S C O T T

I didn't know how I got roped into having dinner with Elle and her family.

One minute, she had been getting her stuff and preparing to go back home. And the next, Elle was giving me a goodbye hug and telling me to come by at around seven so I could have dinner and meet her mom. She was gone before I even got a chance to answer and now I was absolutely freaking out.

"Connor!" I yelled, jogging into the living room. I tugged on the edge of my hair and groaned, pushing it back from my face, "I can't do this."

Connor rolled his eyes and dropped his phone. Swinging his legs off the edge of the couch, he turned to me and nodded, "You got this," he assured, grinning brightly at me, "kind of. I mean, like, don't fuck it up or her dad really could murder you this time."

"Not helpful," I growled, sitting down and pulling my shoes towards me. I bit my lip and quickly laced them up before leaning forward and groaning again, "I'm nervous. What if Elle decides she doesn't like the way I eat or something?"

Connor shrugged, "You do kind of shove the whole fork in your mouth."

"Connor!" I snapped, picking up a slipper from the basket and flinging it at him. Connor somehow managed to duck it and my glare intensified, "Screw you."

I rolled up the sleeves of my black and gray t-shirt and blew out a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. I knew tonight would be fine - Elle had already agreed to be my girlfriend, and Coach Monroe didn't exactly seem to hate me. But, during my time in the shower and getting dressed, I had managed to think of every bad possible scenario.

I stood up and Connor stepped in front of me. Kelly had work tonight, and Connor had opted to just stay in and watch movies and eat leftover pizza. So he was totally relaxed, while I got to run around like an idiot and freak out for tonight.

"It'll be fine," Con promised, ruffling my hair and shooting me another bright smile, "My parents loved you when they met you!"

I shot Connor a dry look, "We weren't dating, you idiot!"

"That offends me," Connor said, and I scoffed, pushing him out of the way. I snatched up my keys and wallet, shoving them both in my pocket, "Really, it'll be fine. Just be yourself.. Or, well, a more charming and nicer version of yourself!"

"So be myself," I started, grabbing the door and pushing it open. I stepped into the hallway and turned back to Connor, eyebrows furrowed, "but not myself?"

Connor shrugged and nodded, clamping a hand on my shoulder, "Basically," giving me a soft push, I took a few more steps into the hallway, my heart hammering like mad in my chest, "Go get 'em, tiger!"

I turned and started jogging down the hallway, only to stop again when Connor called my name. I sighed and bit back a curse, turning back and quirking an eyebrow in his direction, "You might want to hurry because it's, like, six-fifty."

The second Connor said that, I was sprinting through the apartment complex. I ran across the parking lot and went to shove my keys into the drivers side door, but to no avail. This time I cursed out-loud and looked down, seeing the 'C' scribbled in Sharpie across the silver metal. Of fucking course I grabbed Connor's keys, and now I didn't have the time to run back up and grab mine.

I dashed across the parking lot, wrinkling my nose in distaste at Connor's beat-up Jeep. I just groaned for what felt like the tenth time in that hour and shoved his keys in, quickly opening the door up and getting in. It took a few tries to get Connor's car to actually start up, but, the second it did I was driving out of the parking lot and towards Elle's.

The drive to Elle's was annoying. Connor's car smelled strongly of cologne, and it took me a good fifteen minutes to see the cracked open bottle in his backseat. Aside from my eyes practically burning, every slow driver seemed to be out on the road that night. By the time I pulled up in front of Elle's house, it was already seven-ten.

I pushed open the door and wrinkled my nose at how strongly I smelled because of Con's cologne. Shaking my head, I started towards the steps, only to realize that I had forgotten one of the most important things Connor had told me to get.

Flowers.

Eyes wide, I whipped around my head in search for something. And that was when my eyes landed on the rose bush in Elle's yard. The roses were in full bloom, and, honestly, what better flower was there to get other than roses?

I jogged over to the bush and frowned, looking at it. I reached towards one of the roses on the top - where it looked safer - and wrapped my fingers around it. I bit my lip and tugged, eyes going even wider when I felt something warm dripping down my palm.

"Shit," I mumbled, lifting up my hand to see the gash across my palm. I swung my hand around, only to see blood drip onto the rose. Cursing again, I rubbed my hand across the petals in a futile attempt to get the blood off the roses, "Stop bleeding!" I cried, rubbing my hand across a plant to try and clean it off.

"Scott?"

I whipped around to see Elle standing by the door, eyebrows furrowed. I shoved my hands in my pockets and turned, sending her a crooked grin. She just laughed and I ducked my head, cheeks flushing. I kept my head down and walked up the steps, ignoring her laughter when she saw the mess at the rose bush.

