Eleven

   “So, what now?” Nathalie asked as they drove away from the restaurant.

   “Would you mind checking the Elite League scores from last night?” Nicky asked and gave her his phone.

   “Sure, hold on...” She said, moving among the apps. “YAY!” She grinned at Nicky.

   “What?” He raised his eyebrows.

   “MODO – Brynas 5-2.”

Nicky groaned. Brynas was his team and MODO was Nathalie's.

   “HV71 – Timra 3-1, Frolunda – Lulea 2-4, Sodertalje – Djurgarden 1-4, AIK – Farjestad 2-1 and Skelleftea – Linkoping 4-0.”

   “Ah, well...” Nicky sighed. “I guess you can't have everything.”

   “This was perfect for me! Timra, Frolunda, and Sodertalje lost while MODO won, score!”

   “Yeahyeah, shut up!” Nicky smiled. “They'll beat you next time.”

   “Don't count on it.” Nathalie said. “No offense to your team, but they're nothing without you and Jacob.”

   “Oh, come on! Some of the juniors are good. How about Jarnkrok, for example?”

   “Fine, you have a few good players, but you won't win the Le Mat trophy with 18-year-old's.”

   “Whatever.” Nicky pouted, causing Nathalie to take his hand.

   “Aw, baby. Did I upset you?”

   “No, I'm fine.”

Nathalie sighed.

   “After all, the only thing you should be thinking of is winning the Stanley Cup. Imagine holding that after a long season!”

Nicky tried his best not to smile, but the thought of finally holding the Stanley Cup was enough to make anyone smile.

   “Damn it, Nathalie.” He smiled and parked the car outside their house. “I was trying to be mad at you, but you're so hard to be mad at!”

   “I know, it's a gift.” Nathalie grinned.

Nicky leaned over and kissed her, after which they exited the car and entered the house.

   “I'm so tired...” Nicky sighed, lying down on the sofa. “I'll just crash here for a while.”

Nathalie rolled her eyes and walked into the kitchen.

   “Fine, but I'm waking you up around 5.30, or I'm driving your car to practice.”

Nicky mumbled something from the sofa, and Nathalie shook her head. She had no idea what he had said, but she took it as an 'okay'.

Two minutes later, Nicky was sound asleep on the sofa and Nathalie was reading one of her many books.

When she had read six chapters, Nathalie's phone buzzed in her pocket and The Heart Never Lies by McFly started playing.

   “Hello?” Nathalie said, placing the book on the table.

   “Hi, Nat.” A familiar voice said on the other end. “It's Ashley.” Ashley was one of Nathalie's new team mates. What could she want?

   “Oh hey.” Nathalie stood up and started pacing the room. “What's up?”

   “Are you busy tomorrow evening?” Ashley asked.

   “I am, actually... Why?”

   “Oh...” Ashley sounded disappointed. “Some of the girls wanted to get together for dinner, but we'll take a rein check, yeah?”

   “Uh...” Nathalie thought for a moment. “How many are you talking about?”

   “Three, if you include me. Why, can you come?”

   “No, but I was thinking you could come here. Do you like football or hockey?”

   “Oh yeah. I love hockey, and Megan loves football! What do you have planned?”

   “Nicky's having some team mates over to watch football, and I've been given the task of convincing Mike to switch to hockey from time to time.”

   “Sounds fun!” Ashley said. “Hold on, what did you say, Meg? Oh, Nat, is it Knuble or Green?”

   “Green, why?”

   “Then we're definitely coming. Megan's got a huuuge crush on Mike Green.”

Nathalie smiled and started laughing when she heard Megan in the background.

   “Shut up! I so don't!”

   “She's lying.” Ashley confirmed. “When should we be there?”

   “I'll ask Nicky when he wakes up, and I'll tell you at practice, okay?”

   “Great. See you in an hour then!” Click.

Nathalie blinked. An hour? Had she been reading that long?

Even though she couldn't believe it, it was five, so she went upstairs to change.

After pulling her hair back into a ponytail, she made her way downstairs again and sat down next to Nicky.

