A Little More You (Jonathan Toews)

Chapter 5

"I barely know you, you barely know me, we ain't but two slow dances into this thing. Come on and sit down, I'll order us a round; I want to know everything. Girl, where's your hometown? Are those your momma's eyes? What are you doing for the rest of your life?" -Parmalee

Mati awoke the next morning with just enough time to get ready to make herself presentable for the team lunch. She threw on a pair of khakis and her team polo and curled her hair. She grabbed her phone and wallet and jogged down to the lobby as the bus was loading up. As she got on, Tammy waved to her with an empty seat across the aisle, but Kane grabbed her hand and pulled her in next to him.

"You're sitting with me today!" He said gleefully.

Jon was one of the last ones on, and when he saw Mati sitting in his usual spot, he scowled.

Great. The guy definitely can't stand me now and it's not even my fault.

She started to stand up to move but Kane stopped her.

"Jonny, sit across here." He directed his captain.

Jon took a seat across from them and laid his head back.

The drive only took 15 minutes and when they piled into an intimate Italian restaurant, everyone quickly found a spot, leaving Jon and Mati to take the end two seats.

Jon couldn't believe Kaner. He knew having Mati sit with him was a ploy to get her closer to Jon. When he scowled it was at Kaner, not her. And he stupidly realized that she probably thought otherwise. This was his chance to redeem himself.

As they looked through the menu and gave their orders, the chatter become broken up and scattered. Mati was half listening to the conversation next to her. Jon took this as his chance.

"Uhh Mati?"

"Yeeeah..?"

"Can we start over?" He asked, almost pleadingly.

"What do you mean?" She replied. This was the most he had said to her in a month...she was a little curious.

"I haven't been exactly the most friendly guy since you've been here". He smiled. "And I was definitely shooting daggers at Kaner on the bus, not you".

Mati was slightly taken aback, but this was a good step in the right direction. She didn't need to be BFFs with the guys, but she wanted to at least get along with all of them.

"It's okay...he can be a pain sometimes. I didn't mean to take your spot". She chuckled.

He blushed "don't worry about it...it wasn't a big deal. Just Kaner being Kaner".

The both awkwardly laughed and Mati was glad to see the food coming.

Later that evening, Mati waited in the hallway to the visitors' locker room. The boys had won against the Rangers, 3-1. Jonathan had been on fire tonight, like he had a new energy about him. And he knew exactly what it was...a certain blonde. The conversation at the restaurant hadn't been much, but he was finally able to apologize and start over with her and that was the first step into getting to know her better.

Tammy was right. The east coast media was brutal. And even the traveling Chicago media got a little bit more of an edge to them. Something about the coast, apparently. She stood by as the players handled the criticism and the accusations. Even with a win, they were beat up and questioned. However, the guys still kept a good attitude about it all and about tomorrow's night game in Pittsburgh.

As they loaded the bus back to the hotel, Mati saw that Jon and Kaner had left the same seat open that she had ridden on earlier.

She grinned. "How sweet of y'all to leave a seat for poor old me, even if it will destroy y'all's bromance".