Five

Nicky drove, as usual, when the couple went shopping for new clothes to Nathalie.

She hadn't played handball for two years, and she was very nervous as to how the other players would react if she had turned into some worthless piece of crap.

The pressure was on her, too, because she had played in the professional leagues in Sweden, Denmark and Germany.

As Nicky parked the car by the mall, Nathalie felt a knot in her stomach. What if she wasn't good enough?

“Are you coming?” Nicky asked when he opened the door on her side. “We haven't got all day, you know.” He winked and took her hand, locking the car behind them.

Nathalie didn't say a word until they were back in the car. How Nicky and the shop assistants had managed to find what they were looking for was a mystery.

They were now speeding along the highway, and as Nicky drove up to the arena, Nathalie stared at her feet.

“I've probably lost it...” She murmured and swallowed.

“What?” Nicky looked over at her.

“I said, I've probably lost it...” She sighed. “I haven't played for two years, Nick. What if I'm not good enough?”

“Of course you are! What are you talking about? Come on, let's go.”

Nathalie looked up at Nicky.

“They're just going to laugh at me when I do everything wrong...” She crossed her arms over her chest.

Nicky scratched the back of his head and walked out of the car. He opened the door on her side and almost dragged her outside.

“Calm down.” He said. “You haven't lost anything, okay? Now come on, let's go.”

When Nicky had managed to get Nathalie out of the car, she reached out to opened the big, black door that was the entrance to the arena.
However, when she touched the handle, she turned around immediately. Since Nicky was standing right behind her, she crashed into him and blushed.

“Nat...” He whispered, pulling her close and kissing her forehead. “Come on.” He turned her around and opened the door for her, after which he pushed her inside.

Even though she had a thousand butterflies flying around her stomach, Nathalie felt more secure when she knew Nicky was standing behind her.

“Hi!” A girl with light brown, long hair greeted them with a handball in her left had. “Nathalie, right?”

Nathalie nodded, and Nicky stretched out his arm to say hello.

“Anna, is it?” He asked, shaking the girl's hand. She nodded without realizing who she was talking to. For a moment, she turned back to Nathalie, but quickly looked up at Nicky again.

“Uh... Why do you look so familiar...” She said, her eyebrows raised.

“Maybe I should leave you to it...” Nicky said to Nathalie and turned half around. “Call me when you're done.”

Nathalie nodded and kept her eyes on Anna, who was following Nicky's walk towards the door. In her mind, Nathalie was cursing herself. Of course everyone would recognize him. Why did she have to bring him inside? Now it'd look like she only wanted attention.

“Uh...” Anna said. “We're about to start in just a minute, come meet the others.”

Nathalie followed her like a dog, but before Anna could introduce Nathalie to anyone, the coach blew his whistle.

“Warmups girls.” He said, looking around.

“Chill, Tom!” Anna said, gesturing toward Nathalie.

“Oh, I'm sorry. Nathalie right?”

“Yeah.” Nathalie smiled. “But you can call me Nat.”

“Well then, we'll start warmups with some light passes, okay? Just to warm up our shoulders.”

“Yeah, sounds good.” Nathalie nodded.

“I'm sure you've done all our drills over in Denmark and Germany, so relax.” Tom said, seeing that Nathalie was tense. He then blew his whistle. “Pair up, girls!”

Nathalie looked around for someone to pass with, but she couldn't tell who didn't have a partner.

“Hi!” A blonde girl stopped next to her, bouncing a ball. “Do you have someone to pass?”

“No...” Nathalie admitted.

“Wanna go with me?”

“Yeah, sure.” Nathalie took the box of wax from a bench and got some on her fingers.

The two started out a few yards from each other, so they would be able to warm up their shoulders and chat before the real practice got started.

“So...” The blonde girl said as she passed the ball. “That blonde guy that came with you...”

“Yeah...” Nathalie swallowed. She knew someone would bring that up.

“Am I a complete hockey nerd and hung up on the Capitals, or was it Nicklas Backstrom?”

“Yeah, it was.” Nathalie held on to the ball and started swinging her arms to easier warm up her shoulders.

“That's cool. How do you know him?”

“We've been together for a while. We met back in Sweden.”

“Aww, you're so lucky!”

“You think?”

“Yeah, he's gorgeous! And hockey players in general are amazing.”

“I have to agree.” Nathalie smiled, she felt like she could easily be friends with this girl.

“I'm Bridget by the way.” The girl said as they started jogging to warm up the rest of their bodies.

At the end of the practice, Nathalie had been accepted by the girls and had realized that she hadn't lost as much as she had thought. Her defense was as good as ever, and her shot was still pretty accurate.

“Well, you can't tell that you haven't played for two years, that's for sure!” Megan, one of the left wingers, said as they walked towards the entrance after the stretches.

“Thanks, Meg, but you and I both know that's a lie.” Nathalie laughed and reached for her phone. She had sent a text to Nicky a while earlier and received a reply now.

'I'll be there in two minutes' it said.

When the girls had reached the door and stood outside, Nicky's BMW pulled up and he honked the horn to announce his arrival.

Nathalie waved at him and said goodbye to her new teammates.

“Next practice is tomorrow at six, can you make it?” Emily, the goaltender, asked her.

“Uh... yeah... I think so! I'll text you if I can't. But we'll probably see each other tomorrow. Bye!”

Nathalie opened the passenger door and sat down, a smile on her face.

“Still regretting that I pushed you in there?” Nicky grinned as they drove off.

“Of course not, thank you for not letting me run away.”

“I know how it feels.” He replied and turned up the radio. “You need a shower, you stink!”

“Shut up!” Nathalie punched his upper arm and shook her head. “I still can't believe you're supposed to be older than me, you're so immature!”

“Hey, that's part of my charm. Isn't that why you love me?”

“That's one reason, yes.”

“And what are the others?” Nicky raised his eyebrows.

“You'd love to know that, wouldn't you?” Nathalie teased.

“Hey! Who's the immature one now!”

“Still you!”