First Date

Maddie woke up the next morning to the bright sunshine. Gwen was sleeping soundly beside her on the other bed. Maddie stood up and threw on her brother's jersey before throwing her hair up and running out of the dorms to the arena. She arrived just in time to see the team skating off the ice. Maddie watched intrigued by the coordination. It was something she never really had.

It was moments later when Robbie jumped out of the door and closely following were Johnson, O'Callahan, Eruzione and Craig. Maddie stood with her back to the door, showing off her brother's number, twenty-four.

"You know, number seventeen would really look better on you."

"Not my fault you didn't give me the jersey." Maddie grinned as she turned around to face them.

"Sis, I really want you to be careful with this one." Robbie joked, patting O.C. on the back.

"Okay and you be careful with little Miss Brooks." Maddie retorted with a grin.

"Touché." He replied.

"Yeah. So you guys going to the bar tonight?" Jimmy asked.

"I don't know." O.C. answered.

"If you want, we could get ice cream. Or my favourite, chocolate chip cookies and then a burger, a cheeseburger. I'm so hungry right now, what do you say I take you all out for a cookie?"

"Okay." Rizzo replied eagerly. "Now?"

"No next year, yeah now."

"Okay."

Maddie walked out of the arena, breathing in the fresh morning air. She had woken up at ten, ready for the day, ready for anything. It was Friday, and next week they played the Soviets. Not an official Olympic game but the pressure was still there.

XxxxxXxxxxX

She took them out for a cookie, then they all went back to the dorms for an afternoon nap, which led to a whole night's sleep. Maddie had gotten into a little disagreement with Gwen when she wandered in, saying hi then Gwen just starting off topic.

"Look, I talked to your brother today."

"Cool."

"He seems nice." Gwen said with a grin.

"Please just stay away from my family."

"You don't own him." Gwen went off. "He's not your dad, or mom, he's your brother and I'm pretty sure he can make his own decisions."

"My mom and dad don't own me either."

"Why, you not good enough-"

She was cut off by a punch to the gut. Gwen doubled over in pain but got Maddie back with a punch to the face with her ring on, splitting her lip. Maddie kicked her in the knee and then whacked her in the head. Gwen ran to the bathroom, she was concerned about her looks and during that period of time, Maddie wiped her lip and casually walked down the hall to her brother's room. She knocked lightly and was greeted by Robbie.

"Come on in." He smiled.

"Thanks." She said as she removed her hand from her mouth.

"What happened?" Robbie asked.

"I hope you fought back." O.C. broke in.

"Oh yeah, she started it." Maddie replied, brother wiping her lip.

"By doing what exactly"

"She was going on about Mac then I replied with please stay away from my family and she said that I didn't own him and a bunch of stuff about my parents so I punched her, then she punched me so I kicked her then she ran into the bathroom and I walked here."

"You just said she started it then admitted to throwing the first punch." Mac stated.

"Are you mad at me?" She looked at him with wide eyes.

"No, I think you're finally growing up."

"Gees Mac, you're doing it wrong." Jack protested.

He got up and walked over to Maddie. He stood about foot taller too as he held the clothe there. Mac shrugged and watched as his job was taken away.

"You'd think after the one I gave you, you'd know what to do." Jack laughed.

"I did." Maddie stated. "Been doing it forever."

"I wasn't one for fixing Madds up, she just did it on her own." Robbie added.

"Plus you, you damn bleeder." Maddie retorted. "You never stopped bleeding."

"There, I hope you don't take after Mac here and bleed to death."

"Near death." Maddie corrected him.

XxxxxXxxxxX

Maddie looked around the outside. It was nine o'clock in the morning on Saturday. The boys were in a meeting, analyzing the soviets once again. She had snuck in and sat at the back, admiring the goalie in the filmstrip, he was really good.

"Do these guys ever smile?" Mark asked.

"They're Russian, they got shot if they smile." O.C. replied.

Maddie shook her head. Coach Brooks gave them a huge speech about shoving the game back at them, attacking, not defending and how much they deserved this. She zoned out again, Soviet hockey wasn't her type, dirty and wrong. Maddie looked around a few minutes later, lights on, guys leaving, Robbie grabbing her hand.

"Hi." She whined.

"Tonight's the night." Robbie stated.

"Night for what?" Maddie asked uneasily.

"The night I let my little sister go." He faked a sob, almost as good as her.

"Yes, that's tonight!" Maddie screamed with excitement. "I'm free!"

"Very funny."

"Oh my god, I have to mark this down!" She continued her act as a few of the other well-known guys walked up to join Robbie with his look of confusion. "He said it was the night he let me go."

"Go where?" Mark laughed.

"I'm thinking out." Maddie pretended to think. "With my brother's bitter enemy, life is good."

"You're going out with a Russian?" Rizzo joked.

"Yes, I am. Boris Mikhailov." Maddie replied, acting serious. "Then Tretiak."

"Really?" Verchota asked.

"No." Maddie laughed.

"Out with who then?"

"If you don't know, I'm not going to tell you."

"Typical girl line." Robbie added.

"Did you want to know his name?" Maddie teased.

"Yes!" A few of the players retorted.

"His name is…" She smiled deviously. "Jack. He's waiting for me at the bottom of the bean stock; we're going to get the goose with the golden eggs. Then maybe we can get some cookies."

"O.C." Robbie whispered. "That's who."

"Speaking of, where is he?" Buzz asked.

Maddie jerked her head back and forth, pretending to look for him but she pointed to one side of the room and when they looked over that way, she dashed out the door. She ran towards her car, jumped in and locked the doors. Soon, Robbie pressed his face to the window and she rolled it down a bit.

"Yes?"

"Jack's looking for you."

"Tell him to meet me at the place that I mentioned last night." Maddie replied.

She watched Robbie run off towards the arena and soon after, O.C. wandered out. She hopped out of her car and walked over to meet him.

"First of all, where did I mention last night?"

"No where."

"Can you teach me how to shoot?"

"If you really want to learn from a defenseman." He shrugged.

"More like a cute, cocky, defenseman." Maddie laughed.

"I like the way you think."