A Hockey Player's Proposal (Oh Captain, My Captain 2)

“What are you doing up?” I lean back on the couch, and Bonkers lays on my lap.

“Couldn’t sleep.” She shrugs. “Shouldn’t you be in bed from the long road trip?”

“I should be, but I’m not as tired as I thought. Have I missed anything?”

“Nope. I’ve been watching some crappy hockey though.” She giggles.

“Really? I’m sure that was someone on my team, it couldn’t be me.”

“You win as a team and you lose as a team, Brody.” She perks her eyebrow at me with a serious look.

“You’re right, Selene.” I nod in agreement. “So, about this dogsitting, you have a blind date?” I inquire. I’m not sure why I care, but I want to know more about the date.

?

??Yeah, Allison is setting me up with one of her old college friends. He seems like he might be nice. We’ve been texting a little.” She shrugs like it isn’t a big deal.

“Oh, that’s cool.” I take a sip of my beer. “I’m on the verge of changing my phone number. The girl I was banging before you has gone a little crazy on me. She obviously didn’t understand our arrangement. Now she’s all like ‘I love you’ and ‘We need to be together’ crap.”

“See what happens when you assume I’m crazy? You end up getting yourself some crazy anyway.” She giggles at me. “Does she know you moved?”

“Oh hell no. I’m thankful for that. And, for your information, I now know you’re not crazy.”

“Good. But as far as dogsitting, Bonkers should behave for you. Much better than he does for me.” She pats Bonkers, who is still on my lap. He looks at her like she’s disturbing him.

“Anything I need to know? Like special foods, or does he need me to read to him so he’ll fall asleep?” I joke.

“No, but he likes to watch hockey, so if there’s a game on, turn on the TV.”

“Bonkers watches hockey?” I look at her stunned. I can’t image a dog watching TV.

“He is my dog, isn’t he? He loves it,” she says, like I should know this already.

“I don’t think I’ve known a dog to watch TV, let alone hockey.”

“Well, now you do. He’s been moping about those away games.” She bumps my shoulder.

“Ha, well, I will try to do better. For Bonkers, of course.” I pat him, and he curls closer to me. “So, this date, what do you know about this guy? Hockey fan?” I want to know more.

“The purpose of a first date is to get to know a person better. You know this, right? I’ll find all that out then. But after Mick, I’m almost to the point of limiting myself to dating only hockey fans. They’ll understand me better.” We both laugh.

“I’m not much of dater.” I shake my head. “Most of the girls I see are for, well, recreational purposes.” I wink at her.

“Nothing wrong with that,” she quips right back. “You’re a busy man. Makes sense, really. Have you ever been on a blind date in your short dating history? I trust Allison, but I’m still not so sure about it.”

“Blind dates don’t really work for me. Once people hear my name or see me, they aren’t ‘blind’ anymore. Actually, I haven’t really had a girlfriend in a long time. Well, during Junior Hockey, I was seeing someone seriously, but not since then.” I have no clue why I told her that. I never talk about her. “Why are you not sure about this date?” I quickly change the subject and hope that she doesn’t bring it up again.

“I guess it’s sort of because we have a mutual friend. If it goes bad and I want to bail, I can’t exactly get Allison to help me make up a reason to leave and never have to hear from him again. If that makes sense. But I want to know about the girl you were talking about. What happened?”

Damn. I don’t want to talk about it, but I trust that Selene will not ask too much. “Oh, we started dating when I was in Canada for Juniors. It got pretty serious. I even thought about marrying her. But I guess after all my traveling, she thought it wasn’t a good idea, and I caught her in bed with my friend. Well, so-called friend.”

“That’s terrible. I’m sorry you went through that, Brody. But look at you now. Captain, one of the hottest players in the league, and you’re banging the girl next door. It all worked out for you.” She smiles, talking about all the positives for me.

“I guess it did. I am hot, and you’re a great lay. Yep, win-win for me.” I give her a sexy smirk.

“A win for me too. I get sex and a dogsitter,” she says back.

“Um, just sex? I called you a great lay, and you say ‘just sex’. You know how to bruise my ego, Selene.” I place my hand over my heart and pout my lips.