Chapter 6

November 2008

The early glow of the sun was beginning to make an appearance through the sheer curtains that covered the windows as I peaked ever so slightly out from under the warm comforter.  It was brighter out than normal due to the snow that had fallen the night before.  I quickly closed my eyes and wriggled down below the comforter, only to have a strong arm curl around my waist and pull me close to the thin but muscular body that was also under the blankets with me.

“What are you doing?” he asked softly with a hint of amusement in it.

“I’m trying to hide from the sun.  The longer I can hide from it, the longer it is until I have to leave for work,” I answered back in the same volume.

“Can’t you call out?  Don’t you get snow days?” he whined into my ear, making every nerve in my body come to life.

“Just because it snows, doesn’t mean people stop calling 911,” I said with a smile as I turned my head so that I could look into his brown eyes.  He looked so sexy as his dark, long hair semi-covered his face.  I couldn’t help but lean closer to steal a kiss from his thin, pouting lips.  He obliged me and kissed me sweetly back as he climbed on top of me, creating a tent with the blankets that surrounded us.  He agilely straddled himself above me and began laying kisses down my neck and breasts, his hair tickled me as it drug lightly over the path he was making on my skin, causing me cry out in pleasure.

“Are you sure I can’t change your mind, Emma?” he asked mischievously as he stopped his torturous ways and looked up with me with raised eye brows.

“Ugh!” I groaned and clawed at him to continue his torture.  “Ryan, don’t make me beg…we still have a little over an hour before I need to leave.”

He slid back up towards me and whispered heavily into my ear, “Then I guess we better get busy.”  Before all the words were out of his mouth he nudged my legs apart with his knee and I felt a finger press gently into my already wet folds, causing me to cry out for more.

Once he realized that I was more than ready to get ‘busy’, I felt him slide his long, thickness in me as we both moaned out in gratification.  His movements were well executed and smooth, exactly how he operated in the goal crease.  He attached his mouth right above my collarbone as I thought about how lucky I was to be wearing a turtle-neck under my work shirt today because I could just hear the comments from my platoon-mates if they saw the marks on my neck.

I ran my hands up and down his back, feeling his strong muscles move underneath his skin.  I giggled as his moan vibrated against my neck but soon my giggle turned into short breathes and before long I was brought to the endless abyss.  Ryan was an amazing lover who was in-tune with my needs and I finally found a man who could bring me over the edge every time we did the deed.

Once my heart rate came back down to normal I reluctantly peeled myself away from him and ran across the cool bedroom into the bathroom to rush through my shower and get to work.

Ryan’s house was still a work in progress.  It was going to be beautiful when it was done.  It was an odd shaped building that was located at a point of two streets.  The home over was built over a century ago, to fit the point of the intersected streets in a nice neighborhood in Buffalo.  It was a labor of love that he bought after he signed his 5 year contract extension in July.

Ryan was a soft spoken, often mysterious guy who believed in making Buffalo as much of a home as his native East Lansing, MI had been for him.  I traveled home with him this past summer to attend the Miller Family reunion and found out why he talked so highly of his hometown.  It reminded me a lot of South Buffalo and I loved the small town feel of it.

I took a quick shower and tried drying the majority of my thick, curly hair before I headed out into the cold.  When I got out of the bathroom, Ryan was nowhere to be found but the smell of freshly brewed coffee was already wafting upstairs into the room from the kitchen.

I ran down the steps to find Ryan waiting shirtless, in a pair of sweatpants with a smile and my coffee mug with steam pouring out the top of it.  I threw my arms around his slender frame and kissed him quickly.

“Thank you baby,” I said happily.

I went to turn away, but his strong arm thwarted that attempt as he pulled me back towards him and forced me to look into his serious eyes.  “No. Thank you, Emma for another wonderful night having you in my bed.  I love you.” he said, planting a kiss on my forehead.  “Please be safe and call me when you get a chance,” he pleaded with me.

“I love you too and I promise to be safe,” I said for the millionth time in our relationship.  “What time is the game tonight?”

“7:05.”

“Okay, I will call you before then.  I’m sorry I can’t be there, but I already promised Charlie that I’d work the 24hr shift.”

“Emma, its fine.  You know you don’t need to apologize to me,” he said as he twirled a piece of my hair around his long fingers.

“I know, but Patty always gives me shit.”

“He’ll get over it.  Besides, even though you mine, you still wear his jersey to every game you attend.  So he has no right to give you shit.” he said with a wink and a smile as he let go of me, swatting me on the ass as he coaxed me out the door, into the snow covered beauty of Buffalo in the wintertime.

February 22^nd, 2007

The crowd went wild when Patty’s name was announced on the loud speaker for the assist off the goal that Clarke MacArthur scored.  It was his first NHL point.  I was bouncing up and down in my seat as I watched #36 skate around the ice.  I laughed to myself as I noted how ungraceful he really did look out there.  Sometimes it looked like he was skating in quicksand; however he threw some big hits with his body that made me cringe.

I’d been to so many games at the arena over the years, but I don’t think any other game compared to this one because my best friend was out there, helping out the hometown team.  Just like we always dreamed of when he practiced his slap shots off of me.

Then the moment I was dreading came.  Patrick engaged in his first fight as a Buffalo Sabre against Chris Phillips from the Senators.  I fought the urge to hide my eyes from the whole scene, afraid he’d get pummeled, but instead he held his own and got some awesome punches in before they both tumbled to the ice.  He ultimately won the fight and pumped his fist to the crowd as they ushered him into the penalty box. 

I hated watching Patty fight and I never understood where all that anger came from because he was so even keeled off the ice that I never took him as the bully type.  However, he was known for his pest like qualities on the ice and that was one of the reasons he made it this far. 

