At the end of the summer, I moved back to Toronto. Auston had been traveling back and forth between Arizona and Toronto all summer. Arizona, to be with his family and friends, and Toronto to sort out hockey business and get familiar with the team.
The World Cup of Hockey was quickly approaching, too. Auston had been named to Team North America before he'd even played an NHL game, which was crazy.
Auston hadn't yet rented an apartment in Toronto, so sometimes when he came he stayed with me in the dorm. Anna hadn't been in Toronto all summer, so this was fine. I tried pushing Auston into buying a condo or something, but he insisted that he wanted to room with someone, and he'd wait until the right time.
Currently I was laying on my bed watching Netflix, texting Auston but to no luck. I decided to call him instead.
"Hello?" he picks up.
"Thanks for answering your texts." I say, pausing my show.
"I'm driving." I can hear him groan.
"Where?" I ask.
"In my car." he says, a small snicker sounding through the speaker.
"You're funny!" I exclaim sarcastically.
"I'm going to the Rogers Centre." he says quietly, as if not wanting me to hear.
"The Rogers Centre! Why?" I ask, hopping off my bed.
"The team's going to watch a Blue Jays game. Some team bonding shit, I don't know." he says.
"Auston! Come pick me up!" I exclaim.
"I said team bonding, Nat."
"I bet other guys might bring someone. Oh please, Auston, I haven't met your team yet and I really want to." I beg.
"Oh my god, Nat." he says, and I know he's on the verge of saying yes. "What will you do if I don't take you?"
"I'll return the jersey you got me." I say, half joking.
"Seriously?" he asks, chuckling through the phone.
"I'll be ready in ten?" I ask.
"Be there in five." he mutters, and the line goes dead.
"Yes!" I cheer to nobody in particular, laughing at how I got him to change his mind. I used to be a baseball fan; me, Auston, and our dads went to a few games together when we were younger. I haven't gone to a game since, so this would definitely be great.
It was true that I've been wanting to meet the Toronto Maple Leafs for some time. I've done some research on them in order to get familiar, and I definitely think I might fangirl when I actually saw them in person.
I just had enough time to change into jeans and a sweater, putting my hair up when Auston called. I went down and outside, seeing his car along the curb.
"I hate you so much." he groans when I step in the car.
"You're the best." I sheepishly smile.
"Seriously, Nat, you owe me." he says, his eyes focused on the road.
He picks up his phone, entering his password then handing it to me. "Can you let the guys know that I'm bringing a friend? It's the most recent chat." he says.
I find the chat in his recents, titled "The Boys" with a maple leaf emoticon beside it.
You: I'm bringing a friend, hope nobody minds
James van Riemsdyk: is your friend a girl? 😏
You: yes
Morgan Rielly: WOAH!
You: see you soon
"They're cool with it." I shrug, handing him his phone back.
"Of course." he says, rolling his eyes. We reach the Rogers Centre fairly quickly, and Auston pulls his hat further down, putting on sunglasses as well to avoid being recognized.
"You're gonna need to buy a hat." he says in my ear once we near the stadium.
"Who says?" I ask.
"You can't just come to a baseball game with no merch on." Auston points out.
"I don't have any Blue Jays merch." I defend.
"Exactly." he says, sidestepping into a souvenir shop line.
I end up buying a basic hat, then following Auston up a few flights of stairs to the box they were sitting in. He's sure to take off his sunglasses before we get there.
Over the summer, I feel like Auston and I were able to rekindle our old friendship. He acted kind of awkward around me at first, but after spending so much time together, it was different. He felt like a brother to me, just like how it was before he went to Switzerland. And I was completely fine with it.
Auston opens the door to the box, and standing right inside the door is Mike Babcock with a few other men I don't recognize. "Hey Coach." Auston nods, shaking all of their hands. He introduces me as well.
"Hey guys." Auston calls, and a few guys sitting near the front of the box look back at us. A chorus of greetings sound throughout the room.