   “Nicky, wake uuup...” She whispered and touched his arm. He turned so that his face was turned away from Nathalie, and she rolled her eyes. “Fine, then I'm taking your car.” This seemed to wake Nicky, because he immediately threw himself out of the sofa and grabbed his car keys from the table. “I knew that's wake you.” Nathalie laughed and followed him out to the car.

This time, Nicky didn't follow her inside, so she was half way out when she remembered that she had something to ask him.

   “Oh, right.” She exclaimed and held on to the car door. “When are the guys coming tomorrow?”

   “Six, why?”

   “I told some of the girls that they could come over, if that's okay?”

   “Oh yeah...” Nicky said. “Great! It'll be fun.”

   “I hope so.” Nathalie smiled. “See you at eight?”

   “I'll be here. Have fun!”

Nathalie closed the door and hurried inside the arena.

   “Hey, Ashley, Megan!” She raised her hand and they came over to her.

   “Hi, Nat.” They both said. “So did you ask him the time?”

   “I did! Six!”

   “Great!” Megan replied. “So, where do you guys live?”

   “I'll explain after practice.”

   “Yeah, that's probably best!”

They did the same warmups as last time, and after a few drills, Nathalie felt part of a team again.

And she loved it. 

Ten

Two weeks passed quickly, and Autumn was still feeling hung over whenever she felt a strong smell. She was throwing up several times a day, and she couldn't quite understand why.

The first couple of days she figured that she had been food poisoned, but when the 16^th day passed and she threw up again, she was beginning to worry.

After missing her period, one of her co-workers suggested that she'd take a pregnancy test, causing Autumn to turn pale and just nod.

So here she was, in her apartment, waiting for the stick to turn positive or negative. Autumn was shaking when she reached out to look at it. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and opened her eyes again, stick in her hands.

The first thing she saw was a tiny plus shining bright in the center of the stick. She dropped the stick on the floor and sat down on the toilet, her head in her hands. A tear slid down her cheek as she checked the other two tests that she had taken to be on the safe side.

All of them were positive, and Autumn couldn't believe her eyes.

   “I've got pizza!” Sarah announced as she closed the front door behind her. “Autumn?”

Autumn got to her feet, grabbed one of the tests and stepped out into the livingroom.

   “I'm pregnant.” Autumn whispered and held up the stick. Sarah blinked.

   “Are you sure?”

   “I don't think three tests are lying.”

   “Whose is it?”

They were both whispering at this point.

   “Jacob's, I guess.”

   “You guess?”

   “Well... Yeah, it should be... Cause I hadn't had sex in three months before him and I most certainly haven't after...”

Sarah didn't respond. She simply hugged Autumn and patted her back.

   “I'll cancel on Shawn if you want me to stay in with you.” She whispered and Autumn nodded.

   “C-Could you... Could you call Jacob for me? I want to tell him in person.”

   “Of course. Sit down and I'll take care of that for you.” Autumn held on to the test proving that she was pregnant.

   “Hi, Jacob. It's Sarah, Autumn's friend.” She heard Sarah say. “Would you mind coming over as soon as possible? Great, hurry!” Sarah hung up and sat down next to Autumn.

   “He'll be here soon, okay, honey?” She hugged her again and let Autumn rest her head on her shoulder.

After knocking twice, Jacob opened the door and let himself in.

   “Hey, what's up?” He asked, the usual smile on his face.

   “I think I should leave you alone.” Sarah said and tiptoed toward her room.

Jacob sat down next to Autumn in the sofa.

   “Hello?” He said, still smiling.

Autumn didn't say a word, but placed the pregnancy test on Jacob's thigh.

He looked down at the blue plus and his eyes grew larger.

   “Are you kidding?” He said. “Is this a joke?” Autumn didn't say anything. She just shook her head and closed her eyes.

   “Autumn...” Jacob swallowed and looked at her. “Listen, I will help you with this, okay? We'll deal with this together... I promise.

   “A question.” Autumn said, her eyes opening. “When we, you know... Were you, I mean... Did we use a condom?”

Jacob nodded.

   “Yeah, we did...” He sighed. “It must've broken.”

   “Obviously...” Autumn sighed, too, and a few tears escaped her eyes.

