The Road to the Cup ~ Wattys 2015

Library

"Oh," I said.

"So, what are we going to do?" Justin asked.

"How am I supposed to know? I didn't invite you over; you just showed up! I didn't have any plans!" I said, shaking my head.

"I heard there's a nice library here. We could go check it out," Justin suggested. That was part of the reason we had gotten along. Justin loved books as much as I did; he read to kids in the Detroit area as a part of the charity work he did when he wasn't on the ice.

"Sounds good. I don't know where it is, but I can find out," I replied and texted the guys for directions.

Olli: 'The library? Really?'

Fleury: 'Who's mystery friend?'

Me: 'A guy named Chris. We went to high school together. He's Justin's best friend.'

Rob: 'Need backup?'

Sidney: 'We'll meet you at the library.'

Me: 'Seriously? I can handle myself.'

Sidney: 'Going anyways.' He attached a link with directions to the library.

Me: 'Thanks.'

Olli: 'See you soon.'

Me: 'Fine.'

"Come along, boys," I said, leading the way out of the apartment. The guys followed me and we walked to the library. It was huge. I saw Letang propped against the wall outside trying to blend in. He wasn't even being sneaky about it, so I went up to him and pushed him over.

"Aww, come on, Erin!"

"Shut up, Kris."

"Chris? That's me!" Chris said.

"No, it's a different Kris. Chris, meet Kris Letang. Kris, this is my friend from high school, Chris James," I introduced them.

"Cool," Chris said, shaking Letang's hand. I shook my head, guys were so weird. I walked into the library with Justin on my heels, and then Kris, and Chris. "I'm going to get a library card, go look around," I shooed them off my tail.

As I signed up for a card, I felt someone come stand next to me. "Erin L. Fitzpatrick. What's the 'L' stand for?" Sidney whispered.

"That's for me to know and you to find out. Or not," I replied, taking my card and beginning to wander among the shelves. Sidney followed me, looking at books as he went, but never straying very far from me. I turned a corner and bumped into Robert, dropping the books I had in my hands. "Sorry," I whispered.

"It's fine," he smiled, helping me pick them up.

"Are you okay?" Sidney came to find us crouching on the ground.

"She's fine," Robert said. Sidney nodded, and I could feel the tension rolling off of them. I grabbed my books from Robert and left them standing there. My gaze flicked around the library as I tried to find an empty corner where I could read without being found by any of my new, or old, friends. I found one and sat down, burying my face in the pages. I sat on my jacket to hide it, and slouched to make myself less visible. I heard them looking for me, and a few of them came really close, but walked right by without noticing me. Sidney walked right in front of me without looking, and he would have kept walking if I hadn't snorted in amusement at his stupidity. He whipped around and saw me. "You've been hiding here for an hour?"

"Shh," I pressed a finger to my lips and smirked. He gave me a dirty look and I shrugged, going back to my book. He sighed and sank onto the bench next to me.