Chasing #34 || Auston Matthews

Chapter 8 // The Quest for Auston's Gift

"Why don't you want to talk about it? Did you sleep with him?"

"What? No!"

"Okay, don't freak out. Jeez I was just wondering," Steph said, raising her hands up in defeat.

I rolled my eyes at the blonde.

"Excited for Friday?" She questioned again.

I sighed, "Oh my god Steph, not now,"

"What? It's a valid question! It's not like I'm asking you if you sucked his dick,"

"Steph!" I whisper-yelled.

The guy sitting directly in front of us in the row below kind of gave us a dirty look but I tried to ignore him. I knew we were being distracting but I couldn't find the time to actually care at this point. We were currently sat in our last lecture of the day, Disease and Society. Don't ask me why we were taking this class but Steph had promised it would be an easy grade to help boost our GPA's. I hadn't gotten that vibe yet.

It was now Wednesday and Steph and I would be leaving Friday morning for Toronto. She had wanted to go Thursday but I had hockey practice at seven, and I didn't really want to be driving all the way out to Toronto after that. I had told her to take the bus if she really wanted to get out there but she declined.

Steph and I really hadn't had the time to gossip about Auston over the past week. I had been too busy with classes and hockey, and whenever I was actually around Steph, I skillfully was trying to dodge her questions. Nothing had really happened. I mean all we did was sleep, nothing special. I was having a wonderful morning in bed with him though, well until Mitch barged into my room to snap some pictures of us. He still hadn't deleted them either, but Auston promised me he'd take care of it. He'd left around two that afternoon, because I had classes from three until seven, and also because he needed to get back to Toronto as soon as possible to do more promo for the World Cup. And that was it.

"Are you going to get him anything?" Steph asked again.

"Who?" I questioned, giving her a look.

She rolled her eyes, "Auston silly. It's his birthday on Friday remember?"

I sighed, no I remembered. But I wasn't sure if I should even get him anything, let alone what to get him. I was in a pickle that was for sure. Auston still wasn't technically my boyfriend. We had decided not to label our relationship as anything for the time being. I was busy with school and he was out living his dream. We were just two people who enjoyed each others company. So why label it? But because of the lack of said labelling, I had no idea what to get him.

Sensing my uncertainty, Steph spoke, "Maybe ask one of the guys?"

I nodded. Maybe one of Auston's teammates could help me out.

Once class had wrapped up, Steph and I headed out of the building and to my car. "Mall?" She questioned.

"Yeah, I guess," I shrugged. I didn't really have any time tomorrow to go looking for a gift for Auston, and I knew Steph wanted to go look for a new outfit to wear at some point over the weekend.

Driving off campus we took the ten-minute drive over to the local mall. Parking near the Forever 21 entrance, mostly so I could remember where we parked, we swiftly entered the busy complex. As Steph began shopping, I made sure to keep an eye out for anything I could potentially gift to Auston. But this was a lot harder than I ever thought it would be.

At first I thought maybe giving him a nice watch or something, but Steph immediately rejected the idea. She stated that giving him a watch would be quote on quote, placing time onto our relationship. But what relationship was that? I had known the guy for two weeks. And on top of everything, I didn't really have the funds to give him an adequate enough device.