Saturday, December 26, 2009

Chapter 13

I hope everyone's holidays have gone and are continuing to go well! This chapter's kind of filler, so stick with me please!










I walked back into my office after lunch with Patrick and dropped my stuff on a chair. I double checked to make sure I didn’t have an appointment coming up. I didn’t and I knew that Paige had a free period. I picked up the phone and called her, telling her to come down to my office.

“Want to talk about Saturday night?” she asked with a wink and a smile. I really didn’t, having other things on my mind, but I obliged. “How did it go?”

“It was a disaster,” I told her truthfully. Her smile faded and she sat down. I took a seat across from her, mostly because I didn’t know if my legs could hold me up any longer.

“What did you do?” she questioned accusingly.

“I don’t drink so I felt ostracized, and I didn’t know anyone. Getting to know people was basically impossible with as loud as it was in there, and then I got really sick and bailed without telling Patrick, but he came to check on me and then watched me throw up,” I explained. She looked stunned.

“Have you talked to him since then?”

“Yeah, I made him breakfast the next morning, and he called me-"

“You made him breakfast?” she asked cutting me off. I nodded. “He came back?”

“No, he was still there for breakfast,” I told her. Her eyes went wide.

“He slept on the couch?”

“No.”

“You cleaned off the futon in the studio for him?”

“No.”

“You made him sleep on the floor?”

“No.”

“You slut!” I sighed and cringed all at once.

“Nothing happened! He stayed because I was sick and I was too delirious to know what was going on,” I defended myself.

“You didn’t even kiss?”

“I’d just thrown up. Not exactly the ideal lead in to a kiss, Paige.” She looked disappointed. “The kiss came later,” I added quietly.

“What?!” she squealed. “During breakfast?” I shook my head and took a deep breath.

“Today, during lunch,” I confessed. The smile was back on her face.

“Tell me all about it,” she demanded.

“He called today and asked me to lunch because they are headed out of town on a road trip. I went, we talked and laughed, then we went outside to say goodbye. I told him to have a safe flight, turned to walk away and then he grabbed my arm to stop me, and kissed me. Then without a word he just smiled and walked away,” I told her.

“What kind of kiss?” I looked at her like she was crazy.

“Uh, normal?” She rolled her eyes at me.

“Was there tongue?” It was my turn to roll my eyes.

“No, there was no tongue. We were in the middle of the sidewalk.” She thought for a moment and then smiled.

“It left you wanting more, didn’t it?” Well, she was dead on there and I told her that. “He did it on purpose. He wanted to give you enough that you enjoyed it, but not so much that you were satisfied. He wanted you to spend the whole road trip thinking about that kiss and what it could lead to.”

“I think you’re giving him too much credit,” I argued. She shook her head.

“No way. Harding told me he used to do that to me on purpose so I’d be thrilled to see him when he got home from a business trip. It was definitely on purpose.” I thought about that for a minute.

“If he did that, then it would mean he’s really interested,” I concluded. She grinned and nodded.

“He saw you puking, stayed overnight to make sure you were okay, and then gave you that kind of kiss? Oh yeah, he’s interested.”

Paige left a little while later and I leaned back in my chair thinking about the kiss. I couldn’t contain the goofy smile on my face every time I thought about it. I felt a strange fluttery feeling in my stomach that I’d never felt before when I replayed it in my mind. In fact, I had that feeling every time I even thought of Patrick. This must be what people mean when they talk about butterflies.

Patrick called me that night like he said he would. Neither of us brought up the kiss. A couple of days passed of more of the same. I went to work like usual and at some point in the evening Patrick would call and we’d talk until we ran out of things to say. When they had a game I’d sit down and watch and smile every time they showed Patrick or mentioned his name.

Soon it was the day he’d be flying home. They’d be getting in late after their game so I wouldn’t see him today, but I hoped maybe I’d see him tomorrow. It was a strange feeling, getting giddy and excited to see a guy, but there I was wasting time in my office thinking about him. I left my office for lunch and returned early to get some work done.

“Aw, someone sent you flowers,” I commented to Kristen, my secretary, as I noticed the bouquet of purple roses on her desk.

“No, actually, these are for you,” she returned. I froze mid-step and looked at her in surprise.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” She laughed and stood up, carrying the roses into my office.

“I said they were for you,” she repeated.

“Who sent them?” She shrugged.

“There’s a card,” she told me. I found it and opened the envelope.

I saw all the purple at your place and thought maybe it was a favorite color. Dinner at my place tomorrow? Patrick

I felt my cheeks flush as a smile crossed my face at the card. Kristen made some comment about having a boyfriend that I didn’t really hear. I leaned over and inhaled the scent of the roses. He’d been observant and right about the purple in my apartment. It was my favorite color.

“Gabby, do you want to grab coffee after…..whoa. From Patrick?” Paige asked walking into my office. I turned to her with a grin on my face.

“He wants to have dinner tomorrow,” I told her.

“You are saying yes, right?” she wondered.

“Of course I am.”

“Maybe you can finish that kiss.” I laughed along with her.

“I guess we’ll see.”

“It’s good to see you happy, Gabrielle,” she said seriously.

My smile faltered for a minute. I’d never thought I’d given off the vibe of being unhappy. I always thought I’d done a pretty good job of hiding that, but I guess not. As I thought about it I realized I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been truly happy. This was probably the first time since I was a child.

“I am happy,” I replied, returning the smile to my face.

“So you realize that purple roses mean love at first sight and magic, right?” she asked, lightening the subject. I handed over the card for her to read so she could see the reason behind the color choice. “Nice cover story.” I laughed along with her as I began to anticipate tomorrow night.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Chapter 12

I could feel the headache and the uneasy stomach even before I opened my eyes the next morning. At first I groaned inwardly at getting the flu or something now, but then the events from the night before hit me. I’d panicked myself into nausea. I groaned inwardly again, but this time at my inability to handle tough and uncomfortable situations.

Then I felt something tighten around my midsection. Fear sent a lump into my throat and caused my stomach to clench. Were those arms? Those were definitely arms. Oh shit. Oooooh shit, who was that? As I fought back a new wave of panicked nausea more memories from the night before filtered into my brain. Patrick.

My memories from after getting home were pretty much a blur. My panic attack had made sure of that, but I vaguely remembered Patrick coming to check on me. Then it was him in bed with me, right? I wasn’t forgetting something else, right? I felt the person holding me shift again and realized they were waking up.

“Gabby?” I heard him ask. The nausea disappeared all at once when I heard for sure that it was Patrick.

“I’m up,” I responded as I turned over.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, concern laced his voice. I gave a small shrug.

“I still have a headache, but better than last night.” He gave me a small smile.

“Good. I’ve gotta say, I was worried. You just disappeared saying you didn’t feel well so I came to check on you and you didn’t look good.”

“Yeah, it just kind of hit me,” I said. “I’m sorry I just left like that. I just had no idea how long I was going to be able to hold off on getting sick.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m just glad you’re okay.” I smiled back at him.

“I think I just really need a hot shower and I’ll be back to normal,” I told him.

“Go take that shower and I’ll try to cook some breakfast.”

I nodded and got out of bed. He did the same and when I looked between the two of us I couldn’t help but start laughing. He was still in his suit pants and shirt and I was still fully dressed in the clothes I’d worn to the game last night. He caught on to what I was laughing at and laughed too. I just shook my head and made my way into the bathroom.

It didn’t occur to me until I was already under the hot spray of the shower that maybe I should have been a little more concerned about being naked in the same apartment as a guy I barely knew. I waited for the oncoming panic attack to hit at that realization. I stood frozen in place in the shower ready to combat it, but it never came.

I finished my shower and toweled off wondering the whole time why it hadn’t. I’m not saying I was upset or disappointed about not having to try to fight off a panic attack, I was just confused. Lesser things had brought them on before, so why not this? I shrugged and got dressed before walking out into the kitchen.

The unpleasant smell of burnt eggs and bacon hit me the second I turned the corner. I paused in my position to watch Patrick scurry around trying to salvage the breakfast. I couldn’t help but smile at the sight. And then it hit me full on. I liked this guy. I really liked this guy. I’d been interested before, but now I was done for. He’d swept into my life like a hurricane and had hit me before I’d even seen him coming.

“Need help?” I asked, making the rest of the way into the kitchen. He looked at me sheepishly.

“I told you I was a terrible cook,” he responded. I laughed and took the skillet he was holding out of his hand.

“If you could take Loxley out, I’ll cook,” I offered. He happily obliged and I got to work.

Patrick took Loxley out and then came back in and sat at a stool at the island to watch me work. Even after feeling so sick last night, I found that I was hungry, so I made a large breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and home fries covered two plates when I was done.

“This is probably the best breakfast I’ve ever had,” he told me appreciatively as he ate. I grinned and thanked him. We ate mostly in silence, but it wasn’t at all uncomfortable. “I should probably get back to my place. Dudley is probably going crazy right now.”

“Of course, the poor guy. I’ll talk to you later.” He got up and grabbed his stuff and I walked him to the door. “Thank you for coming back last night. It was really sweet of you.”

“You’re welcome.” He gave me one of his dazzling smiles before turning and walking out the door. I closed it behind him and leaned back against the door and sighed with a smile on my face.

The next Monday morning I was sitting at my desk in my office. Patrick and I had talked again after he’d left my apartment Saturday morning and the conversation had been easy and funny. It didn’t seem like he was at all bothered by my strange behavior and sickness on Friday night. I smiled as I thought about him until my phone rang.

