The Garden was just starting to fill up when I arrived. It was thirty minutes before puck drop, so people still had plenty of time. I made my way towards my seat and didn't see anyone sitting in the seats around me, allowing me to hope Mr. Date wasn't going to show.
The players were doing drills on the ice to get warmed up for the game, giving me numerous distractions to keep occupied. One of my favorite players was at center ice chirping to the opposing team, attempting to get them off their game.
I'd have loved to hear exactly what was being said. I always imagined it was like the movie?Slap Shot. I could hear the hilarious things they said to each other in the movie playing out on the ice, at least that's what I chose to read on the players' lips.
Five minutes to go, still no date, my nerves started to settle. As I was standing up for the National Anthem, I heard, "Excuse me, but I think that's my seat next to you."
Darn. I was so close. Since he'd already waited so long, he could've waited until puck drop, so I didn't have to bother filling the space between the anthem and the start of the game.
I moved out of the way so he could stand in front of his seat and sing along with the anthem. My nerves started back up as I tried to get a glimpse of what the guy looked like. From the side, all I could see was dark brown hair and a nose that appeared to have been broken a time or two. Something about it didn't look quite straight.
After the song came to an end, we both settled in to our seats and he glanced over at me. His brown eyes widened a little bit when we made eye contact. I guessed any expectations he had for me went down the drain. Whereas with me, if I was considering it a real date, I'd be pleasantly surprised.
The man was hot, and I was certain every letter in the word hot needed to be capitalized. His brown hair was cut short and clean. Not quite military cut, but pretty close.
On further inspection, his eyes weren't just brown, but had flecks of gold that really made them pop. His nose had most definitely been broken, but that didn't take away from his looks at all. In fact, it added a bit of character to an already exceptional face.
Not wanting to speak first, I waited while he took in the sight of who he was stuck with for the game. I couldn't tell the thoughts running wild in his head, but he was analyzing something, and I had a feeling he was trying to figure out how many beers he'd need to get through the night.
"Umm. You must be Avery," he stammered out. "I'm Nathaniel."
With that he stuck out his hand and I politely reached over to shake. The second our hands touched I felt a charge tickle up my arm. I wasn't sure what to think of it, so I chalked it up to him dragging his shoes on some carpet.
I took my hand away and wiped it as covertly as possible on my pant leg. The tingly feeling didn't immediately fade and I wondered where he'd found an area of carpet big enough to accumulate that much charge.
"Yes, I'm Avery. It's nice to meet you, even though it's under these circumstances," I said. He looked at me curiously so I quickly added, "This whole blind date thing. I'm generally really nervous to begin with, getting set up does nothing for those nerves."
"I see," he said as he continued to stare at me. "I thought maybe you didn't like hockey and were expecting this to be a long night."
"Oh no, I love hockey," I replied. "That part of the evening is going to be great. It's the being around thousands of people that will have me looking over my shoulder all night."
"If it makes you feel better, I'll help look over your shoulder to make sure no one is sneaking up on you." His eyes implored me to believe him, and I knew I needed to get them focused on anything other than me.
I laughed and turned towards the game, which was starting. I hoped he'd get the hint that I was done talking for a while. It seemed to work because he concentrated on the game too. Soon, I found we were both out of our seats yelling at a horrible goaltender interference call. Our guy was clearly pushed in and we would've scored if the penalty hadn't occurred.
At the first intermission it was still zero-zero and I was really hankering for those nachos. Nathaniel leaned over and asked, "Do you want me to grab you something to eat?"
Staring at the floor, I replied, "I was kind of looking forward to a Nacho Grande from Carlos & Gabby's. Here, if you're going that way, let me give you some money."
"No, this is supposed to be a date, so let me take care of it. Do you want anything to drink?"
"Water would be fine. I'm not big on alcohol and carbonated beverages," I answered.
I thought about getting some money out of my pocket and giving it to him even after he said it wasn't necessary, but it wasn't often I had a man, especially not one who looked like Nathaniel, offering to feed me. I figured he was just doing it because he was friends with Gary, and I saw no problem with that.
"Great. I'll be back in a few minutes. The lines are probably pretty long, but if I'm not back in fifteen minutes, tell them to hold the game for me," he laughed and made his way up the aisle.
I followed his progress for a minute and saw multiple women trying to get his attention. Not only did he not stop to talk, he paid zero attention to the made-up beauties hoping for a few minutes of his time.
I sat back and watched the crazy intermission games down on the ice and was surprised five minutes later to hear, "Here you go."
I looked up to see Nathaniel standing there, holding out a plate of nachos. I couldn't figure out how it was possible. I wouldn't have even made it up the stairs in that amount of time, let alone to the head of the line. He'd scaled the stairs pretty quickly as I'd watched, so I could understand his swiftness, but unless the lines parted in front of him, I was confused by how he'd done it.
"Thanks. That was fast," I told him, hoping he'd do some explaining.
"Well, you looked famished, so I thought I better hurry, wouldn't want you turn into a cannibal on us," he jokingly said as he took his seat.
I looked over to see he had a plate of tacos, so at least he didn't stop at two places. He didn't seem to want to clarify how I instantly had food, and my timid nature kept me from pushing for an answer.
Since we hadn't spoken much yet, I decided it'd probably be nice to get to know him a little. Not that I was expecting a second date or really even to see him again. He seemed like a decent enough guy. I figured we could have a nice chat while we waited for the boys to come back out on the ice.
"So Nathaniel, what do you do for a living?" I asked.
