My Big Brother

7

Nina's POV

Nico:
NEEEN TOMORROW IS
THE DAY!! I ARRIVE IN
DETROIT TONIGHT!

Neeen:
I can pick you up around
10am tomorrow of you want

Nico:
I would love that

I arrive at Nico's hotel which is at the Millender Center station of the people mover and walk in to see him sitting in the lobby waiting for me.  He sees me and his eyes go wide as his face bares a smile while he engulfs me in a hug.  He was right when he said his hair was one of his best features.

"You look beautiful." He says as he released me from the death grip hug.

"Thank you."  I begin to blush standing there in my dress, I look down at his suit.  "You don't look to bad yourself."

"Thank you."  He laughs a little, his accent getting to me.

I finally get a good long look at his face, he's very cute.  I notice the small cut under his right eye but at I can't help but stare right into his eyes.

"Your eyes are beautiful." He says to break the awkward silence.

"Oh, Thank you."  I look down and smile while tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.  "Are you ready to go? 
Your game starts at 8 and you have to be at LCA by 5 and we have a lot to do."

"I can't wait." He smiles and grabs my hand making me blush.

We get on the people mover and I see Nico look out the window in wonder, his eyes wide as he can see the whole city and parts of Canada.  He looks over at me and smiles as we stop at Joe Louis, he sees me start to frown a little.  He comes closer to me and sits down. 

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing.  My brother used to play here, we pretty much grew up here.  I'm just sad it's going away soon."

He puts his arm around me.  "All good things must come to an end." 

The people mover car starts to move again and he stays right where he is, still looking in childlike awe out the window as we pass through the city.  We get off the people mover at Greektown, of course nethir of us are old enough to go to into the casino so we go straight to street level.  I look across the street and then up at Nico who is still holding my hand and I drag him across the bustling street when there is a break in traffic.  We walk into Astoria bakery, my favorite one in all of Detroit and of course it's packed as usual. 

"There's a lot of people here."  He looks down at me seeming kind of nervous as he squeezes my hand.

"It's ok, go pick something you want and we can get some stuff to eat."

He walks up to the glass and stands there undecided.  He finally picks something out and I grab a macaroon.  Without me knowing he paid for me.

"Nico!  That was supposed to be my treat."  I fake frown and look up at him as we head out the door.

"Its ok, it was my pleasure."  He smiles and kisses my forehead.  I like that.

"Alright Nico, you pick: Wahlburgers or Parthenon?"

"I'd like to try more American food."

"Wahlburgers it is."

We walk in and it's surprisingly slow.  We sit down in a booth upstairs and he smiles at me.

"So, tell me about miss Nina Larkin."

"Well I grew up here in Detroit, it was mostly great but I hated high school."

"Why did you hate high school?"  My smile turns into a slight frown.

"It wasn't good for me.  I didn't have many friends and was the only girl on our high school hockey team so I got bullied a lot."

"What did they say?"

"Its not what they said it's what they did.  They would hit on me and take my stuff and put it in their locker room so I couldn't get it and I always had to ask Dylan's friends to get my stuff because they were the only ones who were nice to me.  On the ice, they would always try to purposely hurt me and coach never noticed.  Off the ice, they would beat me up and say it was 'conditioning' because boys hockey was rough.  I never said anything because I knew Dylan and Colin would kill them so I just dealt with it myself."

"That's awful, I'm so sorry."

"Its ok, It's over now.  Anyways, my brothers are some of my best friends and I love them to death.  I obviously like the Red Wings and I loved hockey since I was a kid.  I made the Wayne State college team a year early and I'm a freshmen in college right now.  There is a possibility they may get rid of the women's hockey program soon but I will find somewhere else to play."  I pause "what about you, Nico?"

"I grew up in Switzerland and played hockey since forever.  I have a sister named Nina and a brother named Luca.  They are some of my best friends too even though I don't get to see them as much since I got drafted."

Our food arrived and we ate surprisingly fast.  I check the time and it's 1:00.  We head out and see a man on the street.

"Hey Danny!"  I ran up and gave him a hug.

"Whats up little lady? Who's the new man?"   He smiles and points at Nico raising his eyebrows.

"Danny, this is Nico.  He's a friend of mine coming in from out of town.  How's business doing today?"  I look over at the bundle of pictures he's been selling.

"Ok.  I've sold 3 already, and I've still got about 2 hours left."

"Well we better get going, good luck!"

The rest of the day was spent walking around Detroit and eventually it came to an end.  I walk Nico into the front of the visitor locker room. He grabs my hand and looks at me in the eyes with a heartwarming smile.

"I had a great time today."

"I did too, I can't wait for you to come back here soon."

"Maybe one day you could come over to New Jersey."

"I would love to."  I hear his teammates call his name from the locker room.  "It looks like you have to go."

"I never want to leave your side."  He gets closer.  I look in his eyes as I feel a hand on my face and one of my waist pulling me closer.  He looks down and kisses me, I can feel him smiling against my lips.  After a few seconds he pulls away.

"I'll see you later."  He says as he pulls away, still lightly holding on to my hand.

"Bye Nico." 

"Bye Nina."  He smiles and walks into the locker room.

That was the best day of my life.

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This one is really long but I didn't want to split up significant events into multiple chapters.  Thanks for reading 💕