Angels of Long Island | Mathew Barzal

~54~

One day after one of my classes, I get a call from Mat.

"Hey babe, what's up?" I ask, out of breath from rushing out of class.

"Not much just got home from practice." He says. I smile when I hear his voice in my ear. It's only been three or four days but I miss him a lot.

He was told to sit out of practice until his concussion is healed but he still goes and stands on the bench to watch practice and not miss important team things.

"That's good, how was it?" I ask.

"It was good, Damien told me I should be good to play in the game on Saturday night." He says. I'm a tad saddened by this because their game is in Florida so he'll be staying at least overnight in a hotel down there so it'll be that much longer until I get to see him.

"That's awesome! I'm glad this didn't take you out for too long." I say, walking back to my room.

Once I get there, still on the phone with Mat, I drop my stuff off on my bed and hear a knock on the door. "Hang on babe, someone's at my door." I say to him before lowering the phone away from my ear.

When I open the door, Alise is standing there with a vase of red roses in her hands. "This came for you while you were in class." She says. "Oh, thanks girl. Hey, we still on for dinner later?" I ask as she walks down the hall. "Yeah!" She calls back. I close the door with the flowers in my hand and my phone carefully balanced between my fingers. I set the vase down on my desk and pick the phone up. "Hey love, sorry I got a delivery." I say. "Who's it from?" He asks, almost slyly; like he knew something. I find the card that surely came with the flowers and open the little envelope.

I love you babe! See you soon! -Matty

"Babe, I love them, thank you!" I say into the phone. "You're welcome gorgeous. Glad you like them." "How do you always find ways to make me smile even when you're not here." I ask. "Because I'm a freakin genius and I love my girl." He says smugly into the phone. "I love you too Barz. I'll see you when you get back from Florida, yeah?" I say into the phone. He laughs before saying "Yeah, you wannabe Canadian. I love you LC." "Love you." And he hangs up.

When he's off the phone, I take a picture of the flowers and post it to my Instagram story with the card in it and the caption Making me smile and he's not even here @barzal97

SATURDAY NIGHT

The night of the game against the Panthers, I went over to the Bailey's house for a little watch party with the WAGS. Mat was back in the lineup, demoted to second line but with good reason. He hadn't played in almost two weeks.

At some point during the game, Trotz must've switched up the lines because Mat was playing first line again. He even scored and had an assist. A pretty good first night back if you ask me. After the game ended, I hung around Megan's house for a little drinking wine and chit chatting with some of the other girls. Meg had asked me beforehand if I wanted to stay over along with a couple of the other girls. We stayed up most of the night talking about what it's like dating our boyfriends.

"So Lex." Megan says. I look over at her with a big gulp of wine in my mouth. I swallow and say "Yeah?" "Has anything more happened on the Mathew front since we last spoke?" I shoot her a confused look and she adds "You know....." "Ohhhh" I say, coming to the realization. "Maybe." I say with a slight smirk and every, I mean every, girl in the room squealed. "Tell us!" Sydney chimes. "Not all the gorey details but like, when?" Megan asks. "It was after Casino Night. We got home, he took a shower and it just happened. And then again in the morning." I say and they all give me proud cheers. "So, has it happened since then?" Laur asks. "Not since he got his concussion but since Casino Night, it has." I laugh. "Is he good at it?" Laur whispers in my ear. "Lauren!" I blurt out. "But yeah, he is." I whisper back. It brings a smirk to my face when I picture in my mind the last time we did it. Mat mumbling French almost incoherently, The way his hair fell over his eyes when it got damp, the way he slept so peacefully afterward. I loved him and moments like that just cemented it. "ok ladies, let's leave Mat and LC's life stay private." Paige spoke up. The girls go back to their conversations and Laur and I go back into the kitchen to refill our wine glasses and get more pizza. Just as I fill my plate back up, Mat called me.

"Hi baby!" I say when I pick up the phone.

Hey beautiful

"What's up?" I ask

Not much, just thought I'd call you before I go to sleep, tell you goodnight.

"Aww, good job tonight babe. How's your head?"

So much better I feel back to normal. What're you up to?

"Just getting ready to leave the Bailey's house. We had a little game watch party."

Sounds like fun.

"It was. They asked me to stay over tonight."

Alright babe, well we're going to be heading back tomorrow so I'll see you next weekend ok?

I fake a pouty tone and say "Ok."

Hey, it'll be ok. Only a few more weeks till graduation.

"I know."

Alright, I'll talk to ya tomorrow babe.

"Ok sounds good."

I love you.

"I love you too Mat."

Bye. And he hangs up.

When I put my phone down, Lauren is giving me a look. "What?" I ask. "You guys are too cute. I love seeing Matty cuffed." She chuckles. "He's a sweetheart." I blush.

After we finish eating, we get ready to sleep, but not after taking a picture to post of all the girls.