Jacob put his arms around her and pulled her close.

   “I'm here for you, Autumn.” he whispered. “I always will be.”

Autumn took several long breaths and leaned against Jacob.

   “I don't think I'm ready for this, Jacob...” She sobbed. “I can barely take care of myself, how am I supposed to take care of a baby?”

Jacob hushed her.

   “Don't worry about it. We have nine months to figure this out, okay?” Autumn threw her arms around Jacob's neck and let the rest of the tears fall down her face.

   “Do you promise?” She gulped. He simply nodded and held her tight.

Nine

[The reason I'm posting another one today is Autumn. I love you.]

Ten minutes into her cab ride home, Autumn felt tears on her cheeks. This was not how she had imagined going on a date with Jacob would be.

In her mind, they had eaten dinner, had a few drinks and gone home. And then it was over. Nowhere in Autumn's plans did it say to get drunk and sleep with him.

She wanted to, of course, but she had told herself not to. Autumn suddenly hated the effect alcohol had on her. Now she knew what would happen. He would come back and ask her out again and she would turn him down, saying that it was a mistake.

The cab driver dropped her off and she made her way up to her apartment, looking like a complete mess.

   “Where have you been?” Sarah asked behind her magazine.

   “Nowhere...” Autumn said quickly and hurried toward her room.

Sarah lowered her magazine and looked at Autumn.

   “Oh my god, what happened to you?” She gasped.

Autumn bit her bottom lip and turned around.

   “What do you mean?”

   “Your hair is all messed up and your clothes are wrinkly. What did you-” She stopped mid-sentence. “Oh my god.” She dropped the magazine. “You did it, didn't you. You lucky bastard! How was it?”

   “I don't know... I can't remember.”

   “You slept with one of the hottest players in the NHL and you don't even remember it?!”

   “No... We were kinda drunk. He seems to remember it though...”

   “You are so lucky!!” Sarah sang, causing Autumn to slip into her room. “Oh, come on Autumn. What's wrong?” Autumn stuck out her head.

   “One: I can't remember anything, and two: he's gonna think that I'm an easy puckbunny. Fuck my life, Sarah.”

   “At least you've gotten some...” Sarah sighed. “My dry period is just getting longer...”

Autumn took this as an opportunity to change the subject from her to Sarah.

   “How long has it been?” She asked, returning to the living room with a hoody covering her face.

   “Five months.” Sarah sighed again and moaned loudly. “I'm getting desperate, Autumn.”

   “Oh come on. Five months is nothing. You were fine for seventeen years, surely you can handle five months!”

   “No, I can't! I'm going to curl up to a ball and hide inside, and no one is going to want me. Please help me, Autumn.”

   “Help you?” Autumn said, looking puzzled. “How am I supposed to help you?”

   “Fix me up with one of Jacob's team mates, or something.”

   “Sarah, I...”

   “Well, aren't you going to see him again? 'Cause I'm assuming those boxers you're holding aren't yours?”

Autumn blinked before noticing that she had forgotten to let go of his clothes.

   “Crap.” Autumn blushed and dropped the boxers on the floor. Sarah smiled.

   “So, when you meet him, you'll ask if he wants to hang out some time, and sneak in that he can bring one of his team mates if he wants. It's the perfect plan!”

   “Perfect?” Autumn repeated. “You call that perfect? My grandma could make up a better plan than that!”

   “Pleeeeease?” Sarah begged. “I need some testosterone in my life. I miss the way they smell and the way they hold you, and...”

   “Snap out of it, Sars.” Autumn sighed. “But fine, I'll ask him.”

   “Yaay, you're the best, Aut!” Autumn cringed.

   “Please don't call me that!”

   “Sorry.”

   “Come to think of it, Jacob comes in to WalMart with some of his team mates every day after twelve if you want to ask them yourself.”

   “Yeah... Maybe that's better...” Sarah sat in thought for a moment. “Every day, huh? Oh Autumn, Jacob's definitely got a crush on you! You have to call him.”

   “I don't have to do anything.” Autumn snapped. “But it is tempting... I'll have to figure out how 'good' it supposedly was last night.”

