Old Friends,New Situations Chapter 1

I pulled into the nearly empty parking lot and jumped out of my car. My eyes quickly scanned the parking lot for a silver land rover and it only took me a few seconds to find it. I could feel the huge smile break out on my face as I spied a familiar male figure leaning against it. I couldn't contain my excitment and I ran over to where he was standing and threw myself into the arms that I found waiting for me. I buried my face into his chest and returned the hard hug that I was receiving.

"Hi Burs" I murmered into the mans chest. "I've missed you"

" Missed you to Mel"

We finally broke apart and I stepped back to look at the man who had been one of my best friends since my sophmore year at the UW.

" You look the same" I stated and it made him laugh.

" Is that good or bad?" he asked

" Well you couldn't have gotten much uglier so I guess it's not a bad thing."

" Good to see that you are the same Mel that I know and love"

" You know it"

I was in Chicago to see Adam Burish play against the San Jose Sharks. We had known each other for the better part of nine years and even though we kept in contact through emails and phone calls it was the first time that I had had the time to see him play in person since he had made his debut. I was told to to get in my car and follow him to his house where I was going to be spending the weekend. It took almost twenty minutes of driving before we pulled up in front of a large house. I got out and went to grab my suitcase but Adam beat me to it. I followed him inside and was plesantly surprised. We went through a foyer and into the kitchen which was beautiful but you could tell didn't get much use. From there we went to the living room and up some stairs.

"Alright, the room you will be staying in is the last one on the left. My room is right here and the bathroom is the next door. I hate to leave you by yourself but it's almost time for my nap"

" I remember Bur. Lunch at eleven fourty five, chicken and some kind of pasta and nap from two to four"

"Am I really that predictable?"

" Well you are male and a hockey player so I will go with a yes."

" Damn I am going to have to start changing my routine"

" yeah that's going to happen" I snorted, rolling my eyes.

" The remote is on the coffee table and help yourself to whatever you find in the fridge"

" Okee Dokey. See you in a little while"

I got up on my tippy toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. I watched as he disappeared into his room and I finally wandered downstairs. I flopped on the couch and grabbed the remote. After flipping through the channels and not finding anything on I decided to be nosy and look around the house closer. I spied a side table full of pictures so I went over to see what they were. There were the normal pictures of his family but I spied several that involved his college days. I found one that I was very familiar with. It was my picture that was taken at a party not long after we met. I was sitting on his lap and my arm was thrown around his neck and we both had huge smiles on our faces. If you didn't know better you would think that we had been a couple at one point, even though that was not the case. I sighed and set the picture back down. Everything had been so simple back then. Don't get me wrong, I love my job as a scrub nurse and I had worked really hard to get where I was but all it seemed like I did anymore was work. It was kind of sad actually. It's not like I was that old. I was turning twenty eight tomorrow. I was restless and I decided to head upstairs. I knew Burs slept like the dead, so I quietly opened his door and crawled into bed next to him. He instincivly threw his arm around me and I snuggled into the warmth that his body provided. I woke up to the ringing of an alarm not much later. Adam didn't even blink when he saw that I was next to him.

" Come on women, we have to be at the arena by five thirty"

I got up and went to grab my stuff out of the spare room so I could shower. When I was done I threw on my favorite pair of jeans and an old badgers jersey that Adam had given me along time ago. I threw my hair up and put on some light make-up before heading downstairs. Adam was already downstairs waiting for me in the kitchen.

" Kaner's birthday is tomorrow and since yours is to I was thinking that we could go out with some of the guys after the game to celebrate. What do you think?"

" I don't know Bur. Being surrounded by hot drunk hockey players for my birthday? Sounds like it would be boring." I said sarcastically

" Whatever. You know you'll love it."

" So are any of your teammates single?" I asked trying to be nonchalant about it.

" Why do you ask?" he said, raising his eyebrow at me

" If I am going to be hanging out with a bunch of drunk guys I would like to know who is attached because the last thing that I want to get into is a high school bitch fight. "

He looked at me like he didn't believe me but he didn't push the issue.

" Most of the guys have girlfriends. The only ones that don't are me, Sharpie, versteeg, and Tazer.

" Good to know" I said grinning.

" Why do I have the feeling that you are going to get yourself into trouble?"

I tried to give him what I liked to call my innocent eyes, but unfortunatly it didn't work on him in the slightest.

" You can stop looking at me like that. It doesn't work." He stated.

" I don't plan on getting into trouble, but it's been so long since I've been able to relax and have fun that I plan on going with the flow"

" Alright I can deal with that. As long as you don't get yourself arrested we should be fine."

We finally left for the arena a few minutes later. The drive was pretty uneventful and Adam gave me my ticket and pass to get to the locker room after the game. We parked in the players lot and I followed him into the building. We went to the locker room where all of Adams teammates were standing around getting ready for the game.

" Hey Burish who's the hottie?" I heard someone yell as I walked in

I felt myself blushing as every male eye turned in my direction, sizing me up. Adam grabbed me by the arm and led me around the room introducing me to everyone. The closest person Jonathan Toews.

" So your the infamous Melissa that Burish always talks about huh." He asked smiling at me.

" Live and in the flesh. And you must be captain serious." I quipped

He looked a little shocked at first but then he started to smile.

" Live and in the flesh" He parroted back to me

The next person I was introduced to was Patrick Sharp. He was standing at his stall without a shirt on and it took all my will power to not stare. There was nothing about the man that wasn't sexy and I have always had a thing for tall dark haired, dark eyed guys. You could say that it was my weakness

" So I hear it's your birthday tomorrow too. You are coming out with us right?" He asked flashing that killer grin at me.

" Of course I wouldn't miss it for the world"

" Good. I'll see you later then"

I turned around and went to find Adam, who had wandered off. He was standing at his stall and was starting to get ready.

" I am going to go find my seat. Have a good game"

" Alright. I'll see you later"

I got on my tippy toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. I turned around and went to leave. I felt like someone was staring at me and I looked to the side and found myself looking into Patrick Kane's eyes. He broke the eye contact first, leaving me to wonder what the hell that intense look was for in the first place. I mean we hadn't even been introduced and he was glaring at me?
Whatever, I had a game to enjoy.