Cara gets in the drivers seat of my car. I chuck my hockey bag on top of Cara's in my trunk. She takes the keys from my hands and starts the car. She still hasn't told me who we are seeing or what we are doing, besides it has to do with playing hockey.
Cara drives into Chicago. It's the first time I've been since we moved here. She drives to the middle of the city, and finally finds a parking garage.
"Get your bag. We need them". Cara says before hopping out of the car.
We each grab our bags and skates. We walk out of the garage and onto the streets. She leads me down a few, and now I know where we are going. United Center. I still don't know who we are seeing, though.
Cara leads me in the back door of the stadium and into the tunnels. "Drop your bag here", she sighs as she puts her own bag on the ground next to locker room #3. I put it down and follow Cara back out of the tunnels. We end at the door out to the rink itself. She opens the door, motioning me in before her.
I walk in, immediately figuring out who we came to see.
"Jonathan!" I squeal. He looks at me. Opening his arms, I run to him.
Yes, I have a personal relationship with Jonathan Toews. I've known him since before he was in the NHL. It's been almost ten years. Dad met him at one of his games in college. Dad became close with him, and so did Cara and I. He's like our older brother.
"Mere", he says with relief. He scoops me up and holds me. He can always make me feel better, like my honorary big brother.
He puts me down, then shows me over to the players bench. I don't know where Cara went, at this point, I'm with Jonathan, I don't care where she went.
"You only seem to come to me when you are having trouble. What's going on?" Jon asks with worry in his voice.
"Well, I'm guessing you know nothing of this situation, not even where it starts?" I ask him. He shakes his head. "My boyfriend, Cole, and my best friend, Noah, both live back in Maine. I talk to them constantly. But since that accident in 7th grade, you know I hadn't really been able to keep or make friends. When I met them, I knew something was different. I fell in love with hockey again, and I fell in love with Cole. Noah's now in college, and Cole and I haven't seen each other in almost two months, and I have another two months until I see them".
I see Jonathan think for a moment. "Okay. Well, I do get where you are coming from. You know it was hard when I left Canada when I was drafted here. But I might have a solution, or two. Let's start with the first one. Get your hockey gear on. We're playing". With that, we head back into the tunnels. I find locker room number three and also find that Cara is already in there putting on her hockey equipment.
10 minutes later, both Cara and I were ready. She puts on her visiting jersey, and I put on my home jersey. We kept our jerseys from back in Maine. My purple and gold jersey is the only real thing I have from my home. I've never really considered Michigan my home, even though that's where I was born, and that's where I was raised with my sister. Maine is, and always will be, my home.
Cole and I both have the same number. 19. We both kind of have it for the same reason. Jonathan Toews. I changed my jersey number to 19 when I became close with Jonathan, when I did meet him, I thought the number was pretty cool. Cole's favorite player ever is Jonathan. And my other reason is since Cole's number was 19, mine and his just happened to match in the first place.
We meet Jonathan on the ice. He's warming up. Cara hands me my hockey stick and we rush onto the ice. Cara and I look at each other, we know what we have to do. She nods to me. I skate to one side of Jonathan, Cara behind him. At the same time, we push into him. He falls to the ice. Cara and I high five, when Jonathan pulls both of us down. We are all laughing hysterically.
We skate around, and I have completely forgotten about everything. It's just hockey. It's just friends, it's just family. It's just.....
Happiness.
All three of us get tired, so we head back into the locker rooms to change. Cara and I both take quick showers and throw our hair into messy ponytails. Cara seems to be up to something. She has this look in her eye that says something else is going to happen.
Cara and I are done in our locker rooms first. We head to Jonathan's locker room, knocking on the door. "Captain Serious, you're taking too long", we laugh.
The door opens a second later. "And you girls think we are impatient, geez". He laughs.
We follow Jonathan back into the locker room. Cara and I sit on the bench as Jonathan finishes up in his locker. "I have a preseason game in Boston next weekend". Jonathan says, putting the last thing in his locker.
"Lucky", I spit out. "I miss being out in Boston".
"Why don't you come with me? Just a quick trip. Back home in less than three days", Jonathan sits in front of me.
"What!" I say in disbelief. "What are you talking about?"
"Come with me and the team to Boston. Just us and the team. Get away from this place. You need to get away. We leave Friday night, back on Monday night. You don't have school on Monday. And I will bring you what you need. Noah and Cole", I stare at him in shock. A smile grows on his face.
"Wait, wait, wait", I jump up from the bench. "So, you want me to go to Boston with you and the team for the hockey team? And I get to see my best friend and my boyfriend. You have to be the best person in the world". I scream in excitement.
Jonathan gets up, standing a few feet from me. "I have your plane ticket and hotel reservations. Cole and Noah are coming down on Saturday to see you at the game". I jump into Jonathan's arms.
I'm going to see my best friends. And my boyfriend.
(The next chapter will still have the original countdown. So, don't be confused)
YOU ARE READING
One More Day (Counting on Hockey #2)
Romance*book two of the Counting On Hockey series. Read Just Another Goal prior to this book* Meredith and Cole are going into their Senior year of high school. They are inseparable together. Now both playing hockey, and being together for now more than a...
