Angels of Long Island | Mathew Barzal

~6~

The day of the date came and Sophia helped me pick my outfit out. Not knowing what we'd be doing, I dressed pretty casual but nice.

MAT'S POV

Lexi told me she lived on her college campus that was just under an hour away from Garden City. I didn't mind the drive; I was just excited to see my date. I was nervous though, I don't usually just take girls out that I meet, especially in a Starbucks.

Once I pull up to her campus, I follow the directions she gave me to get to her apartment. I park my car and walk up the steps to the small building and knock on the door. It opens to reveal a familiar face; Sophia. "Hey! I remember you!" She says. "Yeah, Sophia, right?" I ask. "Yeah, come on in, she's almost ready." She says, opening the door wider for me to step in. I look over both my shoulders and notice the girls looking at me and then I become fully aware that I'm the only guy in the room. Just then, I hear a pair of heels coming down the hall and Lexi appears. She looks amazing.

LEXI'S POV
"Hey" I say to Mat when I walk up to him. "Hey, you look great!" He says. "Thank you!" I say, looking down at my shoes and then back at him. "You ready?" He asks. I nod and hug Sophia bye before she closes the door behind us. Just as she closes the door, I can hear the other girls squeal and shout, probably about how good-looking Mat is. I hope he didn't hear any of it. He walks us to his car and opens the door for me before going to his side. After he pulls out of campus, I ask him "So where are we going?" "Nope, that's a surprise." He says.

After talking about the fact that I lived with a bunch of other girls, he pulled up to a lakeside. We hopped out of the car and walked down to the lake side and there was a picnic table there. "You hungry?" Mat asks. "Sure, I could eat." I say. Just then, he produces a bag of Chinese takeout. "Well aren't you just full of surprises." I say. He chuckles and sits down at the table, handing me a container of food.

We sat and talked for hours, after the sun had gone down. I told him everything, about my family, friends, school, hobbies. He even talked to me about hockey and what it's like playing for the Islanders.

"As fun as it is, it's stressful. Practice at 9 am sharp every day, games during the week and on the weekends, all that. But it's my dream and hard work is rewarded by dreams coming true. I live a life most little boys dream of but sometimes never get so I can't complain. Just trying to be remembered for what I do." He explains. I smile at him and say "That's awesome. It's good to have something to invest in. Must be hard to balance having a social life on top of that." I add. "Not as hard as you may think, some of the guys are my closest friends. I'm always with them and they're who I go. I actually was living in a teammate's basement until I got my feet on the ground."

"Well what about you? Why journalism? And why here?" He asks, leaning forward on the table and resting his chin in his hand. "I've always loved to write. As a kid, my mom told me I had a very colorful imagination. As a teenager and young adult, when I had the resources to write stories, I did. I spent hours on the computer writing stories. Journalism just seemed like the right outlet. Minoring in literature opened the door." I tell Mat. "Have you ever thought about working in sports?" He asks. "Briefly, but I don't know if I understand enough sports to be able to produce quality work about it." I say. "That's understandable." Mat says.

After a while, Mat suggests taking me home since it was getting very late. We hop in the car and head towards school. On the ride back, I had my hand rested on the center console and after a while, Mat went to do the same, not realizing my hand was already there. He bumped my hand with his and hesitantly pulled away; until I reached over and slid my fingers between his. He held my hand in his lap, resting on his leg. He looked over at me while driving occasionally, smiling. We sat in comfortable silence the whole way back. When we reach campus again, he pulls up to my building and shuts the car off. He looked over at me and smiled. "Tonight, was fun, I had a really good time." He said. "Mat, thank you for this; no one's ever done anything like this for me before." I say. "It was my pleasure." He says, with a hint of a Canadian accent, I noticed through dinner. He got out of the car and ran around to my side to open it for me. I climb out and he shuts the door. I lean against the side of his car and smile at him. "When can I see you again?" He asks. "Tomorrow, if you want." I suggest. "Ok, I'll pick you up around dinnertime and we can hang out, yeah?" He says. I chuckle and say "Sounds good, Barzal. Goodnight Mat." "Goodnight." He says before leaning down and pecking my cheek. I beam from ear to ear and walk up the steps to my door. I stick my key in and open the door, turning to wave bye to Mat before closing the door behind me.