Challenge Completed

Why did I do that? Why oh why did I do that?

“Jen! Come on they won! Celebrate!” Kailey knocks into me, laughing in excitement. “Why aren’t you happy? They won!”

I am happy they won. I’m just not so thrilled about—

“And Kane got a hat trick!”

—That.

“Jen,” she says, the smile slipping from her face. “What’s wrong? Who do you look like someone just murdered your dog?”

I give her a look for exaggerating so badly. I’m sure I don’t look that freaked out. “Be real Kailey.”

“I am,” she says surprised herself. “You don’t look good, especially since we just made one of the best comebacks we’ve done all season.”

It really was a good comeback. The Hawks had been down by two by the end of the first period. By the end of the second the other team had doubled that lead. We went into the third with a 4-0 score. It was looking like an easy win for the Blues, until about five minutes into the third, when Kane scored his first goal. After that the momentum shifted, just a little. Then Smith scored, then Saad. By that point there were five minutes left in the period. Kane scored twice before it was over, not only securing the win, but getting a hat trick in the process. I’m ecstatic about the win. I’m not as delighted about the challenge that was just met.

“I’m fine,” I tell Kailey. “I’m just a little bit in shock after that.”

She nods. “Yeah, that makes sense,” the biggest, most evil grin I have ever seen crosses my best friend’s face. “But that’s not why you’re so freaked.

“I think,” she speculates. “That you made some type of a bet with someone. Probably Kane, since the guy can’t seem to leave you alone for a second. I think that your bet had something to do with the win.

“You must have bet something interesting, if you’re this fucked up about the result,” she stops babbling suddenly, and looks confused. “But there’s no way you would’ve bet that they’d lose. You have way more faith in them than that,” she looks sideways at me. “It couldn’t have been the win then. So what in the world did you bet on?”

I frown at her. Stupid nosy best friend. “None of your business.”

She snorts at that. “Please,” eye roll. “If I had made a bet with Jonathan you would’ve pried and annoyed until you got every single detail of it. Then you would’ve taunted us and laughed until you couldn’t breathe.”

“I would do no such thing!” Ok, so that’s exactly what I would’ve done. Still she’s supposed to be the mature friend. She’s supposed to be above all of this prying and mocking. Why does she have to act her age now of all times?

She snorts again. “You suck at lying,” the humor fades from her face and is replaced by curiosity yet again. “So it’s definitely not the win. What else could you guys have bet on tonight?

“The score? No they were predicting a low scoring game. You were talking about that this morning. Hmmmmm,” she taps her chin in thought, serious thought. I roll my eyes at her. Damn she’s milking this.

“I’ve got it!” her sudden exclamation makes everyone around us jump. I smile apologetically. “You,” she points, just in case I didn’t understand that as the only other person at this table she was talking about. “You bet that Kane would score a hat trick. Or you bet that he wouldn’t, and now that he did you lost.”

I laugh at her, as though this is just plain ridiculous, instead of basically what happened. That is a mistake.

“Oh now I know that I’m right.”

I stick my tongue out at her, but confirm nothing. Of course I don’t really need to. She already knows she’s right.

Laughing, Kailey asks, “But what did you bet? I can’t figure that out. It must have been huge. Did you say you’d go out with him or something?”

She says it like it’s no big deal, when we both know it’s anything but. She’s been so weird about me and Patrick hanging out. I can only imagine what she would say if we actually started dating. I flinch at the storm that would bring out. Look out for Hurricane Kailey.

Instead of answering her I take a sip of my—sadly non-alcoholic—drink. This gives me about five seconds to stall for an answer. Luckily, I’m good at thinking on my feet.

“It’s not a date,” I tell her, which is true. I think. “There will be a lot of other people there. You’ll even be there!” I hope so at least. I’m not sure I could handle a night with just his teammates and the other wives and girlfiends.

I frown again. No, not ‘other’ wives and girlfriends. I am not his girlfriend. There is no ‘other’ about it.

