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.

Chapter 3

I walked into my office on Monday morning. I was purposefully avoiding Paige because I wasn’t exactly in the mood to discuss my non-date at the hockey game the previous Saturday. What was I going to say to her? I added another 2 seconds on to the amount of time I’d spent conversing with Patrick to up the total to 5 seconds? Ridiculous.

As I began to get situated for the day I kept thinking back to the game. I’d spent way too much time thinking about Patrick and the hockey game, and being invited to another one. I didn’t like how my mind was wandering there. I also knew that Paige seemed to be able to read my mind and she’d be all over me about that. Another reason to be avoiding her.

I’d also spent some time thinking about Nathan. I’d come up with a possible opportunity to help him get back on track. I’d have to clear it with Isaiah first and make sure Nathan was up for it, but I felt like it could work. Speaking of Nathan, he didn’t waste much time in coming into my office.

“Miss Tunney?” he asked, knocking lightly on my open door. I looked up and smiled at him while I waved him in.

“Come on in, Nathan. What can I do for you?” I asked. He sat down on the couch along one of the walls in my office.

“I was wondering if you’d thought any more about the game on Friday?” he questioned. I tried to hold back the smile that was threatening to break out.

“I have thought about it, but I think I want to do a little more thinking. Why don’t you come back at the end of the day and I’ll give you my final answer?” He nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer for now.

“Okay, I’ll see you after the last bell. Bye, Miss Tunney.”

Oh yeah, I think as long as Isaiah cleared it, my idea was going to work just fine. I’d wanted to tell Nathan I’d take him, but I wasn’t going to put my job into jeopardy, which was why I’d told him to come back after school. At the very least I’d intrigued Nathan enough to keep him in school for the whole day.

I called over to Isaiah’s secretary and made an appointment to see him around lunch time. I then spent most of the rest of the morning working on my sales pitch to him. I didn’t want Isaiah to turn me down. When it was time to meet him I walked down to his office and greeted his secretary.

“Come on in, Gabrielle,” he said to me, holding open his door. I walked in and he shut the door behind me. “Have a seat.” I sat down in a chair across from his desk and waited until he sat down in his seat.

“How’s your day going?” I asked him with a smile. He looked at me suspiciously.

“Don’t try to butter me up, Tunney. What do you want?” He’d caught me. Thankfully we got along well, and I could hear the hint of amusement in his voice.

“I have a proposal and I just want you to hear me out before giving me an answer,” I started. He narrowed his eyes and nodded.

“Okay, I’ll hear you out completely, only because I’m intrigued. Continue.” I took a deep breath before going on.

“I took Nathan Oliver to a hockey game on Saturday. There’s a whole story behind it. It wasn’t my idea. The thing is, Nathan loves hockey and had a great time. If you could have just seen the look in his eyes the entire time you’d see how much being there meant to him. While we were there I started to come up with an idea. Nathan would do just about anything to go to the Blackhawks games and – " Isaiah put a hand up to signal that I should stop talking.

“Get permission from his parents and you can take him to all the games you want.” My jaw dropped in disbelief. That hadn’t been nearly as difficult as I’d been expecting.

“Really?” He smiled across his desk at me.

“I know you, Gabrielle. You’re not doing this for the wrong reasons. If you are suggesting this, you have a good reason for it.” I smiled back at his trust in me.

“I do. I was thinking of giving him a kind of ultimatum. If he stays out of trouble and stays in school getting good grades I’ll take him to a game, weekends only of course. If he gets in any sort of trouble he loses a number of games based on how serious the trouble was. The thing is, it’ll open him up a bit to me. We won’t be in a school setting so it won’t seem like he’s talking to a counselor, but just to a friend. I’m hoping it’ll help get him back on track.” I finished my speech even though I already had Isaiah’s permission. I wanted him to know where I was coming from.

“I think you know more about psychology than me. If you think it will work, it probably will. Is there anything else?” I grinned and shook my head. “Good. I’ll see you later.”

I got up and walked back to my office, a smile on my face the entire time. Now I just had to call Nathan’s parents and get their permission to take him. When I walked over to my desk I found a note lying on top of everything. It was from Paige.

