* Sophie's POV *
* Six days later *
This past almost week had been full of practices, watching games to see who won the series, and preparing for any opponent we could come up against.
We knew that we would either be playing the Ducks or the Flames and game 5 of that series was going on tonight so Seabs was having a viewing party at his house so I got dressed in a grey skirt, plain white short sleeve shirt tucked into my skirt, a long silver necklace, black sandals, and straightened my hair before pulling back a couple pieces. It was just a casual event but I hadn't dressed up for a while so I decided to look nice for once.
Jon and I left for Seabs house at 6:45 since the game started at 7:30. We reached the house at 7 o'clock and I went in and helped Dayna in the kitchen since she had an 8 month baby bump.
Everyone had showed up by 7:15 and we were all just talking and hanging out. The puck was dropped and everyone watched the game closely studying each player trying to figure out their weaknesses so that when they played whoever they were going to they would know.
Anaheim won the game ending that series at 4-1 and knocking the Flames out of the playoffs.
Well it looks like we'll be going up against the Ducks in the Western Conference final, Jon said. The game were set to start up on May 17th which was three days away starting in Anaheim.
Everyone stuck around for awhile before people started to leave and get ready for practice in the morning.
I woke up at 7 o'clock and did my normal morning routine and Jon and I were out of the house by 8 since practice was later than usual at 8:30.
We got to the arena at 8:15 and while Jon changed I ferried everything we would need for practice out to the bench and then waited for practice to begin.
Practice ended at noon and Jon and I went home where I made both of us chicken salads for lunch. After we ate lunch we decided to pack up some of our stuff for the trip to Anaheim and then Jon said that Patrick had called and asked him to go out with him so he left the house while I sat and read a proofreading book from Scholastic Press in preparation for my new job in August.
* Jon's POV *
I left the house at around 2 o'clock and went to Pat's apartment to pick him up. We went to the store and hunted around for the perfect thing for the both of us. I found mine about 2 and a half hours after we started shopping and Pat found his at about the same time so we purchased them both and then quickly left the store before we were caught shopping by fans.
I drove Pat home and then drove myself home to find that Sophie was in the basement reading a book for her new job.
Hey babe, I said after I knocked on the door and went inside.
Hey, what did Pat want? she asked me.
He wanted my help to find a new suit, I said trying to play it off. Apparently the kid can't do it himself.
* Sophie's POV *
* The Next Day *
We had normal practice this morning before we loaded everything up and took off for Anaheim, California.
We landed in Anaheim at 4 o'clock so the crew members set to work unloading everything while the guys loaded on the bus and drove to the hotel.
The crew and I finished putting the locker room together at 5 o'clock so we drove to the hotel to get ready for the team dinner everyone was invited to.
I got into my hotel room and pulled my hair out of its ponytail before brushing it out and curling it into nice ringlets with my curling iron. Usually I wouldn't bring my curling iron on a trip but Q told us that since we were in the Conference finals and might be going on to the Stanley Cup final we had to start wearing nice clothes while on the benches so my suitcase had a couple dresses and skirts, dress shirts, heels and flats, and more hair and make up products than usual.
After I finished my hair I swiped my make up off and re-applied a little heavier than usual. When my make up was finished I put on my black and white dress that had a couple triangles on it and my black pumps. I grabbed my purse and shoved my phone, some money, and chapstick in it.
I went down the hall to Jon's room and knocked on the door. Jon opened the door and I saw that his shirt was still unbuttoned and his tie was hung around his neck and pretty soon my eyes fell upon his nice toned abs.
Hey babe, you look very professional, he said to me.
Why thank you, but unfortunately you look a little sloppy right now, I replied referring to his unbuttoned shirt and untied tie.
Yeah, I'm still getting ready, he said and then set back to work buttoning his shirt.
Can I tie your tie? I asked him.
Sure, he said so I walked over to him and quickly tied his tie before all three of us in the room headed down to the lobby to find part of the team already down there.
We talked with a bunch of the guys before we loaded onto the bus and set off for the restaurant.
We reached a fancy restaurant and had a wonderful meal with wonderful people before we went back to the hotel and I got ready for bed.
I got into bed at 10:30 and fell asleep quickly.
I woke up at my normal time and did my normal routine except I got dressed in a black and red high low dress and black wedges instead of my tracksuit and straightened my hair. I grabbed my black flats just in case, some work out clothes, and my purse before going down to the lobby and finding the guys.
We had practice like normal and my routine after practice was pretty much normal except for having to change for my work out.
The routine before puck drop was perfectly normal, warm ups, head pats, national anthem, ceremonial puck drop, and then the actual puck drop.
