Steffi |
1:
October 21, 1996
Joe Louis Arena, Detroit MI
Brendan Shanahan, power forward extraordinaire for the Detroit Red Wings, was rendered breathless every time he glanced in her direction. Her enigmatic, chestnut brown eyes. Her glossy, luscious lips. Her radiant, alluring smile. To him, everything about her was captivating.
However, she was not supposed to be the object of his attention; that honour should have been reserved for the Los Angeles Kings, the opposing team on the ice. Brendan, the newly acquired Red Wing, was brought to Detroit to win Lord Stanley’s Holy Grail; but until the arrival of the much-anticipated playoffs, the regular season would have to be his priority. Every game, every shift, every minute that he spent on the regular season stage mattered, if the Wings were to put themselves in a favourable position entering the playoffs. Even so, Brendan could not find his concentration during the early but important regular season game against the Kings. It was because of her.
Even with his lack of concentration, Brendan had a first-rate performance. He scored two of his team’s three goals. Of course, he only wanted to score goals to impress her, since he knew she would be watching. When he blasted the game-winner between the legs of rival net-minder Stephane Fiset, his first instinct was to cock his head boastfully in her direction. He locked eyes with her for a second and then proceeded to embrace his line-mates.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I'm so happy that Detroit won,” Amelie gloated gleefully, with a broad smile plastered on her face. “My Shanny scored tonight, maybe I can score with him later…”
“You are such a puckbunny! I can’t believe that you’ve abandoned your hometown Canucks just because you have some infatuation with Brendan Shanahan. That’s just sickening. And you’re even wearing his jersey,” Naomi, Amelie’s best friend, retorted in disgust.
Amelie turned her back to Naomi and danced a victory jig, while pompously displaying her Shanahan jersey. “Hello, we are living in Detroit now! We’re not Vancouverites any longer, so why not switch allegiance to the new home team? Anyhow, I happen to like having Shanny’s name on my back, I think his name fits mine perfectly,” cooed Amelie, as she stroked her chin with her fingertips. “Amelie Shanahan, has a nice ring to it doesn’t it?”
“Remember Cathy, his girlfriend?” reminded Naomi.
At the mention of Catherine’s name, Amelie snarled maliciously. “You are so out of the loop! He broke up with her already! Besides, she so did not deserve him. She used to be married to Craig Janney. I think Shanny deserves someone who’s fresh and new. And guess what? I’m just the right candidate! Anyhow, are you going to follow me to the locker-room or not? Maybe even you will get some action tonight,” Amelie snickered.
Naomi sighed. “I think I need to get to work. I still haven’t finished one of my client’s cases and it needs to get done.” She flailed some documents in Amelie’s face.
“Look, you’re like the smartest person in the world, you’ll get things done! Live a little, I think Deloitte Touche wants employees who do things other than work. Besides, I'm your ride home. So technically, you have no choice,” chuckled Amelie, as she proceeded to drag Naomi to the player’s quarters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Naomi leaned against a wall down the hall, casually reviewing her client’s papers, while Amelie lingered outside the entrance to the Wings locker-room, anxiously awaiting Brendan’s arrival. When he finally emerged from the locker-room, Amelie immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a damp kiss on his cheek. He cringed inwardly upon contact, but still managed to offer her a feeble smile. “Oh my god, I was so happy when you scored you know…” Amelie’s voice incessantly droned, while an unresponsive Brendan Shanahan lethargically darted his eyes from one place to another. Unexpectedly, his eyes fell upon her .
Brendan asked, “Is that your friend over there?” He desperately hoped for an affirmative answer.
“Oh that’s Naomi, she’s reviewing a client’s case. She’s such a workaholic. But I guess that’s what all accountants are like! She was offered a job at Deloitte Touche. That’s why she moved from Vancouver to Detroit. I used to live in Vancouver too. I'm a photographer, so I decided that I would follow her out here, just to get a change of scenery. Well, I guess compared to Vancouver, Detroit doesn’t really have any scenery. I guess I meant a change of environment. My parents were so annoying like, oh Amelie, you have to take over the family business. We own a bunch of hotel chains, you know, I they wanted me to manage the one up at Whistler. But I’m a photographer. Moving usually helps photographers when they’re struggling to get the perfect shots. I went through that just before I moved down here, so that’s why I decided to move. To help with my photographer’s block. You’re around photographers a lot right? Some of them are so annoying. They can drone on and on sometimes about how you should pose and stuff. I'm not like that…” Amelie purred in Brendan’s ear. After 5 minutes of chattering about anything and everything, she decided to be straightforward about her intentions. “Anyways, I was hoping we could spend some, you know, quality time together.”
“Well, we could get some food. Your friend can come along,” suggested Brendan. When Amelie stared at him quizzically, Brendan promptly responded, “She looks like she could use some food after all that reading.”
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