Chapter 5

Things were already in full swing at the training camp. Monday morning had come quickly, I had already met with the Medical staff at 1:45pm for my turn at the 15 minute 'look-over'. That was awkward. You'd think all those men had never seen a half naked woman before, I couldn't help but laugh a bit thinking back at the look on their faces. Although the 8 men had remained in the room for all the other physicals, 7 of them excused themselves for one reason or another and the poor soul who was left had looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

Tuesday I had been able to move into the huge workout facility. I had spent all day getting my body back into shape, using the weight machines on my legs and arms and spending the better part of the day riding the stationary bikes and running. Even though there were other people coming and going I could tell I was already gaining attention. Although I was by far the smallest person here, everyone was beginning to realize that my size wasn't going to be a problem for me: there was a problem beginning to arise with them though - how do we catch her?
I was the fastest skater I knew, and I hardly ever got tired when it came to anything physical. Although I was short, I had the body for hockey. I was extremely toned everywhere and my lower body had the trade mark big thighs/bigger ass.

Carrol, my usual workout partner just laughed the whole time. I was on the bike at one point for over 2 hours, and any time I looked over my shoulder I could see the two assistant coaches staring at me, mouths gaping. "So far so good eh?" He joked, snapping a twisted towel at my lower back as I climbed off.

"Hey Carrol, guess what?" I said, following him out of the gym towards the changing rooms.

"What?"

"I think someone likes me..." I giggled in a sing-song voice. He stopped walking so abruptly that I walked right into his back.

"Who?!" He almost shouted, turning around to look me straight in the face.

"Well... I don't know if you were talking to Mattie since last night or not but- "

"Holy shit!" He squealed taking a step back, throwing his hands over his mouth in complete shock. "He never said, when did he tell you?"

"Well, he didn't tell me actually, but I'm like 99% sure he asked me on a date... at least he said he wanted to hang out just us, and whenever I got back to the room and asked Mattie about it, Mattie said that he didn't see why Jake wouldn't want to go on a date with me..."

"Wait, what? Jake? Jake who? Like... the guy from dinner last night?"

"Yah!" I laughed, "I know, he's totally hot and I never would have imagined he'd even be kind of interested at all but... wait... who were you talking about?" Confusion causing my forhead to crinkle as I thought our conversation over in my head.

"Oh, never mind. I just thought you were gonna say someone else..." He said looking off into space.

"Oh! Well... what do you think...?" I pressed.

"About what?" He said still stairing at nothing.

"About what?! What do you think? About Jake?" I was beginning to get annoyed at his sudden loss of interest.

"Umm... I don't like him... I'd tell him no." He turned his attention back to me now, "That's just me though... you should just focus on hockey anyway. Come on, let's hit the showers before they get crowded."

He turned and continued walking, I followed him into the change room, more confused then ever, and a little hurt.


The rest of week one was fairly uneventful. I continued to make waves on the treadmill and was feeling great about the shape my body was in.
I was spending almost all of my free time with Mattie; The camp was divided into groups by floor, so I hadn't seen much of Carrol, Consti, Marty or( to my disappointment) Jake.
We had seen each other in passing only, but he continued to throw winks and smiles in my direction, making me feel weak in the knees at times.

On Sunday night, we had a camp wide meeting in the ampitheater to discuss the plans for the following week.
"Hello everyone!" Dean began, "I first and formost would like to congradulate everyone on making it through their first week. As you may already know, tomorrow you will be moving into specialized workshops based on your position; Right wings, Left wings, Centers, Defence and of course Goalies." Everyone in the crowd cheered loudly when their corresponding position was announced. As Dean said Centers I jumped up and down, catching Jakes' eyes through the crowd, he flashed me a giant grin, which I couldn't help but return. "So tommorrow morning bright and early, we're going to meet back here and I'm going to introduce you to your insturctors and let them take it over from there. And listen up guys this last part is important... LIGHTS OUT AT 11PM!" Mattie and I flopped back down into our seats, the astounding 'awwwww' echoed around us.

I saw Jake making his way through the crowd, as the people around us began to vacate their seats. "Hey Carlie," He smiled at me, after finally making his way through the sea of people. "Mattie." He nodded in Mattie's direction. Mattie nodded back, keeping his eyes on the ground.

"So ummm... what are you up to?" Jake asked, hands in his pockets.