I continue berating myself for the mental slip-up. Meanwhile, Kailey’s jaw is probably hurting from the table it’s resting on at the moment.

“Holy. Fuck,” she whispers. “He’s taking you to the team party.”

I fidget, uncomfortable at the significance this apparently has. “Yeah, so?”

“SO,” she whisper shouts. “The team party isn’t for causal hook ups. I didn’t even go to the first few that Jonathan invited me to. Those are for people who are going to be there for the team, long term.

“For Kane to invite you to this,” she shakes her head, totally in shock.

I’ve got to say I’m right there with her. Holy hell why didn’t he mention that taking me to this party was basically equivalent to a marriage proposal? Ok, well maybe not that extreme but if what Kailey’s saying is true if he shows up at the party with me everyone is going to think that we are in a serious, exclusive relationship. Considering we haven’t even been on a date, I’m not sure how I would feel about that.

I’m pulled from my thoughts by the sound of No Control by One Direction blasting from Kailey’s phone. I raise an eyebrow in silent judgment.

“I’m going to kill him for changing his ringtone again,” she mutters, blushing as she answers. “Hi babe, so first off: No Control? Seriously, not appropriate. What if I’d been with my parents?”

I tune out of the conversation that follows and go back to musing on how I’m going to get out of going to this party. That lasts about a minute and a half before I’m distracted again. This time it’s my phone that rings.

I don’t realize it at first because my normal ringtone is not Voodoo Doll by 5SOS. The only reason I don’t miss the call entirely is because I see my screen flashing.

“Hello?” I say tentatively.

“Challenge complete,” meets my ears. I try so hard to bite back my smile, but I feel the corners of my lips twitch.

“I must say I did not expect you to win that challenge,” I tell him, still fighting off the smile.

“Want to know a secret?” he doesn’t wait for me to respond. “I didn’t expect me to either.”

I can’t hold in the laugh that admission brings. Kailey looks at me like I’m crazy, before realizing that I’m on the phone too. I mouth ‘Kane’ at her and she nods, going back to her boyfriend.

“Well you did it,” I tell Patrick, returning to our conversation. “Now, about the party…”

“Don’t you dare bail on me!” he says. “Come on fair is fair. I got the hat trick, you have to come to the party.”

“Kailey was telling me about these parties, I’m just not sure—“

“They aren’t bad I swear,” he hurries to assure me. “It’s really just the team, the coaches and everyone, and the wives and girlfriends. It’s not a huge party, not a ton of people you won’t know. It’s a great place for you to get to know the guys and everyone. Please?”

I shake my head before realizing he can’t see me. “Kailey told me as much, but I’m still not really sure.”

“Why?” he sounds flustered.

“Well,” I say. “Because I’m really sure I want to give people a reason to believe you when you call me your girlfriend. And apparently if I show up at the party with you that’s exactly what it’s going to do.”

Silence on the other end of the phone. I bite my lip, waiting. Finally he responds. “Do you really think that’s what people would think?”

“Well, yeah,” I answer, still nervous.

“Well, I don’t,” he laughs, but it sounds strained. “We’re friends, and that’s all we are. The team knows it, I know it, you know it. Going to this party will not change that.”

“I’m not sure,” My god when did I become such a spineless wimp? I want to go to the party, I want to spend time with him and get to know the team. Why can’t I just agree to this? Why do I care so much about what people may or may not think?

“Look do you trust me?” he makes it seem like this isn’t an important question, but I can see right through that.

“That’s not even in question,” I tell him. “Of course I trust you.”

I think I hear a sigh, but I can’t be sure. “Good,” he says. “So will you come with me to the party?”

I think it over for a minute before answering him. I sigh into the phone. “I’m going to regret this.”

A/N: so I just want to thank you all again for reading :) also I want to hear what you think about the story so please feel free to message me or leave a comment! I love to get feedback, good or bad, because I want to make the story good for everyone. I want you all to love reading it as much as I love writing it. So any kind of feedback is appreciated! Thanks and thanks again for reading :)