Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Chapter 16

Preseason was underway with one win already taken strongly from the Caps, the boys were playing the Sharks and Lightning before a road trip to Phoenix and Atlanta to conclude the preseason games. Stan had assigned me to go on the road trip, to write an article on some of the pre or post game press conferences. He also handed me a press pass and an extremely nice camera to take pictures if I was able to. On game night against the Sharks, the girls, which consisted of Dayna, Savannah, Elina and Abby, and I decided to sit in our seats behind the boy’s bench, it was only preseason and we didn’t feel like being cooped up in the suite just yet. It was about 30 minutes until puck drop and both teams were on the ice warming up. Savannah and I had been talking about how we were starting to hear girls talk about us, we knew it was going to happen, and some of the girls talking about us were sitting near our seats at the games. We were also talking about how we hadn't seen Amanda around

“I haven’t really talked to Jeremy either, so I don’t even know if she’s still in the picture,” I tell her as were watching warm ups
“Yeah, me either, I’m not too worried though, Jeremy is smarter then that to bring her around here again,” she says
“Oh, no girls, you only wish,” a familiar voice behind us, says…Oh. Shit.
“Amanda, haven’t you learned to stay away from us?” Savannah says
“Hell no…not until I get what I want,” she says
“Ha! And what exactly would that be?” I say
“Jonathan,”
“Over my dead fucking body, you will never go near him,” I say now standing up
“Yeah that’s what you think,” she says with a laugh
“You better watch it, I have so much power over you I could get you kicked out of this arena, and it doesn’t matter if your with Jeremy or not, you would never be let back in,”
“Yeah? With that black eye and everything?”
“Better believe it, everyone knows that you did it, Jon would never hit me”
“I’m not scared of you,” she tells me
“I don’t care if your scared of me or not, I just don’t like you and if you keep causing problems, you will be taken care of and I will make sure of that,”

By this point everyone around us is sitting watching us yell at each other, but I don’t care, this prissy little girl needs to be put in her place. A few security guards come over to see what’s going on, they question both of us and Amanda totally tries to turn me into the bad guy; but she turns into the worst liar and all the girls I’m with, even some fans sitting around us, back me up and agree with me, she ended up getting kicked out.

“Geez, I swear if I ever see that girls face again,” I say as I sit back down
“Jeremy needs to get rid of her!” Dayna says
“I can’t believe she’s trying to go after Jon!” Savannah says
“Oh it doesn’t surprise me, she’d go after anyone she could, but I know Jon wouldn’t touch her, and he loves me so she can keep dreaming,” I say proudly
“Aww, he said he loves you?” Dayna asked
“Yeah the other night on the boat when we were dancing to George Strait,”
“So cute!” All the girls say

The game starts a few minutes after the girls get a little more details out of me about Jon and I. Neither team scored until the second period, when Devin Setoguchi got a tip in on a power play with Jon in the box, something he wasn’t too happy about. But with the Hawks on a power play a few minutes later, that changed when Jon picked up a beautiful pass from Taylor and shot it top shelf to put it behind Niemi. Savannah and I both cheered for our boys, along with the other girls too. It was a pretty slow game, after Sharpie got a short handed goal to tie it again at 2, the Sharks tied it up and scored again to seal the deal. The boys didn’t seem too upset in the locker room, it was only preseason and they knew the work they needed to do.

Needlessly to say, the rest of preseason went really good. The boys beat Tampa Bay, and had a strong road trip, easily beating the Coyotes 4-0, and not very welcoming fans of having Taylor back in the building; and then beat Atlanta 6-5. The first week of the regular season had all of the games at home, and consisted of games against Anaheim, Dallas, Florida and Pittsburgh. Work had been in full swing, and Lauren and I had very busy schedules that week, starting with the red carpet night for the season opener. Then our game against Florida was a promotional night where all the ladies of the Better Halves stood at the doors, handing out players t-shirts. We finally caught a break on game day against the Penguins. Morning skate was over for the boys and the visiting Pens took the ice. Lauren, Abby and I were going back and forth between making copies and running back and forth to the mail room by the time the ice was clear. I was walking to meet Jon and reading an email when I got knocked off my feet

“Oh man, I am so sorry, are you ok?” I hear as a hand comes my way to help me up
“Yeah, I’m sorry I should really pay attention,” I say looking up
“No, it’s my fault, I’m Jordan. Staal.”
“I know. Jamie” I tell him as I shake his hand
“Curiosity usually gets the best of me, so I decided to walk around a bit,”
“Oh, that’s not a problem, all of the boys usually do,”
“ Staalzy! We gotta go man,” Kris Letang walks up behind him before continuing
“Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to interrupt,”
“No it’s fine,” I say
“So, I take it you work for the Hawks right, meaning you will be at the game tonight?” Jordan asks
“Yep, I’m stuck in the middle too because I grew up a Pens fan, but my boyfriend plays for the Hawks…so I’ll be ok with whoever wins tonight,”
“Oh, it will be us,” Kris says confidently
“Your boyfriend is a Hawk? Which one?” Jordan asks
“Well, if you happen to run into me again before the game, you can find out when you see me in his jersey, it was nice meeting you guys” I say with a smile and walk away

