July 1979

One day, Herb only held practice in the morning. He had the boys run a few plays throughout the morning and then to everyone's surprise gave us the afternoon off. Rizzo and Bah caught up with me as they were heading into the locker room.

"Hey, Chev. You still want to go out with us?" Rizzo asked me.

"Since Herb gave us the afternoon off, a few of us were going out for the afternoon. See what we can find to do here in Minneapolis." Bah told me.

"Sure, I would love to go. Dad said something about trying to get gas this afternoon. Apparently there are limited quantities available today." I said shaking my head. "This whole fuel crisis is driving the entire country crazy."

"Okay well we are going to shower and clean up, want to meet in about an hour?' Rizzo asked me.

"Sure that will give me time to change. It's not as cold in the city as it is in this arena." I said. "You guys just pick me up when you're ready."

"Depends on how long it'll take OC to do his hair." Rizzo said with a wink.

I laughed and walked over to where dad was talking to Doc. "Hey dad, I am going out with the boys this afternoon."

"Okay, Chev. Keep them out of trouble." Dad said as I gave him a hug.

"And who is going to keep her out of trouble, Craig?" Doc asked with a smile. I laughed and waved goodbye to both of them.

I rushed to the apartment and changed clothes. I found myself wanting to look nice. Rizzo flashed through my mind and I smiled. While a lot of the guys on the team were good looking, Bah, Buzz, OC, Mac and so forth, Rizzo had something else about him that I just couldn't figure out but it made me smile. Maybe it was how he looked out for everyone. Maybe it was his great work ethic. Maybe it was those brown eyes. I wasn't sure, but I touched up my make-up and pulled on a clean pair of jeans. I decided to wear a pink tank top.

I thought a lot about the past few weeks with the boys. They were starting to bond, even those from Boston and Minnesota. I loved spending time with them. I felt everything was going well and of course, Herb was working us all hard.

I was putting in earrings when I heard a knock at the door. I went and peeked out and saw a huge eye pressed against the peep hole.

"Who is the one-eyed monster pressed up against my door?" I yelled and heard laughter from the deck.

"Move Silky so she will let us in." I heard Bah's voice say.

Silk moves away from the door and I see Bah and Buzz standing near him. I open the door; also on the deck are Rizzo, OC, Cox and Verchota. Jimmy Craig and Mac are on the street talking, but wave to me.

"Hey guys, just let me grab my purse and I will be ready to go." I told them as I pulled on a pair of sandals. "Where are we going?"

"We thought we would head downtown and see what is there. Silky wanted to go shopping and of course Rizzo is hungry." Cox said and we all smiled.

"Okay let's go. Are we taking the bus downtown?" I asked.

"Yeah, if the bus is crowded you can sit on my lap." Buzz said.

"Gee, I hope we find an empty bus." I said. Buzz pretended to be insulted. We all laughed as we walked out of the apartment and down to the street.

We caught a bus to downtown, but it was so crowded that we all had to stand. I guess with gas being rationed everyone was trying public transportation. I was squeezed between Rizzo and Jimmy Craig.

"Boy am I glad you guys showered after practice!" I told them and they laughed. The bus went around a turn and Cox was thrown up against me. "Coxie, you're getting a little too fresh for a first date."

"But you're so irresistible." Cox said and we both laughed.

"Good answer." I told him. We rounded another sharp turn and I lost balance, as I started to fall, I felt an arm around my waist.

"You okay?" I heard Rizzo ask me. I looked and saw that he was the one that caught me. "Guess these buses can be crazy sometimes."

Yeah, I guess so." I was so mesmerized by his eyes and voice that I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be saying. "Thanks for keeping me from falling."

"Hey it was nothing." He said and let go of me.

We arrived downtown and ended up shopping at a few places. I walked around most of the time with Jimmy Craig, Rizzo and Cox.

"I am getting hungry." I finally told them. We were waiting on OC and Silk to come out of a store.

"Well maybe we should start looking for a place to get dinner; it's almost 7:30." Bah said. "Besides, I could really use a beer."

"Yeah, shopping can really take it out of a person." Verchota said sarcastically.

"Chev, where do you want to eat?" Buzz asked.

"I don't care. I saw a bar and grill down the street." I said and pointed. "Maybe when OC and Silk come out we could head down there."

"Where are we going?" OC asked walking out of the store.

"Miss Patrick has requested that we feed her so we are going to a bar and grill down the street." Mac said.

We walked down the street to the bar as we walked in we heard music. It was dance night or something.

"Oh my god, this place is straight of the Dukes of Hazzard." OC complained.

"Maybe Daisy is in here." Cox said as we walked towards a booth.

"I hope this redneck stuff isn't contagious." Verchota said as we sat down.

"Who cares? Look at some of those girls standing at the bar." Mac said. I rolled my eyes.

We ordered a round of beers then watched as Verchota went to flirt with some girl at the bar.

"Maybe we should call Pavelich and tell him to get another room for the night." Mac said.