You were gone all lunch, but you’re not getting out of telling me about Saturday. Meet me at 4 at our place. –Paige

I sighed and rolled my eyes but knew there was no way around it. I tossed the note in the garbage and then looked up Nathan’s home number. I called and was surprised when his mother answered and sounded pretty lucid. I explained the situation to her and she grunted out her permission before hanging up on me. Oh well, she’d said yes at least.

The day finished and Nathan was in my office almost immediately. I sat him down and explained the deal. When I was done he eagerly agreed to it. We shook hands on it and he left my office with a grin and a yell. I finished up some work before heading out of school to meet Paige. Just as I stepped foot in the parking lot, my phone rang.

“Hello?” I answered after not recognizing the number on the screen.

“Hi, is this Gabrielle?” a male voice asked.

“Yes, it is.”

“Hey, it’s Patrick Sharp,” the voice told me. I found myself smiling when I heard who it was.

“Oh, hi! How are you?” I asked.

“Good, thanks. How are you?” he returned.

“Good. I’m actually just on my out of work.”

“Sounds like I have great timing then,” he joked.

“Yes, you definitely do.”

“So I was calling about the game on Friday. I know it’s still real early in the week, but I thought I’d check to see if you’d made up your mind yet.”

“Actually, I have. Nathan and I would be happy to accept. Thanks again for the offer. It’s really sweet of you to do this for him,” I told him.

“It’s really not a problem at all. I’ll just do what I did last time so the tickets will be at will call for you,” he explained.

“Sounds good. Thanks again, Patrick.”

“Not a problem. I’ll talk to you later.” We hung up and I got into my car and drove to the coffee shop where I was meeting Paige.

“What are you smiling about?” she asked when I walked through the door. I looked at her like she was crazy.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I got in line and waited to order.

“I know you better than that. What’s going on?” I turned to her and sighed.

“I’ve actually worked something out with Nathan and Isaiah. If Nathan stays out of trouble, I’m going to take him to the Blackhawks games. He’s desperate to go, so hopefully it’ll work out,” I told her.

She made a face in disappointment, obviously expecting something more. She turned and walked over to claim a table while I waited in line. I ordered a latte and some food and made my way over to the table.

“So how did everything go on Saturday? Maybe you’re going to the games with Nathan so you can see Patrick more?” she questioned, lifting an eybrow.

“Everything went okay. The Blackhawks lost, but Nathan had a great time. We had passes for downstairs and Patrick gave Nathan a game used stick with autographs from the whole team. Then he invited us to go to the game this Friday.” She squealed way louder than necessary. “What is your problem?”

“He invited you back?!” She squealed again and I rolled my eyes.

“Yes, he did. He actually just called me on my way over here to confirm it.” I immediately regretted my words as soon as they left my mouth. Thankfully, before Paige could say anything else my food came up. I got up from the table leaving Paige staring after me.










“Have you talked to that chick since Saturday?” Burish asked Patrick after practice on Monday. Patrick shook his head.

“No, I haven’t. I was going to call her today and see if she was going to come on Friday,” he replied.

“You like her, eh?” Brent Seabrook called over.

“I don’t know her,” Patrick denied.

“That doesn’t mean you don’t want to,” Duncan Keith joined in. Patrick just shrugged.

He couldn’t exactly deny that. There was definitely something about Gabrielle. He’d noticed it the first time he’d seen her. He couldn’t put his finger on it but it was that thing that had made him offer her the tickets the first time. It was that same thing that made him offer the tickets the second time.

He called out a goodbye to the guys left in the locker room and made his way to his car. He signed a few autographs and headed home. He thought about Gabrielle some more and wondered why she kept popping into his mind. Sure she was hot, that much he knew, but there were attractive girls everywhere and no one had stood out to him like she did.

He tried to shake her out of his mind and move on with his day. Then he realized that she’d told him to call her to check about the game on Friday night. He’d originally planned on calling her later in the week, but something told him to call her today. He put it off until he figured she was out of work before he did.

He hung up with a smile after. There was really no reason for him to be smiling. It wasn’t like the conversation had been great. He’d simply asked if she wanted the tickets and that was that. But he knew he was smiling because she’d accepted them. Sure, she was bringing that student of hers, Nathan, but she was coming. A little while later his phone went off, signaling he had a text.

Coffee at 4 on Wednesday?

It was from Gabrielle. He smiled at the simple text. She wanted to see him before the game. He texted back agreeing to meet up and she gave him the address of the coffee shop. He liked how ballsy it was of her to ask him out and he looked forward to Wednesday.

