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Copyright 2015 by Ella Frost - All rights reserved.

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Hearts of Ice

A BWWM Pregnancy Sports Romance

By: Ella Frost

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Hearts of Ice

“Fine, get out!” I screamed at D’Shawn. This was how most of our fights ended. We would have a little problem and blow it up like it was going to cause the end of the world. This time, when I told him to get out I knew it was the last time that I would be seeing him around here. This wasn’t the first time that something like this had happened with a boyfriend. I swore to myself that it would be the last time that I would see any guy around here for a while. Love has beaten me around so many times that I’m just not sure that it’s worth it anymore. Who needs love anyway? I’ve got more important things to worry about.

I decided that it was about time to get dressed and head off to work. Even though I was only a few years out of college, I had already landed myself a job as a college recruiter. Going into school I never would have guessed that I would stay there until I retired, but that’s just the way that things work sometimes.

I pulled on a pair of skinny jeans and a blue sweater. It was just after Christmas break, and pretty chilly out. I tried to tame my dark curls, but nothing seemed to be able to make them lie flat. When I was younger I wanted straight hair like some of the white girls in my classes, but my mother always told me, “Kiara Douglas, those girls probably envy your curls just like you want their straight hair. They’ve got nothing on you. One day you’re going to love your look one day.” To this day, I still can hear her words ringing in my ears, but I still wish my hair with be a little more cooperative.

    This time, of the year, was crazy for a college recruiter. All of the juniors in the area were starting to think about what college they wanted to go to and all of the lazy seniors were starting to panic about which college they were going to go to. This was a prime time to get students to sign up for college, but an extremely hectic and stressful time for myself.

    I had to visit three different high schools today to give the same speech that I gave every time I visited a high school. Even though I have only had this job for a couple of years, the speech was already ingrained in my memory. I would be harder to forget it than to roll it off of my tongue. Needless to say, this made my job routine, monotonous, and extremely boring. At least, it paid the bills.

    With so many presentations to give today, I barely had time to think, let alone time to eat lunch. With all of the work I had to do, I was almost excited to be interrupted by my cell phone’s ring. I picked up the phone only to hear my brother’s voice that the other end of it. My brother was the symbol of success in my family. He was tall, lean, and nearly always wore a tie even when he didn’t have to. My mother was so proud when my brother told her that he had graduated college and gotten a job as a sports’ reporter. My job lurked in the shadows of his career, but that’s not to say that his job didn’t come with some perks for my brother’s favorite little sister.

    “Hey, how’s it going?” My brother asked casually. For a guy who acted so professionally at work, he knew that he could play it cool with me.

    “Working, as always,” I sighed. This day really was taking a lot out of me.

    “You sound pretty busy...I guess you don’t really have the time to hear about some tickets that I scored for a hockey game this weekend.” Chris teased.

    “I guess I can make some time in my schedule,” I played fun back. “When is it?”

    “It’s this weekend in Chicago. I know it’s pretty far away, but we can make it into a brother-sister weekend if you’re up for it.”

    “I could really use a break. Pick me up on Friday and we can make a road trip out of it.”

    “Sounds good, see you then,” Chris hung up the phone.

    I was never much of a fan of hockey, but I was always a fan of getting out of my small apartment. I hadn’t seen Chris in a while either, so it would be a great time to catch up with him. This could be the perfect beginning to my single life. A road trip, a hockey game, and plenty of fast food was just what I needed to distract me from my recent breakup. Even if I did meet some hotties over the weekend I knew that Chris wouldn’t let any guys try to fool around with his little sister. This was just what I needed right now. Chris would be my savior for the weekend, not that I would tell him that, though.

    By the time Friday rolled around I was so tired from the week that I had totally forgotten about my road trip with Chris until he knocked on my apartment door. I let him into my place and instantly remembered that I hadn’t packed a thing yet. Chris commented on the state of my messy apartment as I shoved clothes, a book, toiletries, and some other essentials in a bag before leaving my apartment. “Do you really need all of that stuff?” He asked as we headed towards his car. I had thought that I had packed lightly and only replied by sticking my tongue out at him like I had always done when we were kids.

