Summary: When Y/N gets taken to a hockey game, the last thing she expects is to get a black eye
The energy inside the Wells Fargo centre was electric. Seas of Orange and White filtered through the stadium at every corner, whether you were a kid, a teenager or an old man, there was no denying that everyone in the arena was looking forwards to the flyers vs penguins face off. Well, Almost everyone. Standing with her back against the wall, a young woman stood out from her fellow audience members. She wasn't a fan. In fact she wasn't even sure what she was doing there. Y/N had been offered a ticket to that night's game as a last minute decision.
After her friend Alex's Friend pulled out of their plans due to a sudden stomach flu, Y/N had been offered his place. Alex knew that his friend wasn't into sports. She liked to work out and she liked to play them occasionally, but she wasn't the type to sit down and really engage herself in a game. But with no hopes of selling the tickets, Alex couldn't bare to see the ticket go to waste. So he offered them up to his friend so that he wouldn't have to go alone, and also in hopes of potentially making her a hockey fan.
"Could you at least try to look like youre having a good time?" A voice startled Y/N out of her daze. She had been staring down at her phone, doing some research on the team she was there to see. The Flyers. Obviously she understood what colour they were, but she had no idea who any of the players were or how the basic rules of hockey worked.
Y/N glanced up at her friend and offered him an apologetic smile. She knew that he was bummed out that he had to bring her, but that didn't mean that she had to act miserable. "I am- I'm just trying to gain what little knowledge I can before the puck drops." She told him. "That sounded right, right?"
Alex chortled out a laugh, even if he wished that his best friend could have gone with him instead, he applauded Y/N for trying to put in an effort at the very least. He nodded and wrapped his arms around her shoulder. At one point in time the two of them thought that they might have been a perfect match, their parents loved one another, they had a lot of things in common and they worked in the same building.
But there were only so many times that you could clean up your friend after a drunken night in college before the thought of them kissing you became repulsive.
Both Y/N and Alex felt that way. He was a frat kid and Y/N was a sorority girl for a brief stint. Their days of partying were behind them now, however the puke filled memories still remained.
"Alright- well we should head to the seats, the game is gonna start soon" Alex mentioned, leading Y/N to their section. If she was being honest, she thought that they were going to be in the upper bowl, she hadn't been to a hockey game before but she was well aware of how expensive concert tickets could be- surely hockey tickets were the same.
But as Alex lead her down towards the lower sections, she realized they were going to sit near the bench. "Holy shit Alex-" Y/N gasped. As they walked to their row, Y/N suddenly realized just how close they were. She could practically feel the chill off of the ice against her skin- if she were to take ten steps forward it would be like she was on the ice herself!
"I know right! Thats why I was really bummed when I couldn't sell the tickets- I would have gotten a great price on them." Alex sighed, passing Y/N her beer as they headed into their seats.
"So are we sitting behind the visitors or the home team." She asked, raising her brow.
Laughing softly, Alex sat down. "Home team- Flyers will be right in front of us- I'm hoping that I'll get a puck or something from Haysey." He mentioned, sipping his golden beverage.
Furrowing her brows, Y/N shook her head and looked down into her cup. She wasn't even going to bother asking who that was- she wouldn't know anyways. She watched as a few of the players dawned in orange started to skate around the rink- Warmups was coming to an end and there would be some announcements and the American anthem before the puck drop. Y/N knew that much.
From across the ice, she noticed a certain long haired brunette skate from the home team- she had no clue what his name was but judging from what she could see, he was young and attractive and relatively close to her age- at least she thought. "Who's that?" Y/N asked, pointing him out.
Looking in the direction that his friend was gesturing to, Alex smiled. "Nolan Patrick. He's awesome." Her friend answered.
Y/N nodded, letting her gaze become entrapped by the man now known to her as Nolan Patrick. She watched as the bright orange number 19 skated around the rink, his strides looking almost effortless as he glided around his teammates and fired pucks at the net.
It would appear that Nolan had noticed Y/N's staring. There weren't many people in their section just yet so he had bene able to survey who would be sitting behind the bench. When his eyes landed on the woman he felt a slightly flush cover his cheeks.
She was attractive.
Certainly Nolan had taken his fair share of women, some were models, some were puck bunnies and some were just normal people. But for some reason Y/N's gaze had made him giddy. He couldn't pin point why. Maybe it was the fact that she stood out- she wasn't wearing a jersey of any type, she didn't even have a scarf or toque on that was in favour of one of the teams. She was just there, sitting in her winter jacket and holding a beer, she was there.
"You okay Patty?" a familiar voice knocked Nolan out of his predicament. Travis Konecny, Nolan's best friend on the ice skated up to him and tapped his shins with the hockey stick.
Nodding firmly, Nolan hummed. "Yeah I'm good- That girls kinda cute eh?" He asked, subtly motioning Travis in the woman's direction- of course his best friend was less than inconspicuous, whipping his head around and pointing in the direction. "Her?" He all be shouted.