   “Ah, stop it, Autumn! I can't listen to this!”

   “Sorry, forgot.”

   “So, tomorrow after 12, right?”

   “Like clockwork.” Autumn replied, picking up the magazine Sarah had been reading.

   “He likes you, Autumn!” Sarah exclaimed. “Why else would he come in every single day? No one goes to the store every day.”

Autumn hid behind the magazine, pretending to read one of the articles.

   “Autumn Perreault, talk to me now!” Sarah demanded, snatching the magazine from Autumn.

   “Hey, I was reading that!” Sarah gave Autumn one of her 'Don't even try' looks. “Fine...” Autumn gave up. “So what if he likes me? I've told you I can't date a hockey player. Fans would be gossiping and then it'd reach Mathieu and he'd beat me up about it and just... no...”

   “So what, your brother is going to keep you from dating?” Sarah raised her eyebrows. “Autumn, relax. Jacob is a guy. A hot, Swedish guy who's obviously in to you. Have some fun, for once, please!”

   “You know I'm not that kind of person. What happened last night was so not like me.”

   “Yeah, yeah, come on Autumn. Loosen up. Have fun. Don't worry too much about it.”

Ding! The microwave oven beeped from the kitchen and Sarah got on her feet immediately.

   “YUM!” She had obviously been cooking something up. Left overs probably. Autumn followed her into the kitchen to grab some water, and when Sarah took out the plate and the smell reached Autumn's nose, she felt something turn in her stomach. She hurried towards the sink and reached it just as she started to throw up.

   “Woah, what's wrong?” Sarah looked shocked. Autumn was spitting out what was left in her mouth, and wiped a Kleenex over it.

   “Ugh, I'm probably hung over from last night, don't worry about it.” She backed away from whatever was on Sarah's plate. “Something tells me I should stay away from that though...”

   “I'm sorry...” Sarah said and sat down at the table.

   “I'll just... go out there...” Autumn muttered and returned to the living room.

She had never experienced this kind of hangover before, and it wasn't too pleasant.

Half an hour later, Autumn went back to bed. She needed to rest, and she wasn't exactly feeling well.

   “I'm going to take a nap.” She said to Sarah. “Don't wake me up, please.”

Autumn closed the door behind her and crawled up in her bed.

   'What did I do to deserve this?' She thought before falling asleep. 

Eight

The day after Nathalie had rejoined a handball team, she woke up in an empty bed. Curious as to where Nicky could be, she wrapped a blanket around her and staggered down the stairs.

   “Nicklas?” She called, waiting for a reply. When he didn't answer, she carried on. “Nicky?” No response. “Nickynick? Lars Nicklaaaas?”

He hated when she used his middle name, and that's why she used it when she wanted his attention, or just wanted to tease him.

Nathalie changed course and walked into the kitchen. There, she found a note on the table.

'Morning Nat.

Boudreau called an extra practice today, so I had to leave before you woke up.

I'll call you when we're done, and we can have brunch, okay?

Love you. Nicky'

Nathalie smiled. He was so cute, he always had been. Her friends in the States used to call him Angel Swede, because of his blonde hair and good looks. Nathalie had to agree though, he was an angel.

After reading the note again, Nathalie realized that she didn't know when he had written the note or when he would be back, so she hurried in the shower, took a quick shower and started blow drying her hair.

Just as she finished, Nicky called to say good morning and that he'd pick her up in five minutes.

She sat on the stairs and played Angry Birds on her phone while waiting, and managed to get three stars on two courses.

Celebrating her achievements, Nathalie hopped into Nicky's car with a smile.

   “Hi.” She sang and fastened her seatbelt.

   “Hey.” Nicky laughed. “Why so happy?”

   “It's a beautiful day, I'm spending time with you, and...”

   “And...?”

   “Well, I got three stars on two courses.”

Nicky sighed.

   “Don't you ever get sick of that game?”

   “Don't you ever get sick of asking me that?”

Nicky shook his head as usual, and drove out on to the highway. After a mile or two, he turned to Nathalie.

   “Where do you want to go?” He asked her, keeping the car at a steady pace.