"Nah, it doesn't look like he is getting anywhere with her." Craig said.

Verchota eventually re-joined us when our food arrived. From the dance floor we could hear the music. OC made a few more comments about the music but didn't really seem to mind the place.

"Rizzo, how can you eat so much?" OC asked him.

"I was hungry."

"But you ate when we first started shopping!" Bah said.

"What can I say, I'm Italian, and we eat a lot." Rizzo said with a smile.

"I am going to ask her to dance." Mac said pointing to some girl across the room.

"Uh oh, the redneck spirit is taking him over." Verchota said.

Mac started dancing with the girl he had pointed at. Jimmy Craig got up to get a few beers and Silk and OC went to flirt with a few girls they saw at the bar. I was lost in thought when the song changed to Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone."

"It's Skynyrd, come on Rizzo, dance with me." I said jumping up and grabbing his arm.

"I can't dance." Rizzo said, but I pulled on his arm.

"It's a slow song; any idiot can dance to a slow song." I said and pulled a few more times.

"Might as well go Rizzo, before she pulls your arm out of socket." Cox said.

Rizzo gave in and stood up. We found us a spot on the dance floor. "Didn't you go to prom or something?" I asked him.

"No, I told you, I can't dance." Rizzo said.

I took his hand. "Here it's easy, just put your arms around me." I placed Rizzo's hands at the small of my back. I put my arms up around his neck. "Now just sway to the music, and don't step on my toes."

Rizzo quickly picked up the rhythm and pulled me a little closer to him. I suddenly wondered if it was such a good idea to be dancing with him. He smelled so great and being this close to him was intoxicating. I could hardly breathe. I should have asked Coxie to dance instead.

"Chevon, where you at?" Rizzo broke me from my thoughts. I looked up at him and smiled.

"Sorry, I got lost in thought for a second." I said. He smiled and my heart melted.

"I got that impression from the look on your face." He said. "You're from Detroit, what got you so excited about Lynyrd Skynyrd?"

"I just like them. Why is dancing to them really so terrible?" I asked with a wink.

"No, it's not bad at all. I like dancing with you." Rizzo said.

"See, I told you. Now when all of us go out, you can ask girls to dance without that 'I can't dance' story." I said.

"No, I like dancing with you." Rizzo said. Not sure of what he meant I looked at him and saw his brown eyes were serious.

Rizzo leaned down and kissed me. It was a soft and gentle kiss. I kissed him back, feeling his arms tighten around me.

Rizzo pulled away and I looked into his eyes, he was smiling. "Your dad and Herb are going to kill me aren't they?"

"Daddy, I am not sure about. Herb, yes." I said and he leaned his forehead against mine. "Is that going to stop you?"

He smiled at me. "Not if I get to kiss you again." He leaned in and kissed me again. I put my hand on his neck to keep him from pulling away as he deepened the kiss. I was aware somewhere in the back of my mind that other team members were in the bar.

I pulled back slightly from him and put my head on his shoulder. "What about the team? What do we tell them? How do we tell? And we certainly can't tell any of the coaching staff. Not Herb or my dad, not even Doc."

"The team is bound to figure it out; you hang out with us all the time. I feel all of them would keep a secret for us." Rizzo said and then made me look at him. "You realize Herb could cut me and send me back to Winthrop and send you to Detroit if he found out. Are you sure you want to risk it?"

"Are you? Me, he would just be pissed at and give a lecture. You're the one he would get rid of." I told him.

"We'll just make sure he doesn't figure anything out. Other than at practice we don't see him much anyway." Rizzo said. "We'll just deal with the team as they find out."

I looked around to see if any of the team was paying attention to us. I could only see the back of OC's head at the bar where he was still attempting to flirt.

"Rizzo, Chev let's go. We got practice in the morning!" we heard Verchota yelling from somewhere.

Rizzo let go of me and we walked over to the booth so join the others who were getting ready to leave. I wanted to reach over and hold Rizzo's hand but at the same time I wasn't ready to explain everything to the guys. We walked out of the bar and to the bus stop. I caught Rizzo sneaking glances of me when I was sneaking glances of him.

When we were on the bus we were able to sit this time as it was less crowded. Rizzo sat next to me. "No one saw us at the bar or they would've said something by now."

"Well when they do find out we'll deal with it." I said and smiled. I felt that the boys would keep a secret.

When we got off the bus all the boys walked me home. I smiled at Rizzo as I shut the door. I slid down the door and sat on the floor a few moments wondering what the next few months held in store for us!

Thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing my story! I am so thrilled that a few people actually are reading it! (Spread the word to your friends, LOL) I will work on my shout-outs soon! But thanks again to all of you have been reviewing. I appreciate it so much.

Meadow567- "Chevon and Jimmy aren't like best friends; they are just acquaintances through her dad. I felt that Craig Patrick knew Jimmy a little because he was talking to Herb about Jimmy's game being off. I also thought that Chevon and Jimmy had met a few times at hockey events. Thanks for the review, glad you like the story so far!"