Chapter 2

Wow, I can't believe all the comments I received! I'll do my best to accommodate all the requests for appearances by players. Thanks everyone!










“I’m sorry, what?” my friend Paige said to me the following Monday morning before school started. I nodded and sat down at one of the desks in her classroom.

“I’m not even kidding. The poor guy looked like a deer in headlights when Nathan yelled over at him.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“You do way too much for that kid,” she told me. She pulled out her lesson plans for the day and started rearranging things on her desk.

“He just needs someone to care about him.” She stopped what she was doing and gave me an annoyed look.

“Gabby, don’t play the savior card with me. I know you have some sort of soft spot for troubled kids, but Nathan is past the point of no return. He’s trouble and I can’t believe that you not only tried to keep him out of jail, but you’re doing something with him outside of school. Does Isaiah know about this?” she lectured. I groaned.

“I don’t know why I talk to you about anything,” I said to her as I stood up. She smiled and laughed.

“Okay, forget about Nathan. Tell me about the hockey player.” I shrugged.

“What do you want to know?” I asked.

“Um, hello? Was he hot?” It was my turn to laugh.

“Patrick was the tall, dark, and handsome type. He has a bit of a rugged bad boy look to him until he smiles. Then he just looks like the sweet open doors for you kind of guy,” I explained. Paige gave a dramatic swooning sigh.

“The best of both worlds. Who doesn’t want a sweet bad boy?”

“Someone who’s not looking for a boy of any kind,” I replied.

I looked up at the clock and saw that students would be arriving any time now. I headed for the door to get to my office but Paige stepped in front of me. She was giving me her disapproving look. I knew what that look meant. I didn’t have time for that look this morning.

“Why do you always do that?” she questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Why do I always do what?” I returned.

“Run away when the mere mention of a possible date comes up?”

“I don’t run away. And there’s no date. He was just trying to be nice and gave Nathan and I tickets to a game. It’s not like I’ll be able to talk to him. He’ll be on the ice, I’ll be in the stands. Not exactly date night material.”

“You’re getting defensive,” she accused. I threw up my hands in exasperation.

“I’m not defensive! I spent three seconds talking to the guy. Three seconds does not a relationship make,” I defended myself.

“You’re running.”

“I have to go,” I told her, desperate to get out of there right now. It was too early on a Monday morning to be having this conversation.

“Gabrielle!” she called to my back.

“Miss Carone?” a girl asked walking into the classroom, thankfully interuppting our conversation.

“Bye,” I said to Paige as I walked out of the room and to my office.

I sat down at my desk and thought about what she’d said. I didn’t run away, I just didn’t jump in either. Guys and relationships were just not high on my to-do list. At one point in my life guys had been priority #1 and that had only gotten me into a lot of trouble. I tried to avoid trouble these days.

I made it through a pretty uneventful day, thankfully without having to deal with any major issues. I went home, went for a run with Loxley and settled into the couch for a quiet and relaxing night at home. The next day I was hoping for more of the same. Unfortunately that wasn’t to be.

“You’re insane!” Paige practically shouted as she burst through the door of my office. I gave her a strange look.

“Uh, pardon?”

“I looked up Patrick Sharp. I just had to see what he looked like. Your ‘tall, dark and handsome’ description doesn’t do him justice. How could you not want to date him?” I covered my face in my hands and groaned.

“This again?”

“Dammit, Gabrielle, he’s gorgeous!” she exclaimed.

“Yes, Paige, I noticed. Still doesn’t change the fact that he’s never asked me out,” I told her. She got a smile on her face.

“So if he asked you out, you’d go?” Yeah, I’d really set myself up for that one.

“I don’t know. I know nothing about the guy.”

“That’s what dates are for.” And now we’ve come full circle.

“Look, I’m going to the game on Saturday. If by some tiny chance I maybe have any semblance of a conversation with him, I’ll let you know and we can debate the possibility of whether I’d say yes to a date if he asked me.”

“That’s a lot of uncertainties.”

“You’re just now noticing that?”

Thankfully Paige did what I asked and let it go. The rest of the week went by like most others. Gia didn’t show up for another one of her appointments with me and I was at wits end with her. I just didn’t know what to do. Nathan ran into my office on Friday bubbling over with excitement for the following night. I was almost positive he’d never been to a game.

