When I met you (ON HIATUS)

two

The next day

Kirby POV

    I awake to hear a knock at my bedroom door. "It's open," I say, half-asleep. I didn't get too much sleep last night - I couldn't fall asleep. Plus, I was completely exhausted from yesterday. I set up my entire room yesterday afternoon and last night.

"The brown's invited us over for lunch" Ashton says

"The browns..?" I question, still half asleep. I'm definetly not a morning person..well except for gamedays of course.

"Cailey's family"

"Dead serious?" I immediately sit up, now wide-awake in bed. "For real?"

"I thought you said that you didn't like her?" He smirks.

"So maybe I do kind of like her" I do like her - but I want to get to know her better first.

"I knew it..and you can thank yours truly for this" He does a fake bow, and I chuckle. I've only known Ashton for a day, and he's already turned into a wingman. He turns around and closes the door. I get out of bed and can't stop smiling. I can't wait to see how this turns out.

Cailey POV

        I head into the living room and see everybody sitting on the couches. My parents had invited the Baden's and Kirby over today, so I had to make sure that I looked somewhat presentable. I decided to wear my jeans, a light pink blouse, and leave my hair down.

I hear a knock at the door, gaining my attention "I got it" My dad announces. I hear him open the door and welcome them inside. "Welcome guys!" My family has been friends with the Baden's just about my entire life. I actually grew up playing sports and going to grade-school with Ashton. Plus we've lived across the street from them my entire life.

I look over and see Kirby walk into the living room. He instantly grins as he sees me and I feel butterflies go throughout my stomach. You've only known him for one day, Cailey.

"Hey Cailey," He says. I smile and look up at him. He's about five inches taller than I am. "It's nice to see you again" His smile grows brighter and he gives me a wink, making my heart beat like crazy. Oh my goodness, he is really cute.

"You too," I notice that he's wearing one of his hockey sweatshirts. "Have you guys started practicing yet?"

"No..not yet. Our first practice is on Tuesday" He says.

"Are you excited?"

"I am..I'm a little nervous though" He shrugs, running a hand through his hair. "This will be my first junior hockey practice ever"

"Well, I think you'll do good" I say.

"Haha, I hope so"

Since there were a lot of us, half of us had to sit in the dining room and the other half sat in the kitchen. I ended up sitting with Emma, Ashton, Kirby, Jacob, and Caden. Just about the whole time, the boys were talking about how excited they were for their first practice. All three of them were rookies for the Blades this year. After lunch, we end up talking for a while. Kirby and I end up talking outside as the Baden's left.

"You know, I'm free after practice on Tuesday. We should totally do something afterwards"

"Of course" I feel my cheeks getting red as I blush. "That sounds like fun. What time is your practice at? I actually might be able to come but it depends on school" The blades organization always encouraged billet family members to come to practice, which I thought was nice for the boys. I knew some of them got nervous when playing in-front of a large crowd, so this helped them get used to it.

"It's from 3 - 5" He replies. "And yeah, you should totally come! That'd be awesome"

"I'll definitely be able to come then. My school ends at 2:30" I say. "Hey! Maybe I can show you around Saskatoon afterwards also? You know, since we're right by everything" It was true - the arena is less than a mile away, and my school was right down the road.

"Yeah! That'd be great" He grins and blushes at me. I feel butterflies in my stomach once again.

"Okay! Well I'll text you the details..it's freezing out here, so I better let you go" I say. We both say goodbye and go our seperate ways. I head back in the house and see my mom standing by the window, as if she had been watching me the entire time.

"A new friend?" She asks. "Good for you, Cai..and he's a cutie, too"

"Mhm, kind of" I grin. "And I agree, he is pretty cute"

"By the looks of it, it looks like you two are getting along well" She says. "What do you think?"

"I think so," I say. "I mean, he's pretty nice"

"Well, that's good. Hopefully you two will become good friends"

Kirby POV

      After lunch, Mr. Baden decided to take me to check out the arena that we'd be playing in. Before I got here, I didn't do too much research on the place. All I knew that it was called the SaskTel Center and that it was a pretty large stadium. We pull up to the arena and I'm blown away.

"Well, Kirby," Mr. Baden says. "What do you think?" I look in awe of it all.

"This place....wow," I can't even find the words to say. "This is seriously our home rink?" This stadium appeared to be much larger than any rink that I've played in before.

"It sure is," He replies. "How about we go inside so that you can get a feel of the place?"

"Yeah, of course" We head inside and we see that there are already players on the ice. It turns out, that there was a youth tournament today.

"How are you liking it here in Saskatoon so far?" He asks.

"I like it a lot," I begin. "I was pretty nervous at first, but since I got here I've loved it. I've never felt more welcome anywhere in my life"

"That's great" He says. "A lot of our guys have felt that way. We've been billeting players for about 15 years now and they all have felt nervous at one point"

"That makes me feel a lot better" I chuckle. "..so how many guys have you had live in your house?"

"We've had over 25," He says. "Before we had Kate, we would have two players living in our house every year. Of course, we wanted two but we ran out of bedrooms. But, a majority of families only have one player living in their home and only a few will have two"

"What has been the outcome of the players that have lived in your home? Did they make it to the NHL?"

"Most of our guys have made it to at least the minors. About 10 of ours have made it to the NHL"

"Wow," I say in disbelief "That's insane"

"I know. Maybe you could even become the next one?"

"I sure hope so. Playing in the NHL would be an absolute dream come true" I say. I glance at the hockey players on the ice and feel some sort of nostalgia. I can't believe I was in their places just a few years ago.