"Look who's finally here!" and "you missed the first inning, Auston!" are two comments made.
"I know." Auston mutters, accusingly looking down at me.
"Auston! Hey! Come sit." Someone calls from near where we're standing. There's two open seats beside him, so Auston sits down and I sit on the end beside him.
"Hey, how's it going?" Auston says, giving him a little handshake-type thing. "This is Nat. Natalie." he corrects, pointing to me.
"Cool. I'm Mitch." the boy says, nodding at me.
"Marner?" I question, thinking back to where I heard of a Mitch who plays for the Leafs.
"Duh." Auston rolls his eyes.
"Yeah," Mitch chuckles. "How'd you know?"
"I remember his friend Matthew saying to look out for you or something, I don't know." I think back to when we saw Matthew at the draft.
"Matthew?" Mitch questions.
"Matt. Tkachuk." Auston replies, his eyes staring down at the field.
"Oh!" Mitch smiles. "Love that guy. How do you know him?"
"Grew up together." Auston shortly answers.
"Makes sense." Mitch nods. He leans over to Auston to whisper something, but I can hear from here. "I didn't know you have a girlfriend."
"Not my girlfriend." Auston responds loudly.
"We're just friends." I correct, smiling at Mitch. "We grew up together, too."
Mitch nods. "That's cool."
"Sorry, he isn't always like this." I tell Mitch about Auston. "He's just in a bad mood today." Because Auston was sitting in the middle of Mitch, I kept having to lean over to talk to him. Auston looks over and gives me an angry stare.
"Why?" Mitch laughs.
"He didn't want me coming today." I explain.
"You guys are loud." Auston comments.
"The game was a team bonding thing and I'm not on the team, so apparently I'm not welcome." I say, looking at Auston as I held in a smile.
"Of course you're welcome." Mitch assures me. "Why'd you wanna come? You like baseball?"
"I like baseball, yeah, but I also wanted to meet the team." I say.
Auston sighs as he sits back, bringing his hand up to his head. "I'm not introducing you." he mumbles.
"Be nice, Auston." Mitch scolds. "I'll introduce you."
"No, don't." Auston says. I laugh.
"Ah, c'mon. I will." Mitch insists, standing up and hopping over Auston. I stand up as well and we exit the row.
"You probably already met the Coach." Mitch starts, nodding at the men beside the door. I nod. "Okay, that's Mo, Gards, Bozie, JVR, and Marty." Mitch says, bringing me to a group of guys leaning down and watching the game. They all look up at us. "This is Natalie, Auston's friend."
"Auston's friend?" someone I recognized as Bozak asked.
"Yeah, he was too grumpy to introduce me himself." I say, and they all chuckle.
"That's Willy, Sosh, and Zaitsev." Mitch then says, pointing at some guys eating pizza.
"That's Carrick, Brownie, and Hyman." Mitch points to some guys laughing in the corner.
I hear the whole crowd cheer at a play, and I instantly feel bad. "Let's go back to our seats, I feel bad making you miss the game." I tell Mitch.
"It's okay." he shakes his head.
"No, I'm serious, c'mon." I say, bringing us back towards our seats.
"Okay, guess you can meet the other guys later." Mitch shrugs as we make our way back, Mitch hopping over Auston again.
"How was everyone, Nat?" Auston asks with feign enthusiasm.
"Everyone was amazing! Thanks again for inviting me, Auston!" I reply in the same way, making Mitch laugh.
"Okay, now actually shush, the game's getting good." Auston says, nudging my arm.
"Woah! 4-1 already?" Mitch exclaims.
Auston replies with something I don't understand and the two break off into talking about the game...
——
finally introduced mitch lol i thought i already made you wait long enough!
sorry this chapter isn't good, i'm about to go out so i had to rush to finish the ending.. thank you guys for all the reads it means so much to me! please vote on this chapter if you want to see more ❤️