“Gabrielle Tunney,” I answered, figuring it was one of the staff at the school.

“Hey, Gabby,” Patrick’s voice greeted me cheerfully.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked in surprise.

“Well, we’re flying out this afternoon for a road trip this afternoon and I was hoping maybe you could grab lunch with me today before I go.” I couldn’t help the smile that came over my face. I agreed and we set a time and location. I then counted down the minutes until it was time.

When it finally was I grabbed my jacket and purse and headed out to my car. I found a place to park near the restaurant and walked in to find Patrick already there and waiting for me. We were led to a table where we spent the next 40 minutes laughing and talking. After the bill was paid we walked outside to say goodbye.

“I’ll give you a call when I get to Phoenix,” Patrick told me.

“Sounds good. Have a safe flight,” I returned.

I started to take a step to walk away when Patrick reached out and grabbed my arm. I turned back to him. He didn’t say anything, just lowered his face and pressed his lips to mine. My breath caught in my throat in shock even as I kissed him back. He pulled back too quickly and gave me a mischievous smile before turning and walking away. I just stood there on the sidewalk staring after his form even after it disappeared around a corner. Holy shit.










Patrick knew he wanted to see Gabrielle before he left for Phoenix that afternoon so he was hoping that she’d be able to get away for lunch. He was really starting to develop feelings for her. He smiled when she agreed to meet him and he had a smile on his face the entire practice that morning.

“Sharpie, you’re starting to make me sick every time I see you,” Burs complained as they headed into the locker room after the practice.

“Shove it,” he responded.

Unfortunately Burish’s comment had egged on the rest of the locker room who then proceeded to give it to him pretty good over Gabrielle. Most of it was fine, but a few of the guys weren’t really sure about her. Keith had called her “uppity.” What the hell did that mean?

“So you don’t like her because she doesn’t drink?” Patrick asked him.

“It’s not that. She just acted like she was above being around us at the bar, like we should be privileged to have her in our presence,” Duncan responded.

“I don’t think she was like that at all. I think she was just overwhelmed being around a bunch of people she didn’t know in a scene she’s obviously not completely comfortable in. Not to mention she got pretty sick that night from the flu or something,” Patrick defended her.

“Yeah, well, I guess we’ll see, won’t we,” Duncan said.

“If it helps, I liked her,” Tazer threw in.

“You’re just saying that because Sharpie hasn’t gotten you back for that stunt you pulled on Gabrielle yet and you’re afraid,” Burish joked. The guys in the locker room laughed and the subject changed.

Patrick left the rink and drove to the restaurant he and Gabrielle had agreed to meet at. He was only there for a few minutes when she walked in looking as beautiful as usual in that not really trying way. He’d never known a girl who could make professional attire look so sexy. They sat at a table and laughed their way through lunch.

Unfortunately they had only a short time before she had to get back to school, but at least it was something before they hit the road. As they talked he kept focusing on her mouth and wondering what it would be like to kiss her. When they’d gone outside to head their separate ways he couldn’t help himself.

Gabrielle turned to leave and he grabbed her arm. She turned back to him in confusion and he just went for it. She was surprised at first, but she only hesitated for a second before kissing him back. They were in the middle of the sidewalk, so he knew it had to just be a short kiss, but he wanted it that way. He was hoping if he kept it short he’d leave her wanting more. When he pulled away he thought he read disappointment flash through her eyes. He gave her a small smile before turning and walking away without a word.

His lips had tingled the entire walk back to his car and he didn’t mind a bit. He got in, started the car and turned down the street where the restaurant was to head home. He spotted Gabrielle sitting down on a short rock wall only feet from where he’d left her holding a hand to her mouth. Oh yeah, he was pretty sure he had her.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Chapter 11

Patrick gave himself one last once-over in the mirror before exiting his place and heading over to Gabrielle’s. In their last conversation he’d insisted on picking her up to go to dinner tonight. She’d finally given in when she realized he was unrelenting. He wasn’t sure what had more to do with insisting; the chivalry of driving her, or the curiosity of seeing her place.

He got into his car and followed his GPS to her apartment building. It looked like a nice place in a decent area not too far from where he lived. He found a place to park on the street and walked to the front door. She had told him to call her when he got there so he pulled out his phone and did just that.

“Hey,” she answered after six rings.

“Hi, I’m downstairs,” he told her.

“Oh, God, you’re on time,” she groaned. He smiled to himself.

“Is that a problem?” he asked.

“Uh, no. I’ll buzz you in, apartment 523, the door will be unlocked so just come on in. Lox is going to bark at you but he won’t bite. This may sound weird but just say ‘Mama said relax’ and he’ll stop.”

The call was disconnected a second later before he had time to respond. Another second later he heard a buzzing sound that indicated she’d unlocked the front door for him. He walked into a nice lobby and got on the elevator, hitting the button for the 5th floor. When it stopped he followed the numbers next to the doors until he reached 523. He cautiously opened the door and was greeted by a black and white, approximately 40 pound dog barking at him.

“Mama said relax,” he said, repeating what Gabrielle had told him to say.

He felt a little silly saying it, but it seemed to work. Loxley stopped barking and moved to sniff the hand that Patrick held out. Once he seemed to have enough he began to wag his tail and gave the outstretched hand a lick. Taking that as a good sign, Patrick began to pet Loxley, who more than willingly let him.

“Hey, I’ll be out in a minute! Feel free to grab yourself a drink!” Gabrielle called from around a corner.

“Thanks!” he called back.

He made his way to the kitchen area as he looked around the part of the apartment he could see. The colors on the walls and of the furniture were neutral, but there were splashes of color everywhere. At first glance it seemed random, but the more you looked at it, the more it worked. Paintings lined the walls of the living and dining areas that he could see.

The kitchen was decently sized and full of stainless steel appliances that stood out against the dark color of the cabinets. The counter was a black marble that seemed to work perfectly with everything else. Another thing he noticed was how clean and organized everything seemed. He almost felt shamed as he thought about the piles of dishes and food sitting on his own countertops.

He opened the refrigerator and looked over his options, intending on grabbing whatever beer she may have had. He double and triple checked over the neatly lined shelves and didn’t see any beer. He grabbed a bottle of water and noticed that he didn’t see any of those sugary girly malt drinks either. In fact, as he gave the kitchen another glance he noticed that something else was different from his kitchen. Unless they were tucked away in a cupboard somewhere, there was absolutely no alcohol in this kitchen anywhere.

“I am so sorry to keep you waiting,” he heard Gabrielle say as he studied a painting on the wall. “I was painting and then I lost track of time. I feel awful because I’m never late. I hate being late.”

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it,” he assured her. Gabrielle grabbed a jacket from a closet and then followed Patrick out into the hallway, locking the door behind her. “So you paint?”

“Oh yeah, just for fun,” she told him. He remembered back to her saying that Loxley had knocked over some paint and then run through the house.

“I’d assumed you were painting your apartment’s walls when you said Loxley knocked over some paint, but that wasn’t the case, was it?” he asked. She laughed and shook her head.

“No, not at all.” Knowing that she was artistic gave him a little more insight into her and made all the color splashes throughout her apartment make a little more sense.

“Do you think I could see some of your work sometime?” He held the door open for her to get into his car as he asked. She waited to respond until he’d gotten into the car himself.

“You already did. You were looking at one when I came out tonight,” she replied. He lifted his eyebrows in surprise. The painting had been good. Really good.

“You’re talented,” he told her. He glanced over at her and watched her blush a bit at the compliment.

“Thank you. Are you artistic at all?” she asked him. He laughed.

“Not in the least. I can’t even draw a squiggly line,” he joked. She laughed too. So far so good on this non-date.










I walked into the arena with Paige by my side the following night. It was the second game Nathan wasn’t allowed at, but Patrick had asked if I’d wanted to go at dinner the night before. I’d agreed and Paige was more than happy to play her part in hooking Patrick and I up. I hadn’t talked to her about dinner the night before yet, but I knew as soon as we were sitting, she was going to ask.

I was proven right when it was the first thing she brought up once we were in our seats. I told her about him coming over to pick me up and driving me himself. I told her about the smooth conversation and how we spent half of dinner talking about our dogs. Then I told her about how he dropped me off and placed a kiss on my hand before I got out of the car.

“You mean you haven’t kissed him yet?” she questioned. I shook my head.

“We’re just taking things slow and getting to know each other,” I told her.

We settled in to watch the game. The first period didn’t go so well with the Blues going up on the Hawks 3-1. The Hawks came back through the next two periods and tied the game to send it into overtime. Unfortunately the Blues scored in the extra session to win the game. As Paige and I went downstairs, I wasn’t sure what to do or say after the loss. Did he like to talk about it or not? I decided to just not bring it up unless he did.

“Hey guys,” he greeted us when he came out of the locker room a little while later. “It’s nice to see you again, Paige.”

“Same to you,” she told him. Before the conversation could continue someone called out to Patrick.

“Sharpie, are you in?” the guy yelled over. Patrick held a finger up to him and turned back to us.

“A bunch of us are going out. Would you two like to join us?” he asked. Go out, like to a bar? Not really my scene. I didn't go to bars, clubs, etc.

“Sounds like fun,” Paie replied with a smile. I groaned inwardly as Patrick and Paige both turned to look at me. I begrudgingly agreed.

“We’re in!” Patrick called back to the same guy. Paige and I followed Patrick out of the arena and we veered off to head towards her car.

