About the costume, I mean. Not about them playing the coyotes. Although Ididspend a few minutes googling around to see if such a thing existed. Spoiler: it does, but it’s a little bit too realistic for my tastes. The bunny ears with a cute thong was one thing. If I clicked ‘buy’ on this wiley coyote, we would be crossing a whole new line with our—what did he call it?—cosplay? Who knew there was a whole word made up to describe such a thing? Now I did.
Dustin was a bad husband. He was corrupting me and spoiling me in all the best ways.
The past month had truly seemed like the honeymoon phase. No fights. Lots of sex. Lots of late night phone chats. And not a single ‘define the relationship’ chat.
After we had presumably passed the immigration test, I think we were both ready to sit back and enjoy each other. So as I boarded the plane from D.C. to Chicago that fateful Friday, I never imagined it would be the last time.
“Thanks for the ride,” I told Jenny as she drove me from the airport to the United Center. The plan was, I would keep my bag in her car, then surprise Dustin after the game ... somehow. I was still foggy on exactly how I would do that.
We met Jenny’s new boyfriend Nate at the gate and headed in.
I know, who would have thought that a random drunk encounter could result in a real relation ... nevermind. I had no room to critique how other people met their partners anymore, considering my background.
“LeBlanc isn’t still angry at me for crashing his place, is he?” Nate said as we settled into our seats with beer and nachos.
I waved my hand in the air. “Nah. He was just a little irked at me for bringing people back. I think he was just expecting a little more, ah,personal, welcome home.”
“I see,” Nate said, shoving a nacho into his mouth. He had a blue and white LeBlanc Jersey on today. Hell, it seemed like half the crowd did.Even me.
At this point, I figured I might as well admit I was his puck bunny, and Ilikedit.
Our seats were just a couple of rows removed from the action, and when they announced Dustin’s name for the startinglineup as Bustin’ Dustin, I admit it, I got chills on the back of my neck.
The game began, and a warm surge of emotion spread through me. And I mean everywhere. One thing I didn’t realize was how fast of a game hockey is. I mean, they look as though they’re moving fast on TV, but when they’re up close you canreallysee how they move. It’s faster than any sport.
I smiled, remembering back to one of my earliest memories with my dad where he took me to the famous Barcelona vs Madrid football (that’s what we called soccer in Europe) rivalry game. I thought the players were running so fast. Here, though, that was ten times the case, since ice was a faster medium.
I giggled, wondering what the friction coefficient of ice was, compared with grass, though I resisted pulling out my phone to Google the statistic. I guess you can take the nerd girl out of math class but you can never take the math class out of a nerd girl.
“So ...” Jenny said, during a break in the action. “Everything’s all good with your visa and stuff?”
“Yes!” I said. “We passed with flying colors. I mean, we put on a damn good performance last time when Mr. Winterborne came to my house.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah. I accidentally checked Washington, D.C. as ‘our’ primary residence, so he came and dropped in one night.”
I told her and Nate the story about the bunny rabbit lingerie.
“Oh my gosh, the look on that officer’s face must have been hilarious! That sounds hot, actually,” Nate added, then looked at Jenny and shrugged, making awhat do you think?face.
Jenny cleared her throat. “Let’s discuss this, you know, not in a stadium of forty thousand people.”
Nate laughed. “I’m just kidding.” He paused. “Kinda. It sounds hot. A little.” He tried to gauge Jenny’s reaction.
I laughed and the action started again in the game. I felt happy for Jenny and glad that our random encounter, which had very much gotten off on the wrong foot, had started something new for her, relationship-wise. I wondered if Nate knew about her French Maid outfit. If not, I sent some hopeful vibes for him that he would find out about it soon.
A minute later, Dustin scored to put the Tigers up 1-0, and the horns in the stadium went off multiple times, the cheers from the crowds getting so loud, it was hard to hear anything. When the noise finally died down to a talkable volume, I could hear this woman behind us speaking quite clearly.
“Dustin LeBlanc is the hottest man alive. I want to eat him. Or ... whatever he wants to do. That’s what I want to do.”
“Ugh, tell me about it,” her friend added. “Do you think if we like, waited outside his locker room or something today we would have a chance?”
Jenny heard them too, and I could see the indignation flare through her as she shot me a glance. She could tell I was locked up.
“Um, excuse me, ladies,” she said. “Dustin LeBlanc is a married man.”
The two women, who were both sporting Dustin’s #13 jersey, scoffed. “Oh please.”
