Caufield's girl

Chapter Eleven

"Put it on," he insists. At first, I hesitated, but then I slowly pulled it over my T-shirt. "Happy now?" I ask him as I roll my eyes. "That's much better." He nods in approval, but we don't have much time left for continuing any kind of conversation as we're already in the parking lot of Bell Centre. Although I managed to ask him one more thing. "Why are you doing this? All of this ... Even when I act like a bitch?" he only shakes his head in amusement, as he doesn't believe it himself. "But seriously, why? Are you flattered when women insult you?" I try to joke. "I guess I'm always up for a challenge." He shrugs as he turns off the enginge.

"Shall we?" he asks when we both get out of the car as he offers me his arm. "Is this necessary? ... Alright, alright. I'm coming." I say as I grab his arm and we walk through the infamous entrance I've already had a chance to go through once, but under more inconvenient and unpleasant circumstances. We walk through a narrow hallway, and we're not headed to the locker rooms this time but directly to the VIP lounge, which I'm already quite familiar with. He lets go of my arm as soon as we reach the lounge, which is already open. This reminds me to put on my VIP tag as soon as possible.

"Okay, I guess you won't have much trouble finding your way around here. I gotta go. Have fun." Those are his final words before he leaves me there stranded, completely alone in the mass of people I don't know. I guess this will be pretty interesting. I walk in through the doors as the security guy checks my tag. At this point, I'm allowed to enjoy the plethora of delicious food and drinks that this lounge offers. I don't hesitate to treat myself to some kind of salad and pasta that were both delicious. 

After that, I walked straight over to the bar and ordered a glass of rosé. I didn't even have a chance to take the first sip as an unfamiliar female voice interrupted me. "Hi, we haven't met before, but I guess you must be Cole's girl, the future reporter, or so I've heard?" she assumes. "Hi, oh god, we're definitely not together. It's complicated, so let's say friend." I reply in slight shock. "Oh, right. I'm Kate, Nick's girlfriend." She introduces herself. "Hi, I'm Sophia. Nice to meet you." I shake her hand.

"So, I assume it's your first time in VIP, or am I wrong?" she inquires. "Well, actually, Cole took me here yesterday, when the arena was empty. After he taught me how to skate." I admit the truth. "Oh my God, you're kidding?! Nick hasn't done anything like that for me since we've been dating. Cole must really like you; trust me, I've known these guys for over two years." She says this in amazement. "Oh, I'm not really sure about that. Most of the time, we just argue and tease each other." I elaborate. "But you know what they say: there's a very thin line between love and hate." She raises her eyebrows teasingly. "Yeah, I've heard that one before." I roll my eyes at her remark.

"Nice jersey, by the way." She compliments me. "Thanks; I was kind of forced to wear that, but never mind." I say it in an attempt to sound funny. "So, I'm not sure if you know, but it's a tradition that all the hockey wives and girlfriends watch the warm-ups closely before every match. So, if we don't want to miss it, we should probably get going." She says. "Oh, yeah, I've heard about that, but technically, I'm neither of those." I try to wake her up to reality. "C'mon, you know what I meant, plus you never know what the future holds." She winks at me. "Okay, let's go." I accept her offer, as we're already headed straight to the rink.

                                                                                              ***

We've already found our spot for watching the warm-up in the presence of other hockey wives of the other Canadiens' players. Kate immediately introduced me to all of them, and I also had to clear up the misunderstanding that they thought I was with Cole. At this point, I was fed up with it, but other than that, they were all incredibly kind, and they all seemed down to earth. It didn't take long until the boys appeared on the ice, claiming it was their own property. Now all the hockey dads came up all the way to their wives and kids, waving at them and sending them kisses. I must admit, it was sweet. Okay, it was incredibly adorable. They stay there for a couple of minutes before they skate away and practice shooting pucks into the net.

After a while, both Nick and Cole come up directly to us. Nick immediately puts on a wide smile the moment he spots his beautiful girlfriend blowing him a kiss. Then he says, "I love you," to her, and she says it back. It's cute, I must admit. In the meantime, I wish Cole good luck and give him a small wave, but purely out of politeness. He thanks me in return, and they're both on their way to practice some hits. After watching the warm-ups till the end, we head back to find our seats in the VIP section.

The match is in progress, and in the meantime, we have more time to chat about all kinds of things. "Honestly, I'm so glad I met you. Don't get me wrong, I love all the girls here, but none of them are this fun. I love your sarcasm, by the way." She admits. "Thanks; I'm glad I met you too. I thought I'd have to get through the night all alone." I reply in relief. Good, at least she likes me. I thank God silently.

The match is nearly at its end, and I've had a decent amount of fun so far. Cole was able to score once today, and Nick joined him just a couple of seconds ago, during the Montreal powerplay, when he scored the winning goal for the Habs. Kate immediately jumped out of her seat, cheering for Nick as the picture-perfect girlfriend. After a few seconds, I join her, and I clap in excitement. The match is over, and the Canadiens beat the Oilers 2-1.

"Hey, you wanna join us tonight? We're gonna go to some bar. It's also a tradition around here that if we win, almost the whole team goes for drinks to celebrate after the match. Are you up for some more fun?" She asks, waiting for my answer. "I... yeah, I guess." I reply. "Great, but at first, we have to wait for the boys." She adds. So, while the boys are doing their interviews and press conferences, we kill some time in the VIP lounge stuffing ourselves with whatever else we fancy. After half an hour, Kate gets a text from Nick that they're finished, so we waste no time and head straight to the locker rooms.

When we're almost in the locker rooms, all of a sudden Nick appears in the doorway and immediately hugs Kate and kisses her. Right after him, Cole walks out. "Hey." I say as I look at him for the first time. "Hi, you had a good time up there?" He asks. "Yeah, I've had fun. And I met Kate; she's awesome." I smile at the fact that I found someone who likes me for who I am. "Glad to hear that." He replies. "Congrats. You've been wild out there." I admit. "Thanks, but you must've been my good luck charm, I guess." He laughs as he looks at the jersey that he gave me before the game.

"So, I was wondering if you wanna go and celebrate with the rest of the team?" He asks patiently, waiting for my answer, but I don't even have a chance to respond because Kate answers for me. "She's going. I've already persuaded her." I only manage to nod in approval. "Oh, I see you two are getting along again. How wonderful." Nick says it teasingly, but Cole only manages to roll his eyes at Nick's provocative remark. "We better get going. The others will join us later." says Nick as he puts his arm around Kate's waist. "Great idea." Cole agrees, thankful that Nick doesn't say anything more stupid.