    We hopped into his car and set the GPS for Chicago. I had been there a few times before, but I never got sick of being in the windy city. I had a feeling that this weekend was just what I needed to get out of my funk. I was ready to embrace the single life and enjoy myself. As Chris drove I thought about how my life was going to change as we sang along to the radio. In a way, I felt free again. I just hope that this feeling will last.

Chris and I got into the city late at night, but the streets were still packed with cars and the sidewalks were so full of people that you could hardly see them. Chris parked his car near the hotel that we would be staying at and then we headed out for dinner. As kids, we had been to Chicago a few times, and we never got over all of the touristy things that there were to do here. As much as I liked to watch my figure, I could put my diet on hold to indulge in three pieces of deep-dish pizza. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and passed out in our separate rooms. The hockey game wasn’t until tomorrow afternoon so I could probably get all of the sleep I needed, but I couldn’t be sure that I would be able to fall asleep to all of the noise in the city.

I woke up from a troubled sleep late in the afternoon because Chris was knocking at my door. I got up, feeling jet-lagged even though we hadn’t flown, and opened up the door for him. Chris was always one of those guys who loved to get an early start on the day, and I was always one of those girls who needed as much beauty sleep as possible. Needless to say, sharing a house in our childhood was difficult at times.

I let Chris into my room and asked him what was up. “The game starts in a couple of hours. C’mon, we need to get going.”

“If the game starts in a couple of hours why do we need to leave now?” I whined. “Don’t I have time to eat at least?”

“I figured that you’d say that, so I got us some doughnuts while you were snoring the morning away.”

“I do not sore,” I said, throwing a pillow at him.

“Do so,” he threw the pillow back at me. “Either way, the doughnuts are in the car. Get dressed and meet me there.”

Once Chris left my room I rummaged in my bag to find some warm clothes to wear to the hockey rink. I pulled on a pair of dark skinny jeans and pulled on a tight red sweater. My black boots and red lipstick complimented the outfit nicely. I didn’t have the time or energy to deal with my hair today, so I just let the curls do their thing. I grabbed my jacket and purse and then left to meet Chris in his car.

The car was filled with the sweet smell of doughnuts and the sour expression on my brother’s face. He had always hated being late, and he especially hated being late to showing up early. He rushed to get to the rink while I tried to make small talk. “So...Why exactly do we need to get there so early?”

“I have an interview, remember? Or at least, I’m trying to get one.”

“So you came all this way without even having an interview?”

“Well, my boss wants me to get in an interview with Dominik Chicosky, but he’s not exactly an easily guy to get an interview with. I mean, technically he denied the interview over the phone, but I figured that if I showed up in person and told him how much I needed this that he would bend a little and help me out,” Chris explained.

I had already heard about Dominik Chicosky in the Hollywood-esque magazines that I read. Apparently he was a regularly bad boy, spending the night at a different pop star's mansion every weekend. The guy wasn’t exactly friendly towards paparazzi either, so I wasn’t surprised when Chris mentioned that he hadn’t been able to land an interview yet. I was surprised when Chris said that he had come all this way just hoping to get an interview. That took guts, which up until now I didn’t know that Chris had.

Chris pulled into the parking lot. Even though we were so early, it was already pretty packed. I didn’t know much about hockey, but I guess it was pretty popular, Chris hurriedly got out of the car and fast-walked to the building. I almost had to jog to keep up with him. We got into the building and it was nearly as cold inside as it was outside. Chris told me to stay near him as he showed his press pass to everyone he met. It all went by so quickly, and before I knew it we were outside of the team’s locker room where Dominik Chicosky would be waiting.

    Chris gently knocked on the door. I could tell without looking that his face was red. I had hardly even seen him so nervous. A fat man who I expected was the coach answered the door. “Whaddya’ want?” He asked in a harsh tone.

