Chapter 16

Max let go of me, but he kept his arm wrapped around me.
“Long time no see, eh?” He said warmly.
I shook my head. “ I know, we’ve both been so busy with hockey and I’ve been in school.”
“Well, the teams going out to dinner after practice. How about you come with us?” Max invited.
“Yeah, sure.” I said warmly. The team really was fun when Sidney didn’t go in father mode and try to keep them well-mannered around me.
“I have to hit the ice, babe. I would say wish me luck, but I don’t need it.” Max said cockily, but laughing the whole time. He finished walking down the runway and I went up to the stands to watch. To my surprise, Vero was there. I went down and sat next to her.
“Hello, mon amie.” Veronique greeted me.
“Bonjour, Vero. Je ne vous ai pas vus depuis longtemps non plus.” I said back in French just for kicks.
“You speak French? But you grew up in Nova Scotia.” Vero asked surprised.
“In first grade, I had a friend move from Quebec to there. We couldn’t really talk, so her mom gave me lessons. Then I did some programs and did a summer camp in Quebec for it. I’m fluent now, better than Sidney at it.” I said proudly. I worked very hard to become fluent in it.
Vero smacked me on the arm.
“Ow!”
“Why didn’t you tell me you speak French? I love my French, but Marc-Andre, Max, and Kris are the only ones I can speak it with.” She explained.
“Okay, okay. We can have our French conversations a couple times a week.” I promised. I needed it to or I would forget the language.
“So, are you going to dinner with us tonight?” Vero asked.
“Yup. Max invited me.” I said.
I heard Vero sigh with relief. “Don’t get me wrong, I love hanging out with the guys. It’s incredible how close they are and it’s great. Sometimes though it’s a little overwhelming being the only girl though.” Vero said.
I laughed, “I know how it feels to drown in testosterone.” We watched the rest of the practice and chit-chatted in French just like I promised. V helped me smooth out some of the flaws in it. We went down and waited in the lounge for them. All of the players that were going to dinner filed in.
“You’re still here.” Sidney said surprised.
“Nice seeing you too, bro.” I teased.
He rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean. It’s just that you normally don’t stick around.”
“Yeah, I know. But Vero was here and I haven’t seen her in a few days.” I explained.
“Well we’re going out to dinner. You can come, I guess.” Sid said.
I laughed. “So gracious, but I know. Max invited me.”
Sidney’s attitude immediately changed. “Oh. Maybe you shouldn’t go then. It may to late of a night for you.” He lied.
“Right, because you are totally going to let the boys go crazy the night before a game.” I said exasperated.
“Hey Ky, I can give you a ride.” Max said walking over to Sid and me.
Sidney grabbed my arm. “No, she’s going with me.”
Max rolled his eyes and sighed. “Monster your car is already filled. Let me take her.”
I glared at them both. “I’m not a tug-a-war rope. I’ll decide who I ride with.”
Sidney shook his head. “Nope, I’m in charge of you and I don’t trust you with Max. You don’t want me to call Dad and explain our little situation here, now do you?” He threatened.
“Well, want do you want me to do? Walk?” I retorted.
“I could give her a ride if you want.” Jordan interjected. We all turned and looked at him. “I thought you were going with Vero and Marc-Andre.”
“I was going to be squished in to the back with Billy. That’s not my cup of tea.” Jordan joked.
Sid nodded satisfied. “Sounds good. See you two there.”
“So, what? You trust Jordan with Kylie, but not me?” Max grumbled.
Sid shrugged. “Yup.” He said before walking away. Jordan grinned at me and I followed him out to the car. I went to open the passenger’s seat, but Jordan stood in front of me and opened it. “Ladies, first.” He said grinning. I went to get into the car, but I stopped when I saw a red, lacy thong hanging on the headrest. I turned around and raised my eyebrows at him. Instead of being embarrassed, he just smirked and shoved them into his pocket.
“Couldn’t wait to get back to the apartment, eh?” I asked.
He rolled his shoulders and laughed. “Wild night.” We both got into the car and started driving towards the restaurant. “We’ve all been guilty of some wild nights.” I admitted.
Jordan laughed and shook his head. “I don’t think you’ve had a wild night.”
“I have to!” I defended.
He kept shaking his head. “You don’t know a wild night until you’re with me.” He boasted.
I laughed, “Oh, really? I don’t think so.”
“Come to my house tonight and I’ll prove it to you.” Jordan said.
“Oh, because Max would just love that.” I said laughing.