Thank god the arena was loud enough that Y/N didn't hear them, but she certainly saw them pointing. Y/N shrugged her shoulder into Alex and motioned to the two players across the ice. "I think they are looking at you." She hummed.
Alex instantly looked up in surprise, excitement radiating off him. But his shoulders slumped. "No sweetheart- they are looking at you." Before Y/N could say anything more, Number 19 was skating in their direction.
He nodded at Y/N and flicked a hockey puck onto his stick, now usually he would have just passed it through one of the camera holes or tossed it over, but no- Nolan wanted to impress. He flipped his stick and sent the puck flying over the glass- far too quickly for Y/N to prepare.
The solid rubber disk collided with her nose, causing Y/N to gasp and let out a soft cry of pain. Immediately Nolan recoiled- eyes widened and lips stretched back as he winced at what he had just done. "Holy shit." Travis spoke from beside him.
Y/N gasped, she was covered in beer from her glass and there was an aching pain throbbing in her nose. She looked up with her hands covering her nose at Nolan. He covered his mouth with his glove and furrowed his brows. "I'm so sorry!" He called out.
Alex looked at Y/N and couldn't help but laugh. He took the puck from her lap and put it in his pocket as he inspected her. As Y/N pulled her hands away, there was a slight amount of blood on his fingers and sliding down her lip. "Shit-" She winced.
Nolan saw the damage he had done and skated to the bench, grabbing the attention of the team doctor and pointing Y/N out- usually If a fan got hurt they would just go to a medic or security, but Nolan was responsible for this. He needed to try and fix it.
Coming to their row, the Team doctor smiled apologetically. "Number 19 has asked me to take a look at your nose- he would also like to apologize." He reached his hands out to usher Y/N towards the tunnel.
Immediately feeling embarrassed by the attention that had been drawn to her, Y/N held up her hands- "no no its really okay-" But Alex was not about to have that. He jabbed his elbow into her rib, causing Y/N to gasp. "Go- I dont need you bleeding on me"
Y/N flushed, her cheeks growing warm as she stood up and nodded, following the trainer who had passed her a towel to hold under her nose. They passed a few members of staff and some fans as they headed to the back of the arena. The woman soon realized that they were going into the physio office.
"If you wanna hop on the table there it will give me better access to look at your nose." The doctor pointed out to the black leather table.
Y/N nodded softly, the pain was starting to throb and Y/N couldn't help but sigh in pain. "How bad does it look?" She tried to laugh it off.
The doctor smiled. "Thankfully it doesn't look bad, but those pucks are pretty heavy so I wanna make sure you dont have a cracked nose or a concussion." He explained.
It wasn't long before Y/N was being poked and prodded at, thankfully there was no concussion, but the doctor thought there was a strong case of her having a fracture. "I'm guessing the reason the pain hasn't entirely set in yet is because of your adrenaline. So- I'm going to give you some pain relief and I suggest that you go to a doctor in the morning to be sure."
"Unfortunately, there is some bruising underneath your eye- so that will be tender for a few days. But if anything, it makes you look tough!" The doctor joked.
Y/N whined, that certainly wasn't what she wanted to hear. But nonetheless she took the pills and chugged them down with a paper cup filled with water. There was a knock at the door and Y/N lifted her head. The doctor walked over and opened up the door- revealing Nolan Patrick.
"Is she alright?" He asked.
Biting her lip, Y/N waved awkwardly. "I'm good- aren't you supposed to be on the ice?" She asked. The doctor stepped out to give them a second and Nolan sighed.
"I have a few minutes..." He pouted. "I just want to say that I'm so sorry- if there is anything I can do- and I mean anything I'll make it up to you- hell I'll pay for your medical bills!"
Chuckling softly, Y/N could see how sorry he was, she didn't want him to fret over her so she thought it would be best to break up the tension. "You know- if you wanted to get my attention, you didn't have to break my nose to do so." She smirked.
Nolan's eyes widened. "Its broken?" He walked forward and reached out to take a look before suddenly realizing what he was doing. He stepped back and smiled sheepishly- "Sorry."
Y/N shook her head. "I'm kidding- but really, its not issue. I should've been paying more attention." She admitted.
Nolan smiled softly. He took a deep breath. "Well I would still like to make it up to you..." He trailed off. Pursing his lips, he thought about it for a second. "How about I take you for coffee?"
Before Y/N could answer, the doctor was knocking on the door again- telling Nolan that he had to get out on the bench and that Y/N had to get back to her seat.
Standing up, Y/N's face filled with delight, her grin becoming contagious as Nolan's lips pulled into their own smile. "Score me a goal, and then I'll see about Coffee." She winked.
Nolan watched as she walked off, escorted by the doctor- he stood in the hallway with a smile on his lips, leaning against his hockey stick. To say that he would be playing extra hard that night was a given.
Luckily for him, he had scored more than once that night. Once at the back of the net, and once with the girl who he through a hockey puck at.