When I see Riley in my apartment, I freeze.
I hide in the bathroom for at least five minutes trying to give myself a pep talk in the mirror while I got dressed, but when an opportunity to jump into the conversation presents itself, I jump on it. They don't even notice how nervous I am as I walk out of the bathroom drying my hair. As Riley glances at me, Emma spews applesauce across Riley's purple shirt. For a moment, she doesn't even notice, but Tucker points it out.
"Shoot," she mutters under her breath, looking around for something to wipe it off with.
"Come on, I'll find you a clean shirt," I offer with a grin.
She laughs and follows me as I go to find her a T-shirt. It takes me a few moments to find the Rangers shirt that shrank in the wash last week. When I finally do find it after what feels like hours, I turn to see Riley taking in my room. I realize how messy it must look to her—hockey gear everywhere, dirty socks all over the floor, every surface covered with stuff.
When I give her the shirt, she turns her back to me and changes right there in front of me. It's a bit surprising, but I quickly regain composure and stop staring. She looks way better than I ever dreamt she would. She's so beautiful. I can't even handle it.
We go back out and finish feeding Emma with all of our limbs intact and our clothes applesauce-free. By the time we do finish, it's time to head down to the bar for lunch with Mrs. Wheeler and Ben, so we pack up and head down. I have the diaper bag slung over my right shoulder, and Riley is pushing the stroller. When we step outside, we're immediately hit by a wall of freezing. Turning to each other, we silently agree to make a run for the bar, seeing as it's just downstairs.
Both of us slip and slide all over the icy sidewalk. Riley uses the stroller to keep her balance, and, panicking, I grab onto her to try to stay vertical. We both go down hard. The stroller starts to tip, but I push it back down onto the ground. Emma giggles and somehow manages to clap through all of her layers. For a moment, Riley and I both stare at each other in shock. I fell almost completely on top of her. I could've killed her.
"I am SO sorry," I start.
"Danny," she gasps, interrupting me. "Can't breathe."
I scramble to get off of her and struggle to stand up, and then pull her up off the ground.
"Thanks, Wheeler," she manages once she catches her breath.
"Uh, yeah. Sorry," I repeat. We slowly walk the rest of the way down to the bar. Inside is like heaven, the warm air like a blanket. Every bone in my body is still frozen to the core, but at least I can move my fingers. I take a seat on one of the barstools. Riley takes Emma out of the stroller and sets her up on the bar.
"There's my best girl!" Ben smiles. "Oh, and look, Emma's here, too!"
I glance over at Riley and Emma. Emma is completely happy, smiling and giggling at her dad. Riley, however, looks less than thrilled.
"Ben," she says warningly.
He puts his hands up in surrender and takes Emma's bottle to refill it. "So what are the plans for today?"
Riley looks to me as I look to her, and then turns back to Ben. "That is an excellent question. What ARE we doing today, Danny?"
"Wellllll," I start, turning to her. "I have to be at the arena at three, so we have a couple of hours. What were you planning on doing?"
"I really need some new clothes, but that can wait a couple of days. Other than that, it doesn't really matter to me."
To be honest, shopping never really sounds appealing to me, but it's Riley, so I jump at the chance. "We can go to the mall. I don't really have any better idea. At least it's not outside."
Riley looks at me, wide eyed. "Really? Cuz that's really okay." Then, realizing that we really don't mind: "Awesome, Danny. Thanks."
Ben laughs, "I don't envy you, bro." I could've killed him for the look he was giving me.
I glare at him from behind my menu as Riley orders lunch. He brings us our food pretty quickly, as usual, then moves on to the next customers.
"So what exactly are you looking for today?" I say before taking a bite of my burger.
"Oh, just some random things. I need a couple of new sweaters. Some of mine are getting worn out. I need a dress for this thing next weekend. What is it? That formal friends-and-family thing you invited us to?"
She leaves me to fill in the blank. "The Rangers' Make-a-Wish benefit. It raises money for kids with cancer. It's kind of a big deal for the players to go and they want the families and friends to be supportive."
"Yeah, I need a dress for that. Aaaaaand…I dunno. A couple of other things."
"Is that all?" I laugh.
"Bras," she says quietly.
I almost choke on a fry as I try to make sure I heard her right. "Did you say you need bras?"
"Um," she awkwardly avoids my gaze. "Yeah, but you can hit the food court or the music store while I go do that."
I nod slowly, staring down at my food. This was going to be an interesting trip.
Top o' the morning to ya! (It's 1AM here)
To all of you that read & reviewed, I LOVE YOU FOREVER!
To all of you that just read, I APPRECIATE YOU!
To all of you that didn't read, why are you reading this part? Go back and read the freaking story.
I hit ten followers yesterday! Double digits, baby! I was really excited.
I'm trying to update often, but it's been rough with the holiday and my mom being crazy and hectic and I'm also trying to update my other fic regularly and my friend and I are trying to collaborate on another one. I just have a lot going on. I'll try to update more often. I love you all.