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› "I'm sorry, is saying your last name supposed to help me recognize who you are?" She asks scoffing at him.
"What do you mean?" He slowly asks confused as to how she doesn't know who he is because of the fact that they were sitting in a café in the middle of Toronto.
She smiles, "Sorry, dude, I don't know who you are. Are you like an athlete or something?"
He slowly nods his head, "Yeah, I play for the Leafs." He says and smiles shyly at her hoping she would connect the dots.
"Oh, that's cool. When did you start playing for them?" Astra asks, seriously curious.
"It's my third season in the NHL. Before that I was down in the Marlies as a prospect for them and they called me up two seasons ago." He explain and Astra leaned forward indicating that she wanted to know more about him, so he continued, "I was drafted eighth overall in 2014 and my brother was drafted eighth also, but a year after me. I was one of the best rookies last year, like statistic wise, and that's pretty much it."
Astra slowly moves back and says, "That's great and all, but what's makes you, you?" William furrows his eyebrows and before he's able to say that he just explained everything, she continues, "Not hockey, you. As a person, who are you?"
"I don't know, why don't you tell me?" He answers back, "Tell me, Astra, who are you?"
Astra scoffs and says, "If I tell you then you have to tell me." William raises and eyebrow and nods so she continues, "I am very open minded and genuine, like especially after high school I put all of my fakeness behind me and I'm just trying to get through college so I can get my degree. My parents passed away when I was young so I was forced to mature faster and take care of my younger siblings, which is another reason why I'm not fake anymore and why I don't take things for granted, because I know how hard it is to afford things. I'm a quick learner, whatever you say once will forever stick with me, even when it comes to math. That's the only reason why I got a full scholarship to university, which is amazing though because I won't be in debt, but I mean you wouldn't have to worry about debt right, William 'I play hockey' Nylander?"
William shifted uncomfortably in his seat and mumbled, "I guess so."
Astra bites her lips, feeling bad for what she said, but she knows that they won't be seeing other again so she let's it slide. "If you weren't playing hockey, what would you be doing?"
"I would definitely be in school, but probably in Sweden, studying to be a businessman." He says with a big smile on his face and Astra notices that he truly does love business and hockey.
"That sounds amazing, why business though?"
Once she asks that, his eyes light up and he takes a deep breath, "I love how businessmen, the ones who make millions, mostly started from nothing. Steve Jobs, he didn't have anything yet look at the enterprise he created. The person who made those fidget spinners? Probably a billionaire by now all because of some toy. Owning a business is a risky job, the economy falters so much, but if you know what you're doing you're fine. Like look at Oprah, or Kirk Kerkorian, or the guy who invented Starbucks. Oprah is, well, Oprah. Kirk owned like half of Vegas and the owner of Starbucks is making so much money right at this second. All because they knew what they were doing. Sorry, I tend to ramble when I talk about this, my teammates hate it."
"No, no it's completely okay if you ramble, I love that sparkle people get in their eyes when they talk about stuff they love. And you? Well, you definitely get that when talking about business or hockey." Astra says with a smile and reaches for her coffee, looking at William who was trying his hardest to hide his smile from her.
"That's pretty cool though," Astra says, "I mean all of those people you mentioned were raised in a poor lifestyle and they became these amazing men and women that almost everyone has heard of."
William nods his head in agreement, "Yeah exactly, I mean if I wasn't playing hockey I would definitely still want people to know my name. Wait, that makes me sound so narcissistic." He says in a whisper then looks around hoping she didn't take it that way.
Astra laughs and William immediately looks up, he has seen her smile, but her laugh was so vibrant and amazing that he couldn't help but smile at her. "Honestly, William, you don't sound conceited at all. It makes sense. I mean I wanna be a famous lawyer, I want people to know my name. Like look at Rob Kardashian, I mean he's dead, but still. I don't wanna defend someone who's guilty, but I want people to know my name."
William's eyes trail down her body then he quickly looks back at her face and asks, "Why do you wanna be a lawyer?"
"I obviously want to help better the justice system, it's pretty terrible as of now, but also because there's a great deal of money involved and if I do well enough then i'll be able to ensure that my family won't have to worry about any money issues. I wanna put bad people in jail and help good people get off, but the money is a great deal too." Astra chuckles and continues, "You thought you sounded like a narcissist and now I sound like i'm hungry for money."
"No you don't, it makes perfect sense if you ask me. I mean, you didn't have much growing up and you just want your siblings and your future family to not have to worry about it they're gonna be able to eat dinner or not, or if they're gonna be able to get a new outfit for their first day of school." William says, completely understanding where she's coming from.
"Yeah, I'm glad you get it, most people don't." She states with a small smile.
"Well," he says and takes a sip from his drink then put sit back on the table, "I'm not most people."
