Angels of Long Island | Mathew Barzal

~2~

The next day was the day I was heading back to school. I said goodbye to my parents and hopped in my car and started the long drive back to Stony Brook.

Once I got there, I met up with Sophia in our room and then we went to the dining hall with her for lunch. "So, what did you do in your off week?" Sophia asks. "My mom took me clothes shopping and my dad took me to lunch and work with him." I say. "Oh, that's cool, what team was he working for now?" She asks, taking a bit of her salad. "the New York Islanders." I say. "You know who's on that team, right?" Sophia asks. "Mathew Barzal." I say as I take a bite from my chick-fil-a sandwich. "Yeah! Have you seen him?! He's so hot." Sophia all but explodes. "Yeah I saw him at the rink. He's ok." I say, nonchalantly. "LEX, YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME, MAT BARZAL IS PRACTICALLY A GOD!" She whisper-yells at me across the table and reaching across to shake my shoulders. "Ok but I promised myself no guys for a long time. Remember what happened with Alex?" I say. She agrees by sitting back in her seat. "Ok, but did you at least talk to Mat when you saw him?" She asks. "No, he smiled, I smiled back and left. Plain and simple. No fangirling." I say. She rolls her eyes at me. "I can't believe you had the chance to talk to one of hockey's hottest guys and you chose not to say anything to him." "I have more important things to worry about in life. For instance, how's Daniel?" I ask. Daniel and Sophia have been dating for 3 years now. They met our first year here on campus and hit it off immediately. There was no way they wouldn't get married. "He's good, we visited his parents in Rhode Island this week and they took us to a bunch of cool places. He has lacrosse all this week though." She says. We talk for a little while more before Daniel texts Sophia asking if she and I want to go hang at his dorm for a while.

While Daniel and Sophia sit on Daniel's bed, his roommate, Jared brings in a pizza and then sits down next to me. Jared's a nice guy and he's really cute. He has had a major crush on me for almost a year. "Hey Lex." He says after he plops down next to me. "Hey." I say kind of shortly. He's tried multiple times to get with me but I always shut it down. Like I said, I have more important things to worry about.

A few weeks later, my dad called me after one of my classes just as I was walking out of the lecture hall.

"Hey dad what's up?" I ask, squishing my phone between my shoulder and my ear and jamming books and papers into my backpack.

"Hey honey! The coach of the Islanders gave me a couple tickets for a game. I was going to take your mother but she has to work and I have to meet with a team in Florida that week. Would you and Sophia want them? If not, I'll offer them to Colton but I thought I'd ask first." He explains.

"Sure, Sophia would love that. Thanks dad!" I say.
"Have a good week honey, I'll mail the tickets to your dorm. Maybe your mother and I can facetime you for a little later this week."

"Will do, dad. Love you!"

"Love you Lex." My dad says before hanging up.