“Oh, sorry I’m going to have to bail. I just got a text from Harding and he’s going out of town early tomorrow morning so I’m going to spend some time with him before he goes. Can you drive Gabby?” I glared over at her. She was lying and she smirked at my glare. This was going to be worse than I thought.

“Yeah, no problem,” Patrick responded.

Paige gave a small wave as I followed Patrick over to his car and got in. He drove to a bar not too far away and parked in a lot. Then he led me into a loud club, getting us right past the line and through the door. We headed to a sectioned off portion where there was already a group of guys and girls I recognized from the rink.

“Hey guys!” someone said, coming up to us. I turned to see Patrick Kane walk over to us. “Can I get you something to drink?” he offered.

“A water is fine,” I told him over the deafening music. He leaned closer to me.

“A vodka water you said?” he asked.

“No, just a water,” I corrected. He gave me an odd look but bought a beer for himself and Patrick and a bottle of water for me.

We made our way over to a group sitting around a table and Patrick introduced me to everyone. The music was so loud, and there were so many people in the group that I couldn’t remember a single name out of the ones that I did hear. We sat down and I struggled to listen and join in to the conversation going on around me.

“Do you want a shot?” one of the girls offered, grabbing one off of an offered tray.

“No thanks. I don’t drink,” I declined. She looked at me like I was crazy.

It was a situation that was repeated many more times through the night as someone new offered me a drink. Eventually I was sick of feeling ostracized for not drinking and got up to go to the bathroom. I liked Patrick, but this was just not me. I started thinking of an excuse to get out of there as soon as possible. I walked through the door of the tiny bathroom and came face to face with two girls who looked shocked to see me.

“I thought you locked the door,” one of them said.

“I guess it’s broken,” the other said.

They tried to block what they were doing as they glared at me, but it was too late. I’d already seen the white powder traced neatly into a thin line. I mumbled out an apology before backing out quickly. I felt my heart start to race and I needed to get out of there. Out of the bathroom, and out of the club.

“Hey, you okay?” Adam Burish asked me as I rushed towards the exit.

“Please tell Patrick I’m sorry, but I’m not feeling well,” I told him before running out the door and hailing a cab.










Patrick took a swig of his beer and looked around. Gabrielle had gotten up to use the bathroom, but she’d been gone for a while. He wondered what was taking so long and got up to go look for her. On his way he ran into Burs.

“Oh, hey, you’re girl told me to tell you she wasn’t feeling well and was going home. She wasn't looking too good. She must have had too much to drink,” he told him. Patrick immediately knew something was wrong.

“Gabrielle didn’t drink,” he replied. Burs shrugged his shoulders before turning to the bar.

Patrick put down his beer and grabbed his suit jacket off of the seat he’d been using. Then he made his way out of the club and to his car wondering what had happened. He drove out to Gabrielle’s apartment, found a place to park and made his way to the front door.

He pulled out his phone to call her when someone walked outside from the building. He caught the door and went inside, taking the elevator up to her apartment. He tried the door and found that it was unlocked. He walked in and found Gabrielle sitting curled up on her couch.

“Gabby, are you okay?” he asked as he made his way over to her.

She didn’t respond and kept her gaze fixed on one spot on the carpet. Her eyes were red-rimmed like she’d been crying, but there weren’t any tears now. Once he’d reached her he noticed that she was shaking. He grabbed a blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped it around her.

He held her for a few minutes before she suddenly jumped up and bolted out of the room. A second later he heard the sounds of her getting sick. He got up and grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and carried it in to her. She took it from him and rinsed out her mouth before standing up. She was still shaking and he was worried.

“Let’s get you to bed,” he suggested.

She let him guide her out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. He pulled back the blankets and helped her into bed. She continued to shake so he took of his suit jacket and shoes before crawling into bed beside her. He pulled her into him and held her until she eventually stopped shaking and fell asleep. Not wanting to risk waking her, he settled himself in to spend the night wondering how she'd gotten so sick so quickly.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Chapter 10

Patrick drove home from the rink after practice relieved to see that there seemed to be no hard feelings between him and Kaner. He figured now that they’d come to a mutual understanding on where the line should be drawn as far as the pranks went there wouldn't be any more problems. He and Tazer wouldn’t screw with Gabrielle, and he in turn wouldn’t screw with their families.

Now that he was thinking about the situation, he was thinking about Gabby. He should see if she wanted to have dinner with him this week. Probably Thursday with the way their schedule was. He made a mental note to call her later when he knew she’d be home from school.

He got home and started up a game of fetch with Dudley. Like usual, after only a few throws, Dudley tired of the game and flopped down next to Patrick on the floor. What a lazy dog. He rubbed Dudley’s stomach and wondered if Gabrielle liked dogs. Somehow he felt like she would. For all he knew, she had a dog herself. He just hoped she wasn’t a cat person. He wasn’t a big fan of cats.

Dudley rested his head on Patrick’s lap and let his eyes close for a nap. Patrick decided that seemed like a good idea and got up to take one himself. He let Dudley jump up on the bed next to him and curl up near his feet. He wondered if that would have bothered Gabrielle. Once again he figured she wasn’t that uptight.

Then he realized something. He was suddenly wondering how many of his habits would annoy Gabrielle. He’d never done that before. He could have cared less with every other girl he had dated. To him, they’d have to get used to it and if they couldn’t, then see ya. This time he found himself caring. He may not know her all that well, but there was just something about Gabrielle.

He fell asleep wondering if that was a good or a bad thing. When he woke up it was dark out and he shut the drapes and turned on some lights. He checked his almost bare cupboards and refrigerator for something to eat and saw that he had nothing. Like he usually did he picked up the phone and hit the speed dial to his favorite restaurant.

When Patrick was done eating he cleaned up and sat down on the couch. He glanced at the clock and decided that now was as good a time as any to call Gabrielle. He paused and went over in his head what he wanted to say. The other two times that they’d had dinner she’d kind of left it open for him to do so. He hadn’t called with the sole purpose of asking her out like he was this time. When he was satisfied with what he’d come up with he called her.

“Hey, can you hold on a minute?” Gabrielle answered, breathless.

“Yeah, sure.” He waited and listened as Gabrielle yelled at someone.

“Are you kidding me right now? Why the hell would you do that?” she screamed. He wondered what was going on.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“What? Yeah, it’s just a bad…..Loxley, stop! Don’t move! I’m dropping the phone for a minute. Hold on.”

Patrick listened to the phone clatter onto something, probably a table. He could hear Gabrielle uttering a string of curses in the background. He wondered who Loxley was. Did she have a guy over? A student? It was kind of a strange name, but the way people were naming kids these days, you never knew. A few minutes passed and he wondered if she’d forgotten about him, but then she picked up the phone again.

“I am so sorry about that,” she apologized.

“What was going on?” Patrick asked curiously.

“Oh, my dog knocked over some paint and managed to walk through it. He then decided to go on a tear through my entire apartment. I now have a tie-dye floor in one room and multi-colored paw prints through the rest of it. This is going to be a bitch to clean,” she explained. Loxley was her dog, he realized with relief. Then he smiled, glad to know he was right in assuming she was a dog person.

“Oh man, I’m sorry,” he told her.

“It’s okay. Not your fault.”

“What kind of dog do you have?” he asked.

“A mutt. I have no idea,” she told him with a laugh. “So what’s up?” He suddenly remembered why he’d called and realized that he completely forgot what he wanted to say. Just get to it, he decided.

“I wanted to know if you were free to have dinner on Thursday.” She didn’t respond right away and he wondered if that was bad.

“Patrick, I have to be straightforward about this. Are you asking me on a date or just a friendly dinner?”

He was caught off guard by the question. It was his turn to pause. He had two options. He could say as a friend and see what her reaction was or he could say on a date and see what her reaction was. She’d either be happy or bummed out by either one. He liked 50% of the options. He would have preferred a higher percentage.

“Neither and both I guess. I just want to get to know you better.” He tried to stay neutral and see what she said. He knew what he was hoping to hear.

“Okay, yeah, I can do dinner.” He smiled taking that as a good sign. Then his smile faded. “I should warn you though that I’m not exactly up for dating, so if that’s your intention then maybe it’s not a good idea.” She’s not up for dating? What did that mean?

“No, that’s not my intention. Like I said I just want to get to know you.” He lied. Just a little.

“Okay, then dinner it is.”

They made plans and then hung up. He couldn’t help but feel disappointed and confused. He still couldn’t figure out what not being up for dating meant. Had she just gotten out of a relationship that had ended badly? He figured that must have to be it, because he couldn’t figure out what else it could be. He knew he’d picked up on the vibe that she liked him too, unless he’d been wrong about that. Was that it? Had he read her wrong?










I hung up the phone and sighed. Why did I do this to myself? I liked him, I know I did, but now that I was positive he had an interest in me too, I was panicking. Then without thinking about it, I’d done what I always did. I tried to push him away. I groaned and got up to start attempting to clean the mess that Loxley had created.

Less than 10 minutes into the project I was upset, frustrated, and confused. Before Patrick I had never had a problem keeping people an arms length away from me, but this time it was tough. I barely knew the guy and yet there was something about him that was getting to me.

All I knew was that he deserved better than me. A guy like him didn’t deserve to carry around my baggage. Usually that’s what I said about everyone I met, but this time it was even more necessary to keep him away from it. He was one of the leaders of the city’s hockey team, and a public figure here. If people found out about my past they’d look down on him. I couldn’t let him go through that.