    “I’m Christopher Douglas, the sports reporter. I called ahead about an interview with Mr. Chicosky. Is he free?”

    The coach laughed in his face. “Dom agreed to an interview, did he?”

    “Well, not exactly...” Chris’ voice grew soft. “That’s what I’m here to talk to him about.”

    The coach laughed again before saying, “Good luck,” and closing the door.

    Chris looked completely defeated. We were just about to walk away when the locker room door opened again. This time, it was actually Dominik that opened the door. I recognized from all of his pictures in the magazines. He was still in jean and a white t-shirt instead of his uniform. His muscles were even bigger than they looked in the pictures, and his hair looked like it could have belonged to one of the blonde models that I idolized in my teenage years. He was certainly an attractive man, but we were here for business, not pleasure.

    “You must be Christopher,” Dominik said, greeting my brother. “And this must be your lovely girlfriend,” he gestured to me.

    “Actually, that’s my sister, Kiana. She’s not part of the press, though.” Chris got straight to the point, “Have you thought any more about an interview?”

    “I’m actually having second thoughts about it right now,” he replied. “Christopher, may I speak to you in private?” Dominik asked. Christopher nodded and they headed into the locker room together while I waited outside of the door.

    A few minutes later, they were back out again. “What was that all about?” I asked Chris. “Was the interview really that short?”

    “Not exactly... He did agree to do the interview, though.”

    “That’s great! But why don’t you seem happy about it?”

    “He only agreed to do it under one condition. He won’t give me the interview unless I can get you to go on a date with him.”

    The Dominik Chicosky wanted to go on a date with me? This had to be a joke. The only issue was, Chris wasn’t acting like this was a joke, and I never really thought he was funny to begin with. “Wait, are you serious?” I asked. Chris nodded slowly. I was confused. None of this made any sense. I definitely wasn’t Dominik’s type; at least not compared to the celebrities he was used to jumping in bed with. I had sworn off dating, but then again, it’s not like we would have a long-term thing. It was just one date. Besides, no one back home would be able to one-up me on dates ever again. I wonder what it would be like to go on a date with a famous hockey player. “I’ll do it,” I said quickly, knowing I might take it back if I didn’t.

    Just then, Dominik came out of the locker room. I guessed that he had been eavesdropping. “Great,” he said, eyeing me up. “I’ll pick you up at eight.” After he retreated back to the locker room I sat thinking to myself, what did I just agree to?

    As Chris and I watched the hockey game I couldn’t stop thinking about what I had just done. I had just agreed to go out with a man who I had only seen in pictures up until now. I wasn’t going out with him to find love or even to try and get lucky, but to help out my older brother. I felt weird about the whole situation, but then again, he was one of the hockey’s biggest celebrities, and it’s not like someone like Dominik asked me out every day. Besides, the best way for me to get over D’Shawn and start my single life was to go out with another guy.

    I tried to ask Chris about the details of the date I was going on later tonight, but he said that he didn’t know much. He just said, “He wants to take you out to dinner at some fancy restaurant downtown-- La Something. I think it’s a French place.” That was all I found out because Chris was focused on watching the game while simultaneously looking up information about Dominik between texts to his boss.

    After the game was over, Chris tossed me his keys and told me that I could drive back to the hotel. He was going to start his interview with Dominik and he didn’t know how long it was going to take, so he was just going to take a cab back to the hotel later. I had no intention of going straight to the hotel, though. I hadn’t exactly packed for a date with a famous hockey player, so I needed to get some new clothes.

    On my way to the hotel, I stopped off at a little boutique to pick up a dress and some heels. I managed to find a tight-fitting black dress and some matching shoes. Sure, it was simple, but you could never go wrong with a black dress. I drove back to the hotel after shopping to prepare for my date. Dominik wasn’t supposed to come for a few hours, so that meant that I had plenty of time to both physically and mentally prepare for this evening. I spent a while doing my makeup and taming my hair. Once I was done making myself look gorgeous, I turned on the TV to pass the time and occupy my busy mind.