“We’re celebrating, huh?” I asked with a grin.
She nodded with a shy smile. My girl was here to have a good time, so that’s what we’d do. I would definitely keep it at a tame level despite the fact that the guys would probably try to push me over the edge. With Ellie drinking out at a bar with me for the first time, I knew I had some expectations to fill for her, and I didn’t want to ruinanything.
Ellie started the night leaning her head on my shoulder and engaging in conversation with all my teammates and their girls. But soon the girls retired over to a fire pit lounge area, and she surprised me by wanting to join them.
I made sure to stay in a position where I could keep my eyes on her, and every couple minutes we made eye contact. I lived for those quick seconds. When we looked at each other, everyone else faded away. My chest felt tight, like if I breathed too much or even moved, I’d ruin our connection, and I was desperate to keep it. I couldn’t believe my luck that this beautiful figure skater was here with me, and we had such a strong attraction to one another. I knew enough to know that this kind of deep connection was rare. Somehow, when I looked into her green eyes, I knew she was important to my life story. She was someone I was supposed to find. She was someone who was supposed to stay.
I downed my drink kind of quickly so that I’d have an excuse to go near her again. I lifted my empty glass to her, asking if she wanted a refill, and she nodded confirmation from where she sat across the room.
I maneuvered my way around to reach the bar and order another round for us, but instead of facing the guy bartender who’d helped us earlier, I was now facing that Adrienne chick who was apparently Brody’s girl. Only thing was that I hadn’t seen Brody in a while, and Adrienne’s eyes were all puffy like she’d been crying.
“You okay?” I asked quietly.
She avoided eye-contact with me and made a hand motion as if to say hurry it up, buddy. I’d have to consult with Ellie later to ask if she knew anything about this situation.
It dawned on me then that I had someone to chat with about all the ins and outs of the night. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was raised with a bunch of girls or not, but I always loved getting home and hearing all the gossip. Every time we ever went anywhere as a family, when we’d get home, we’d all go into one of the girl’s rooms and recap about everyone who was there and everything that happened. At first my sisters kicked me out during these little get-togethers, but after a while they realized I’d have some small insights to add to the conversations as well- or they just got sick of me begging to hear what they were talking about. Like sorry I wanted to know things too, guys. Let’s face it- boys do gossip, but girls are better at it… they’re better at most things than us.
When I brought back the drinks, Ellie was looking extra small sitting in an armchair between Griff and Duke, who had now joined the girls in the loungearea.
“We knew you were trying to ditch us for your pretty lady,” Duke said smugly. “So we beat ya here.” The girls all laughed at that, but I just shrugged. I was finding that Duke loved an audience, but he was also the one who got roasted the most by the team.
“Well, when ya got a lady this pretty, why waste my time with your ugly mugs,” I quipped back as I handed Ellie her refill. There was no spot for me, so I sat on the arm of her plush chair.
Griff reached over to knuckle punch me. “Always go for the looks. Duke can’t handle that,” he joked. Griff and Duke were fast becoming the guys I was closest to on the team, and it was funny how opposite they were. Griff was a married man and team veteran, where Duke was a young buck who was still feeling the bachelor vibe. He was now with a different girl than the one he was with at the lake barbeque, which was only a couple weeks ago.
“Well, back to your question from before Teej so rudely interrupted, I’ve known old Griffy for forever,” Duke was telling Ellie.
“How?” She asked, looking curiously between the two of them.
Griff shook his head, but you could see a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Kid’s always runnin his mouth and tellineveryone.”
“Aren’t you proud to be associated with me, old man?” Duke countered with a smile.
Griff looked at Ellie and relented. “He’s my brother-in-law.”
“Nooo,” I challenged, looking to Savannah for confirmation, but she was already engrossed in a different conversation with a couple other women. I saw it then, the similarities between her and Duke- they both talked with their hands, that was for sure. They had different hair because it looked like Savannah lightened hers, but they both had similar facial structures and wide smiles that lit up their whole faces.
Griff shrugged and took another sip of his beer.
“If it wasn’t for me, Griff here would be a loner,” Duke said. “Sav’s my older sis. She used to take me to games a lot, and shithead here was azebra.”
“No shit?” I asked Griff. “You met Sav because you were aref?”
“Yupp,” he confirmed. “Refereed all young Duke’s games just to see her pretty face in thestands.”
“Yeah, sure, make it sound like you volunteered to ref,” Duke said sarcastically. “It definitely wasn’t because you were being punished and needed to learn to respect the game.”
Griff chuckled at that. “That was more Nicky’s fault,” he said before draining the rest of his drink.
Duke held his beer up to the ceiling for some reason, like he was cheers-ing an imaginary friend.
“He threw me in the box a shitload too just to catch her attention. It was a long ass season,” Duke complained.
We all cracked up at that because Duke was not the cleanest player, and he usually rightfully earned his penalty minutes. The guy loved the hits. You could tell he got an extra jump in his skate when he saw an opportunity to lay someone out.
A minute later, sparklers held by waitresses started coming our way.
I looked at Griff in dread, but he just shook his head and pointed at Duke, who was laughing itup.
