Picture Perfect | Claude Giroux Philadelphia Flyers story |

Just a Crush

---Kat's POV

"Hey! Did you wanna grab some lunch around 12:30?" Julie asks as I walk through the door and toss my purse next to my shoes.

"Actually I can't," I say and take a breath and brace myself for her reaction, "the guys on the team actually invited me out to lunch with them."

"What? Seriously? That's so awesome!" she chimes excitedly, "are you nervous at all?"

"Hell yeah," I remark with a laugh, "I just hope they like me- I mean I have to work with them so it would be great if we all got along," I confess my worries.

"Don't worry about it too much," she smiles, "just don't let your nerves get to you."

"Do you want to come with me? It's at 11:30," I ask, hoping she'll say yes so I have someone I know with me.

"I'd love to but I actually can't. I got an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer to write for the Sports section," she says and her eyes light up.

I congratulate her with a hug and she tells me more about the job. Before too long, she changes for her interview, we wish each other luck and Julie is on her way. I change into some jeans and roll up the pant legs since the summer heat was still hanging in the Philadelphia air. I slip on a white v- neck with a few coral pink stripes on it, a colorful scarf, my black flip-flops and grab my brown leather fringed bag before making my way out of the apartment. As I walk to the cafe, I can feel a rock forming in my stomach with worrisome thoughts flooding my mind. What if they don't like me? It's going to make my job so much harder. I pull my headphones out of my bag and start to listen to some music in an attempt to calm my nerves.

As a song fades out and I turn a corner, I hear someone calling my name, "Katina!" I look side to side and ahead of me searching for a face I recognize.

"Kat!" I hear being called from behind me. I look over my shoulder to see him running across a cross walk towards me and my heart starts to flutter wildly. I stop completely and do a quick check of my scarf to make sure my scar isn't showing. He flashes an amazing smile once again as he gets closer. His blue jeans and purple v- neck make his ginger hair sticking out of his hat even more of a bright orange.

"Hey Claude," I say with a smile, thankfully my voice isn't shaking with nervousness.

"Kat, I'm happy I saw you," he smirks and butterflies swarm my stomach.

"Yeah me too," I admit and immediately hope I didn't sound pathetic. I start playing with the ring on my finger in an attempt to hide how anxious I am. After a few seconds of silence, I search my mind for something to say -literally anything but I can't think of anything- I'm not sure if it's because he's Claude Giroux or because of my crush on him. Did I just say crush? Oh shit. I try to push the word out of my mind and thankfully Claude says something before my nerves fully get to me.

"So why did you move to Philly?" he asks.

My mind flashes back to the fire and this summer that started out so fun and ended sadly. "Oh- uh- well my best friend Julie and I needed a change of scenery and Philly had jobs we were looking for so it just kind of worked out," I smile, fix my scarf to make sure its covering my scar, and try to push the memories to the back of my head.

He smirks and nods, "sounds nice. Do you live with her- Julie?"

"Yeah Jules and I go way back," I grin recalling some of the memories I have with her, "we live right back there, on the street you saw me on before I turned the corner. Where do you live?" I ask before I realize the words are coming out of my mouth. "I'm so sorry you don't have to answer that- I probably sound like a stalker." I say and we both laugh.