"Ah, not sitting in an ampitheater..." Mattie said smirking at his feet. Jake started to blush

"Yah," he chuckled sheepishly, "How about, when you leave the ampitheater?"

"Probably just heading back to our room. It's after ten now and we have to be up pretty early."

"Oh right, well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow morning then... center" He continued to stare at me, smiling.

God he has a great smile, look at those dimples! And I could just fall into those deep blue eyes...

"Sounds great... have a good night!" I smiled back getting up.

Mattie and I were quiet on our way back to the dorms, he was chewing on his bottom lip; like he always does when he's deep in thought. I decided to let him consentrate on whatever it was he was preoccupied with. It was a good fifteen minutes back to the dorms though, and I was a little chilly. I leaned into Mattie, wrapping my arms around his waste, he put his arm around my shoulder and continued to walk; slowing his pace slightly.
This was one of the great things about Mattie. I never felt awkward around him, he wasn't like other guys. As much as I loved Consti, Marty and Carrol I would never feel comfortable enough to let my guard down like I did with Mattie.
I allowed my mind to wander, I wonder what we'd be doing tomorrow. Spending all day with Jake certainly sounded like a good idea... Oh no! What was I gonna wear? I almost stopped walking. I had never really put any thought into what I wore but, there was something about knowing someone was going to be looking for me that made me want to look good. I went over in my mind the different things I had for working-out, i.e. the better half of my wardrobe.


Mattie and I were curled up on his bed watching Superbad on his laptop, when I could tell something was off. I was the only one laughing and he seemed extremly tense. "Mattie, what's wrong?" I asked rolling over onto my stomach to look at him.

"Nothing..." he said giving me a small smile, "Actually that's not true." He stared at me again for a minute and then sat up, moving the laptop off his stomach and setting it at the end of the bed, he threw his legs off the side and sat with his back to me. "I've been putting this off for a long time but I'm starting to think if I don't take the chance now, I'll regret it forever." He looked over his shoulder at me, almost like he was expecting me to understand.

I took his silent look as a hint to say something. "I'm sorry Mattie..." I said sitting up behind him "I'm not following you, what are you talking about?"

"Carlie... I'm in lo-" He began quickly, getting cut off by a loud bang on the door. "... you've got to be kidding me..." he mumbled, shaking his head in disbelief as he pushed himself off the bed and made his way to our door.

As he opened the door wide, the light from the hallway filled the room. I looked up to see a massive figure filling the doorway. "Hi Consti... and Constis' luggage..." Mattie began turning around to give me a puzzled expression. I shurugged in reply.

"Outta the way midget! I'm movin in" he announced loudly, pushing past mattie and heaving his suitcase onto my bed with one hand.

"Ummmm... something wrong with your room?" I asked him pulling Matties' blanket up around me. It was one thing to hang out with Mattie wearing only a sportsbra, but the last thing I needed was to be mocked by Consti.

"Yah... Marty hated the kid he was staying with, so I somehow ended up getting traded. Marty's been staying with Carrol the last couple nights... and I've been staying with the random kid. Let me just say, WOW is he ever annoying!"

"So, you decided the best thing to do was come and sleep with Carlie?" Mattie asked crossing his arms over his chest and looking at Consti with an air of disdain.

"What? Oh hell no... no offence Carlie!" Consti nodded looking around Mattie; I laughed. "There's just no way I'm gonna fit in one of these beds with someone else... you two are gonna have to bunk over there." Consti announced, as if that had cleared everything up. "Well... I'm pooped so... night!" He flung off his shirt and dropped his pants before slidding into what had been my bed.

"Night Consti" I chuckled, lying back down and pushing myself over to make room for Mattie.

"I can just sleep on the floor..."

"What?" I laughed, "Why would you do that... there's lots of room up here." I smiled, patting the bed beside me. Mattie hesitated but made his way over to me and climbed back into bed, "Besides, you smell awesome!" I sighed, he laughed at that.

"Looks like someone's ready for bed." He sighed as I covered my yawn with my hand. He put his laptop on the floor and snuggled up beside me.

"Oh Mattie! What were you gonna tell me before Consti came in?"

I heared an intake of breath from the otherside of the room and I felt Mattie tense up again. "It's nothing don't worry about it..."

"Well ok then, if you're sure..." I closed my eyes and let myself relax.

"Shit, sorry if I interrupted anything..." Consti said into the darkness.

"No worries man... now shut up and go to sleep." And then I was drifting off to the sound of Mattie's breathing.