Love is Blindness

Chapter 2; Something to Eat?

I got up very early the next morning. We had to get to the Joe early for practice since we had a 10 O'clock flight to St. Louis. In most cases I wasn't a morning person. When I was younger I absolutely hated getting up for school.

I forced myself out of bed and made my way for the bathroom to warm up a shower. While it heated, I made myself some waffles to munch on.

I hopped in the shower, going as fast as I could so I wouldn't be late to practice. When I got out I finally felt awake. I didn't feel like doing anything special to my hair so I brushed it out then scrunched it in my hands to bring out my natural curls. I put on only a little bit of makeup then headed to the bedroom to put on some clothes.

I was really determined to be comfortable, especially for the plane ride to St. Louis so I just pulled out my matching purple sweat pants and sweat shirt. Everyone, my parents and my friends, had told me that I look the best in purple so I had a lot of purple things in my closet.

I threw on my white Reebok sneakers and grabbed the keys off the counter.

When I got inside the car I pulled out my collection of U2 CD's and scanned threw them. I finally chose the Achtung Baby album and put it in the player. I blasted the music. I LOVED U2!

When I got to the Joe I went inside to the locker room to find Juliana. I figured that Sam was probably with her too. I got to the locker room but at first couldn't find them. I located Drapes, Juliana's dad, and asked if he knew where she was.

"Oh yeah... they're... Oh right there. Her and Sam are talkin' with Flip by his locker." he said.

"Great thanks, Drapes!"

I made my way over to the girls. Juliana was sitting in Val's lap while Sam sat in the stall next to his.

"Hey guys! Tired...?" I asked.

"I hate getting up this early! It's retarded!" Sam replied.

"Let's get this practice in boys! C'mon! We gotta be at the airport in 2 hours! Let's go!" Babs yelled. Juliana stood up to allow Val to get up.

"Bye babe," Val said as he left for the ice. Sam, Juliana, and I followed to sit on the bench with the trainers.

When I got back to my apartment I made up a suitcase full of clothes. We were headed on a 3 game road trip to St. Louis, Colorado, and Phoenix. I packed up my toiletries then waited by my window for Val's car to drive up.

Juliana and Val had picked up Sam too so we all made our way to the airport.

When I got on the plane, I took a seat next to one of my best friends on the team, Aaron Downey.

"Hey doll face. Why don't you scoot closer to me! There's an awful lot of room between us!"

"Ah shut up, Aar!" I snapped at him.

I was getting tired again so I began to fall asleep. Next thing I knew, Aaron was shaking me awake.

"Yo, you wanna get off my shoulder?"

"Hey, sorry! Jeesh!" I grabbed my stuff and walked off the plane.

We got to the hotel and Sam and I shared a room. We brought our bags to our room. We decided that we would change into something other than our sweats. We pulled out our skinny jeans and put on our Red Wings jerseys. She had Brendan Shanahan on the back of hers and I had my dad's.

We met the team down stairs in the lobby. Shortly after we were ushered into the team bus.

We got to the arena and found our way to the locker rooms. The boys began to get suited up while Sam and I wondered the arena. We both had been here many times before so it really wasn't that entertaining. We just had nothing better to do. Juliana stayed behind with Val in the locker room.

Fans began to enter the arena so we headed back to the locker room before anyone would catch us. Everybody knew who I was and I wasn't in the mood to sign autographs and what not.

The team took the ice for the game so Juliana, Sam, and I took our seats right behind our bench.

We won that game 5-0. Ozzie played very noticeably great that night. The girls and I made our way back to the locker room. Juliana found Val and ran into his arms, pecking his lips softly. Sam walked over to her dad to congratulate him on the great win. I found myself alone so I decided to go congratulate some of the boys. I walked by Hank and gave him a hi five then went over to Nick Lidstrom and gave him a hi five as well. I walked around and saw Ozzie taking his equipment off, guys would pass him and pat him on the back. I walked over to him.

"Hey, Oz, you did great tonight!"

"Oh, thanks Hannah! It's good to know that I get support from Stevie's daughter!"

When he looked up at me to speak I found myself speechless, just lost in his eyes. After a while, I realized that I was staring at him for a little longer than normal so I broke the silence. I desperately wanted to keep talking to him.

"That equipment seems like it would be so hard to play in! I honestly don't know how you do it!"

He laughed. This made my knees feel weak so I took a seat in the stall next to his.

"It's really not as hard as you think. They may require some getting used to though."

He continued taking off his equipment. I twiddled my thumbs hoping he would speak again. I was about to get up when he spoke again, this time a little softer than usual.

"Hey, Hannah, um... we don't have to leave till the morning so I was wondering if you'd um.. like to get something to eat with me?"

I was completely surprised when he brought it up. But I was happy he did.

"I'd love to!"

"Great! Let me take a quick shower so I don't smell for you," he wiped his face with a towel, "Then we can get going!"

"Great! I'll be waiting!" I said excitedly as he walked towards the showers where most of the guys already were. I actually didn't think he smelled bad at all. I guess I'm just used to it.

Sam walked toward me with a tired expression on her face. "I'm beat. You ready to get back to the room?"

"Actually, Ozzie is gonna take me to get a bite to eat. So I'll be back at around 11ish i guess," I told her. She had a surprised look on her face.She shrugged and walked to the bus.

A few minutes later, Ozzie popped out of the shower and grabbed his clothes then headed for the bathroom to change. He came out a minute later with blue jeans and a black T-shirt. My eyes were immediately drawn to his muscles on his arms. Then as he got closer I moved my eyes up to meet his.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yep! Let's go!"

We took a cab to a McDonalds and got hamburgers. I found out some really interesting stuff about him like the reason he became a goalie. He liked the equipment! I thought it was adorable.

When we got back to the hotel he walked me to my room. I had my key in my hand and was about to make my way into the room.

"Well thanks for dinner, Ozzie. See you in the morning," I reached my hand towards the lock but he stopped me. I looked up at him with confusion. He leaned towards me and pecked my cheek. I felt electrical shocks run through my body. I looked into his eyes, his beautiful, soft, blue eyes. I found myself frozen. Chris realized this and continued with putting my key in the lock. I heard the door open but my legs still wouldn't move. He decided that I probably wasn't going anywhere so he helped me into the room, which was smart. He sat me on the bed, looked into my eyes. He was about to kiss me again but figured that it wasn't the smartest thing. He whispered a good night in my ear and walked out of the room with a smile on his face.

I went to bed that night smiling as well. I almost couldn't fall asleep. I was just all caught up in thinking about seeing Chris tomorrow.