I fell back on the floor and leaned against the wall. This was bad. Really bad. It had been so easy every other time to just walk away. I didn’t know why I was feeling so stressed about this time. What was Patrick doing to me? I needed someone to talk to, and there was only one person in the world I would trust to have this conversation with.

“Hello?” the woman’s voice answered after just two rings.

“Olivia? It’s Gabrielle,” I told her. Olivia had been my school counselor. She’d taken me in when I’d lost everything and had saved my life, literally.

“Gabrielle! It’s great to hear from you. How are you?” she asked. I could feel her smile through the phone and hearing her voice calmed me immensely.

“Not good,” I mumbled.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” she asked. I felt a tear slip down my cheek and wiped it away.

“There’s this guy, Patrick, and I really like him,” I started.

“Gabrielle, come on. Tell me what’s going on,” she prompted.

“I don’t know what to do, Olivia. I don’t know him that well, but he’s so different than anyone I’ve ever met. We’ve gone out a couple times, but I just can’t anymore.”

“Why not?”

“He doesn’t deserve everything I’d do to him.” She sighed.

“What do you like about him?” she asked. I closed my eyes and thought about it.

“He’s funny. I’ve never met anyone who can make me laugh the way he does. He’s sweet and caring and compassionate. He’s intelligent and interesting and-"

“Okay, you like him,” Olivia joked, cutting me off. I laughed too.

“That was never the issue,” I told her.

“You said that you’ve only been out a couple of times?” she prodded.

“Right.”

“You’re freaking out over nothing, sweetheart.”

“How can you say it’s nothing? If he even knew about my past I just know he’d look at me differently. I’m damaged goods, Olivia. I’m scarred.” I felt more tears start to fall when I said that.

“Scars are just testaments to the tough things we’ve had happen and have persevered through. They give people character and make them who they are. Without those scars you’d never be the person you are today,” she said.

“Even so, it’s not fair to him.”

“Listen to me, Gabrielle. That’s completely up to him to decide. At the same time, you’re rushing yourself. You said you’ve only been out with him a few times. No one else has to divulge their entire background in a few dates, so neither should you. First thing is first. If you like him then you owe it to yourself to see how things go. If down the road you decide that you really care for him, then and only then do you have to decide what to tell him. Until that moment comes just enjoy yourself.”

Olivia was right. She was always right. I was panicking way too early. Maybe things wouldn’t work out with Patrick down the road and he’d never have to know about my past. Or maybe I wasn’t panicking too early. There was another problem.

“There’s one more thing,” I began.

“What is it?” Olivia asked.

“He’s a public figure. If someone figured out who I was and told him about me before I did…..” I trailed off, leaving the rest of the sentence up to Olivia to figure out.

“What kind of public figure?”

“He’s a professional hockey player.” I heard her laughing and a smile broke out onto my face. I began to laugh too. Go figure, me dating a hockey player.

“If he’s not going into politics then no one’s going to care what your past is. If they truly like him, then they’ll respect who he chooses to spend his time with, and that includes you.” I released a deep breath, and smiled again.

“You never fail to make me feel better, Olivia,” I told her. She laughed.

“Now that we have all that straightened out, indulge on old lady. First tell me what this Patrick looks like and then tell me about the dates you’ve already had.” I laughed again. Olivia was and will always be my savior.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Chapter 9

Okay, so two things before the chapter. The first is that I forgot to mention that this is taking place at the beginning of last season. Not a super important detail, but the schedule fits around last season so I wanted to make sure everyone knew. The second is that I know this has started a little slowly, but I promise there are some cliffhangers coming. I've thrown in a few small random hints throughout so far, but the big one is coming up. Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting so far! I hope you all continue to enjoy this.










Eventually Patrick and Burish got sick of sitting around watching TV at Tazer’s with the two of them tied up and whining constantly. Of course that was a few hours later. They’d untied them and watched as Kaner practically flew out of Tazer’s to get home and try and beat his parents there. Patrick had a good laugh at that.

He dropped Burs off at his place before heading home. Feeling a little better he ordered some food to be delivered and sat down on his couch with his Basset Hound, Dudley. He flipped through channels aimlessly as he scratched Dudley’s ears until his doorbell sounded signaling dinner was here.

He ate in front of the TV because really, who eats at a dining room table all by themselves in silence? He fed Dudley when he was done, throwing what he hadn’t finished into his bowl as an extra little treat. Then he remembered he’d told Gabrielle he’d call her back later.

His nervousness came back. She hadn’t sounded like she was upset when they’d talked earlier, but he’d basically hung up on her as soon as he’d figured out what had happened. Revenge had been coursing through his veins at that time and he hadn’t thought about finding out how Gabrielle felt about the whole situation. He took a deep breath and hoped that she wasn’t upset and that she’d answer his call.

“Hey!” she greeted cheerfully when she picked up her end of the call. He felt relief at her tone. She wouldn’t have sounded like that if she was mad, right?

“Hey, sorry it took so long to call back. I was taking care of some things,” he told her.

“It’s fine, really. Did you get what you needed to do done?” she asked.

“Mostly,” he responded without going into detail. She didn’t need to know what he’d done to his teammates. And that Tazer was still going to get his.

“Good.”

“Listen, I’m really sorry about what happened. I don’t know what possessed those kids to send you those messages,” he apologized. He was going to continue to grovel, but she cut him off.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault,” she assured him. She sounded sincere and not the least bit upset. He couldn’t even begin to express how much that meant.

“Okay, I won’t. Thanks for being so understanding. A lot of people wouldn’t have been.” He heard her laugh.

“I’m not like most people.” He could completely agree with her there. Deciding to change the subject he brought up the game the next night.

“So I know you told me that on Sundays you were only going to come to afternoon games, but I wasn’t sure about tomorrow. The game’s at 6 so it’s earlier than normal, but I didn’t know if it was still too late for you and Nathan to come.”

“Right, there’s a game tomorrow,” she started. He noticed her voice became visibly more strained. “Nathan got into some trouble this weekend and won’t be able to go to the next couple of games.” He’d remembered her explaining that she’d take games away from Nathan if he got into trouble. Upon hearing the news he was disappointed. He’d wanted to see her again.

“You could still come if you wanted,” he offered. He really wanted to see her again.

“What?” she asked sounding surprised.

“If you want you could still come and just bring someone else.” There was a pause on her end of the line. He waited impatiently for her answer, hoping that it would be a yes.

“I guess I could call a friend to see if she’d want to come if you really don’t mind.” A grin spread over his face.

“I don’t mind at all,” he assured her.

“Okay, well then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

After he hung up the phone he smiled to himself. Could Gabrielle be any more perfect? Sure, she was hot, and when he said hot, he meant smoking. At the same time, there was so much more to her. She was intelligent, funny, sweet, compassionate, and caring.

Not to mention she blew off that whole text message fiasco like it wasn’t a problem. He really didn’t know too many women who wouldn’t have gotten angry. Most of them would have told him to fuck off as soon as it happened, but she’d given him the benefit of the doubt before jumping to conclusions.

With the exception of her job, which she couldn’t help by the nature of it, there seemed to be no drama in her life at all. That’s what he wanted and needed in someone. He hadn’t been looking for anyone to date, but he was pretty sure he’d found her.

He walked into the rink the next day for morning skate, still smiling. He ignored the looks he was getting from his teammates as he made his way to his stall. As he was getting ready to get on the ice he heard a shout. He turned to see Kaner storming his way over to him.

“What the fuck is your problem?!” he shouted. Patrick was only confused for a moment before remembering the day before.

“Something bothering you, Kaner?” he asked with a smirk.

“How could you cover my entire house with pictures of midget porn?! I walk in and it’s plastered everywhere! On the walls upstairs and down, on my coffee table, in my refrigerator door! Even my laptop’s screensaver, you asshole!” Patrick tried to hold back the laugh as he remembered what Kane’s house had looked like when he and Burish had left it. They’d done a real bang up job, pun intended.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said as the entire locker room turned to look at them. More than a few were laughing. He was shocked when Kane grabbed him by the shirt collar and shoved him into a wall. The laughing stopped at that point and his smile faded.

“You fucking knew my parents were coming in and you kept me at Tazer’s until it was too late for me to beat them there. You let them find that shit! You went too far. Don’t fuck with my parents!” he yelled. Patrick shoved Kaner off of him, anger swelling up in him.

I went too far?! What about your texts to Gabrielle?! I’ve barely had time to get to know her and you’re fucking with her! You’re god damn lucky she understood what was going on and didn’t tell me to fuck off or things would have been much worse. Stay out of my fucking relationship or I’ll get you back 10 times worse!” Kaner still looked pissed, but he’d backed down a little.

“Hey, guys, are we good here?” Brian Campbell asked, stepping between them. Patrick looked over at Kaner.

“We’re good,” Kaner replied before turning to walk away. He felt himself settle down a bit. They’d be fine in a few hours.










I walked into the arena at 5:45 with Paige on my heels. I led her to our seats and we sat down to wait for the game to start. She started talking about how great the seats were before taking in the arena. She’d never been to a hockey game before and couldn’t believe the amount of people in the place.

“Okay, so now that I have my bearings, tell me what number Patrick is,” she demanded. I laughed.

“He’s number 10,” I told her.

When the team skated out onto the ice I could see her straining to see where he was. I would have rolled my eyes at her if I wasn’t doing the same thing. I found him at the same time that Paige did. I could tell that she had when she gave me a small shove and laughed.

