Tbh, I wrote the beginning of this chapter like 10 times… I didn’t know how to start it. But here it is.
Waking up got me thinking. How can I date one of the players and be coaching at the same time? I don’t even know if James and I were dating right now…
“Briana?” My brother, Kyle called out.
“Yeah?”
“Want to go to the rink?”
“Sure, let me grab my stuff.”
My mom left a lot of my hockey stuff in the garage. I would always play when I’m not playing volleyball. It kept me busy all the time.
“So I hear about you getting a job as the assistant coach for the Pens.”
“And I’ve told you many times to keep your eyes on the road.”
He shook his head, “Just because you’re older than me…”
“Trying to look out for you.”
“Tell me about getting the job.”
There was a rink a few blocks down the road to our house. Kyle recently got called to play for the WBS Penguins. I was helping him to get all the practice to could for the game he’s playing in, in two days.
I was getting water from the bench, when I saw someone walking towards the ice. They got closer and closer. James again.
“What are you doing here?"
“Thought I would come hang out with you, but I guess you already have someone else to be with.”
“That’s my brother James. He just got called to play with WBS.”
“Oh. I assumed he was your boyfriend or something.”
“Of course you did.”
“Kyle!”
He skated to us and I introduced him to James.
“You could use some help from a real player.” James smirked, I heard Kyle laugh a bit too.
“Right, because I’ll be the one coaching you.” I think that shut James up.
We practiced for another two hours. Kyle waited for James and I in the car.
“Your brother is going to do well in his first game.”
“I know he is.”
“Then what do you looked so worried about.”
“Us.”
“What about us.”
“You know exactly what James. I can’t be dating you and coaching the team at the same time.”
“I know but I heard Jacques is going to be back in less than 3 months. I think we can hide our secret for that long.”
“I don’t like secrets. Can we just talk about this when Jacques’ back?” I got up and walked towards the car.
“Do you want a ride?” I asked James.
“No, I drove here.”
The ride back to our house, my brother kept asking me what happened, but I never said a word. I wanted him to focus on his hockey stuff and not to worry about me.
My mom’s car was parked in the driveway, I wondered why she was home so early.
“Hey mom, why so early?”
“No reason, just got off work early.”
“Oh.”
“Briana, can I talk to you?”
I looked over at Kyle, he was watching UFC on the TV, very loudly.
“Yeah, sure. About what?”
“I know Amanda went to get started on making the Olympic team early and I’m sure you’ll make it in a heartbeat, but don’t you think you should maybe get a boyfriend or something?”
“Really mom, that’s what you wanted to talk about?”
“Well..”
“Mom, I’m turning 25 in a few weeks, I’m perfectly fine.”
“Are you sure? Camilla’s friend has a son..”
“MOM!”
“Okay fine.”
I don’t even know why my mom is bothering me so much about getting a boyfriend lately. Yeah, James and I flirt from time to time but we’re not ‘dating’.
Brian and Eric were leaving tomorrow night and my mom thought it would be nice to have a family dinner tonight. Well, without my sisters.
---
I told my brothers they could come to practice with me if they wanted to, but they decided not to.
The guys were doing well in practice, I’m sure they’ll do fine in tomorrow’s game. Dan wanted us to make them work harder because of the last game, which is understandable.
After practice, all the guys decided it was a good idea to hang out at my house. Funny thing is that they didn’t even ask me first. I was totally fine with it but still.
My mom is going to have a fun time cooking dinner for the entire Pittsburgh Penguins team. But first I have to break the news to her.
Months later (I had to..)
Today was my last game as an assistant coach, Jacques was back tomorrow. It worked out well though, the Olympics were in a week and my family were leaving in a few days to Sochi.
I was standing behind the bench, it was the third period, Pens were leading 3-0 and I was thinking about all the great times I’ve had with this team and what an honour it has been to word with a team like this.
There was a minute left and it looks like we were getting the win.
The Penguins ended up winning 4-0. The guys were getting changed in the dressing room and I was just lounging around the arena. There were still people in the seats all getting ready to go, when Potash called me over for an interview.
“So Briana, this was your last game, how was it to work with the Penguins organization the past few months?”
“It’s been truly an honour and I couldn’t have been more happy to spend the past few months with those guys. Best people to be around.”
Potash asked a few more questions, when I saw Pascal down the hallway. I looked at with when Potash turned around, I motioned him to get a pie with whipped cream. Then he just pulled one from behind his back, it’s just like Duper to do this to Potash.
Pascal handed me the pie. “Hey Potash!”
“Yeah?” he turned around and SPLAT.
Right in his face, Duper and I ran to the dressing room laughing our ass off.
When the guys were done getting dressed, I went on the whole ramble about how much I will miss seeing them every day, but I’m sure I’ll still be seeing them a lot.
---
James showed up at my house this morning. Funny how he knew I was home alone today.
“Hey.” He kissed my cheek
“Hi.”
“So now that you’re not a coach, let’s go out.”
“James, I can’t right now. I need to finish packing for Sochi. I’m leaving in two days.”
“C’mon Bri. Let’s just take a breather.”