   “Uh...” Nathalie searched her brain for a good restaurant. “Are we having brunch or lunch?” She asked.

   “What's the difference?”

   “Brunch is kind of breakfast at lunch time, and lunch is... well... lunch.”

   “It doesn't matter to me.” Nicky said. “You decide.”

   “I'm in the mood for pasta...” Nathalie said as her stomach made a noise, telling her that she was hungry.

   “Sounds like I should pick up the pace, huh?” Nicky grinned and winked as he steered the car off the highway and slowed down.

They pulled up to Nicky's favorite Italian restaurant and Nathalie hurried inside, freezing because of the cold that was closing in over D.C.

   “Pasta carbonara!” Nathalie exclaimed when she opened the menu. “That's what I want!”

Nicky chuckled.

   “Okay, Nat, you can have carbonara.” He scanned his menu. “I'm not sure what I want though...”

   “Oh, come on.” Nathalie said, smacking his hand. “You know perfectly well what you want. You've been here like a hundred times. You know what you want, I know what you want and that guy over there knows what you want!”

Nathalie tended to be whiny and easily annoyed when she was hungry, and she most definitely was now.

   “Chill, Nat.” Nicky smiled. “I'm just teasing you.” He leaned over the table and kissed her softly. “I'm sorry for the bad timing.”

He raised his left hand to one of the waiters, and the one named Jack approached them.

   “Ah, Mr Backstrom, Ms Andersson. Lovely to see you.”

   “Hello, Jack.” They said as one, smiling at him.

   “The usual, I suspect, Mr Backstrom?” Jack said, causing Nathalie to give Nicky a 'I told you so' look.

Nicky smirked, nodded and sipped from his glass of water.

   “And for you, miss?”

   “I'll have the pasta carbonara, please.” She said and handed him the menu.

   “Good choice.” Jack said, taking Nicky's menu as well. “Feel free to help yourselves with bread and salad over there.”

   “Thanks, Jack.” Nicky said.

   “So what was the extra practice for?” Nathalie asked, curious to find out why her boyfriend's day off had been taken away.

   “Boudreau was worried we hadn't understood his gameplan, so he had to bring us in and find out.” Nicky paused. “Why he couldn't wait until tomorrow is beyond me...”

   “You know how he is...” Nathalie said. “Once he's got something on his mind, he can't let it go. I bet he was driving his family crazy.”

   “Yeah, you're probably right.” Nicky stretched out and yawned. “I wish he had told us last night though, I could have been asleep right now if we'd had the day off.”

   “No, you wouldn't.” Nathalie argued. “It's eleven thirty, and I know you: you can't sleep after ten am.”

   “Fine, but you get my point. I'm tired now. He made us skate our asses off, literally. I bet I've lost a couple of pounds.”

   “Oh, boo hoo.” Nathalie smiled and shook her head. “You're not allowed to complain, Nicky.”

Nicky laughed.

   “I'm sorry. I need a nap when we get back home. When is your practice?”

   “Six... So we can have dinner at four or eight. Your choice!”

   “Hm...” Nicky said, interrupted by Jack bringing their food. “Thank you.” He said and picked up his fork. “I think... eight. And I'll cook!”

   “Wow...” Nathalie almost dropped her food. “What's the occasion?”

   “What? Can't I cook for my girlfriend without having a hidden agenda?”

Nathalie raised her eyebrows.

   “Fine...” Nicky sighed, admitting defeat. “Some of the guys are coming over to watch football tomorrow.”

   “You don't even like football...” Nathalie stated.

   “But they do, and it'll be fun. That's okay, right?”

   “Of course, who are coming?”

   “Sasha, Mike, Brooks, Marcus and Mathieu.” Nicky said after swallowing.

   “Marcus likes football?” Nathalie looked surprised. “Marcus Johansson?”

   “No, not really. He just wanted to hang out. And then it'll be two of us who doesn't understand anything.”

   “Make that three.” Nathalie said, rolling her eyes. “I don't get what they see in that game.”

   “Maybe we can convince them to switch to hockey once in a while.

   “So, do you want me to go out or stay in with you?”

