Two Minutes for Hooking

Chapter 15

Even Strength-Describes a situation when both teams have five skaters on the ice. (The Complete Hockey Dictionary)

James
I woke up at the crack of dawn the next day. Since we had won the night before and didn't have game today we had a rare free day and I wanted to spend every available minute of it with Jocelyn. I thought back to our kiss the night before, it had been the hardest thing I think I've ever done to stop things from going any further. It had been physically painful, I wanted her more than I've ever wanted anything in my life, hockey included. Her beauty made my blood boil and my heart race. And it wasn't just her beauty, she was intelligent and funny. It took her a little bit to get out of her shell but I felt like I was really getting to know her. Kissing Jocelyn had started a wild fire, one I was certain would burn out of control. I had no disillusions when it came to my hockey career. I knew it didn't matter how talented I was, it would come down to sheer grit and determination. You didn't just have to be better than everyone else, you had to work harder than them too. Most guys my age who had NHL dreams went to college or tried out for foreign professional teams. I had gone this route because the juniors team I was on tended to feed into the AHL league we were named after and that AHL team was a farm team for one of the biggest NHL teams in the league. I knew it was a long shot and I also knew that pursuing Jocelyn was stupid because I had no idea where I would be next year. My agent wanted me to go to Sweden or Austria to play in their pro leagues if I din't get drafted and if I had a girl here, it would be nothing but heartbreak. The problem was I was already too deep before I ever approached her. I wasn't really a romantic but there was something about Jocelyn. The minute I saw her, I knew she was special. I had dreamed about her almost every night after that. I can't really say what I dreamed was very appropriate, mostly dirty dreams that ended with me in the shower rubbing one out. Frustrated and unable to go back to sleep. When I got up I banged on Ryan's door until he answered.
"What the fuck do you want Collings."
"I need your help, get up."
"Fuck you." I heard him mumble through his pillow but I knew Ryan. Once he was awake there was no going back to sleep. I went out into the living room and started the coffee maker and heated up a pan with some butter on the stove for eggs. I figured, if I was going to wake him up first thing in the morning the least I could do was make him breakfast.Ten minutes later, I was putting the eggs on a couple paper plates when Ryan walked out of his room rumpled and rubbing a hand over his face.
"Good morning sunshine!" I said in the brightest cheeriest voice I could manage. His response was to flip me off and tell me he fucking hated me. Which was probably a lot nicer than anything he was actually thinking. He sat down and downed half of his coffee, stretching and yawning before finally looking at me.
"What the fuck do you want at this ungodly hour of the morning?" he asked.
"I have another date with Jocelyn today and I need your help."
"You've got to be kidding me." He grumbled covering half his face with his hand. Rubbing his brow, he said "so, let me get this straight. You take her out, ask her out for the next day and you ask for my help? How exactly is this my problem?"
"Because you're the one who has done this serious dating thing before. I'm out of my element here man."
I shoveled the last of my eggs in mouth, chewed, swallowed and followed up with "besides, you owe me"
"What the hell for?"I leveled him with a look," don't play dumb. You know exactly what I mean."
"I thought we had agreed to never speak of it ever, ever again" he said with a shiver.
I laughed, "No you stated, I never agreed. And by 'that' I mean, the fact that you were so shit-faced, you almost fell dick first into Tiffini" I grinned into my coffee, enjoying the green look of disgust that took over his face.
"Yeah well, if you want me to help you, you won't bring it up ever, ever again. Ugh" he said with a shiver, "I still have nightmare's about that."
With Ryan's help I'm able to figure out the perfect 2nd date. I manage to wait until 9am to call Jocelyn. "Mmmhello?"I couldn't help but smile at the sound of her sleepy voice on the other end of the line.
"Good morning sleepy, did I wake you up?"
"Mm, no not at all." I could hear the smile in her voice. "Are you sure? Because I can let you go back to sleep if you want?"
"No, seriously, you didn't. I'm up. I just got done with yoga so I'm a little sleepy but definitely awake. What's up?" I closed my eyes and tried not to picture her doing any number of yoga poses where she would be bent over with her ass in the air.
"Are you still up for spending the day together?" I asked, nervously chewing on my thumbnail. I hadn't realized until this moment how much I was afraid she would say no.
"Yes!" she shrieked, "I mean yes, definitely. What did you have planned?"
"How do you feel about rock climbing?"
"I've never been. But I've always wanted to try."
I smirked, "Great, I'll pick you up in an hour. Wear workout clothes."
We hung up the phone and I looked over to see Ryan laughing into his coffee.
"What?" I snapped.
He widened his eyes and shook his head feigning innocence. I balled up my napkin and threw it at him. "Screw you dude."
Ryan laughed as he caught the napkin, "sorry, you're not my type."
I shoved his shoulder a little harder than normal as I passed him on my way to my room, laughing when I heard the satisfying thump of him hitting the floor.
"You're an asshole" I head him call.