𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 | 𝐣. 𝐡𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬

𝟐𝟑 | 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞 & 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐯

"Speaking of boyfriends, how are things going with Jack, Char?" In seemingly a nanosecond, the eyes of Em and Nicole join Gabi's in looking at me waiting for an answer. This morning we'd all decided to meet up at a cute corner restaurant with an even cuter front patio seating area while the guys were all at morning skate. Up until this point, Em and Nicole had met for the first time and we'd all caught each other up on what we'd been up to.

"Honestly, everything is going great with Jack. He's been amazing to me and perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better boyfriend!" The girls' faces are riddled with smiles and happiness for me. "When Jesper told me about how head-over-heels Jack was for a girl I couldn't believe it. I'm so happy that that girl was you because you guys are the cutest." Smiling, I can't help but feel content and thank Nicole. Jack is the greatest gift in my life. I've never felt so strongly about someone like I have for Jack. Being around him brings millions of butterflies to flutter in my stomach.

"I also needed some advice. My parents want to meet Jack, but I don't know what would be the best way to introduce them to each other." Nicole and Gabi are probably the best people to ask for this advice since they've already been through this. "Well I can't speak much for this since I'm estranged from my parents, but I did meet Nico's parents and that was over dinner." Gabi seems to smile remembering meeting Nico's parents.

I turn to look at Nicole waiting to see what she says, "My parents met Jesper during an All-Star break." The girls take turns making suggestions of how Jack and my parents could meet, but one suggestion from Em catches my ear, "What if you take them to one of the games? They could all meet afterward and maybe you guys could all go out for dinner." Gabi and Nicole nod, agreeing with Emilie's suggestion. I'll consider Em's idea and I'll have to bring it up with Jack.

"Now enough about me and Jack, how about you and Luke, Em? How's it going?" In a silent response, Emilie's face is coated in a pink blush, and the other two girls around me freaking out. "The youngest Hughes has a girlfriend? Oh my God, that is so cute. I'm gonna kill Nico for not telling me if he knew anything about this" Nicole and Gabi are practically squealing.

"If you feel comfortable telling us Emilie, how did it happen?" Nicole turns to Em first before Gabi and I join in. "We met because of Charlotte and Jack and during the All-Star break, he'd asked me to go to Michigan with him since we both wouldn't have our roommates for a week." As Emilie tells us about all the time they'd spent together and the few dates they'd gone on, eventually Luke had asked her to be his girlfriend during a lakeside dinner.

"Well considering that now we all have boyfriends on the team, I think we should try to all go on a quadruple date." We all laugh at even the thought of going on a massive joint date with our boyfriends knowing it could be pure chaos.

𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐩𝐨𝐯

Finishing getting ready for morning skate, I lace up my skates as Jesper, Luke, and Nico are also all doing the same. "Hey Jack, so how are things going with Charlotte?" Tying off one of my skates I briefly pause, "It's going great! I'm probably the happiest I've ever been with her. She's just amazing and I always want to do the best for her and just give her anything and everything I can." The guys all smile knowing that I truly mean what I say. Lotte is so special to me and anytime I get to talk to her or even be in her presence, I feel like I'm floating.

"Listen, we're happy for you man! You deserve someone like Charlotte." Nico pats my shoulder, smiling. "Thanks, guys! I want to get your thoughts on something. Lotte's parents have been wanting to meet me recently and I want to meet them. I just want to do something for them that'll make a good impression. What should I do?" By this point, we're all ready to head onto the ice, but the guys are trying to think of what I could do.

"Jack, why don't you just get them tickets to a game and take them out for dinner? It's nothing crazy, but it gives them time to warm up to you before actually meeting face-to-face." Luke was the one to say this, and it almost feels like a lightbulb goes off above my head. "Luke, that's a great idea! Look at our little UMich guy coming up with a good idea." Standing next to him, I try to reach his height on my tiptoes, my arm completing the rest of the journey, ruffling his hair, or at least trying to. He swats my hand away and I come back down, laughing.

Nico breaks our laughter by telling us we should probably get on the ice before we start. Walking down the halls towards the rink, Nico speaks up. "Hey Luke, so I heard from a little birdie that you have a special someone? Is that tru-" Before Nico could even finish Luke playfully shoves me causing me to stumble to the side, causing me to laugh. Looking over at my little brother under the lights, I see he's going red in the cheeks.

His reaction to the question and shoving me, answers the question Nico had asked. Deciding he can't deny anything, he tells Jesper and Nico all about Emilie and how he'd invited her to Michigan where they'd gone on a few dates. He details how he'd set up a lakeside dinner at our house to ask her to be his girlfriend and she'd said yes.

"Aww little Luke is not so little anymore huh?" Nico is the one to say this and Jesper just tells Luke that he's happy for him. Right as we finish our conversation, we make it to the tunnel and walk down before skating onto the ice, ready for practice.

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𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞
Hey everyone! Sorry for the sort and probably boring filler chapter. I just wanted to get this out as the lead up to Jack meeting Charlotte's parents in the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed this filler even though I'm not super in love with it. Thank you so much for reading!

hope y'all have a great day or night wherever you are!

stay safe ♡