   “That's up to you, but I was hoping you'd stay. You're on mine and Marcus' side, and you're most definitely a better negotiator than me, at least in English... But as I said, that's up to you.”

Nathalie laughed.

   “I'll help you convince the guys, don't worry about it. Didn't Marcus have an A in English though?”

   “He did...” Nicky admitted. “But you had an A+.” Nathalie blushed.

   “Ah, come on. You know half my family live in the States, and you know my parents spoke both Swedish and English to me as a child.”

   “That's exactly why you'll be the one to convince them. Good luck with Mike, by the way. He can be extremely stubborn.”

   “Honey...” Nathalie said as she finished her food. “Have you ever seen me admitting defeat?”

Nicky shook his head.

   “Exactly.” Nathalie winked and stood up, ready to leave. 

Seven

This chapter is very short, and I apologize for that in advance.

Waking up the next day was not a pleasant experience. At least not if your name was Autumn Perreault and you were in Sunrise, Florida.

The headache struck her the moment she opened her eyes, and when she turned in bed, she bumped into someone. Terrified, Autumn threw herself back to the side she woke up on and stared around the room. Where was she?

That's when it hit her: she had been out with Jacob last night. Glimpses of their night were beginning to come back to her. The wine, the cab ride home and... Had they really done that?

Autumn looked at herself. She was wearing a big t-shirt and a pair of boxers. That was not a good sign.

Carefully, Autumn moved out of bed and hurried into the bathroom. She sat down on top of the toilet and put her head in her hands.

Hadn't she said that this wasn't who she was? A puckbunny, sleeping with the guy on their first date. And she couldn't even remember anything after she had taken off his pants. And now here she was, hiding in his bathroom like some pathetic hookup.

She decided to make her way into the bedroom again, and as she did so, Jacob moved under the covers.

   “Hi, you.” He said with a big smile and sat up.

   “Hey...” Autumn murmured, but remained standing, and held on to the bathroom door.

   “Last night was... almost as I imagined it.” Jacob said, resting his upper body on his arms.

   “Almost?” Autumn raised her eyebrows, questioning his choice of words. “What do you mean?”

   “Well, seeing as how you kept saying no to going out with me, I didn't think you'd want to go that far on the first date.”

Autumn moaned. So they had done it.

   “What happened exactly?”

Jacob blinked. She didn't remember?

   “Uh... You were the one who made it happen, really.”

   “I was?”

   “Yeah, you practically made me do it. Not that I didn't want to, you know, I did, but I was willing to wait if you wanted me to.”

   “Okay... I'm sorry for not remembering. I think I had too much to drink last night.”

Autumn looked over at the clock on Jacob's bedside table.

   “Crap...” She exclaimed, scaring Jacob, and started looking for her clothes. “I'm sorry, Jacob... But I have to go...”

If Autumn hadn't felt like a cheap hookup before, she most certainly did now.

After gathering all her clothes, she hurried out.

   “Bye, Jacob.” She said.

   “It's Jake...” He replied when the bedroom door shut behind Autumn. He sighed and put his head back on the pillow.

After a few moments, Jacob realized that he would be seeing her again, whether she wanted to or not, because she had been wearing his clothes when she had taken off.

The thought of this kept a smile on his face for the rest of day.

Six

Autumn rolled her eyes and sighed at her reflection. She had been trying on five different outfits already, and she didn't even want to go on this date.

Nevertheless, she found herself heading towards the restaurant ten minutes before she was supposed to meet Jacob.

Autumn had chosen jeans and a top, nothing special, and her hair was in a ponytail. She didn't want him to think that she was making an effort to look incredible.

The fact that Autumn didn't want to go hadn't bothered Sarah, though. She had squealed and gone:

   “You like him don't you!” Every five minutes since she found out. Autumn had almost left the apartment at one point.

She sighed again, for what felt like the twentieth time, and paid the cabdriver before opening the door. She walked in a normal pace towards the restaurant and stepped inside.

   “Good evening, miss.” A man welcomed her as the door closed behind her. “Table for one?”

Autumn scanned the room.

   “No, my – uh – date is over there...”

   “Very well.” The man walked her over to Jacob's table and she slid into her seat before someone could pull the chair out for her.