“Max doesn’t need to know.” Jordan said smirking. I knew Jordan must have just been kidding, Sidney and Max were both his best friends and they both would be pissed if anything happened between us. Still though, I didn’t know how to understand with that last statement, so I fiddled around with the radio. Jordan parked a few blocks away from the restaurant, so we started walking towards it.
“Offence or defence?” Jordan asked.
“Offence. I play centre just like Sid.” I replied.
“And me.” He responded quickly. We walked in silence for a few blocks. I started to shiver, the wind was slicing through my thin sweatshirt.
“Are you okay?” Jordan asked concerned.
I laughed. “I live in Canada, you know I’m used to it being colder than this.” I reminded him.
He shrugged, “Still. Do you want my jacket?” Jordan asked. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face. “Nah, but thanks. The restaurant is right ahead.” I said pointing towards it. I couldn’t help but notice that for the rest of the way, he walked a fraction ahead of me, almost as if he wanted to shield me from the wind. We finally got to the restaurant and the only people left standing outside were Max and Sidney.
Sidney stepped forward. “There you are. I was starting to get worried.”
I laughed, “You worry about everything, Sid. It’s fine, it just took us longer than we expected to walk.” I rubbed hands against my arms, trying to stay warm. “Can we go outside now?”
Max put his arm around me and rubbed my shoulder. “You’re freezing, babe.” Sidney charged in to the restaurant and I quickly followed him. Billy was already having a few shots at the bar inside.
“Wart’s back, we should get a table now.” Billy announced using his personal nickname for Sidney. He says that Sid is a worry wart and he likes to rub it into his face every chance he got.
“Bonjour, Mini C.” Marc-Andre greeted me and gave me a peck on the cheek. We all filed into a round booth table at the back. Some how I got sandwiched between Max and Sidney. I groaned, this seating arrangement wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. Vero raised her eyebrows at me across the table before laughing. I glared at her, this wasn’t funny, it was going to be horrible. Max wouldn’t show any mercy to the fact that Sid was sitting right next to us. In fact, he might try and piss Sid off even more just for fun. We were short one menu, so Max took Krisi’s quickly.
“Fuck you.”Kris complained.
“No, that’s what Kylie’s for.” Billy said laughing. Vero tried to hide her smile, but she couldn’t as every one else was laughing. Sidney choked on the water he was drinking and I stared down at the menu, blushing.
“Burn.” Kris said still laughing.
Max rolled his eyes, “Burn? Seriously? Are we back in the seventh grade?”
Tyler sighed, “I wish we were. That’s when I got my first kiss.” He explained.
“Yeah, she must have been legally blind.” Jordan shot back.”
“No, she can see perfectly fine. And I’m dating some one as beautiful as Kelsey!” TK defended himself.
Jordan shook his head. “I still haven’t wrapped my head around the fact that some one as hot as Kelsey would go out with your ugly ass.”
“And even after she met me!” Max exclaimed. Vero and I shared a glance, Kelsey was definitely going to hear about this when she got back from her trip.
“You guys are animals.” Vero said laughing.
“But you still love me.” Marc-Andre said giving her quick kiss. I sighed wishing that I could be in love with some one as much as they were in love. I tried to erase that thought from my mind since I was actually sitting next to my boyfriend. Max reminded me of this fact by placing his hand on my thigh and started to slowly move it up. I quickly kicked him, or at least attempted to kick him.
“What the hell, Charlie?” Sidney asked.
“Charlie?” Vero asked laughing.
Sidney started laughing. “Oh, that’s a whole embarrassing story that I would just love to get into it.”
I blushed already dreading hearing the story.
“So when Kylie was in about third grade, she was obsessed with every name that wasn’t hers. So it was the first day of hockey practice, and the coach was asking if any one had any nicknames. Kylie says that every one calls her Charlie and to please call her that. They go through the whole practice every one calling her that, and then at the end of the practice the coach says “goodbye Charlie” right in front of my dad. Of course my dad was confused, had her explain, and then had her go to the coach and explain. I think she lied and said that I had her dare her to tell the coach to call her that.” Sidney explained laughing the whole way.
“ I was a stupid child.” I defended myself.
Max put his arm around my shoulder. “Sid drop you too many times on your head as a baby, eh?” He teased me.
“Speaking of dropping, the absolute best was when she flipped over at Juniors.” Sid retaliated laughing again.
Vero giggled, “Sounds like I need to hear this story.”
“Alright, so my parents and her came up for the weekend at Rimouski because it was a playoff game. With about a minute left in the game, I score a goal to win it. My dad says that every one was jumping up and down. Apparently Ky was a little too excited and slipped. So she flipped right over the seats in front of them and landed side ways on some fat guy.”