“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Sophie told Catherine for the fifth time as they made their way through the crowd and into the building for the Caps Convention. There were so many people. Sophie hated crowds. There were always at least a few nasty, foul-mouthed morons, who decided to express opinions no one cared about. There were usually a couple of fights that she hoped to steer clear of.
“He’ll be here. Maybe you’ll run into him again,” Catherine said goading her.
“He wouldn’t even remember me. That was months ago.” She smiled at the memory of meeting Alex Ovechkin and how in just a few short minutes, he had completely changed her perception of him.
“You should have worn the jersey.”
“What? And have some crazy fan rip it off me?”
“That wouldn’t happen.”
“You never know,” she answered, tugging at the bottom of the Washington Capitals t-shirt she borrowed from her friend. I was a Mike Green shersey, naturally. They walked through the Washington Convention Center, pausing at various booths making their way to the stage. They found a couple a seats near the back and waited. It was so loud. It wasn’t just a hum of people talking and laughing, it was a roar. Sophie jumped when the announcer came on the PA and said that Green, Backstrom and Ovechkin would be taking the stage momentarily for some questions. People continued scrambling for seats for the next fifteen minutes. The ‘Rock the Red’ music began and people began to cheer. The three stars took the stage with waves and fist pumps and the level of testosterone in the building sky-rocketed. They were all wearing jeans and their Capitals jerseys. Alex was wearing flip-flops. The MC asked the same mundane questions that the guys always answered: when or how did you start playing hockey? Who was your favorite player growing up? How do you stay in shape? They each took turns answering the question and Sophie was slightly bored except that she liked the sound of Alex’s voice. She would wait to hear him speak. When it was his turn to answer the how do you stay in shape question, he laughed.
“Sex is very good workout. That’s all, lots sex.” And naturally, the crowd laughed and cheered him. Sophie was smiling herself. After a few more questions, the guys made their way off the stage. Sophie followed Catherine around to watch the shoot out contest. There was a net set up and equipment that measured the speed of their shot. Catherine was insisting that Green would be the fastest when her eyes grew wide staring at something just over Sophie’s shoulder. Sophie turned and bumped into someone.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she apologized and found herself looking into a pair of piercing blue eyes. “Oh, Alex… hi.”
“Do we know each other?” he said raising an eyebrow. Her heart fell just a little bit.
“Um… I don’t expect you would remember, but you were very kind to me a few months ago.”
“Did we have sex?” he asked biting the inside of his lip to keep from smiling.
“Uh… no.” Good grief. She rolled her eyes and turned away motioning Catherine to move on when he grabbed her hand and turned her palm up to look at it.
“All healed… Sophia, the Pens fan?” he smirked.
“You did remember,” she wrenched her hand from his and hit him in the chest. His laughter was contagious though and she had to join him. “Did we have sex?” she mimicked his voice.
“But you want to.”
“In your dreams, Ovechkin,” she exclaimed. “You said it yourself, I’m a Pens fan.”
Catherine stood watching this exchange with her mouth open. She finally had the sense to close it when Alex turned his attention to her. “This is friend? The one who like Greenie?”
Catherine’s face turned red and she gave Sophie a look that could kill.
“Yes,” Sophie answered. “This is Catherine.”
“You know, Katerina, Greenie, he is nothing special. You are better off with my signature instead.”
“Hey, I heard that,” Green said coming up behind Alex on the way to the shootout competition. “Don’t listen to him. He’s just afraid I’ll beat him here in a minute.”
Alex smirked, “I am afraid of nothing.”
“Hi, I’m Mike. Stay away from this guy. He’s an asshole.” Green shook both the girl’s hands and signed the same picture for Catherine that Alex had previously signed. She was literally glowing with excitement. Every time Green looked at her, her face would flush.
He and Alex continued to chirp at each other throughout the competition, which as it turned out, Alex did win.
“So, what my prize?” Alex joked and looked directly at Sophie, his fierce blue eyes clearly suggesting that she should be it. The coordinator appeared and led Mike and Alex off to their next scheduled event. Alex glanced back over his shoulder at Sophie and smiled.
“That was amazing,” cried Catherine. “He was so nice. Did you see him smile at me? Sophie?” It took just a moment for Sophie to register what her friend was saying. Alex seemed to claim her entire focus without her even realizing it.
“Hmm?”
“Did you see Mike smile at me? He’s so dreamy!”
“Yeah, dreamy,” she answered her friend, not really paying attention to what she said.
The rest of the day at the convention was a blur of nothing special. She and Catherine made their way to the exit close to 4 pm. There would be quite of bit of traffic on the commute back to Baltimore. She caught his eye one last time as they were leaving and she waved at him. As she stepped out to the parking lot, she heard him call after her.
“Hey, Pens fan!”
She turned and so did a dozen fans dressed in red. Appalled, she put her index finger to her lips and shushed him. A crowd of people had already begun to form around him.
“Wait, I don’t even know your last name,” he called after her.
“Murray. Sophia Murray.”
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