Making Friends

“Baaaaaaaaaabe!” I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen someone more drunk in my life. And for some reason they think I’m their babe.

“Um, not your babe,” I say apologetically. I point to myself. “I be Jen,” point to the girl sitting next to me. “This be Kailey,” point to the man playing with Kailey’s hair. “That be Captain Annoying,” gesture to encompass us all. “We not be your babes.”

The girl looks so confused, I feel bad for her. I guess she really thought one of us was her babe. “Noooooooo,” she complains. “I swear I saw my babe over here. Where is he? He was just hereeeeeeeeeee.”

Okay, so not talking about us then. Also, not looking for a wayward girlfriend. Looks like she’s scouting out her wayward boyfriend. Well good luck finding him in this place. The bar is full of drunk guys hitting on girls they didn’t come with. Any one of them could be her babe.

I shrug helplessly, wondering how long she’s going to stand there. I feel so, so bad for her. She’s completely wasted, and she’s lost her boyfriend who she probably came with, so she’s all alone. I would help her but I have no idea how.

“Well he’s not here now, sorry,” she’s pouting and sighing in turn, and I am starting to wish she had been talking about one of us so we could let her down gently and she would go away. It’s getting uncomfortable with her just standing there.

“So,” I say in an effort to ignore the weirdness that has seeped into our area. “When are you planning on telling your parents that you’re going to move in with Captain Annoying over here?”

“Careful, people might start to think you don’t like me,” he says before taking a drink from his beer. I frown at my own nonalcoholic drink. Figures the place Kailey’s boyfriend wanted to meet at has a strict 21 and over policy. They check closely too. I sigh, shifting uncomfortably.

“Well,” I say to him. “You’re one of my favorite players. You’re extremely talented on the ice. You seem like a decent guy. And you’re obviously crazy about my best friend.”

“All terrible qualities in a boyfriend I must say. Why am I dating you again?” Kailey jokes.

“I have no idea and I don’t plan on enlightening you in case you wise up and change your mind,” he replies cutely. Ugh, they’re just getting more and more disgusting as the night goes on.

“However,” I say pointedly to get back on topic. Okay, and also to remind them that there are other people at the table. “You’re seven years older than her. Your famousness means your actions are often in the spotlight, where she hates to be. Your job makes you travel a lot and that takes time away from her. And there’s a constant risk of you getting hurt every single day.

“So you see I’m not sure how I feel about you. You’re a great player, but I have no idea if you’re a good boyfriend. And my best friend deserves a good boyfriend.”

Toews shakes his head at my words, and Kailey bites her lip nervously. She has no doubt considered all of these things already, but hearing them from someone else might weigh more heavily on her mind.

We are interrupted from our thoughts by loud slurring coming from the girl from earlier. The one who kept calling us her babes. “There’s my babe! There he is! Hiiiiii!”

I guess the drunk girl has found her babe. I roll my eyes at her. No doubt he’s some totally wasted party boy who was supposed to be here an hour ago. God I hate guys like that.

“Sorry I’m late, but I didn’t actually want to be a part of this conversation and I only came because I know I would feel bad for disappointing Kailey later so here I am in all my glory hey do you mind if I sit here?” It takes me a second to realize that the last part is directed at me. I look at the guy, wondering what the hell has come to the world that I have been stunned speechless.

Standing in front of me is Patrick Kane, and I am in shock. As he sits next to me I glare at my best friend, who smiles sweetly at me. She did this on purpose, not telling me he was coming. She knows he’s my favorite.

“So, have they gotten passed the mushy stuff yet and moved on to normal people behavior?” he asks me.

I laugh. “The mushy stuff is just getting started. I’m having a hard time stomaching it.”

He smiles at me. “Yeah I have a hard time with it too. I’m gonna need a drink if they’ve barely even begun.” He gets up to grab one and I turn to face my traitor friend.

“So,” she smirks. “We thought we would have you both come out for this, since you our our best friends and this is a celebration.”

“Thanks so much for telling me I really appreciate your kindness,” I snap at her.

She doesn’t even have the decency to look ashamed. “I thought this would be funnier. I was right.”

“You’re only laughing because you can hide behind your boyfriend now.” She laughs because it’s kind of true. By the time we’ve exchanged a few more sarcastic comments Kane comes back and rejoins us.

“So, what did I miss?”

“Well,” Jonathan says, half laughing. “You missed us announcing we are moving in together. You missed that girl over there mistaking us all for you—even though we’re all way better looking. And you missed Jen here telling us why I’m a bad boyfriend.”

Kane turns to me. “I’m guessing you’re Jen?” I nod. So does he. “You’re right Tazer, she is better looking than me.”

I blush, and I’m pretty sure Kailey dislocates her jaw when it hits the table. “Did you just blush?” she asks incredulously.

“Of course not,” I tell her. I’m not anymore, so it’s pretty believable. “You know I don’t do that.”