“What?” I asked.

“He looks better in person,” she replied. I really did roll my eyes at her this time.

“There’s no way you can tell that from here,” I argued. She just shrugged.

“It doesn’t matter. He’s a dog person, so you’ll love him even if he was unattractive.” I looked at her strangely.

“How do you know he’s a dog person?” I asked.

“He has a basset hound named Dudley,” she said nonchalantly as the puck dropped. Paige had her eyes on the game, but I had turned to look at her.

“How do you know?” I questioned. She turned to look at me.

“It’s in his bio on the team’s website. Also says his father’s Scottish. So hot.” I covered my face in my hands and shook my head. My best friend was a psycho.

The game ended with the Blackhawks beating Calgary 6-1. Paige had cheered right along with the crowd while I stayed in my seat. The jumping up and down screaming thing was not my style. When the crowd had cleared out a bit I got up and led her downstairs where we waited for Patrick to come out. She kept rubbing her hands together evilly and talking about how excited she was to finally meet him.

“There he is,” I whispered when I saw him turn the corner from the hallway leading to the locker room. I heard her gasp.

“Jesus he’s beautiful,” she whispered back. I held back a laugh and simply smiled. I couldn’t argue with her there.

“Hey, Gabby,” he greeted walking over.

“Nice game,” I told him. He flashed me that smile of his.

“Thanks.”

“Patrick, this is my friend Paige. Paige, this is Patrick,” I introduced them. They shook hands.

“So you’re the one who sent me that text about coffee,” Patrick joked. Paige laughed.

“Yes, that was me. I can’t seem to keep out of Gabby’s business.” We continued to chat for a few more minutes when I saw two younger guys in suits make their way over to us.

“Hi, are you Gabrielle?” the taller one asked. I smiled and nodded. “I’m Jonathan Toews and this is Patrick Kane.” I shook both of their hands.

“We just wanted to apologize about the texts we sent yesterday. We were just messing with Sharpie here. It didn’t occur to us until later how offensive it could have been,” the one with the curly hair, the other Patrick, said.

“It’s okay, really. I figured it out pretty quickly. Patrick had told me about the pranks you play on each other,” I explained.

“Good, we just wanted to make sure everything was okay and apologize anyway,” Jonathan told me.

“Everything’s okay,” I assured them.

“Well, it was nice to meet you. I guess we’ll be seeing you around,” Kane said. I watched them walk away before turning back to Patrick and Paige, who had been filled in earlier.

“That was really sweet of them,” I told the two of them.

"You have no idea,” Patrick replied, turning back to look at them again.

Paige and I stuck around a little bit longer to continue talking with Patrick before we had to get going. He walked us out of the rink and told me he’d call me later. We said our goodbyes and Paige and I headed home. She gave me a glowing review of Patrick on the way home. As grateful as I was that she approved, it made me nervous. I knew I liked him, but I wasn’t sure how things would work out. There were just things in my life that made me hesitant to start anything with anybody.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Chapter 8

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Saturday, October 24, 2009

Chapter 7

Paige and I walked into our coffee shop the following Wednesday afternoon. I’d had a quiet and uneventful few days at school so far this week and I liked that. We got in line and ordered our drinks idly chatting about our day. When they arrived we found a table and sat down.

“Have you talked to Patrick lately?” she asked after taking a sip of her drink. I rolled my eyes at her. Lately every conversation with her turned to Patrick at some point.

“I talked to him on Sunday actually,” I told her. Her eyes lit up and a smile spread across her face.

“What about?” I thought back to the phone call and smiled.

“I thanked him for offering Nathan and I tickets, he told me about his game from the night before, and that’s about it,” I explained. Paige looked disappointed.

“That’s it?” I nodded and took a sip of my coffee. “Really?”

“Sorry that I don’t have anything juicier for you,” I apologized sarcastically.

She changed the subject after that and we continued to sit and talk for a while about other things. Even though we weren’t discussing Patrick anymore, he was still on my mind. It had only been a few days since I’d talked to him but I found that I wanted to talk to him again. Paige and I went our separate ways and I headed home with Patrick on the brain.

On one hand I didn’t like that he was having this kind of effect on me, and yet I did. It was a strange predicament I’d never found myself in before. I absentmindedly greeted Loxley when I got home. I decided to go for a run to clear my head and took Loxley with me. By the time I was home I wasn’t anywhere close to getting Patrick off my mind.

I spotted my cell sitting on the coffee table and narrowed my eyes at it. Did I dare? What would I say? I couldn't just call Patrick to talk, could I? I needed an excuse. I sat down on the couch and thought. Finally something popped into my head and I picked up my phone. I highlighted Patrick’s name in my contacts list and hesitated. Do it now before you chicken out, I told myself.

“Hi, this is Patrick. Sorry I missed you. Leave a name and a number and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can,” his voicemail picked up.

I panicked and hung up. As soon as I did I smacked myself in the head. He was going to be able to see that my number was the missed call. You idiot, Gabrielle. Now what? Without thinking about it, I called his number again. This time I didn’t hang up.

“Hi, Patrick, it’s Gabrielle. Sorry about the last call. I got disconnected somehow. I was actually just calling about the tickets for Nathan and I. I realized that I hadn’t explained the schedule of games we could attend to you. Just give me a call back when you can to discuss it. Thanks.”

It was a lame excuse to make the call, but I did it. I tried to make myself sound as professional as possible in the message. I went over what I’d said in my head a few times before chiding myself. You’re not in high school, you’re an adult. Get a grip. I pushed Patrick out of my mind and hopped into the shower.

After taking a long hot shower I searched through my cupboards to see what I could do for dinner. I decided on something easy and grabbed out the ingredients for a shrimp stir-fry. I put on some music and made dinner. When I finished eating I fed Loxley and then walked into my studio. I studied the painting I’d started on Sunday.

Just as I was about to sit and continue, I heard my phone ring. I sprinted out of the studio and into the living room to my phone. I practically dove at it, hoping to see Patrick’s name on the screen. I saw that it was and took a moment to compose myself before answering.

“Hello?” I answered casually.

“Hey, Gabby, it’s Patrick. I got your message.” I felt my stomach do a little flip at him calling me Gabby. He’d never done that before. You only used nicknames with people you liked being around, right?

“Oh, good. I realized we hadn’t talked about it and I didn’t want you leaving tickets for games we wouldn’t be attending.”

“I have Friday free. Why don’t we get together for dinner and discuss it then?” Wait, hold on, what? I’d figured we were just going to talk about it now on the phone, not over dinner. Even so, I couldn’t help but smile.

“Friday sounds great.”

We figured out a time and a location before hanging up. I fell back onto the couch in a kind of daze. Patrick and I were going to be having dinner in two days. Sensing something was up, Loxley made his way over to me and began to nudge my hand. I gave him a pat on the head and laughed.

“Don’t worry, buddy, Mama’s okay,” I assured him.

The next day flew by in a blur for me. Before I knew it I was sitting at home after school was out on Friday. I was playing tug of war with Loxley when a sudden panic hit me. What was I going to wear? I jumped up and stared into my closet and groaned. I didn’t exactly own date-worthy clothes. I picked up my phone and called Paige.

“I’m having dinner with Patrick tonight and I don’t know what to wear,” I told her.

“I’ll be right over,” came her reply. She hung up the phone and I sat down on the couch, fidgeting nervously until there was a knock on my door.

“You’re better at this stuff than I am,” I said as she walked through the door. I noticed then that she was carrying a bunch of stuff with her.

“I’m going to move right past the fact that you neglected to tell me about your date with him and get right to work,” she quipped.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. No one said date,” I said defensively. She put her stuff down and gave me a disbelieving look.

“Where are you going?” she asked. I relayed the information to her and she put it into a search on my computer. The restaurant’s website popped up and we looked at it. A knot started to form in my stomach. “How did dinner come up?”

“I called him and told him we should talk about the games Nathan and I would go to so he knew ahead of time. He suggested talking about it over dinner,” I explained. She lifted her eyebrows and a smile formed on her face.

“Couldn’t you have talked about it on the phone right then?” she asked.

“Sure,” I responded slowly.

“Keep that in mind while you look at the website for the restaurant you’re going to and tell me it’s not a date.”

I looked back at the computer screen. While the restaurant wasn’t black tie, it was hardly a chain place. There were linens on the tables with candles and mood lighting. Oh no. I, Gabrielle Tunney, was going on a date. A date?! I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d been on a date. No way, this wasn’t happening.

“I can’t be going on a date. I don’t know how to date! I’m not good at it!” I exclaimed in exasperation.

“No one’s good at dating, Gabby. You’ll be fine,” Paige reassured me. It didn’t help.

“What if it’s a disaster? What if we don’t have anything to talk about?” I was in full on panic mode.

“Hello, you two have already had a dinner and talked long after the food was gone. You’ll be fine. Now sit down and let me get you ready,” she demanded.

I did as she said and sat down, allowing her to do my hair and makeup. When she was done with that she went to work picking out something for me to wear. She grabbed a black halter dress and a black cardigan to go over it, nothing too fancy, telling me I should look classic. I changed and she gave me a nod of approval.

We walked out of the building together. She gave me a few more words of encouragement before I got into a cab and headed to the restaurant. I nervously fidgeted around the entire drive and stumbled as I got out. Thankfully it didn’t seem like anyone saw and I tried to pull myself together before walking in.

