The Beginning

“Oh my gosh, I cant believe were finally here!” Laura says as she looks over at me “I know, took long enough! It’s going to be amazing!” I say as we walk off the plane into the Chicago O’Hare Airport. It’s our last spring break as undergrads, so we decide to take a trip to Chi town, since we’ve never been here, and of course, so see the Stanley Cup Champions. As we’re walking to the baggage claim, we start planning out our day “We’ll we can’t check into the hotel until 3, but we can leave our bags at the front desk, so why don’t we do that, then we can explore the city?” Laura nods yes, as we both retrieve our bags from the moving belt.

“The Drake Hotel please” I say to our cab driver as he takes off. “So, we’re dropping our bags off at the hotel, then we’ll find something for lunch and walk around?” Laura says, “Yep, lets find a Starbucks or something too” Within minutes, we arrive at the hotel and walk up to the front desk. “Well ladies, we have your room clean sooner then the rest of them, would you like to just go ahead and check in now?” Lydia, the hotel manager asks “Sure, that works!” Laura says as we both get out our credit cards. After getting settled into our room, we decide its time to go out and see what Chicago is all about.

“Oh! Look, there’s a Starbucks, let’s run in there” I say practically running to the door. Walking in, we get in line and continue our conversation, “Lets go to the river walk and see what’s over there” I say, “And Navy Pier too” Laura chimes in and is about to say something when I stop her, because of the 2 guys in front of us, I point to the one in front of me and quietly say, “Jonathan Toews?” hoping she can read my lips; she has this “oh my god” look on her face as she realizes that he and Patrick Kane are the 2 that are standing in front of us. “Umm…should we say hi?!” she says quietly…. apparently not quiet enough, it causes Patrick to turn around and flash his signature smile, I smile back, I think Laura is still taking it all in. While we wait for our drinks, I kind of notice the 2 hockey players looking our way.

The barista calls out my drink, as I walk up to get it, Jonathan happens to walk up at the same time, and without realizing it, we both reach for the same drink. “Sorry”, he says; “No it’s fine, go ahead and take it” I surprise myself by saying that without stuttering because of how gorgeous he is. “Ok thanks, I’m Jonathan by the way” putting his hand out for a handshake, “I know who you are, I’m Jamie, and this is my friend Laura” I say with a handshake in return as Patrick walks up and says “Hello ladies, I’m Patrick Kane the II” with handshakes and introductions from us. “So what brings you lovely ladies into Starbucks today?” Boy, this guy really works his charm. I notice that Laura is still in aw so I speak up. “We’re in town for spring break, had to see what this place is all about, and to check out those Blackhawks too”, “Oh yeah? Well I’m pretty sure you’re looking at the best of the best” Patrick says…dang it, I think his ego is growing. “Well when did you get here? Would you ladies like us to show you around the city?” asks Jonathan; “Oh that would be amazing! But if you guys have plans then don’t even worry about it” I say, hoping they would. “No, not at all, we just finished practice, so we’re free for the rest of the day.” Patrick says. “Ok then, lets go.”

Laura and I walk out of Starbucks with the guys, preparing for a fun day, and most likely random girls giving us dirty looks because we’re walking around town with 2 of the hottest athletes here. The 4 of us start walking down the street, starting our own conversations, Jonathan turns to me and asks what brought us to Chicago, “Well, neither of us have ever been here, I’m a huge hockey fan and I got Laura hooked on it. So we just decided, ‘why not go to Chicago’” “So you basically just picked up and came here?” he asked, “Well no, I think it was right after ya’ll won the cup that we decided, so then we started planning and here we are” I said, “That’s pretty awesome”. Jonathan and I continue talking when I run into Patrick, who decided to stop. “Way to stop in front of me Kane” I say, “Ha, sorry. Laura just said that you girls haven’t eaten yet, what do you say we go to this amazing pizza place near the river walk?” Patrick says. “Oh man, yes that sounds amazing”