The guys won the first game of the home-home series against the Senators 5-6 and the place was ecstatic.  The Sabres’ were having a great season and were poised to clinch the division under the leadership of Danny Briere and Chris Drury.  Ryan Miller had proven he was a force to be reckoned with between the pipes and there was hope in Buffalo that this could be the team to take us to the Cup.

I felt like I was floating on air as the game ended.  Everyone congratulated me in the locker room after the game for a job well done and I nervously gave some interviews to the local newspapers about my NHL debut.

I was tying my dress shoes when Ryan came over to pat me on the shoulder.

“Hey kid!  Great job out there tonight.  It’s nice to see another USA kid representing.”

“Thanks man, it’s definitely great to be playing for my hometown,” I said with probably an overly large smile.

“I know what you mean.  That’s exactly how I felt when I played at Michigan State for my first game.”

He was about to turn away when I thought of my promise to Emmy.  “Hey, I was wondering, could you do me a huge favor?”

I watched as he raised his eyebrows and said, “Um, okay…”

“My best friend Emma is a huge fan of yours and I was wondering if you’d come out with me so that I can introduce her to you.  I joked with her about it last night, but I know she’d be completely floored,” I said, laughing inside, already picturing her face.

“Yeah, sure, no problem.”

I threw my bag over my shoulder and we both walked out into the family room to my parents and Emma.  I kept my eyes on Emma to see her reaction.  Instead she surprised me by just keeping her eyes on me and not even noticing Ryan walking in with me.  She almost knocked me over when she did her normal run and jump hug. 

She looked adorable with my ratty old Sabres hat overtop her unruly blonde, curly hair pulled through the back hole of the hat, pulled up with a tie.  She was dressed in medium stone washed jeans that hugged her in every right way, with dark blue UnderArmor underneath a white t-shirt that had my name and number written on the back with a big black sharpie and on the front it said, “Kaleta’s Puck Bunny.” 

I set her down and read the shirt and began laughing at our inside joke that we had ever since I started playing for the OHL.  She would always laugh at the young puck bunnies that would push and shove their way towards me to get autographs after the game.  Emma hated them and always made snide remarks about their lack of hockey knowledge.

She smiled at me and pointed with both hands to her shirt as she looked up at me shyly, “Too much?”

“Nah, perfect,” Ryan said behind me, finally capturing her attention.  “That is definitely an awesome idea,” he said as he chuckled at my best friend.

I began laughing as her eyes grew to the size of half-dollars and she quickly became speechless.  She just pointed at him as she looked at me, hopelessly embarrassed and excited at the same time.

“Ryan, I’d like you to meet my best friend, Emma Kasyk,” I said as I was still trying to calm my laughter.

“Emma, Ryan Miller, goalie.”

Ryan held out his hand to shake Emma’s and said, “Pleasure to meet a girl with a sense of humor.  Unfortunately, I don’t think your Doc Marten Combat Boots make a good substitute for the puck bunny heals,” he said with a broad smile.

Emma shook his hand but was blushing like crazy and obviously was speechless.  After a minute of shaking his hand, she realized how much of a tard she was acting like and left go as she mumbled, “Sorry, I don’t usually act like this.”

“Kaleta! Emma!” Stafford yelled out behind us as he walked into the room, throwing his arm around my shoulder and shaking hands with my parents.

This gave Emmy a chance to get a grip, allowing her peal her eyes away from Ryan and give a hug to Drew as she said hello back to him.

“Hey, we are going out to celebrate a little, you both interested in joining us?” Ryan asked Emma and me.

“Sure!” I said, knowing I was also answering for the once again speechless Emma.

I always knew once Patty was drafted by the Sabres, that one day I might be partying with some of my favorite players.  However, it never really set in until I was in the VIP section having a conversation with Ryan while he sat next to me in the booth of the PURE nightclub.

Our conversation really started when I ordered a Yuengling Lager instead of a fruity, girlie drink.

“Yuengling Lager?” he asked with raised eyebrows.  For some reason I was infatuated with his eye brows and how he seemed to use them in every facial expression.

I smiled and most likely blushed, “Yeah, why?”

“I just figured you’d order a mixed drink like most girls I know,” he answered honestly.

I snorted, immediately became embarrassed that I did so, and then said, “Believe me; I’m not like most girls.”

“How so?” he asked, sincerely.

“For instance, what normal girl would be caught dead in the club, wearing what I am wearing?  I look like I just came from a hockey game,” I said while looking down at my attire.

“Well, you did just come from a hockey game,” he said, smiling at me as he shrugged his shoulders.

“That I did,” I said as I nodded at his well made point.  “However, most girls would have squealed and insisted they go back to their place and get changed into something short and skimpy with sky high heels that they probably can’t walk in properly.  They trot around like it is some kind of fashion show.  Exhibit A,” I said as I pointed over to a couple girls who fit my description to the ‘t’ who were walking over to the bar.  “They are your typical girls.  They’ll order their fruity little drinks and find a guy to hang on and laugh at all their jokes even if they have no clue what they are saying.”

“I meet a lot of those girls,” he said almost to himself.

“I can imagine,” I said as I took a swig of my beer.  “But when you come into a club looking like you do, like a million bucks, I can’t blame them for wanting to hang on you,” I said all too honestly.  The alcohol was beginning to fill the cracks in my brain that blocked my speech sensor, which in the morning would probably find me completely embarrassed.  However, I was happy for the fact that I was beginning to feel less nervous around him.

“Emma!” Patrick yelled in his loud, drunk voice.  “Get out here and shake your ass with me on the dance floor!”

I looked over at Ryan, who just nodded his head like he was granting me permission as I scooted out of the booth and took Patty’s awaiting hand.