The game was fantastic. We were playing against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The tickets that Alex had left for her and Catherine were right down by the glass. Sophie had never seen a game this close before. During warm up Alex skated by them and slapped the glass with his glove making both of them jump. He looked over his shoulder and she could tell he was laughing. The game itself was very fast and physical. There were a lot of hits. Alex was living up to his “Russian Rocket” nickname. He scored two goals and had two assists. He also spent a total of 6 minutes in the penalty box, the last two of which were in the last period and it made Alex very mad. He was swearing from the box and came just short of slapping the glass as he entered. Alex continued to yell at Steve Downie as Steve went back to the visitor’s bench. Downie was taunting him when Green scored a short-handed goal making the score 4-2, Capitals. A grinning Alex waved at Downie as he passed the bench on his way back to his own. Just over a minute later, the final horn sounded the end of the game. Alex took a turn around the ice as the #1 star of the night. Catherine was still chattering on as they collected their things to make their way out of the arena. Her phone screamed, “Elvis has just left the building!” as her text notification went off.
“Hey Pens fan, what you think of real hockey?” It was a text from Alex. She rolled her eyes.
“When does it start?” she replied, smiling to herself.
“You stay? Wait for me?” Her heart leapt. She conferred with her friend who naturally jumped up and down crying yes.
“Okay,” she answered him. She was excited to see how he was after a game. He was always so hyper and full of life. She couldn’t imagine what the adrenaline of a hockey game would do to him.
Fifteen minutes later, a security guard approached them. He led them back toward the locker room. Alex was hurrying out as they reached the door. His hair was damp from the shower. He smiled wide and their eyes locked. It reminded Sophie of the first time she’d looked into those deep blue eyes.
“So, you think you get better hockey in Pittsburgh?” he grimaced. “Do their captain score goals for you?”
She grinned and looked down at the floor, she raised her eyes back up to his in awe. “You are amazing to watch,” she answered biting her lip.
His eyes travelled across her face and his gaze rested on her full lips for a moment before he turned to Catherine.
“And Katerina, you like game?”
“Absolutely,” she said and then caught her breath as Mike Green walked out of the locker room and came over to them, he was quickly followed by Semin and Backstrom.
“You coming, Alex?”
“You want to come out with us? We going to little place Greenie likes. It’s more quiet. Greenie’s old man tonight.”
“Hey! You’re older than me.”
“One month don’t count. You act like old man some days,” Alex sneered. Green gave him a solid shove in the chest that was as much rebellious as it was playful. Alex batted his arm away, ignoring him and introduced Semin and Backstrom to the girls. Alex introduced Catherine as Katerina and she didn’t bother to correct him. Sophie thought she actually liked it when he called her that. She definitely liked that he called her Sophia. They accompanied the hockey stars to a place called Bellas. It was a beautiful old Italian café. There was a brick oven where the pizza was baked and in you could watch the chefs toss the pizza crusts. They put on quite a show and Sophie could see why Green enjoyed this place. It was busy, but intimate and he watched the man behind the counter toss the dough almost constantly. A few of the patrons came over to say hello to the guys and congratulated them on their win. It wasn’t a bad as she thought to be out in public with them. The people were nice, but not intrusive. She wondered if this was the norm. There was a small stage set off to the left. The café seemed a little small to have live music.
“No, you sing. You know, what’s called?” Alex said when she questioned him.
“Karaoke?”
“Yes, Greenie sings like animal caught in trap.”
She giggled at the thought of any of them up there making fools of themselves belting out songs. She wondered if she would get to see that first hand tonight.
“What about you?” she asked.
“I good. I good at everything,” he replied smiling. “But I sing in Russian.”
“They have Russian songs on the Karaoke machine?” she exclaimed.
“No.” He smiled at her and she watched his eyes travel across her face again. She felt slightly uncomfortable under his gaze. She loved looking at him too. He was beautiful even with the missing a tooth and broken nose. Alex played hockey with a reckless abandon that took its toll on his features. But she didn’t see those things anymore. When she looked at him, all she saw was the intense, deep blue eyes, high cheekbones, full lips, strong jaw and dark brown hair with just a hint of gold that came out in the sunshine. His eyes lit up when he smiled which was nearly all the time. They didn’t just shine, but danced with joy. He was irrepressible and his mood was contagious. She constantly felt some sort of euphoria when she was with him. By the end of the night, Green and Backstrom had gone up to the stage and sang a duet together, if you could actually call it singing. Alex was right. It was good thing they were good at hockey.
It was a long quiet drive back to Baltimore. Alex had protested her departure.
“I have big house, many rooms. You stay.”
“I have a class tomorrow. I really can’t miss it. Catherine has work.” They were real reasons, but somehow they seemed more of an excuse. She was so taken in by him, she was almost scared. It had been a long time since someone made her feel the way he did. She wasn’t sure where she wanted it to go. He hadn’t even kissed her yet. She’d left him standing in the parking lot with only a kiss on the cheek, but she could still feel the echo of his hands in her hair. It hadn’t faded now that she was stepping into her own home and throwing the bolt. The warm glow of the evening quickly faded into fear; however, as she saw scattered glass on the floor in the living room.
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