I met Nathan at the school Saturday evening. He hopped in with a big smile on his face and it was hard not to return the smile. I parked the car when we got there and went up to will call. I opened the envelope that was handed to me and pulled out two tickets, two passes, and a note.

Just thought you two might want to come down after the game for a few autographs. Find an usher and show them the pass. They’ll tell you where to go. Hope to see you after the game. –Patrick

“That’s awesome!” Nathan exclaimed, reading the note over my shoulder.

We made our way to our seats and to Nathan’s delight we were in the lower bowl at center ice. When the game started Nathan began to cheer and I found myself searching out Patrick. I spotted him wearing the number 10 and saw that he had an “A” on his jersey. I may not be a huge hockey fan, but I wasn’t dense. The guy was an alternate captain?

The game was exciting with goals being scored left and right. It was a 5-5 tie after regulation. It ended up having to go into a shootout. Patrick was one of the shooters, but he didn’t score, much to Nathan’s dismay. The Blackhawks ended up losing in the shootout and I wondered if going downstairs after a blown lead that ended in a loss was such a good idea.

“Can we go down now?” Nathan asked eagerly as fans began to file out of the arena.

“I’m not sure it’s such a good idea. They just lost a tough game.”

He looked completely disappointed, but nodded before dropping his gaze to the floor and kicking an empty soda cup. I weighed my options and decided that I cared more about Nathan’s feelings than any of those players. His emotional state was probably more fragile and I was going to do whatever it took to help him out. If that meant annoying some professional athletes in the process, then so be it.

“Excuse me, could you tell me where we can go with these?” I asked the usher of our section.

She smiled and called over a security guard. The man that walked over took our passes and told us to follow him. He led us to an elevator that was off limits to the general public. He told us to get on the elevator, go to the bottom floor and then show the passes to the security guard down there.

There were a few other people waiting for the elevator when he walked away and I saw that it was a group of dressed up, attractive women. Must be the wives. They talked amongst themselves, hardly giving Nathan and I a glance. The elevator arrived and we all filed on. Once we’d reached our destination the women walked off and I stopped to show the passes to security.

“You can wait over there if you’d like. Feel free to go in the room and grab something to eat or drink if you’d like,” the man told me.

I looked over and saw the door the women had walked through. A few of them had stopped outside and were talking. There were kids in Blackhawk jerseys playing floor hockey a little further down the hallway. I decided not to go in the room, and instead found an open area for Nathan and I to stand and wait for Patrick to come out.

I started to see a few guys in suits start coming around a corner and walking out. Nathan explained that they were from Detroit’s team. I let him chat away about the game and the guys walking past us while we waited. An idea had started to form in my head about how to try to reach Nathan.

“Gabrielle?” I heard someone say. I turned to see Patrick walking over to us with a smile on his face. Yep, he was still hot, only now he was wearing a suit, and who didn’t look better in a suit?

“Hi! Thanks so much for the tickets and the passes. We’ve had a great time,” I thanked him.

“I’m glad. Sorry we couldn’t win for you, Nathan,” he said turning his attention to him and shaking his hand.

“Hey, I’m just glad I finally got to see a game. Really, thanks for the tickets.” I was almost surprised at Nathan’s gratitude. I’d never heard him thank anyone before.

“Was this your first?” Patrick asked him. Nathan nodded, the smile ever growing.

“Hey, Sharpie, here’s the stick you wanted,” another guy in a suit said walking over.

“Gabrielle, Nathan, this is Adam Burish,” Patrick introduced us. He shook both of our hands.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Adam greeted us.

“And this is for you. I used it tonight,” Patrick said, handing the stick to Nathan. Nathan’s eyes widened in shock as he took the stick out of Patrick’s hands. I noticed that there were signatures spanning the length of the stick.

“Thank you so much!” Nathan exclaimed.

“So, our next home game is next Friday. I know that it’s Halloween and all, but if you both wanted to come I’d be happy to give you tickets for it,” Patrick offered. Nathan looked at me eagerly.

“That’s a very generous offer. We’ll think it over. You have my number. Call me in a few days and I’ll let you know.” He smiled over at me and nodded.

“Sounds good.”

“Well, I have to get Nathan home. Thanks again for the tickets.” Patrick gave us both a smile and a small wave as we turned and walked out of the arena.