“Gabby,” I heard Patrick say my name just after I walked in the door. I turned to see him standing up from a seat. I panicked once again thinking I was late. I was never late.

“Oh no, am I late?” I asked him. He smiled and shook his head.

“No, I was just early. I didn’t want to sit until you got here.”

I relaxed and smiled back at him. I took a moment to look him over. He looked amazing in his dark wash jeans and fitted shirt. We followed the hostess to a table and sat down. I took a silent deep breath before picking up the menu to distract myself a bit. I needed the distraction, because otherwise I was going to be thinking about how nervous I was.

“Do you want to get a bottle of wine?” Patrick asked.

“Unless you plan on drinking most of it, it might be a waste. I never have more than a glass,” I told him. He smiled over at me.

“Just a glass each then it is.”

We put in our drink orders and then continued to look over the menu in silence. I was practically hiding behind mine. Our waiter arrived with our drinks and we gave him our orders. Now that the menu was gone I didn’t have anything but the wine to distract me. I forced myself to only take a small sip and take my time drinking it.

“So you wanted to talk to me about the games you and Nathan could attend,” Patrick said. My nerves relaxed a little bit and I nodded. This was why we were here afterall.

“Yeah, I did. We’ll only need tickets for weekend games. I just wouldn’t feel right bringing Nathan to a game on a weekday with school the next morning. So basically Friday nights, Saturday, and if there are any Sunday afternoons,” I explained.

“Sounds good. I won’t worry about the rest of the nights then. I’ll just automatically have the tickets at will call waiting for you guys each game,” he told me.

“Thanks again for doing this for him.”

“You need to stop thanking me. I’ve told you it’s not a problem at all.” I blushed a little and nodded before taking another small sip of my wine. Now that the issue with Nathan was sorted out I didn’t know what to say. Thankfully Patrick spoke up. “I know that we probably could have said that over the phone, but thanks for meeting me for dinner. It gets lonely eating alone all the time.”

“I know what you mean,” I told him truthfully. Very very rarely did I ever have a meal with anyone else.

“It doesn’t help that I can’t cook either. No one wants to come over when your specialty is pressing the speed dial for pizza,” he joked. I laughed, unable to help myself.

“You can’t be that bad,” I insisted. He rolled his eyes.

“I’ve been known to royally screw up spaghetti.” I laughed again and he joined in. “How about you? Do you cook?”

“Yeah, I do actually. I enjoy it. I mean I’m not a culinary master, but I get the job done,” I explained.

“Did someone teach you, or were you just naturally good at it?” he asked.

“I’m self taught.”

“Impressive. My mother spent years trying to teach me how to cook knowing I’d be on my own someday. She’s very disappointed to have an offspring who is useless in the kitchen.” I laughed again.

“I’m sure she’s not that disappointed. You must have other talents. Like hockey.” Patrick shrugged.

“Trust me, that’s hardly consolation to her. Now my brother, he can cook a mean roast. Makes her proud. Every year when I come home she keeps trying to teach me. My father just rolls his eyes at her determination.”

“Well, she’s obviously worried about what you’re eating. If pizza on speed dial is the specialty, I’d say she has good reason.” He laughed and agreed.

“So how about your family? What are they like?” It was an innocent enough question, but my smile faded. It was the first time my family had been brought up between us. I took a deep breath before responding.

“It’s just me,” I told him quietly, casting my eyes down to the table. I didn’t like talking about my family.

“Oh, Gabrielle, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize,” he apologized. I looked back up at him and gave him a small smile.

“Don’t apologize. It’s been 9 years,” I told him trying to shrug it off.

Our dinner came just at that moment and I was thankful. We both looked down at our food after the waiter had moved off, but neither of us made a move to start eating. Desperate to get the pall out of dinner I brought up the only thing I could think of.

“So how did you get started with hockey?” I asked. He looked up at me and smiled, obviously relieve at the topic change.

“Now that’s a long story,” he began.

“You’re Canadian?” I joked. He laughed.

“I guess it’s not that long,” he replied while still laughing.

The rest of the dinner went off without a hitch. We had more than enough to talk about the rest of the time, avoiding the topic of my family of course. He tried to insist on taking a cab with me back to my place to make sure I got home okay, but I refused because he had to head in the opposite direction.

Before I got in the cab he took my hand and pulled me close to him, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. I felt butterflies in my stomach flutter at the touch and I’m sure I was blushing. He said he’d call me before we went our separate ways. I got into bed that night with a smile, floating on cloud 9.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Chapter 6

I sat in front of a blank canvas and closed my eyes. Painting, along with running, was a kind of therapy for me. Right now, I didn’t need any therapy. I just wanted to paint. More often than not I didn’t have anything in mind when I got into this type of mood. Usually I just sat down for a while in front of the canvas and let my mind wander.

That’s what I was doing right now. I sat there with a clear mind for a moment before I thought of yellow. I wasn’t sure what to do with the color my brain gave me, but I picked up a brush and got to work. I began blending color trying to come up with the same yellow I had seen in my mind. The moment I got it right, I knew what I was going to paint.

I put the yellow I’d constructed off to the side and got to work blending the right colors for everything else. The yellow would be last. Loxley made his way into the room and curled up at my feet. I gave him a pat on the head before starting on the painting. I zoned out of everything and focused only on the canvas. I don’t know how long I sat there before a ringing broke me out of my concentration.

“Hello?” I answered my phone without glancing down to look at who was calling.

“Gabrielle, it’s Patrick,” the voice on the other end greeted. I felt myself smile as I put the current brush I was using down and got up from my seat.

“Hey, Patrick, how are you?” I asked. I noted that it was mid-afternoon and I’d been in my “studio” for a few hours.

“Pretty good. How about you?” he returned.

“Really good. So what’s up?”

“I just wanted to check in. I felt kind of weird about how things ended Friday night.” I thought back to our conversation with Nathan. Lying to him hadn’t settled right with me either.

“For the record, I hate that we lied to Nathan about meeting to talk about you giving us tickets for the rest of the year,” I told him.

“Same here. I could tell that you were uneasy about the direction the conversation had gone when we talked about getting coffee, and it was the first thing that came to mind. I’m sorry I put you in that position.” I smiled at the apology, even though it was a completely unnecessary one.

“You don’t have to apologize. I just have a rule that I don’t discuss my personal life with students, that’s all. It was my mistake for bringing it up in the first place,” I explained.

“Well, I’ll remember that for future reference.” Future reference? That meant he wanted to see me again, right?

“You really don’t have to give us those tickets, you know. I feel like this whole situation put you into a tough spot and I would feel awful taking them over a mistake I made.”

“Nonsense. Every guy on the team is automatically given two tickets for every home game. If I didn’t give them to the two of you, they’d go unused and it would just be two empty seats in the stands. Take them,” he told me.

“Are you sure?” I wanted to double check, because it still seemed like an inconvenience to him.

“I’m positive, and if you ask me again, the answer will stay the same.” I smiled on my end of the receiver.

“Well, thank you then. I can’t even believe the amount of things you’ve done for Nathan and I in the two weeks we’ve known you. You must be some kind of saint.” I heard him laugh at the other end.

“I’m not sure anyone’s ever referred to me as a saint before,” he joked and I joined in the laughter.

“So how did your game go last night?” I asked, remembering that they’d gone on the road after the game Friday for another game.

“It wasn’t great, but thankfully our goalie played out of his mind and bailed us out a lot. We ended up winning in a shootout,” he told me.

“Well, at least you won, right?” He let out a small laugh.

“And I managed to score a goal too,” he added.

“Well, congratulations,” I said with a grin.

Patrick and I talked for a few more minutes before we hung up. I made my way back into the studio and sat down in front of the canvas with a smile on my face. I got back to work, funneling my emotion into my work. To say that the painting was altered from my original idea at that point wouldn’t be doing it justice.

The next day I went into work just like any other day, except I knew that Gia was supposed to be coming in today. She’d skipped out on her last two appointments with me. At this point I didn’t care what we talked about, I just wanted her to show up. I said a silent prayer that she would come in before I got started on my day.

When 11:00 rolled around and the bell rang, signaling students should be in class I sat tensely at my desk. Please come in, please come in. On cue there was a knock on my door. I got up and pulled it open, revealing Gia standing on the other side. She didn’t look happy about being here, but she was here.

“Hello, Gia,” I greeted her with a smile.

She gave me a forced smile in return and I walked over to the chair I used during meetings with students. I didn’t like to sit behind my desk, feeling like it made me seem too formal. She collapsed down on the couch opposite me with a sigh and crossed her arms over her chest.

“So how are you today?” I asked. She rolled her eyes before responding.

“Fine.” I’d expected that response. It was the only response she ever gave me when I met with her.

“Good. So what’s going on in school?” I usually started off meetings with her like that. Talking about school at least gave us something to converse about before I tried to get her to open up.

“Not much. I have a math test coming up,” she offered. She looked none to pleased about that test either.

“Ooh, math. Math was never my strong point,” I admitted truthfully.

“It’s stupid. What’s the point?” she complained. I thought for a moment before answering, afraid of saying something to anger her.

“Well, I think it’s to prepare everyone. You never know what career you might fall into, so giving everyone all the basics in every subject helps when people make decisions about that. That way they have the building blocks to get started in their chosen specialty.” She made a face.

“And in what career would I need to know about obtuse and acute angles?” she questioned. I gave her a small smile, knowing my answer would only annoy her.

“Engineering. It’s pretty important to know the right angles when you build something, otherwise it wouldn’t work properly,” I responded.

