Chapter 10

I got out of the shower and got dressed. I was getting ready to go to Sidney’s game, and my housemates were joining me. Once everything had settled down earlier that morning Sidney asked me to go to the game and I had accepted. The only catch was that everyone had to come because the girls and I had already made plans to hang out together that night.

When the five of us were ready we piled into Hailey’s SUV and headed to the game. The four of them made fun of me along the way about that morning. I’d told them everything when I’d gotten home and they couldn’t believe how idiotic I’d sounded. At the time it happened I was mortified, but when I retold the story I found the humor in it all.

We picked up our tickets and passes at will call and sat down in our seats. The Penguins were playing the Sabres that night. I tried to put my newfound hockey knowledge to the test and explain things to the girls as the game went on. The Penguins put on an exciting game for us as they came back in the third to score four goals to win the game 5-2. Sidney had an assist, but Jordan had a great game, much to Grace’s excitement.

The five of us made our way downstairs to the family room. Grace and I had warned the others about the potential awkwardness in the room during the game so they were prepared for it. The only problem was that it wasn’t awkward at all.

“Hey, Tanner! Hey, Grace!” Erin exclaimed when we walked through the door with a smile on her face. The rest of the girls looked up and greeted us with smiles as well.

“Hey, guys,” I greeted.

“Are these some of your friends?” Brianne asked. Grace and I introduced Hailey, Kelly, and Lisa to them. We chatted idly with them for a bit.

“Do you guys want anything to drink? There’s plenty here,” Jenny offered pointing to a small bar in the room.

We took her up on the offer and grabbed a beer each. It was during that conversation that I finally learned who all the girls were dating. I already knew that Kelsy was dating Tyler Kennedy. Brianne was with Max Talbot, Jenny was with Kris Letang, Erin was with Brooks Orpik, and Vero was with Marc-Andre Fleury. I hadn’t met any of those guys yet so I only recognized names from seeing them on jerseys or hearing Sid talk about them.

“Are you guys planning on going to Diesel tonight?” Kelsy asked us.

“I don’t know. No one said anything to us about it,” Grace responded.

“Well, whether or not Jordan and Sid go, you guys should come out for sure,” Vero said.

“Well, I guess we’ll see what happens,” I said.

We continued talking until the guys started coming in. The girls introduced their boyfriends to all of us and they all seemed very nice. Just like Vero had said, they invited us to Diesel as well. We were discussing going when Jordan and Sidney walked in together along with Ryan.

“Hey, good game!” I said to him when he came over and kissed me.

“Yeah, you played pretty decently too,” Grace told Jordan. He smiled and thanked her.

“Sure, all the guys that played get the love,” Ryan commented.

“Hey, I’m sure you cheered really well,” Hailey told him. We laughed when he made a face at her.

“So what do you guys think about getting some food and then heading to Diesel after?” Sidney asked.

We agreed and headed out. Just like the game before Sidney exited out a different door than the others. I went with him, Grace went with Jordan, and the other three were following in Hailey’s car. Again Sidney and I were first at the restaurant and had to wait at least 20 minutes for everyone else to get there.

We ate dinner pretty quickly laughing most of the way through it. When we got to Diesel we walked right past the line of people waiting to get inside and up to the VIP section. I had never experienced anything like that before and we all just laughed as we walked in.

The guys went to get us drinks after we gave them our orders and we found the other girls and sat down with them. I met more of the guys on the team and found that they were a fun group to be around. I also noticed that Hailey and Ryan were spending a decent amount of time talking just to each other and no one else. Was my whole house going to date my boyfriend’s teammates?

“So how crazy were the fans outside the rink after the game?” Grace asked me at one point in the night. I looked over at her, confused.

“What fans?”

“The ones waiting outside for autographs when we drove out of the parking lot,” she said looking at me like I was crazy.

“There were no fans when Sidney and I left,” I told her.

“Wait, weren’t you guys at the restaurant before us? How did you miss them?” she asked.

I didn’t have an answer for her. Was that why Sidney left out of a different exit, to avoid the fans? Why would he have to do that? I made a mental note to ask him the next day when we weren’t in a loud club.

As the night wore on we all got pretty sloppy without even intending to. At some point both Hailey and Ryan disappeared altogether from the club and neither answered phone calls or texts from any of us. Grace and Jordan were the next to bow out, and were heading over to Jordan’s. Our house was closer than Sidney’s so the rest of us grabbed a cab and headed back to our place deciding to just pick up the cars the next day.

“Boy, am I glad my room is downstairs,” Kelly commented as we walked through the front door.

“No shit. I’m pretty happy mine is too,” Lisa agreed. At first I wasn’t sure what they were talking about until I saw the looks on their faces.

“You two can go fuck yourselves,” I joked as Sidney and I headed up the stairs to my room. I noticed that Hailey’s door was open and she wasn’t in it when I passed it on the way to my room. She must have gone back to Ryan’s.

“Are you sure they don’t care that I stay over?” Sidney asked shutting the door behind him.

“Trust me, you are not the first man to stay over here,” I said.

“But not with you,” he joked. I groaned and fell back onto the bed.

“You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?” He laid down on the bed next to me.

“There’s nothing to live down. You made it a bigger deal than it needed to be.” I knew he was right. I kissed him and smiled.

“I tend to do that with things. Just a fair warning.”

“Should I sleep on the couch?” he asked. I started to laugh, but saw that he was serious. God, he was perfect.

“No, you can stay in here with me. Unfortunately my twin size bed doesn’t leave us a whole lot of room.”

“So we’ll have to be touching the whole time,” he said with a grin on his face.

“Is that a problem?” I asked turning on my side to face him.

“Touching you is never a problem,” he whispered pressing his lips to mine.

I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him on top of me, taking his shirt off in the process. In my opinion the guy should always be shirtless in my presence. He undressed me, kissing and teasing me the entire time. No one had ever spent this much time and effort on me before sex, and I loved it.

I laid there later listening to his steady breaths as he slept. I was falling for him, and I was falling fast. It worried me. Just a month ago I was telling him that I had a lot I wanted to do with my life before I settled down with anyone, and I’d meant it. Now all I wanted was to spend every minute of my free time with him. I’d never had these feelings for anyone else before and it scared me. Was I really prepared for this? I fell asleep without an answer to that question.