   “Hi gorgeous.” Jacob smiled his beautiful smile and, despite Autumn's disliking of being there, she couldn't help but smile too.

   “Hello, liar.” She took a sip from the glass of water standing on the table.

   “How was your day?” Jacob asked, sounding as if he actually cared. Autumn had never experienced that before. For all she knew, all guys wanted was to get laid.

   “It was fine. Got off early because I had an extra long shift last week. How about yours?”

   “Not as good...” He winced. “I pulled my left groin this morning and our coach told me to skip tomorrow's game against Atlanta...” He sighed. “Being a goalie can really suck, you know?”

   “Actually, I don't... I've never been one...” Autumn joked, causing Jacob to start grinning.

   “Well, you get the principle, right?”

   “I do, yes.”

A moment of silence passed before a waiter passed the table.

   “Sir, madame, are you ready to order?” He asked them, and pulled a pen out of his pocket.

   “Oh, right...” Autumn blushed. “I haven't even looked yet...”

   “I can come back later, it's not a big deal.”

   “Thanks, that'd be great.” Jacob said, handing Autumn one of the menu's and picking up his own.

   “Everything looks so good.” Autumn sighed, turning the pages of the menu. “What are you having?”

   “Steak, I think.” Jacob said, his eyes scanning the pages.

   “Steak...” Autumn repeated. “Why don't you just put 'I'm a hockeyplayer' on your forehead?”

Jacob laughed lightly.

   “So steak equals hockeyplayer?”

   “Yeah... At least to me. My brother always orders steak and-”

   “You have a brother?”

   “Uh-huh.” Autumn nodded. “Mathieu. He plays for Washington.”

   “Oh...” Jacob thought for a moment. “So wait, you're Perreault's sister?”

   “Yep.” Autumn said simply, as if it was nothing worth mentioning.

   “Wow, so now I know you're Canadian too.” Jacob smiled. “Tell me, why do you live in Florida?”

   “Long story.” Autumn shrugged. “I needed change.”

She didn't want to spill her life story in front of her date. That was more best friend stuff.

   “So how's Sweden?” She asked to change the subject.

   “To be honest... I kind of miss it.” Jacob said. “Don't get me wrong, the States are great, and the Florida sun is amazing, but I miss the classic snowball fights in the winter and all of that...”

Autumn smiled. From what she had learned so far, Jacob seemed to be a really great guy. Why did he have to be famous?

When they had looked through the menu's once more, the waiter returned to take their orders.

   “Chicken salad for me, please.” Autumn said, followed by Jacob ordering his steak, ignoring the fun Autumn had made of him.

   “So I like steak.” He exclaimed after the waiter had gone. “Sue me!”

   “Oh, ignore me. I make fun of everything when I'm nervous.” She bit her lip, realizing that she had just admitted that she was nervous. Crap.

   “Nervous, are you?” Jacob grinned, obviously satisfied to hear this.

   “I didn't mean that.” Autumn felt her face turning pink. Crap. On. A. Cracker.

   “Right...” Jacob couldn't stop smiling. “It's cute though.”

Autumn cleared her throat.

   “Is it hot in here?” She asked him, waiving her hands in front of her face.

   “No...” Jacob said. “But you are.” He cleared his throat as well, and dropped his gaze to the cutlery lying on the table.

Autumn stopped her waiving and looked at him.

   “Now that's just bad.” She said.

   “Perhaps, but it's true.” Jacob blushed. “I was going to say beautiful, but now that you said that, I couldn't avoid it.”

The silence that followed was cut off by a waitress leaving their food, and they started eating almost immediately.

Autumn didn't know how to react. No one had ever told her that she was beautiful. Unless they wanted to get in her pants, and for some reason, she didn't think that that was all Jacob wanted.

   “Jacob, I thought-”

   “Would you mind calling me Jake?” Jacob said. “I like it better than Jacob.”

   “Uh, sure... Jake, I thought I had figured your type out, but it's obvious that I was wrong.”

   “My type?”

   “Rich hockeyplayers. I know it's wrong to judge all of you after what I've experienced with a couple of guys, but it's easy to do that...”