“Well, I’m not going to be an engineer.”

“What do you want to be?” She remained silent at that question. Instead of responding she looked down at her feet and picked at her cuticles. I realized that I was getting as far as I would with that topic and decided to change it up. “Is anything else going on?”

“No,” she replied curtly. She was hiding something, and I could tell. She was fidgeting far too much not to be. Even so, I didn’t want to push.

“Well, we still have some time left. What would you like to talk about? Anything is fine. Your choice.” I always asked her that hoping that anything she gave me would help me understand her.

“I just want to go back to study hall.”

When she said that, she ran a hand through her hair. Her left sleeve was shoved down just enough in the process for me to see that there was a bandage on her arm. It wasn’t on her wrist which signaled to me that she hadn’t been trying to commit suicide, but was most likely cutting, and recently. My heart ached, but I knew better than to push her about it right now. If I pushed her before I’d gained her trust, I’d lose her forever.

“You can do that in a minute. We’re almost done. Why don’t you tell me about photography? I heard you’re taking that this year,” I prodded. Photography was an elective in school, and I knew that only students that cared about it took it. Most students would rather have a study hall over another class.

“It’s alright, I guess,” she replied, trying to be nonchalant about it. Even so, I could see the twinkle in her eyes for just a moment. It didn’t last long, but it was there long enough for me to see that there was something positive in her life.

“You know, I never did have the creative eye for photography. It amazes me sometimes to see the work some photographers can produce.” Gia shrugged.

“It’s not difficult really. You just have to look around you and find something that moves you. Sometimes it’s people, and sometimes it’s just the formation of rocks. You never know what will touch you,” she explained to me. It was the most she’d ever said to me before. I smiled over at her.

“I’ve heard a lot of photographers bring their cameras with them everywhere they go. Do you do that?” I asked. She shrugged again.

“Sometimes. I try to if I can, but I really need a better camera before I can take anything worthwhile.” I decided to press my luck with the newfound openness.

“You sound like you really love it. Have you ever thought about making photography your career?” I watched her shut down right in front of me. Her body language changed drastically and the look on her face turned to a scowl. She didn’t respond. Someday I wanted to find out why she refused to talk about her future.

“Can I go now?” she finally asked a minute later. I smiled over at her and nodded.

“Yeah, sure. Let me write you a pass.”

I filled out a pass for her to head back to her study hall and watched her walk out of my office. It was discouraging to know that a teenager outright refused to talk about her future. That was never a good sign, especially connected with one who cut themselves. Despite that, I felt like I’d won a small victory. I’d finally discovered something that she loved. When they still had something they cared about, there was always a chance to help them.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Chapter 5

I walked into work the next morning and headed straight for my office. I went through my normal routine of putting away everything I’d brought in with me before checking my schedule for the day. Not long after I got there I heard a knock on my door. I looked up and smiled when I saw Paige poking her head in.

“Good morning,” I greeted her cheerfully. Her jaw dropped as she walked into my office.

“What did you just say to me?” she asked. I furrowed my brow in confusion. What was so offensive about ‘good morning’?

“I said ‘good morning’,” I repeated. She crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at me.

“Now why would you do that?”

“Because it’s the morning. What’s your deal?”

“You’re not yelling at me. Are you using some sort of weird psychological thing on me? You’re being nice to me to get back at me somehow?” she questioned. Then it hit me.

“Oh yeah, I’m mad at you,” I said. She grinned over at me.

“You don’t sound very angry.”

“Don’t mistake my good mood for forgiveness. What you did still wasn’t right,” I told her.

“I don’t care if it was right or not, I just care about how it went. Tell me!” she exclaimed sitting down in a chair across from me.

“We walked for a bit, talked, had dinner. Nothing big,” I explained. Her eyes opened wide and her smile grew.

“You went to dinner?!” she yelled.

I knew it was best to just answer her questions now rather than blow her off and face them later when she’d had time to mull over them. I prepared myself for the rapid fire exchange that was about to go down. It was how Paige worked, and honestly it was easier for me as well.

“Would you quiet down? And yes.”

“Where?”

“A tapas place a few blocks from the coffee shop.”

“You went someplace you had to share little plates of food?”

“It looked good.”

“Who picked the food?”

“Both of us.”

“You agreed on stuff?”

“Everything.”

“How long were you there?”

“Just over two hours.” She paused and that wasn’t good.

“You ate at a tapas place for more than two hours?” she asked slowly.

“We didn’t eat for two hours. The food was gone in the first hour, and we talked the rest of the time.”

I realized my mistake as soon as I finished talking. I’d said too much. Paige had thrown me off by slowing down causing me to divulge more. It was a tactic she knew worked well with me when she wanted to know more than I was giving up. Damn her.

“Hold on, you met someone that eats the same food you do and you managed to have a two hour conversation with him? Marry him, and marry him now,” she joked.

I glared at her, not appreciating the joke. I was known by others as a picky eater. I didn’t agree with that assessment, but everyone accused me of being one. I just wasn’t adventurous when it came to food. I knew what I liked and what I didn’t, that’s all. The bell signaling the start of homeroom rang and saved me from any further conversation with Paige. She shot me one last grin before leaving my office for the day.

The next evening I pulled into the school parking lot a couple hours after leaving. It was Friday and I was picking Nathan up to go to the Hawks game. I saw Nathan sitting out in front and smiled. It was Halloween and I’d half expected him not to show up. I was relieved when I saw him.

He chatted away during the car ride. I did more listening than talking but I didn’t mind. The more Nathan talked, the more comfortable he’d get with me, and the more he’d open up. I thought about what a victory it was just to have him with me and out of trouble on Halloween, notorious for hijinks. I knew that even after the game ended, there was still plenty of time for Nathan to go out, but he wasn’t out there right now.

The game was exciting and the Hawks won 5-2 over the Stars. Nathan was the same way he was the previous game. He cheered the whole game, and during stoppages he talked animatedly about anything and everything. We used the passes Patrick had left us and went downstairs and stood in practically the same place as the game before.

As we waited I couldn’t help but feel a little anxious to see Patrick again. I hadn’t talked to him since Paige’s set up. We’d seemed to get along well, and had a lot in common, but I wasn’t sure how he’d felt about it. I tried to tell myself he wouldn’t have stuck around as long as he did if he hated me, but it wasn’t sticking.

The more anxious I felt, the more frustrated with myself I got. What was I worrying so much about? Patrick and I weren’t dating. That hadn’t even been a date we’d gone on. At least not to me. We’d been thrown together by my conniving friend and tried to make the best of it. Get a grip, Gabrielle.

“Are you okay, Miss Tunney?” Nathan’s voice broke into my thoughts. Great, I’d been ignoring him since we’d gotten down here. Way to gain his trust.

“Oh, yeah, I’m sorry. I guess I’m just tired. What were you saying?” This time I listened as Nathan talked on.

“Hey, Patrick!” Nathan exclaimed a few minutes later. I turned around to see Patrick walking over to us, smiling, looking as amazing as before in his suit.

“Hi guys. How are you?”

“Really good. Great game tonight. And thanks for the tickets,” Nathan gushed.

“It’s not a problem. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“Definitely. I hope you guys can keep this up. Miss Tunney promised me that she’d take me to games on the weekends if I do well in school,” Nathan told him. Patrick looked over at me and I thought I saw his smile grow.

“Is that so? That’s really nice of her.” I found myself starting to blush as I smiled back at Patrick. “Did you enjoy the game?” he asked turning to me.

“I did. I don’t know much about hockey, but I’m quickly growing to like it,” I said.

“Good. Then it won’t be torture to drag this kid here then,” he joked. Nathan and I both laughed.

“Sharpie, can I catch a ride with you tonight?” another guy in a suit asked walking over to us. I recognized him as the same guy that had come over the game before.

“No problem, Burs,” Patrick agreed. The other guy thanked him before walking away and talking to a few of the wives or girlfriends.

“Burs? Is that the guy who gave you the ringtone?” I asked remembering “Barbie Girl” playing on his phone the other day. Patrick laughed.

“Yeah, that was him. I still haven’t figured out how to get him back for that,” he said.

“Barbie Girl?” Nathan asked, snapping my attention back onto him. Shit, I’d forgotten he was there. What was wrong with me?

It was a cardinal rule in my book to not discuss anything from my personal life in front of students and I’d just done it. Maybe it hadn’t been much, but it definitely implied that Patrick and I had at least talked to each other away from Nathan. Patrick unfortunately didn’t know my cardinal rule and filled in the blanks.

“Yeah, Burish changed the ringtone on my phone to that God awful ‘Barbie Girl’ song the other day. Then when he knew I was out with Gabrielle he called hoping to embarrass me. It worked,” he explained. Nathan looked between Patrick and I in surprise and I felt myself blushing again.

“You two went out?” he questioned.

“Well, we didn’t exactly,” I started. I paused trying to think of something to say.

“She just wanted to talk to me about bringing you to the games. I told her I’d provide the tickets for any games you were going to come to.” His response caught me completely off guard. He glanced over at me quickly and smiled.

“Really?!” Nathan asked excitedly.

“Yeah, so we’ll have those seats all season,” I told him, going along with the lie. I didn’t like lying, but it seemed much easier than getting into the truth right now.

“That’s awesome! Thank you!” Nathan exclaimed to Patrick.

“They were going to go unused otherwise. It’s not like I have anyone else to give them to,” he said glancing at me again. I didn’t have to read into that comment.