“I really can’t. Can you just leave, please.” He walked up to me and hugged me. I started to feel his hands move down my back and he stopped right at my butt.
“Okay James, stop. We’ll go out when I get back okay?”
“Fine.” He said raising an eyebrow.
That was really odd.
My parents went to pick up Brian and Eric at the airport, right before James came over. Their coach and GM allowed them to miss their new couple of games to go to Sochi, same with Kyle’s.
Three hours later, I was pretty much done packing my clothes. My parents and brother should be home soon, I decided to go out and buy some stuff for dinner.
I wrote a note for my parents, so they wouldn’t go out and buy food after dropping off my brothers at home. Funny story, it has happened before, one of us would go out and not tell our parents and we’d have a bunch of food at home.
I bought a lot of things, some things that I will regret buying after I eat it.
By the time I got home, my brothers and parents still weren’t home. Right when I put all the food on the island in the kitchen, the door opened. My loud brothers just laughing and being the loud guys they are. I was bombarded with a hug when they saw me in the kitchen.
It’s been a while since I had seen Brian and Eric, unlike Kyle I see him everyday.
---
That was a little disappointing, my sisters were Canadian born and they just came back to win 3-2 in overtime against USA. We were all proud that our sisters won gold, but it was disappointing to see the US get defeated.
James and I kept in contact the whole time I was in Sochi. I didn’t know if I wanted to be with him, but there was something inside me that wanted to.
I promised James I would go on out date as a couple. It would be a little awkward because I just finished my job with the Pens and now I’m dating one of the players. I’ve dealt with much worse so I guess this won’t be as bad.
He showed up at my door the next day, around noon. It was a surprise to me because he said we would go out at 8 but James wanted to treat me to a day of shopping.
I have been insisting him not to do anything in that matter or buy me anything, but he would not listen. It is really hard to get that guy to say no. It really is.
I eventually gave up and just let him. The Pens play in a couple of days and the team decided that it would be nice of them to give me tickets to all the home games, right behind the bench. I kept telling them I could just pay for them, but like the nicest guys they are they just gave them to me as a gift.
James drove us to multiple malls, I ended up getting a lot more than I thought. He forced me to try on dresses because apparently I look “good” in them, according to James. And besides I didn’t have any dresses in my closet, I thought it would be nice to have a couple to wear on dates and other occasions.
I, or James I should say, also got me a couple of volleyballs. My mom and dad were getting a rink in out backyard together and they told me I could set up a volleyball net there in the summer, which is going to be convenient.
There were a few pair of leggings, jeans and shirts that I got. James got super cheesy and bought me a jersey that said ‘Neal’s Girl’ with the number 18 on the back.
By the time he dropped me off at my house, it was already 6:30.
“Get dressed and I’ll be back at 8 to pick you up.”
He kissed me and I walked into my house.
Once I entered, I ran to my room and threw all the bags on the floor and hopped into a hot shower.
I was tired from all that walking around and needed a little break.
When I got all dressed, I still had a few minutes to spare before James was here so I called Brian.
He picked up on the first ring.
“Hey Bri. What’s up?”
“Wow Brian, you usually don’t pick up your phone that fast.”
“Hi Brian, how are you?” he said jokingly.
“I’m sorry.”
“So why’d you call?”
“What, now I can’t just call my own brother to talk.”
“No because it’s usually about something when you call, otherwise you’ll text me.”
“Whatever Brian. How’s hockey going?”
“It’s fine and stop changing subjects. What’s wrong Bri?”
“You’ll probably yell at me when I tell you this, but I’m totally okay with it.” I paused for a bit. “James and I are dating now and you’re the only person who knows.”
“Awe, I’m happy for you. But if that prick hurts you…”
“Yeah I know Brian.”
“Love you Bri.”
“Love you too Brian.” And we hung up. Whenever I started dating someone, I usually told Brian first because he is my oldest sibling and I trust him more than anyone.
At 8 there was a knock on my door, James stood there in a nice suit, one that I’ve never seen him wear before.
“When did you get that?”
“I went to pick it up after I dropped you off.”
“Looks good on you.”
“And I told you purple looks good on you.”
---
I ended up sleeping at James’ place. Nothing happened though, we watched a movie and just feel asleep.
James had already left for morning practice so I thought I would drop by to see how things were going.
When I got to CEC, everyone welcomed me as James’ girlfriend. Which I thought was random, but I guess James had already told them.
I walked over to his stall, “Did you tell them?”
He looked at me, “Well.. Yeah, they forced me.”
“You guys are all evil.” I laughed.
“You love us.” Beau shouted.
“Sadly.” I said with a smile.
Dan went over basic drills, nothing much since most of the guys were doing a lot of practice during the Olympic break.
It felt nice to not be in charge for once and actually watch practice, but I missed coaching.
Amanda texted me a few days ago, when I was in Sochi. She told me she would be back in a couple months, maybe when the NHL season is done.
I’ve been reluctant to tell her about James and I. We both agreed to tell her after she’s back. But first we were going to tell our families. I know my parents are going to take it harder because it’s James Neal.
The guys decided they would head out to eat after practice, they invited me but I let them have their guy time. I went home to tell my parents about James and I dating.