Caufield's girl

Chapter Four

It's already morning, the next day, and new shit to put up with. But at least it's Friday, the only day of the dreadful week when I thank God that I don't have any lectures to attend, so I can sleep peacefully without any regrets, letting the sleep cure my slight hangover. I turn over a few times, and when I cannot sleep anymore, I just lie in bed and do my journaling for another hour, just until Maddie wakes up too.

„Morning." I say this casually when I see her finally getting up from bed. It doesn't take her long to wake up, because I can already see her mischievous expression, fully aware of the major interrogation she's about to start. "Girl, so tell me, was he hot? Did you kiss him? Did you fuck? I wanna hear all of the details. I mean it." I only roll my eyes at her getting excited like a little child. „Jeez, you're not gonna leave it, are you?" I only shake my head because I already know the answer, so I tell her everything. Everything from Dylan to the kiss with the starnger, she just manages to listen with her wide-eyed gaze.

***

„Are you fucking kidding me? So you just walked away?! You didn't even ask for his number... And you don't even know his name... Are you out of your mind?! Oh, my God, that's unbelievable." Maddie gets furious as she shakes her head in disbelief. „It's not a big deal. I don't even like him. We just had a good conversation, and we kissed once, that's all. Is that so hard to understand? It was literally nothing... I must admit that he's a good kisser, but there are literally no feelings. None. The end." I attempt to defend myself, even though she's maybe partly right, but I can't admit it. There's no point in doing that.

„You like him. At least admit it." She doesn't stop bothering me with her ridiculous remarks. „No, I don't." I say defensively again. "You do, you're such a bad liar. It's written all over your face." She says it with a little smirk. „Just shut up already. I shouldn't have told you anything at all." I am becoming slightly annoyed with her at this point. „Okay, just saying... but you're going to regret it. One day, you'll understand I'm right. I always am." She gets up and starts undressing her pajamas as she eventually changes the topic of our conversation.

„So enough about that. Actually, Mark and I were supposed to go on a date to the Canadiens game tonight, but he had to cancel because of some project shit or something for one of his lectures. So I was thinking we should go together and have a girls night out. What do you say? It'll be fun, I promise! And you told me you like hockey, so you can't say no." She looks at me with her persuasive expression, so it's basically impossible for me to refuse, unless I wanna witness another scene of hers.

So I only let out a small sigh and accept my fate, even though I don't even know who plays for the Canadiens. But I guess this is the opportunity to find out and become more familiar with the team, taking into account the fact that I'm gonna be stuck in Montreal for the next three years. „Okay, I'll go, but under one condition. You won't tease me about the guy from last night, and you're paying for all my beers." She only chuckles at my words. „Those are two conditions, technically." I give her my irritated look again. „Do you want me to go or not?" I say it with a threatening tone in my voice. „Fine, fine. Of course. You have my word." She finally accepted my terms, and we could coexist in peace once again.

***

I don't even know how, but in a couple of hours we're already at Bell Centre, ready to have some fun, or, in my case, try to survive. We came in a bit early just so we could secure places right behind the plexiglass to watch the warm-ups. I have to admit that the atmosphere here is quite unique, as the passionate fans already shout and support the players. It doesn't take long until Maddie starts to point at the players and introduce them to me as they suddenly appear on the rink. „So that's Nick Suzuki, he's the captain. Kinda cute, right?" I don't even have the chance to react, and she's already telling me about the rest of the Habs' roster.

„And look over there, that's Cole Caufield." Maddie tries to introduce me to another of the players, but that is the moment I only manage to freeze. I stand there in complete silence as my mind stops. This can't be right, this must be some kind of mistake, it's not possible. But as he keeps getting closer, I realize that my worst nightmare came to life. It's really him. It's the guy I kissed yesterday. The same exact guy told me that he does business, but I guess he's just another pathetic liar. I honestly can't believe that. I'm in such a shock that it takes me a few moments to pull myself together before I decide to speak.

„Maddie, that's him..." I say with a gulp in my throat. „Yeah, it's him, so cool, right?" She says still unaware of what I'm trying to say. „No, Maddie,you don't understand. It's him. That's the guy I kissed yesterday." Her appaled expression and wide-eyed gaze startled me even more. „ So you're telling me that you were just making out with an NHL superstar and you didn't know?!" she basically shouts her lungs out and the startled expressions of people around us make us seem even more crazy. „I told you we didn't know each other's names, and he lied to me. He said he does business! What an asshole!" I shout back at her. „Shit, sorry... I... Oh my God. Holy shit...that's crazy." She is still trying to comprehend what she just witnessed.

In the meantime, my eyes pierce through the plexiglass as he skates closer to us. He lifts his head up, and his eyes lock with mine for the first time. At this point, I'm completely sure it's him. Honestly, I made peace with never having to see him again, and I would be quite glad if it stayed that way, but I guess that fate has other plans for me.

„You?! " I point directly at him furiously, but his wide-eyed gaze tells me that he clearly didn't expect to see me either as he repeats my question. „You?! What are you doing here?" he mouths back at me. „How could you?! A businessman, really?! " I shout once again. I'm not sure if he was able to decipher everything I said, but he eventually managed to comprehend that I'm pretty angry with the middle finger that I showed him. Right after that, I turned on my heel and started to walk away. I could hear him shouting „Wait!" and banging on the plexiglass, but I didn't look back.

Maddie follows in my footsteps right away, but instead of supporting my decision, she only makes me more furious. „What are you doing? You should've at least given him a chance! It's the opportunity of a lifetime; you can't just leave!" She's trying to persuade me to stay and change my mind as we're standing in the middle of the staircase, blocking everybody's way, but right now I don't care. „What do you want from me? You could see for yourself what an asshole he is. I'm not gonna waste my time with him. It's not worth it. I'm leaving!" I try to walk away, but her fierce hand grabs my arm and refuses to let me go.

„Don't you dare to leave me alone! You don't wanna talk to him? Fine, that's your choice, but please at least stay for the game. You know how expensive the tickets were. Please, will you do it at least for me, for Lord's sake?" she practically begs me at this point. „Alright, fine, just let go of me! And I need a beer right away." She finally lets go of my arm. „Thanks God, I promise you're not gonna regret staying." She's content with my decision to stay with her, but if it wasn't for the beer, I would already be on my way back to our dorm. „Too bad, I already do." I roll my eyes as we are on our way to find our seats. Eventually they are far enough from the rink, so I don't have the urge to flip off the rest of the team right away.