The first period wasn't so good for us seeing that we were down 1-0 at the end of the period. In the second another Ducks player scored along with Brad Richards for us. The third period was terrible for us with two more Duck players scoring and something else went wrong halfway through the period. There was 9:30 left on the clock when a puck was chipped up into the bench and it hit Coach Q on the head making him pass out. I was standing to his right and I ended up catching him as he fell and held him while the guys on the bench cleared out of the way so I could set him down on the bench. The medical staff came out and took him out on the stretcher while holding a towel to his forehead to catch all of the blood. The assistant coach stepped in coached the rest of the game. At the end of the game they put me up so the Jumbotron with the caption Save of the Game and showed me catching Q as he fell.
The guys went back to the locker room very upset so they all changed quickly and then the crew did all of our work as fast as we could so the guys could get home.
I was walking out to the bus when Jon came up to me and started whispering in my ear.
Will you sleep with me tonight? He asked me sounding sad because of the lose.
Of course, I'll just get my stuff and I'll be right over, I replied.
We got to the hotel and I grabbed all of my stuff and went down to Jon and Pat's room where I found them watching the game film trying to figure out what went wrong.
While they were doing that I got ready for bed and then crawled under the covers and laid my head on Jon's shoulder.
We watched the game for a little while longer and then we turned off the tv and went to bed. Jon wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer before kissed my temple and then falling asleep.
* Two days later *
I woke up around 3 in the morning when Jon stirred but the funny thing was that I wasn't tired at all despite having slept for only 5 hours.
I carefully unwrapped myself from Jon's and got on my phone scrolling through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram before I got up and decided on what I was going to wear today since I still had 2 dresses that I hadn't worn in my suitcase. I decided on my knee-length plain red dress with a keyhole cut attach with a gold bar and a gold belt buckle on my waistline. I went back to my room quickly to see if I forgot anything and when I didn't find anything I went back into Jon and Pat's room and read a book on my phone since it was only 3:30 in the morning.
At 5 o'clock I went into the bathroom and showered before starting to do my hair in loose ringlets before taking three section off of each side of my head, braided them, and then pinned then back. I finished my hair at 6 o'clock so I went back to reading my book until 6:30 when I decided to do my make up and then be out of the guys way. I did my make up in the bathroom and then went and woke Jon and Pat up since it was 6:50 and the bus was leaving for practice at 7:45.
They both got out of bed and started dragging around in the bathroom getting ready so I quickly changed into my dress and put on my black pumps to finished off the look.
I went into the bathroom at 7 o'clock and asked them what they wanted for breakfast since I was going out. They told me their orders so I walked out of the room and went down to the lobby to find the concierge.
Hello Miss, how may I help you? The lady at the desk asked me.
Where's the closest coffee shop? I asked her. She told me the direction so I set off down the street and reached the coffee shop about 7 minutes later. I ordered everyone's food and then walked back to the hotel where I found both of the guys mostly ready to go. I gave them their food and we ate in silence before going down to the lobby and boarding the bus to the arena for practice.
Practice was normal today and everything after was the same except for the fact that I didn't end up doing my work out because 4 of the guys helmets were broken so we had to fix them before the game started.
The guys started showing up pretty much as soon as we finished fixing the helmets to get changed into their gear before they went out for warm ups.
Warm ups ended and pretty soon we were walking back down the tunnel for the first period.
The first period was pretty packed with Shaw, Hossa, and a Ducks player scoring ending the period at 2-1. The second period was not so good for us since another Ducks player scored tying the game at 2-2. the third period was uneventful and we found ourselves walking down the tunnel for overtime. Overtime and 2nd overtime no one scored meaning that we were going into triple overtime and that the game was officially the longest game in Blackhawks history. In the 3rd overtime about 16 minutes into the third overtime getting us the win 3-2 over the Ducks and tying the series at 1-1.
After the game we packed everything up and then boarded the plane back to Chicago. We got back to Chicago at about 4 o'clock in the morning and we immediately unloaded the plane and drove back to the arena where we said goodbye to everyone and went home.
Jon and I got home at about 4:25 in the morning so we changed, set our alarm for 10, and then got into bed falling asleep almost immediately.
* Two days later *
Today is game 3 against the Ducks and the first one here in Chicago, the series is tied at 1-1 so everyone is a little nervous.
The days routine was normal except for me wearing a plain grey knee-length dress and red pumps to work.
The first period of the game Kaner scored but so did a Ducks player tying the game at 1-1. The second was not so good for the Hawks since another Ducks player scored ending the period at 2-1. The third period we attack very viciously but it wasn't enough since no goals were scored and we lost the game 2-1 and the series was know in the Ducks favor 2-1.
