ALASKA
"Alaska! Your friend is here!" my mom yells up to me. I jog down downstairs and swing the front door open, revealing an excited looking Carly.
"Hey," I say, stepping to the side so she could come inside.
"Okay, your house is AMAZING," she says, turning to look around at the massive foyer. I roll my eyes.
"That's all my new stepdad's doing," I say, leading her upstairs to my room.
"I take it you don't really care for him?" she asks, surprising me. I shrug my shoulders.
"He's alright, I guess. I just think that he's too concerned with material things. Plus, he's not the most humble about his wealth which pisses me off, but what can I do, you know," I tell her openly.
"I'm glad that kind of stuff bugs you because I really hate spoiled, pompous kids," Carly laughs. I join in too, allowing myself to loosen up.
"Okay, so I thought we could just start getting ready now, so we have plenty of time. Is that okay with you?"
"Sounds great! I brought some options because you never know what life is gonna throw at you. I mean it could start raining fire so I brought shorts just in case," she explains, dumping the contents of the bag she brought onto my bed.
"I highly doubt it's going to start raining fire, but I'm glad you're prepared," I say, laughing as I rummage through my closet for an outfit. I decide on ripped black skinny jeans and my Malkin jersey. I exit my closet with the outfit in tow.
I slip out of the clothes I wore all day and pull on the fresh outfit. I examine my appearance in the tall mirror resting on the wall behind me.
"Hey, does this look okay to you?" I ask Carly. She nods her head repeatedly, causing another laugh to erupt from me.
"Yes! You look hot! Now, come here. I need help deciding," she says, tugging me over to the bed. There, she has multiple outfits laid out, all including some sort of Maple Leaf attire.
"I know, there's a lot of options, but which one do you think I should go with?" I scan over the options carefully before making my decision.
"Definitely the white jeans and Marner jersey, plus the hat from option two," I say with a smile.
"That's what I was thinking! Thanks!" My smile continues to grow on my face as I walk over to my vanity to do my makeup. I start by doing my usual routine: foundation, concealer, powder, and a little bronzer. Then, I do my eyebrows and put on some fake lashes to make my eyes look bigger.
Carly joins me halfway into my routine and begins doing her makeup as well. She doesn't put as much on, but that's probably because she's already stunning without any. We listen to some music while we work, giggling at the random jokes we make. Despite not doing as much makeup-wise, Carly spends about thirty minutes curling her hair, whereas all I do is run through my dirty blonde waves with a brush.
After an extensive pampering and a traffic-filled car ride, Carly and I arrive in front of Air Canada Center, tickets in hand. We hurry through security and ticket scanning then stop to figure out where the hell we are sitting.
"Where's section 103?" Carly asks me, examining her ticket. I look up to the signs hanging around the arena, locating section 103 shortly.
"I think it's this way," I say, pointing towards the sign that read sections 101-103 with an arrow. Carly nods and follows me towards the entrance to section 103. The last step in finding our seats was finding our row. We walk farther down the stairs of the section, finally stopping two rows behind the home team's bench.
"These seats are amazing, Alaska!" Carly exclaims, doing a 360 so she could see everything.
"I know! We're so close to the ice," I say, gawking at our proximity to where the game will take place in less than twenty minutes. As we continue to marvel at our view, the two teams emerge from their locker rooms and begin warm-ups. I feel especially faint when Sidney Crosby whizzes past the glass in front of us.
Carly does her own bit of staring at the home team, pointing different players out to me as she scans the rink.
"There's Mitch Marner, my personal favorite and probably the funniest one on the team," she says, pointing to one of the Leafs skating around.
"How do you know he's funniest?"
"Let's just say I'm an avid 'Maple Leafs' funniest moments' video watcher," she says with a cheesy smile. I laugh at her confession and continue gazing out on the ice.
"Holy Virgin Mary, there's Auston Matthews!" she exclaims, excitedly pointing to number thirty-four on the Leafs.
"Oh I've heard of him," I say, "he's pretty decent, right?" Carly's mouth drops open as she turns to face me.
"Decent? Alaska, he's predicted to win rookie of the year! He scored four goals in his first game in the NHL! Not to mention he's extremely attractive," she says in awe. I guess he was better than I thought after all.
"He's probably a douche, though. The hot ones are always dicks," I tell her honestly.
"Valid argument, but we will see if it's true when we meet him, eh?" I nod and smile. I must admit, it's incredible that we are going to be meeting them, even if they aren't my beloved Penguins.
"Hey, do you want someone to take our picture before the game starts?" Carly asks. I nod, thankful she thought of it because I can guarantee you, we will be so absorbed in the game that we'll forget to take pictures later.
I turn to the girl in front of us and tap her on the shoulder. She looks at me with a smile. That's the biggest difference between Canada and Pennsylvania. People here are actually nice.
"Excuse me, would you mind taking a few pictures of my friend and me?" I ask her politely as the two teams skate over to their respective benches.
"Sure thing," she says in a cheery tone. I hand her my phone and look at Carly who's already laughing her ass off for no apparent reason. I try to get her to keep a straight face, but fail miserably. I take my phone back from the girl and thank her.
"Let me see them!!" Carly says, pulling me closer to her so we can both see the screen. I scroll through the various photos and smile wide. Even though we're laughing in all of them, they are still very cute. I pick my favorite one and post it to Instagram.
@alaskamay : found a new puck buddy
Tagged: @carlyyvalentine @penguins @mapleleafs
387 likes | 4 comments
@carlyyvalentine : pens are going down my friend
@natpeters : miss you
@quinnwilliams : no invite???
@carlyyvalentine : ^sorry boo
After I post the picture, I concentrate on the game. It's amazing being so close to all the action. Carly clearly feels the same way with all of her jumping and screaming. We constantly banter back and forth about which team is doing better and if the calls being made were good or not.
The score remained tied at zero for the first period and half of the second. Geno tipped in a wrist shot made by Letang with a minute left in the second period. The third period proved to be the most exciting with Crosby scoring a goal directly followed with a goal by Nylander, making the score 2-1. Auston Matthews scores on a breakaway to tie the score. And just when everyone was preparing for overtime, Matthews flies out of nowhere and finds net with five seconds remaining in the game.
The final buzzer goes off, signaling the end of the game and a win for the Leafs. Thankfully, Carly doesn't brag about winning on our trek to the locker rooms.
Once we find the right place and show security our passes, we are led to the outside of the locker room by a man named Grant. Grant makes us wait outside while he goes to check if everyone was decent.
"How do I look? Do I look like a mess? Because I definitely feel like a mess," Carly rambles as she frantically runs her fingers through her hair.
"You look great," I tell her with a smile. She begins to say something, but is cut off by Grant appearing.
"They're ready for you."