“Hey babe, what took you so long?” Jon asks as I sit down in the locker room
“Oh, I ran into a couple Pens players in passing,”
“You did? Who?”
“Staal and Letang, I was walking this way and not paying attention when I ran into Jordan and then Kris came up so we talked for a few minutes,”
“Oh, I thought you were going to say Sid, and pass out on me” he says with a laugh
“Nah, I’ve met him before so the star-stuck stage is gone, but I think my heart skipped a beat when I saw Jordan,” I said jokingly like a 15-year-old girl
“Figures,”
“Oh hush, you know I love you, but Jordan is a good looking guy, I mean good looks run in the Staal family,”
“Yeah babe, I know,” he says before he kisses me, and finishes
“And Jordan doesn’t get to do that, so I’m not worried,” as we start walking out
“Oh he doesn’t know that you’re my boyfriend, he asked and I was like you’ll figure it out if you run into me again because I’ll be in his jersey,”
“Oh yeah, cause there’s only a million girls with my jersey,”
“Wow, babe, so cocky! Maybe I’ll wear Brent’s jersey instead! Ha ha”
“You wouldn’t dare!” He says
“Nope, I really wouldn’t, I love you way more,”
“Good, I love you too,”

After Jon’s pre game nap and dinner, we’re heading back to the arena, with Laura and Kaner in the back seat of the car. Laura about flips a lid when she hears about my run in with Jordan

“Dude, you like love him!” she says
“Ha! No I love the man that’s sitting next to me right now, but I’ve always had a little crush on him,” I tell her,
“Ooh, ok then, as long as this one knows” she says as she points to Jon
“Yeah, I’m not too worried about that one, I know who she’s going home with after the game,” he says with a smile

Laura and I meet up with the girls in the locker room and we all make our way to our seats after getting some drinks and junk food. At one point during warm ups, Sid and Jon were talking and then joking around, playing keep away from Geno, who was at center ice, then Jordan got in Sid’s face and they both started laughing before the boys went back to their team warm ups. I look back at the ice and laugh at Jordan as he’s looking around the seats; Letang beat him to it and yelled at him then pointed to us. He yells at me from center ice and I respond by waving back, he motions for me to stand up, so I do and I turn straight around for him to see TOEWS plastered across my back. Looked to me like he said ‘I knew it!’ with a laugh, I just shake my head at him as he skates around a few more times. It was another win for the boys, hard fought too, but we got our first win. And of course I ran into Jordan again, walking towards the locker room as they were leaving

“I shoulda known that your boyfriend was Jonny,” he says
“Well good guess, and good game tonight too,”
“Thanks, I had a feeling the boys wouldn’t give up that fast,”
“Yeah and especially against the reigning champs”
“Yeah well we can’t win them all,”
“No but you’ll get some. Oh and please beat the Flyers when you play them, I HATE them,”
“Jordo! Who is this lovely lady?” Max and Sid come up behind him
“This would be Tazer’s girlfriend,” he says and introduces me right as Jon comes up at the same time
“Gentlemen,” he says
“Yo, Tazer, you got a beauty here!” Max says
“Thanks, Max, I sure try,”
“We gotta be on the bus in 5,” Sid says, as I’m talking to Jon and getting my camera
“So, I hate to be an annoying fan but can I get a picture with you boys?”

I got an amazing picture with the boys I grew up watching, pretty sure my life was complete. We all said bye as they got on the bus to go back to the Burgh. The boys finish in the locker room, then me, Jon, Pat and Laura head to Jon's car. There were a few fans outside the arena so Jon and Pat got out to do some autographs and pictures. A little girl with her dad was so happy to see the boys that she started crying and it made me smile, she waved to me and asked Jon who I was, she wanted to say hi to me too,

"Hi sweetie! Whats your name?" I say as i kneel to her level
"Amanda, I think your pretty!" she says
"Aw thank you Amanda! Your a beautiful little girl!"
"Thank you, I like you with Jon, I think you guys are cute!"
"Oh, your so sweet! I do too"
"Can I take a picture with you and Jon?" she asks shyly
"Of course!"
So Jon comes on the other side of her and we all smile for a picture. We all get back into the car, Jon is determined that I made that girls life, but she was so cute!

The boys started their road trip the next day, which happened to be the first of a few Canadian road trips, and it also happened to be during the Canadian Thanksgiving. Jon’s parents were meeting up with us for the games, and Jon was excited about that and seeing them for the holiday and also for them to spend more time with me. Dayna, Savannah and I were the only girls to go on the road trip with the guys, Elina had classes and the other wives had jobs and kids to take care of. The first game was against Ottawa, so the girls and I spent the day at the arena while the boys were practicing. The girls and I saw Carrie Underwood passing us in the hallway, so we stopped and talked with her for a few minutes, such a sweet girl.

2 comments:

  1. great chapter, that amanda chick is crazy lol. good job!

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  2. This was a great chapter. That Amanada chick is nuts. The whole running into the Pens players and getting a picture was a cute touch. cant wait for more.

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