“Sharpie, we gotta go!” the same guy from before, Burish, called.

“Yeah, sorry about this. We’re on the road tomorrow so we’re flying out tonight. I’ve gotta get going. It was really nice to see you again. I guess I’ll be seeing you at the next game,” Patrick said.

Nathan and I said our goodbyes before making our way out of the rink and to the car. He spent a great deal of the car ride talking about how cool Patrick was for giving us those tickets. After I dropped Nathan off I went home. I tried to get to bed early, but thoughts about the night were keeping me up.

Patrick basically saved my ass by covering for me and making up a story to tell Nathan. I never let my guard down like that in front of students, but I’d screwed up tonight. He’d rushed in and rescued me without even knowing why he was. That touched me, and what touched me more was the fact that he was offering us tickets for the rest of the season. I still couldn’t believe it. I never would have asked him for tickets. I thought about turning them down, but decided against it. Nathan would never forgive me if I did that.

The more I thought about Patrick the more I liked him, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. On one hand I was scared and wanted to run away. Guys and I just didn’t mix. We never had. It had been years since I’d even allowed myself to get close to one, which just made this even more nerve-wracking.

On the other hand I was lonely. I hadn’t realized how lonely I was until the other night with Patrick. For years I’d told myself that I could live by myself and be happy. I thought I had been. I’d shunned every guy that had ever come along making myself believe that I would be happier on my own. Now Patrick had put a crack into that logic. I hardly knew him, which made it a very small crack, but it was a crack nonetheless.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Chapter 4

Patrick stood in front of a mirror in his house studying the outfit he had on. He had on jeans and a t-shirt with a zip-up hoodie to go over it. He rolled his eyes at himself. What the hell was he worried about? They were grabbing coffee, for fuck’s sake. He turned his back on his reflection deciding that the outfit would just have to do.

The problem was he didn’t quite know how to dress. Gabrielle had asked him to get coffee, but was it a date? He wasn’t quite sure, hence the problem with what he should wear. If it was just coffee, then he was dressed appropriately. If it was a date and it was so late in the day, there was a potential for getting dinner after and his outfit would definitely limit their options for food. Oh man, he sounded like a girl right now.

He grabbed his car keys and left his house before he could second guess himself any more. After entering the address into his GPS he followed the directions. He parked his car and walked in exactly at 4. At least his fuss with his clothes hadn’t made him late. He looked around for Gabrielle and spotted her in line.

“Hey, Gabrielle,” he greeted her, walking over. She spun around and her eyes went wide. Was that in surprise? It couldn’t be.

“Patrick!” she exclaimed. She definitely sounded surprised. He wasn’t sure what to do at this point, so he went with the first thing that came to mind.

“Sorry if I’m late. I wasn’t exactly sure where this place was,” he told her. Her eyebrows shot up and she cocked her head to the side.

“Late for what?” she asked. What the hell was going on?

“Coffee,” he replied dumbly.

“Coffee doesn’t like to be kept waiting?” Sarcasm was mixed in with her confusion.

“I’m sorry, I thought we were meeting for coffee today. Did I get the wrong day?” Now she was looking at him like he was crazy. Maybe he was. He didn’t imagine that text, did he?

“We were meeting for coffee?” Okay, he’d had enough. He pulled out his phone and searched for the text, finding it a minute later.

“This is your number, right?” he asked, showing her the text.

Her eyes narrowed as she studied the screen before opening wide. Her jaw dropped and then something else besides surprise and confusion appeared in her face. Was that anger? Had he done something to upset her?

“Excuse me for a moment,” she said.

He just nodded as he watched her walk out of line and over to a table where a man and a woman sat. The words she was using weren’t audible, but he could feel the anger radiating off of her from the other side of the coffee shop. The man looked stunned at the exchange passing between the two women, but the woman Gabrielle was talking to just looked amused.

“I’d sleep with one eye open if I were you!” Gabrielle yelled over her shoulder to the woman as she made her way back over to him.

“Is everything okay?” he asked with worry.

“Everything’s fine. I’m just going to have one less friend in the morning.”










I walked into the usual coffee shop with Paige after work on Wednesday of that week. She’d actually been really good the last two days. She hadn’t mentioned Patrick or the fact that I was going to my second hockey game on Friday once since we got coffee on Monday. To be honest, I was surprised, but I wasn’t complaining.

“He’s already got a table!” Paige called out when we walked in.

“He?” I asked. I watched her rush over to a table near the window and lean over to kiss the guy sitting there. Her boyfriend Harding was there with a coffee already sitting on the table for himself and Paige.

“Hello, Gabrielle. I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything, but I didn’t know what you’d want,” he greeted me when I made my way over.

“Hi. I didn’t know you were coming today,” I replied.

“Sorry, I guess I forgot to tell you. It’s okay, right? He has an early flight in the morning so he wanted to take me out for an early dinner but we already had plans to come here. I figured it wasn’t a problem,” Paige explained.

“It’s not, I don’t mind. This way I get to be the third wheel, which is super fun!” I joked. I really didn’t mind at all. I liked Harding a lot, and if he was there it would keep Paige’s nagging on me down to a minimum.

“Oh, I wouldn’t count on that,” Paige said. I gave her a strange look not really sure what that meant. Instead of asking I walked over to the counter and got in line to get myself something to drink.

“Hey, Gabrielle,” a male voice said from behind me. I turned around to see Patrick standing there. My eyes widened in surprise. What were the odds?

“Patrick!”

“Sorry if I’m late. I wasn’t exactly sure where this place was,” he told her. What was he talking about?

“Late for what?” I asked.

“Coffee,” he replied.

“Coffee doesn’t like to be kept waiting?” Something wasn’t making sense here, right?

“I’m sorry, I thought we were meeting for coffee today. Did I get the wrong day?” What the hell was he talking about? Patrick looked genuinely confused and I was equally as confused.

“We were meeting for coffee?” He pulled a phone out of his pocket and started scrolling through it until he found what he was looking for.

“This is your number, right?”

I looked at the screen and saw that it was in fact my number accompanying a text that asked him to meet me for coffee at 4:00 today. The only problem was that I’d never sent that text. Suddenly I remembered the last thing Paige had said to me. Anger boiled up in me as I realized exactly why she hadn’t brought up Patrick the last two days.

“Excuse me for a moment,” I told Patrick and stalked over to the table where Paige and Harding were sitting. “You did this!” I yelled at her. Harding looked up at me in shock and Paige just laughed.

“Did what?” I glared down at her.

“Don’t play innocent with me, Paige. You sent that text to Patrick, didn’t you?!” I spat at her. She grinned.

“So what if I did? He wanted to come. Are you just going to blow him off now?” she questioned.

“No, I’m not, but it wasn’t your place to do this!” I hissed.

“Maybe not, but you never would have done it,” she argued.

“This isn’t about me. You never even thought about what you were going to put Patrick through by tricking him like that. You never take anyone else’s feelings into consideration. I’m so angry that right now you’re dead to me.” I turned and started to walk away.

“You’ll thank me tomorrow,” I heard Paige say.

“I’d sleep with one eye open if I were you!” I yelled over my shoulder. I’d said some pretty horrible things to Paige, but knowing her, she didn’t take any of it seriously.

“Is everything okay?” Patrick asked.

“Everything’s fine. I’m just going to have one less friend in the morning.” I stood there for a moment in an awkward silence, not really sure what to do or say. Hoping he would get the hint I turned and walked out of the coffee shop.

“Don’t you want your coffee?” he asked, following me out.

“I just need to get out of here.” I started to walk down the street, not really sure where I was heading. I quickly realized Patrick was holding back a bit. “You coming?” I called back. I saw him smile and quickly move to catch up.

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted me to.” I stopped walking and looked at him.

“I really need to apologize. My friend Paige back there sent you that text and didn’t tell me about it. I can’t even begin to explain her rationale because it only makes sense to her. I’m really sorry,” I explained. His smile didn’t falter.

“It’s okay. Really.” Just as he finished assuring me I heard music start.

“I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world,” rang out.

Patrick and I both stopped in confusion trying to figure out where it came from. It continued to play and we both started looking around. Then I saw Patrick’s eyes go wide and his face flush as he pulled out his cell. He hit a button and the music stopped. I fought to hold back a smile and a laugh as he turned and looked at me, completely embarrassed.

“I guess we both have friends messing with us,” he said. Before I could respond, the song started again. I couldn’t hold back the laugh this time. “Excuse me.” He answered the phone and I could only hear his side of the conversation. “Since when do we pull shit like this on guys that aren’t Tazer or Kane?...Come on Burs, seriously?...I owe you big time.”

“Everything okay?” I asked with a smirk.

“Everything’s fine. I’m just going to have one less friend in the morning,” he joked using my line from earlier. I laughed and we continued to walk.

“I know it’s early, but I’m starving and going to grab something to eat. Do you want to join me?” I asked him.

“Sure, sounds good.”

Patrick and I walked into a tapas restaurant we saw as we walked. Despite any reservations I may have had towards Patrick, they all flew out the window as we talked. He was surprisingly easy to talk to. He told me a bit about his career and I told him a bit about mine. In fact, I think we both spent the entire dinner laughing.

I couldn’t believe it when I checked the time and saw that over two hours had gone by. We finally made our way out of the restaurant and went our separate ways. I didn’t even notice the smile I had on my face until I got home and saw it in the mirror. I hated to admit it, but maybe Paige had been right afterall.