Jon and I went home after we finished everything we needed to and got into bed so we would have a good nights rest for practice tomorrow morning.
* Two days later *
Today is the fourth game in the series against the Ducks and our second game here in Chicago, the days activities were perfectly normal. Today however I was wearing a black and white pencil skirt dress that reached my knees and black pumps.
In the first period Saader had the lone goal putting us up 1-0 at the end of the first. In the second Etem for the Ducks had the only goal tying the game at 1-1. The third period was jammed packed with 6 goals, 3 each and tying the game, Jon, Seabs, and Kaner had the goals for us. the first overtime was boring but in the second Vermette was the first to strike winning the game 5-4 for us.
We went home and slept the night away after getting ready to leave tomorrow for Anaheim.
* Two days later *
Today is game 5 in the series against the Ducks and the third game here in Anaheim. We were currently tied at 2-2 for the series so we were going to have to at least go to six games. Today I was wearing black slacks, a red blouse, and a black jacket.
In the first 3 Ducks players scored making all of the guys very angry. In the second Teuvo and Seabs scored but it still wasn't enough to tie the game. In the third Jon shined with 2 goals putting us up one until the Ducks Maroon scored tying the game. Unfortunately we lost in overtime the the Ducks Beleskey scored putting the Ducks up 3-2 in the series.
We packed up the arena but while we were loading the truck we found out we were flying home until noon the next day because of a mechanical issue with the plane.
We went back to the hotel and I went into Jon's room and slept with him.
I woke up at 6 o'clock and took a shower, blow dried my hair and put it into a ponytail, did very little make up, and got dressed in volleyball clothes before I wrote a note to Jon and Kaner and took a cab to the practice facility for the National team. Since I was on the team last year I can go into the training center any time I want and with tryouts coming up I thought I would get some more touches on the ball to be prepared.
I practiced until 10:30 before I went back to the hotel and got ready to leave after a rinse off shower and a change of clothes.
We boarded the plane around noon and landed back in Chicago at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and quickly put the locker room together so that we could practice.
We had a two hour practice and then we went home where I made Jon dinner and we ate dinner together before we sat down in the living room and watched the last game in Anaheim to take notes. I knew pretty much everything about hockey since I had grown up watching it and because I worked for a professional hockey team.
We watched the whole game and took a ton of notes and then we went over them together before we both went to bed.
I woke up at 6:30 and did my normal morning routine except I curled my hair and pulled on a black dress that had a small red belt and red pumps for game 6.
In the first period no one scored therefore making the guys very tense in the locker room since they were on the verge of losing. The second period was much more action packed Saad, Hossa, and Kaner scoring for us and Maroon scoring for the Ducks. In the third 1 more Ducks player scored but Shawzy scored twice leading us to a 5-3 win and tying the series at 3-3.
The guys were slightly happy with the win but they were also nervous about the game 7 that was coming up in two days.
Jon and I went home and went to bed after packing for the trip we were taking tomorrow.
We had practice in the morning and everything was normal leading up to the flight to Anaheim. It was 3 o'clock when we landed in Anaheim so the crew members unloaded everything and then went to the Honda Center to put the locker room together.
We went back to the hotel after we put the locker room together and I went into my room and ordered room service and then sat down to watch a movie. I fell asleep at 11 o'clock and slept all the way through the night.
I woke up at 7 o'clock and did my morning routine getting dressed in a red knee-length dress with a black belt and black pumps.
The day activities were the same and then it was game time.
It was 2 minutes into the first period when Jon got the puck and scored the first goal of the game. At 11 minutes into the first period Jon scored again putting us up 2-0 at the end of the first. I was holding the door open for all of the guys and when Jon walked by I reached up and patted him on the head causing him to smile before continuing to walk down the tunnel. The second period was packed with three goals, one by Saad and Hossa and one by Kessler for the Ducks. In the third Seabs scored and the Ducks made a good attempt with 2 goals but it wasn't enough so we won the game 5-3 and won the series against the Ducks 4-3. This also means that we were going to the Stanley Cup Playoffs!
We knew that we were gonna play the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Finals so on the plane ride back to Chicago almost all of the guys were watching game film and taking notes.
We landed back in Chicago at about 2 o'clock in the morning so the crew unloaded everything and then we all left after deciding to put the locker room together tomorrow morning before practice.
Jon and I got home at about 2:30 in the morning and we immediately got changed and got into bed.
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Hey guys!
Here's Chapter 26, I really hope you like it and feel free to leave any comments you have! I have decided that there are going to be two more chapters in this book but there will be a sequel coming out very shortly after I finish this book. You guys are so amazing, 1.3K readers! Thank you so much!
-Nat