   “Would you like some wine with your salad?” Jacob asked, pretending that he hadn't heard what she had said.

   “Sure, why not.” Autumn felt awful. What if she had offended him? After all, he had behaved like a perfect gentleman all night. It was wrong of her to judge him.

   “Jake, I'm sorry if I offended you. I didn't mean to.”

   “It's fine, don't worry about it.”

The waiter brought them their wine and before they knew it, it was three hours later and they had gotten rather drunk.

   “Jake... We have to take a cab... You can't drive tonight...” Autumn stuttered as they were heading for the door.

Jacob agreed, and they went out to find one.

He managed to find one, at last, and they got in and drove off.

Jacob had barely managed to give the driver his address before Autumn was kissing him.

The two kissed passionately all the way to Jake's house, and they only stopped when Jacob paid the driver and when he unlocked the door.

   “Autumn, I don't want to move too fast if you're not ready.” He said before they reached his bedroom.

   “I want you, Jake. Can't you tell?”

Autumn could tell that sleeping with Jacob would be amazing. He was gorgeous, patient and caring. What more could you want?

[Author's note: this next bit was written by Autumn, because I just couldn't do it. Enjoy!]

Autumn pushed her mouth against Jacob’s and pulled him into a frenzy. His jacket made it to the floor, hers to the sofa. His greedy hands grabbed handfuls of her chest, causing her to moan into his mouth. Never one to let the man take control, Autumn squeezed his wrists and threw him back onto his own bed.
Her mouth devoured his as she scrambled to remove his pants, while he tossed his shirt into the air, prompting it to land on the lamp by the bed. Autumn grinned, seeing the big lump in his boxers, reading to go. Jacob writhed, feeling her hand reach inside his underwear, pumping him up and down.
   “Do you like being teased?” she asked him.

   'Is this really happening?' Jacob thought drearily through the mounds of pleasure. Well, she was drunk, and taking advantage of a girl was wrong, but she DID say she wanted him...
   “No? GOOD,” she pulled his boxers clear off him and then settled herself at his waist. Jacob jerked forward in surprise as she brought him into her mouth, sucking eagerly as though he was some kind of dessert. With a sly grin, she watched him tremble beneath her. She was good at this.
   “Please...” Jacob begged her, “I’ll come early if you keep doing that...”
   “I’ll be nice to you, just this once,” Autumn slurred, releasing him and crawling on top, “Help me get these off?”

Jacob tore open her shirt so quickly that buttons when flinging everywhere, clinking on the hardwood floors. She kissed his neck while his hands unhooked her bra, throwing it so it landed on the ceiling fan above. Jacob then forcefully pushed her down, undoing her jeans and adding to the pile next to the bed. The only thing separating them now was the thin cloth that was her tiny pair of panties.
Now it was her turn. He smirked at her, giving a ‘you’re going to get it now,’ look, before removing them and parting her legs, pulling her right up to his face. She tried to wriggle free, but he was too strong. Jacob had to smile as she started to moan; there was nothing like tasting the sweet sugar of a woman while pleasing her at the same time.
Autumn allowed him to do this for several minutes before she insisted that she couldn’t take it anymore. Jacob reached into the bedside table for a condom, putting it on as quickly as he could. He slipped inside her slowly before feeling her grab his hips and force him in.
From there they just went with it, rolling in the sheets and grinding against each other until their bodies felt like they were on fire. Her hands clawed at his back leaving angry red marks and she was biting him hard enough to draw blood, but Jacob didn’t care. She demanded him to keep going harder and faster, to which he was more than happy to do. It was starting to build up between them.
Fifteen minutes of ecstasy found them writhing in each others' arms as Jacob felt her tighten around him for the third time- a record in his books. As that familiar feeling came over him, he braced himself, he’d held it in for a long as he could stand. Autumn seemed to know as she held him inside as she flexed, allow him to experience an orgasm so pleasurable he thought he was dreaming.
   “Oh wow...that was...you were...I can’t even...”
Autumn kissed his lips gently.

   “No no, sleep time now, Jakey.” And then she passed out.
Jacob smirked. This was possibly the best night ever.