The Pursuit of Happiness (Patrick Kane)

|Four|

Patrick

"She's not coming. She only told you she was so you would stop texting her" my irritating buddy Jonny chirps as I sit by the front door of the bowling alley. Our friends were inside getting ready for the game like Jonathan should have been doing, but he decided messing with me was a better use of his time.

"I told her 3:45, she still has a few minutes" I defend.

"She didn't even want to talk to you let alone come hang out with you. She's standing you up" he claims just trying to get under my skin. Sadly it was a working.

"Can you please, for the love of god, shut the fuck up" I beg. I only told him I was coming to this because I was a part of the team and I hadn't seen a lot of the guys for a while. But I'm not afraid to leave this place just to get away from him.

"Alright alright alright, but I want first peak at this girl" he claims.

So I let him bother me for a few more minutes before another car pulls up. I see Kayleigh get out of the drivers side and close the door behind her. I smile as she grabs her friend and heads into the bowling alley. She makes it in at 3:45 exactly as she stops in front of me.

"Hey Patrick" she smiles as I smile back. She's just as stunning as I remembered her. Her long light brown hair pulled back and big green eyes taking in every detail around her, not missing a thing.

"Hey Kaileigh. It's really good to see you again" I say as Jon starts to snicker behind me. I nudge him hard enough causing him to stop. "This is my friend Jon. He's a pain in the ass but you'll warm up to him."

"Nice to meet you Jon" she smiles. "And this is my friend Melissa. She's a pain in the ass too" she claims making her friend scoff.

We go and get our shoes and pick out our bowling balls before getting ready in a lane. I introduce everyone with us to the girls and get the games under way. This was pretty much team bonding with some of the significant others around to keep us under control. I honestly only asked Kayleigh to join us because the boys were pressuring me to, I thought for sure she would turn me down. But I guess like many times before, I was wrong.

We get started and as always the guys joke around and try their best to impress the girls. And there Kayleigh sat stoic as she just watched, learned and took in everything. I can tell she's going to be a amazing government official one day, not too long from now. She commands a room and she commands respect, and I liked that about her. She didn't try to people please, she had morals and she stuck to them.

"So Kaileigh, how did you end up in public administration" Jonny wonders.

She just smiles as she shrugs her shoulders. "Have you ever had a feeling that you are here to do more than the people around you" she asks.

"All the time. Except for when Patrick's around" he jokes as I roll my eyes.

"I grew up in a strictly conservative environment where everything you're told you're supposed to believe. We are told all these things and are expected to not say anything else, but I couldn't just sit there and believe what was being said to me. I didn't want to live not knowing if what I was saying was true or not, or if I believed in the right things.

I went to school in a wealthy neighborhood where every kid had a place to come home to and often had beach houses for the school breaks. And if you went a few miles south it was complete impoverishment and they were forced to go to a school with less educated teachers, less funding and less opportunities. And I know that there's a little girl who was just like me, just as smart and just as determined and I am the only one who got to chase our dreams. That other little girl didn't get into college because her family couldn't afford it, she had to take a job just to support her family and no way of supporting her dreams.

I want to do what I do because of that little girl and all the other people like her. Everyone at least deserves a chance to do good, especially those who don't ever get it. Chicago is full of potential and heart break, this is a great place to start helping people find their voice, thier opportunities to grow and change their lives for the better" she explains.

I just smile as Jonny shakes his head at her. He didn't believe me that she was a lot like him, maybe even better. But she proved him wrong, just like I knew she would. "You are quite the intuitive girl, I think you're going to do a lot of great things" he claims.

"We have to start somewhere, you know? And I know throwing my twenties away trying to do something people in their fifties haven't been able to accomplish might not seem like a good idea, but I know it'll be worth it. To be what this nation expected when we started" she says.

"Do you have plans for if that falls through" I wonder.

She turns to me with those bright eyes and I realized that was the wrong question to ask. "Did you have a backup plan to hockey" she counters.

"No" I admit.

"Exactly. If I'm doing what I want there should be no doubt in my mind that this is what I should be doing. You can't have different dreams because that defers away from the main goal. If you want to be good at something you have to give it your all, the people of this world have my all" she insists.

"Well in that case we're pretty lucky" I admit as she fights off a smile. She looks away and for a second it almost looked like I made her blush.

We play three games before we started to get tired. Once we all were introduced and let loose a little we actually meshed well together despite being very different form each other. It's a "when worlds collide" type of thing with athletes and future leaders playing together. But I had a lot of fun with Kayleigh and Melissa and they guys liked them too.

Eventually the guys start to leave and I lose Kayleigh for a second. I find her taking to Patrick Sharp and his fiancé before they walk away. I walk over her to make sure my hockey dad didn't do anything too embarrassing.

"You have some pretty cool friends" she starts and I raise my eyebrow.

"Really" I ask as she starts to laugh at me.

"Yeah. You do. Maybe I was wrong" she claims and I nearly choke. "What!? I can admit when I'm wrong? That's a part of being a good person is recognizing fault and admitting it" she defends.

"You're just..." I trail off as I get lost in her eyes, "I never know what you're going to say."

"Keeps you on your toes" she teases. "Thanks for inviting me tonight. I don't get out, like at all. And I wasn't originally going to text you back but Mel took my phone and texted you. But I'm happy she did" she claims. I kinda figured there was something up with that.

"I'm glad you could make it" I smile.

"Well I should get going. School started up again and I have a lot of work to do" she starts.

"Will you still be able to hang out" I wonder.

She just shrugs as she looks up at me. "I don't know. This" she says as she point around her, "This was never part of my plans."

"It can be though" I try. "Maybe."

"Maybe" she smiles.