“So wait you guys are moving in together?” Patrick asks, saving me from an embarrassing argument. They nod, looking so proud and so disgustingly happy. God they just spew rainbows and sugar when they’re together. I feel like they have a parade of fairies following them around throwing glitter. That’s how fucking bright and happy they make each other.

“Can you two cool it with the lovey crap? It’s making me nauseas,” I tell them. Kailey sticks her tongue out at me and shakes her head, no. Then to further irritate me she sticks it down her boyfriend’s throat.

I turn away from their make out session. Kaner meets my eyes and motions to the bar, mouthing the word ‘drink?’

I nod, even though I know they won’t serve me. They won’t let him serve me either, but at least I can get away from the happy couple for a while.

“So,” he says once he’s ordered another drink for himself, and a soda for me. “Why do you think he’s not a good boyfriend?”

“I never said he wasn’t a good boyfriend,” I defend myself. I’m assuming he’s upset because he thinks I attacked his best friend’s character, but I didn’t. I tell him all of my reasons that I told the two earlier. “So you see,” I say when I finish. “It’s not that I think he’s a bad boyfriend. I just don’t know how good he is for her.”

“I get what you’re saying. But,” he counters. “How do you know?”

I blink stupidly at him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean how do you know?” he asks again. “Has she told you she’s unhappy in the relationship? Has Kailey mentioned that she was having a problem with his constant travelling? How do you know this is going to be an issue with her?”

I don’t answer right away, since I guess he’s right. “I guess I don’t. I’m just looking out for her though. It’s going to be messy in the end if things go bad, especially since it’s going to end up public at some point probably.”

He nods, like he’s thought the same thing. “Yeah I know what you mean. I tease him all the time about how serious he is about her, but he really is. I know that if something happens and they break up he’s gonna be fucked up about it. I’ve told him before that if he’s not thinking long term he needs to back off because he’s jumping in way to fast on this one.”

“I’ve said the same thing to Kailey. She’s never had a real relationship before this and this is a really serious one. If things go bad after they move in together then she’s going to lose it. I’m not sure anyone could reach her after that.”

“You think she’s that invested?” he doesn’t seem surprised when I tell him I know she is. “Yeah, it seems like they both are.”

I take a drink from my glass. “For their sakes, I hope this doesn’t end badly.”

He copies me, drinking from his. “For their sakes, I hope it doesn’t end, period. They’re too far gone now.”

I agree. “If it ended neither one would be able to handle it, I think we’ve already agreed on this.”

He barks out a laugh. “Yeah I guess we—shit!”

I barely register the word before I am drenched. Okay maybe drenched is an overstatement but having a drink thrown on you is not a fun experience and I don’t like it.

I sputter through the water that was just poured on me. In front of me stands the girl who was at our table earlier. “Don’t hit on my babe!”

Oh my god she’s crazy. Unless she’s not. I look at Kaner with my eyebrow raised. “This is all you.”

He smiles apologetically at me before turning to the girl. “Hi, have we met before?”

Oh shit he’s going to be that guy? Really? That is not—

“No, but I love you.”

Or not. I guess she’s just crazy.

“That’s, um, great to hear,” he seems so uncomfortable. It’s kind of funny. Actually it’s hilarious. “But I’m sorry, I don’t really know how you want me to respond.”

Probably by making out with her. Or with sleeping with her. She’s also probably hoping you date her. I don’t say any of this out loud because that would be stating the obvious. I only do that when it’s to my benefit.

While I’m musing on my sarcastic tendencies the girl appears to be getting more and more desperate. Kane on the other hand appears to be getting more and more nervous. It’s obvious he wants out of this situation but I’m not sure how he plans on getting that. He’s sort of trapped.

“Look,” he tells her finally. “I’m sorry but me and my girlfriend here are just getting a drink before we rejoin our friends. So if you’ll excuse us,” he grabs my hand and leaves her stuttering behind us. I’m torn between laughter and shock. Did he just say girlfriend?

“So,” I say as we approach the table. “I’ve gone from acquaintance to girlfriend in a matter of minutes? That must be your fastest work ever Kane. Off the ice that is.”

He laughs and drops my hand as we sit down. “I wanted to get out of there before she threw another drink on you. Speaking of which are you . . . ?”

“I’m fine,” I answer. “It was just water.”

He nods. “Good,” he smiles at me and I can’t help but smile back. I look behind him at the table and see that our friends have abandoned us.

“We’ve been left behind it seems,” I tell him.

He doesn’t seem too bothered by it. “Well, then let’s get out of here. I’m starving.”

I follow him to the front of the place. When we get outside I expect him to walk off and leave me to find himself some food. Instead he asks, “So where do you want to go eat?”

I stop for a second. Is Patrick Kane asking me on a date?

He stands waiting for my answer as I contemplate this. Finally I decide that it doesn’t really matter. And suddenly I’m quite hungry as well.

“You pick.”

A/N: hi so welcome to my very first hockey fanfic ever haha :) I hope you guys like this story and if you do please remember to vote and comment :) thanks so much for reading