If she didn’t quit moving under me, I was going to go crazy. “Alright, Drake, stop.”
He retreated and plopped into the recliner. Emily was trying to catch her breath and glared at me. I burst out laughing and leaned down to give her a quick kiss on the lips without thinking. She tensed under me. “Sorry,” I mumbled getting off of her.
She brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Drake turned his attention to the TV and Emily quietly asked to speak with me in the kitchen.
Pain struck my heart to hear that voice return. I followed her into the kitchen and leaned against one of the counters as she hopped onto the counter on the other side of the room. “I want to talk about today. Jake, you really scared me. I can’t have that kind of energy around me. I won’t have it. I don’t think this is going to work.”
The whole time she was speaking, her voice was low and she avoided looking at me. I crossed the room and turned her head towards me. Her eyes were watery and she closed her eyes just as a tear fell.
I wiped it away. “Em, I’m so sorry. I was just so angry that someone would talk to you like that after all you’ve been through.”
“So you think it’s right for you to speak like that to someone else?”
I shook my head. “No. Look, I’m sorry. You’ll never have to see that again. I promise. I won’t ever do it again. Just please don’t kick me out of your life.”
She leaned forward and rested her forehead against mine. “Okay,” she said quietly.
I wrapped my arms around her with relief coursing through me. I kissed her lips tenderly. I took her hand and we went to the couch to watch TV with Drake while we waited on Mike.
Mike walked in, greeted us and tugged at his tie, saying, “I need to change. After that, we should be good to go.” A few minutes later he returned and asked, “Alright, who is ready to go to the hockey game?”
“I am! I am,” Drake yelled to Mike.
He laughed and told Emily to go get the tickets.
She ran into the kitchen and returned moments later with four tickets. “Let’s go,” she said. We stood and walked through the kitchen and to the garage. “We’ll take my car,” Emily said.
She got in the driver’s seat and Mike told me I could sit up front.
“No, no. That’s fine. You can.”
“No, you go ahead. I’ll sit in the back with Drake.” I nodded and got in the passenger seat.
Then we were off. Raleigh was about an hour and a half away. Conversation
moved from school to hockey to girls Drake liked at school to music. I learned that Emily was a country music gal, but that she liked pop and rock too. A lot of her favorite singers were “hot” as she said. Seeing her comfortable, laughing and talking, just set my attraction for her skyrocketing.
Finally, we were at the RBC Center and, after parking, we followed the crowd into the building. We waited in the security line and passed through a few minutes later. We walked around until we found our section and then had our tickets checked by the woman guarding the entrance.
She let us through and we went down the stairs until we reached our row. We were maybe ten rows back from the glass and we were behind one of the goals. We took our seats with it being Mike, Drake, Emily, and then me. The air was cool and it felt refreshing compared to Emily’s hand, which was hot in mine. The game was going to start in about fifteen minutes and Drake was beyond excited. He talked nonstop about how cool it was that he was here.
Emily was bubbling with excitement as well. I guessed she was ready to see her man. She was wearing a Penguins t-shirt with Crosby’s name and number on the back. She was one of very few in the building not wearing red. Soon enough, the players came out and skated around the rink to warm up.
Emily squeezed my hand when she caught sight of Crosby. “It feels so good to be back here again,” she told me. I smiled and thanked her for bringing us along.
It didn’t take long before her attention was back on the ice and her eyes were following Crosby around the rink. Did Emily’s eyes follow me around when she came to watch me play? I hoped so. We stood as some girl came out to sing the national anthem. When she got to the “rockets red glare” part, everyone in the building screamed “RED!” as was Canes tradition.
Then the game started. Emily didn’t seem to care if she drew attention to herself. When the Pens did something good or scored, she showed her support by yelling, cheering, or clapping. A few of the people around us sent a glare her way when she did.
The score was 1-1 when the first period finished. Emily looked over at me and smiled. “Let’s make a bet,” she suggested.
I leaned towards her. “What kind of bet?”
She giggled and said, “Twenty bucks says the Pens will win.”
“Twenty bucks says the Canes will win,” I countered. She held out the hand I wasn´t holding and we shook on it.
“I’m going to be twenty dollars richer by the end of the night,” she told Drake and Mike.