"Nate is fine, Nathaniel is a little too formal after we've battled the refs calls together for the last forty minutes. I'm currently between jobs right now. I'm usually an insurance salesman, but I wanted to take a little break and do some traveling, and maybe settle down in a new town for a while," he informed me.
"Really? What town are you coming from?" I queried.
"That'd be Chicago. I grew up there. What is it you do for a living?"
"Wow, they set us up on this date and didn't give either of us any information, did they? I can't say that's unlike Frannie. I work in a library as a research assistant," I easily told the lie. "Not really anyone's idea of something exciting."
"I don't know about that. Research can be a lot of fun. I spent many afternoons in the public libraries trying to hide from fighting parents growing up. Thankfully, when I turned sixteen they finally divorced and I went to live with my mom on the other side of town. I learned a lot of cool stuff in the library, though, but I don't remember any librarians as beautiful as you."
Cue the tomato red face I predicted earlier. If he hadn't been agreeing to the calls on the ice with me just a little bit ago, I would've thought he was blind. Maybe he was just farsighted.
"Thank you, but compliments aren't necessary. I figure this is probably the only time we'll see each other, since you're just visiting, so you don't have to be that nice."
I finished up my nachos while we carried on our conversation. It was kind of surprising, since I tended to be a little shy about stuffing my face in front of people.
"We
ll, since I'm planning on being here at least a couple weeks, and we're both friends of each other's friends, you never know when we'll see each other again. Anyway, I was speaking the truth, not trying to butter you up," he said it with a fierce seriousness that made me believe him.
I decided to let it go. Nate was turning in to a giant conundrum that I wasn't sure I wanted to figure out. My life was fairly simple, I didn't need a puzzle to solve. Thankfully, the players were getting ready to start the second period.
Two minutes in and we finally scored. We both were on our feet as we screamed with the other fans. After a great fight and goal for each side we came to the second intermission. It was time to make my way to the bathroom and stretch my legs a little. After standing through a ten-minute line, I made my way back to my seat.
Nathaniel was talking on the phone saying, "Yes, sir, I'll be there first thing in the morning. We should have an answer relatively soon, I'd think. I hear they're really good at their job." He looked up at me and quickly added, "I have to go, but I'll touch base as soon as I get any results."
"So, get in any cat fights while waiting in line?" he asked, putting his phone away.
"Nah. I just put my mean face on and that's good enough to scare everyone away. I mean if you saw this," I arranged my face to my patented "I hate the world" look, "would you want to mess with me?"
He started laughing hysterically. The way his eyes lit up and sparkled drew me to stare at them, and it took actual effort to look away.
"No, I guess not, but I may ask what you have stuck up your butt, because you look kind of constipated."
I continued to give him my look for another few seconds, and then pretended that what was on the ice had me captivated. It wasn't often I found something that took my eye away from the game.
"Hey, I was just joking around," he said. "That's a very ferocious look you have. I wouldn't think of messing with you if I saw it."
Somewhat appeased, I turned and stuck my tongue out at him. "The look and the martial arts slash self-defense training might be enough to scare you away."
"Really? Very interesting. I've had a couple of classes myself. Maybe we should spar sometime." The sparkle in his eyes was replaced with a glint of something that made me think he knew something I didn't.
"I don't know about that. Like I said, I don't know that we'll see each other again after tonight. I'm very busy at work and all of that. Look, they're getting ready to drop the puck, let's get back to the game." I really didn't want to try to spar with him and I hoped that idea flew out of his head quickly.
We watched the third period and with an empty netter at the end, our boys won three-to-one. It was odd that I thought of them as our boys since he was just visiting our town, but he seemed to be cheering for them, so I supposed it was okay. Coming from another hockey city, he probably had his own boys in reality.
"Well, this has been a fun night. Do you want to go out for coffee or something?" he asked, digging his keys out of his pocket.
"Sorry, but I don't do caffeine and I have a new project starting at work tomorrow, so I really want to get a good night's sleep."
He'd been nice and I had a lot of fun, but I thought adding anything more without the hockey game as a buffer would be pushing it.
"That's too bad. I guess this is it then. Do you want to exchange numbers so maybe we can talk another time?" he asked with an expectant look on his face.
"Um, sure." I rattled off my cell phone number. "Just text or call it later and I'll store the number."
I was pretty confident that number was going to get lost in his phone, but he asked for it, so I thought it'd be rude not to give it to him. Plus, I knew if I didn't, Frannie probably would and I thought it was better if it came from me.
"Got it. I'll call you later, it really was a great night," he said as he leaned in and gave me a kiss on my cheek.
I decided he had to be an electricity conductor, because I felt a similar shock to the one I'd previously felt. I also thought there was a little heat passed from him to me, but that might have just been my body's response to his touch.
"Good night," I said shyly as I made my way out the aisle and up the stairs.
I reflected on my night during the train ride home. He was intriguing, but the fact that he was gorgeous and from out-of-town made me think there wasn't going to be a second date. It was just as well. The new project at work was going to have all my attention for the near future.
As I was getting tucked into bed, my phone vibrated, indicating I had a text. I picked it up to see who it was from and I was surprised to see it said:
Hey Avery, just wanted to make sure you got home safe. I had a great night and will try to give you a call tomorrow. - Nate
I didn't want him to sit up and worry all night, so I texted back:
Thanks. No problem getting home. Talk to you later. - Avery
After saving the number in my phone, I set my alarm and quickly fell asleep.