don't care to much about that, captured by her natural beauty as it appears she isn't wearing any make up, her bright blue eyes , golden brown hair flowing down her shoulders in waves, stopping just a couple inches from the top of the red wings logo. After 2 minutes of stretching, staring also, I decide to take a lap around when I notice the rest of my teammates start to pour out onto the ice with 10 minute left in warm ups before the game. Skating around my teams net with a puck on my stick, practicing my dangles and dekes, I lift my eyes to look at her but quickly look away when we catch eyes for a few seconds. I look down at the puck blushing because she was smiling, 'I hope no one saw that' I think to myself but when i look back up to see where I am going, I am quickly corrected because I hear someone comment on it.

"Yo, Matts?! What's got you all red?" I hear Mitch question me.

"Nothing!" I say quickly, passing him the puck, looking down when others, who ever heard what Mitch just said, turn to look at me to see if I really was blushing.

"He's all red because he was taking a good long look at Dylan Larkin's cousin, Juliet" comes another voice to the conversation, William, says. I stare at him wide eyed. "I was right behind the whole time" he explains

"Shit" I mumble "AWWW, Auston has a crush! Auston has a crush!" chants Mitch as he picks up a puck and skates towards the net to shoot it then come back to us to say "Good luck getting through Dylan if you want to date her cuz" He pauses to laugh to himself a little "Y'all have this little fight/argument thing going on for how long as this has this been going on for? Years? I think it's time it'd stop" He stats " Alright! I don't think he will let me so yeah let's stop talking about it and get back to warm ups!!" I say skating away from the two to set the example. I take a look at the clock and notice only 2 minutes left and curse to myself quietly "I wasted all my precious warm up time talking to those idiots" I mumble to myself.

Juliet's P.O.V

I have never seen anyone as handsome as him before. From where I am sitting, I see he has a strong stature, well built, very tall. Matthews #34 plays for Toronto, that's all I know, oh and his beautiful brown eyes that shine in the light, he looks good in a white jersey , I have seen him in pictures wearing a blue jersey when playing at home in Toronto. Dylan , my cousin, has told me a lot about him, how he used to play with him for team USA. Along with telling me he is one of the best and how much he hates him for being one of the best. Maybe I can ask to meet him?

Auston's P.O.V

The game went by like a blur. No one scored until the second period though in the first some good battles were fought. Red wings scored first in the game but James opens the score for us two minutes after. Then Mitch scores to gain the lead in the game. I scored myself, but in the third period after the Red Wings tied the score. We win the game with a score of 3-2.

Upon arriving to the locker room after hugging congratulating my team for the game, I spot Coach and Red wings head coach, Jeff Bashill, speaking together in the hall, as if they were old buds and not enemies.

By time Coach came to the locker room, I was already changed and showered, my gear packed into its bag making its way to the hallway to a trolley by a equipement staff to be put in the bus but because it's not here yet it has to wait like I am doing at the moment, I was stuck in my thoughts before Coach got all of our attention so he could talk to us.

"Ok ! Can I have everyone's attention please?!! Sit down it won't take long. Alright the bus should be here soon so sit tight. First off I want to thank James for putting us on the board, Mitchy for tying it up and Matts for scoring the game winner. Lets not forget Andersen for blocking all shots and to who ever else did so too" he paused so we could clap for our hard played game."We have the opportunity to attend a party organized by the red wings, some of you know this already but if you don't I used to coach the wings which is why we got invited so clean up nice, we leave tomorrow to go home with a couple days off. Ok! See you on the boys on the bus". With that everyone resumed to what they were doing before Coach started talking. Still waiting for the bus, I pull out my phone to answer some texts I got before or during the game. "Hey Matts!" I hear Mitch yell to me over the music in the locker room. "Yeah?" I answer him looking up from my phone to see him smirking at me "With Juliet being Dylan's cousin she will be there, maybe you could make a move, don't you think?" he pretended to think with his pointer finger and thumb stroking his chin. I blush thinking about an answer "Now that I think about it Larkin never mention a cousin before when we talked , like normal people. I told him almost everything about myself but he has said almost nothing about himself. We almost always made team USA together" I mutter the last part to myself, "bus is here!!" someone yells in the locker room "Finally" almost everyone cheers, excited for the party.

From the rink to wherever the party is taking place it took at least 20 minutes. The bus was quiet, barely anyone saying a word to each other until we got to the party . Everyone was talking now because it was not a house we pulled up to it was a freaking mansion! Once the bus stopped everyone tumbled out of the bus in order to get to the party quicker.

My feet had just barely landed on the ground when I was tackled slightly from the back by an excited Mitch. William not far from him when he pushed passed me to get to the front. "let's go party!" came from some of the older guys "yeah let's go" I cheered with some others, smiling I begin walking towards the entrance with the team.

Entering the mansion,  I look around. Amazed with all the details on the ceiling and everything around, everything looked expensive . With my eyes still wandering, they catch sight of Juliet who was stood at the top of the beautifully designed staircase. She was wearing a cream colored dress with lace, not much showing but just enough, she kept her hair the same as before. Our eyes meet and we share a smile. She begins to descend the stairs while I walk towards her our eyes still connected until a hand on my shoulder turns me around harshly toward them, "Matthews! You don't look at talk to or even think about my cousin! She doesn't need someone like you in her life, only good people deserve her kindness. Go find some other girl to mess with not my cousin! You hear me?! Do you hear me?!!!!" Dylan yells in my face, I take a look at Juliet , the person Dylan is yelling at me about and notice she looks worried but I just smile in away to tell her it's ok "yes I hear you but I wasn't planning on breaking her heart or hurting her or even messing around with her like you think I would do with her. I was thinking more of treating her like a queen than what you are thinking. I don't know man but I never thought love at first sight existed until I took a look at her. I'd give her anything she ever wanted in the whole wide world. I'd give up hockey if she wanted me to" Dylan thought over my words, luckily no one really paid attention to what happening. After a whole minute, Dylan looked towards Juliet, still stood on the staircase, I looked also. She was trying to convince Dylan to give me a chance "Ok I am going to let you date my cousin but one word of you doing something that upsets her, you're dead" Dylan says after a couple seconds and walks away.

I watch him until Mitch is in my face "Hey! Go get your girl! He gave you permission." he laughed at my face as realization took over, I turn quickly to see Juliet begin to turn to go back up occasionally looking over her shoulder to see if I was following, with a smile on her face. I sprint to the stairs and take two at a time to get to her faster.

Once standing next to her at the top of the stairs, she smiles up to me and holds out her hand for me to take into mine. I place my hand into hers and I am mesmerized at how our hands fit like puzzle pieces, her tiny delicate hand is smothered by my giant one. "So" I snap my head up to at the sound of her, like her looks, beautiful voice. "What should we do first?" she asks me as she leads me to what I assume her bedroom "we should get to know each other" I suggest to which she nods her head. Exactly a hour later, many questions and laughs were shared, now we just stare at each other in silence until she decides to break it "I feel like this is from Romeo and Juliet" she smiles at me "Really? How?" I say surprised "Because of how we got to this moment" she blushes, I smile because I caused it "Well we could call this 'Something Like Romeo and Juliet' then" I say  "That sounds perfect" she laughs, I love her laugh and I plan on hearing it for the rest of my life.