I rolled my eyes and stuck my jaw out imitating her, and she shook her head at me, laughing.
“No, I mean, I missed your touch,” I told her, and lifted her hand to kiss it.
The way she looked at me then, I knew tonight was thenight.
We would break down those final barriers.
And I would ask her to be my girlfriend- officially that is.
48. Ellie
As soon as we entered the arena, it felt completely different than it did during game day. Gone were the crowds in jerseys and rock music blasting, and in their place were couples in gala attire- the men wearing suits and the ladies all in fancy dresses, with elegant music playing in the background.
Sav, Griff, and Duke walked in ahead of us and TJ, holding my hand, quickened his pace to catch up to them.
“Oh shit,” he stopped abruptly, looking down at my feet before back up to my face. “Forgot you were in heels,” he said with acringe.
“Nah, I can run in these babies. I wear them all weekend, every weekend,” I countered.
“Damn, my girl, an athlete! Yeah!” he joked and continued forward.
“Hey!” Sav called out to us when we neared, and quickly grabbed me into a hug. “You ready for your first gala, girly?” she asked with a bubbly smile.
“I guess so,” I laughed and looked at TJ for confirmation. He smiled and shrugged, then quickly grabbed two champagne flutes from a waiter bringing them around. He gallantly handed one to me and I took it to hold.
“Wanna head down to the ice, buds? I think they’re auctioning off some cool stuff,” Griffsaid.
I was confused by his “ice” comment until it came into sight.
For the event, the ice was covered with some kind of felt covering, and there were tables scattered around the entire rink with nice white tablecloths, refined place settings, and vases with white and red roses as centerpieces.
“Whoever organized this did a nice job,” I whispered to TJ as we walked down the concrete steps of the arena and toward the ice.
“Not as nice as you could’ve done,” he said, and then shimmed up behind me and grabbed mybutt.
I let out a gasp and attempted to shoot him a warning look, but I couldn’t tamper down the giggle trying toerupt.
“No one saw, swear,” he said, leaning down and giving me a quick kiss. “I just can’t wait to get you back to my place in that dress, babe,” he said gruffly, making me feel hot.
I bit my lip and changed the subject before my body combusted, “Let’s find our table, yeah?”
“Uh, now?” TJ’s face faltered.
I gave him a confused look. “Why notnow?”
“I don’t know, we could walk around and mingle for a bit? Or we could find a secret place of our own,” he winked.
I rolled my eyes at his ideas. “This is your workplace, Theodore. I think you need to take a cotillion class next time it’s offered up at CherryLane.”
“What?! Absolutely not. I am a refined gentleman… of sorts,” headded.
“Of sorts,” I snorted. “I’ll give that toya.”
“Let’s talk first,” he urged and motioned his head to theside.
“But we should find our spots, they won’t want us wandering when it’s time to sit. I always hate that,” I countered and started to pull him toward the table listings which were etched in a huge piece of glass. Who knew hockey organizations could be thisfancy?
I quickly spotted TJ’s name, because it was one of the longest names, listed as Theodore Jiffy VonnieIII.
