The Road to the Cup ~ Wattys 2015

Valentine's Day

I had managed to keep my mouth shut about Justin and I moving to Splitsville; Sidney didn't know, and the rest of the team thought I was dating Derek.

It was Valentine's Day and the guys were bonding over Fifty Shades of Grey. I had not been invited, and was I rather glad. If I had gone, they wouldn't have shut up during the entire thing, asking dumb questions like, "Is that what Derek is like?" and "Do you like them like that?" It was either that, or we'd all sit there silently as the level of awkwardness in the theater grew exponentially.

I was glad that we had gotten practice over quickly this morning; I didn't want to spend time with people today. I was still sad that Justin had broken up with me. I had really believed that it might work. So instead of being social like most people on Valentine's Day, I sat in my apartment watching the Red Wings game; it was probably not the best idea since Justin was playing. I should have picked up a book or a movie or done something, anything, else, but I just wanted time to be sad, and I had chosen a great day for it: Singles Awareness Day.

The Red Wings lost their game, and I was okay with that; I had my own team to worry about, especially with the Stanley Cup Playoffs just around the corner. I checked the clock; it was only mid-afternoon and I didn't have anything else to do. I decided that I could try to cook something and hope it didn't taste like rubber.

I was flipping through my cookbook when a knock came from the door. I opened the door and there was half the team. "What are you guys doing here? I thought you were going to the movies," I said, cocking my head to the side.

"It wasn't a thirteen hour movie," Beau replied.

"That doesn't answer the question, Bennett."

"What are you and Derek doing tonight?" Robert piped up.

"Nothing..." I said, not really wanting to share the specifics of what happened.

"Want to hang out with us?" Geno asked. I scanned the crowd, these were my single players. I saw Robert, Beau, Geno, Brandon, Steve, Thomas, Olli, David, and Sid.

"Umm, sure. I was going to make dinner, but-"

"That sounds awesome!" Robert said.

"Yeah, you're a great cook!" Beau said.

"Well, you two pretty much made it yourselves last time and my last few attempts have sucked, so I would rather not cook tonight..." I shrugged.

"Then we'll go out," Sidney said, catching my drift.

"Fancy?" Geno asked.

"That sounds fun!" I exclaimed and the guys groaned. "Aww, come on! You guys don't like getting all dressed up and looking hot?"

"You think we look hot?" David tried to wink and failed miserably.

I laughed, "Y'all are an attractive group of men."

"Maybe Flower was right. Maybe you are in love with us," Robert squinted at me as if he was trying to see if I was hiding something.

"How about y'all go home and get dressed and we agree to meet somewhere nice to have dinner?" I suggested.

"Where?" Thomas Greiss asked, "Haven't we exhausted all of our options for dinner?"

"Nope, there's a nice place downtown that just opened up and it's really fancy. We could go there. They serve Italian food," Sidney grinned at me.

"Sounds perfect," I replied.

"Why can't we go somewhere Finnish?" Olli complained on his way down the hallway as the guys laughed. I tried to shut the door, but Sidney caught it.