Oh Canada

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MITCHELL

"Man, what's that grin for?" Nash asked as he took his jacket off to hang it up in the closet. "You do realize we lost right?"

We'd just gotten back to the hotel room after a game that we had in fact lost, and it was late. So late that Sammy shouldn't be awake but she was.

I somewhat absentmindedly answered with a "yeah." It had been a shitty game. We lost by one goal and the entire Canadian audience had cheered like they won the freaking world championship. Obviously, that wasn't why I was happy. Our entire team had growled as we hit the showers and the mood on the bus had definitely been sour, but as I stood there in the middle of the hotel room I couldn't help but feel happy.

I stared at the picture Sammy had just sent to me. She was in her bedroom, wearing my game jersey instead of the normal one she wore which had Nash's number, but that wasn't all. She was ONLY wearing my jersey. Granted it was big enough that it covered everything and reached down to her mid-thighs, but her long, slender, pale legs still showed underneath, but again it was MY number. She had her hair pulled up into a ponytail and a sassy expression on her face. It probably wasn't meant to be a sexy picture, but it was.

Damn, that picture did more to me than any Playboy centerfold ever would. Sammy was beautiful, but the way she allowed herself to be goofy and just so real, was what got to me.

Nash came up behind me and tried to peak at my phone over my shoulder so I quickly put it down and scowled at him.

"Dude," he chuckled, "one of these days you gonna have to tell me who she is."

I wasn't really surprised that he'd guessed that it was a woman that was making me giddy. Or Kennedy had asked him about who I was seeing since she'd already figured it out, that I was seeing someone that is. I was, however, a bit surprised that neither one of them knew that it was Sammy, which made me realize that Sammy hadn't told Kennedy about us either.

It was a bit surprising since I thought girls talked about everything with their best friends, but maybe she had the same reasons as me for keeping this quiet. It had absolutely nothing to do with me trying to hide my feelings for her, which I didn't, or being ashamed of her, which I wasn't. It was the fact that both of us had a lot at stake. We were in our late twenties and both of us were past the hooking up and just fooling around stage. We wanted something real, Iike marriage and eventually kids, like what Nash and Kennedy had. It was the fact that those two were our best friends that added some extra pressure, because if our relationship didn't work out, it would ruin more than just me and Sammy. The whole friendship group as a whole would take a hit.

Shrugging my shoulders I put the phone back in my pocket without responding to Sammy and said to Nash, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah," he chuckled and patted me on the back like I was a little kid. "Good one."

I knew he knew me better than that but it was still worth a try since I wasn't ready to admit that I was pursuing his wife's best friend.

"Maybe it's Bryce making a joke," I said as I walked over to the bed closest to the window and peeled down the cover. That bed was always mine no matter what hotel room we stayed in and Nash always had the one closest to the door.

Nash snorted. "Unless he just found some humor somewhere up here in the wilderness I seriously doubt it."

I couldn't hold back my laugh. Bryce could be sarcastic as hell, but he really wasn't that funny. I probably should have picked someone else for my example...

We both started to get ready for bed and my phone buzzed again. Nash's head snapped up when I opened up the text messages. "Don't you have something to do?"I asked him, trying to keep a stern look on my face.

Nash's grin just widened as he shook his head, and he was right. There really was nothing for us to do, other than getting ready for bed, or in my case ice my shoulder and get ready for bed.

Sammy's new text told me I had played great despite the loss. I wasn't so sure that was true, but it was nothing I could do about it now anyway so I sent her a smiley emoji. I was just happy that she'd stayed up and watched the game.

Nash went to the bathroom. I heard the water turn on as he brushed his teeth. When he came out a couple of minutes later he was still grinning when he looked over at me where I sat at the end of the bed with my phone in hand

I didn't think he would push too much to try to find out who the texts were from, because he knew I'd tell him once I was ready, but I knew he was curious.

Even though Nash was smiling at my expense, it was good to actually see him happy, or at least smiling. Normally he'd walk around with his lips pressed together and worry lines around his eyes. He was stressed about being away from Kennedy since her due date was around the corner. I was aware that he had made arrangements in case she'd go into labor while we were on the road.

Jackson had stayed with her since we left, and Sammy switched off with him when she could, but Nash wanted to be there. He was dying to get back home, but we had one away game left.

My phone buzzed again and I picked it up. Nash took a step closer to me again, and tried to sneak a peek at the screen.

"Don't you have your own girl to text?" I huffed. "Go text your wife."

He laughed. "So you admit you have a girl?"

I gave myself a mental head-slap. I had stepped right into that one. "I'm sure Kennedy would love to hear from you..." I tried to deflect.

"Yeah, because you didn't actually see me texting her a million times on the bus back here," he said sarcastically. "And I just heard from Jackson, she's sleeping."

"Guess your boring texts wore her out."

He chuckled.

I looked down at the new text from Sammy which just said "miss you" but that was more than enough to tug at my heartstrings. Damn, I really liked this girl.

"Mitch," Nash said seriously, the teasing tone was all gone from his voice which caused my head to snap up and look him in the eyes. "You don't have to tell me who she is, alright. Just make sure she treats you well, because you deserve that."

Damn, I appreciated those words just as much as Sammy's "miss you" text. I swallowed down the lump that was forming in the back of my throat and gave him a nod. I didn't want to get emotional, not that Nash would care, but I would. So I tried to focus on the fact that things were good. At least for now.

Nash understood that was all he'd get out of me at the moment, and he took it with stride. He patted my shoulder, grabbed his own phone, and went to bed.

I sent a quick text back to Sammy telling her I missed her too and was looking forward to seeing her once we got back. Then I got to my feet and reached for the ice bucket. It was time to ice the shoulder.

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