"I'm sorry," I blurted out, taking my hand out of my pocket and awkwardly dropping it by my side, "Connor told me to get roses, and then I grabbed the wrong keys and forgot so I had to take Con's car. And by the time I showed up, I realized I forgot the flowers and I - "

Elle cut me off by placing her lips gently on mine. I didn't mind, though; I just smiled against her lips and kissed her back. Elle had a way of making everything seem a lot better, and that was something I was extremely grateful for.

"Ready?" she asked, holding the door open for me.

I grinned and laced my (clean) fingers with hers, "Of course, babe."

Dinner with Elle's family was definitely something.

Elle's mom was extremely nice, and she had even given me a cloth to wipe my hand off with and told me how "adorable" it was that I had tried to get flowers last minute. Coach Monroe, on the other hand, had just been sitting at the opposite side of the table, eyeing me up. I knew he was doing the "protective dad" bit, but it was still pretty terrifying.

I cleared my throat and drummed my fingers on the table, but that stopped when Coach Monroe shot me another glare. Elle stiffled a laugh and gave my hand a small squeeze, and I shot her a small smile. Mrs. Monroe just smiled politely and shot her husband a glare.

"So, Scott," Coach Monroe started, and my gaze immediately whipped towards him.

"Coa - " I began, and then realized that might not have been the best thing to say. On the ice he was coach, but with Elle he was Mr, "Mr. Monroe."

That time Elle couldn't help herself; she busted out laughing, fork dropping onto her plate. I felt a blush rise to my cheeks and I gently kicked her foot with mine, but that did nothing to stop her laughter at how fucking awkward I had been during this dinner. I turned around and looked at Mrs. Monroe, only to see that she was biting her lip to keep from smiling.

"How about we ask a few questions?" Mr. Monroe asked, and I gently placed my fork down on the table to give him my attention, "To get to know you a bit better."

I furrowed my eyebrows, "Like twenty-one questions?"

Elle kicked my shin that time and I turned towards her, shooting her a defensive look. I didn't get what was wrong with what I said - Monroe said he wanted to ask questions, and that was the only question game I knew. But I just glared at Elle and slouched down in my seat.

"Great," Monroe said, eyes narrowing as he leaned forward, "All right, Scott, you can only have one of these. Sex or food?"

Elle cried out an surprised, 'Dad!', at the same time I grinned crookedly and blurted out, "Sex."

Elle's elbow came into contact with my ribs and I wheezed out a breath, eyes going wide. Mr. Monroe's grip on his fork got significantly tighter and I swallowed, opening my mouth quickly to try and fix what I had said.

"Uh, what I meant was, um," my eyes darted around and I took a deep breath, flashing Mr. Monroe a forced smile, "is that sex is the answer I'm not going to pick!" at the dry look Monroe shot me, I continued on, "Food. Food for sure. I love food. That's my answer."

Elle's mom leaned forward and put a hand on my shoulder, telling me that it was a nice answer. Elle just sighed quietly and leaned back in her seat, shooting me a small smile. Monroe was still glaring at me, but his lips had turned up into a smile like Elle's. I figured if he was smiling that I must have said something right.

I just slouched even further down in my seat and picked at my food, thanking God that dinner went by fast. Mrs. Monroe collected everyone's plates at the end (she declined my offer to help her carry everything), and then left Elle, Mr. Monroe, and me while she told us she'd get dinner and be right back.

I sat up a little straighter in my seat. I frowned and pulled out my phone, seeing nearly a dozen text messages from Connor. I rolled my eyes and slid open the most recent one, snorting at what he had written.

From Connor:

i'm watching sappy movies and you aren't answering my text. miguel won't cuddle with me. if coach monroe killed you, i'm taking your laptop. (p.s. please don't be dead and bring me back Chinese on the way home!)

Scoffing, I just shoved my phone back in my pocket and ignored his messages. I leaned forward, catching the last bit of the conversation Elle and her dad were having. They were talking about the first official practice tomorrow, which was all Jay and Edi had been talking about last night in our group message.

"You ready for practice tomorrow?" Monroe asked me, giving me a smile. He seemed to give up on the interrogation, "protective dad" bit. For now.

"Definitely," I nodded, a grin splitting across my face, "Completely ready for it."

"That's great," Monroe said sincerly. He flashed me another smile before it turned down into a frown, "Can you ask your friend - Jay - if he'll stop singing at practice? Great kid, horrible singing voice."

I laughed and nodded, promising that I would ask Jay to stop. Monroe grinned at me and then Mrs. Monroe came back into the dining room, telling us that desert had managed to burn since someone (she glared at Elle) had forgotten to check on it during dinner. Elle rolled her eyes and promised that it was for the better that no one had any desert.

"It's fine," I cut Mrs. Monroe off as she kept apologizing for the mishap, "I have to get back, anyway. I left my friend alone and I'm not sure how long it'll be before he starves to death because he's too lazy."

Mrs. Monroe gave me a big hug goodbye, and Mr. Monroe said he'd walk me to the door. I grinned and stood up next to Elle, pulling her into a tight hug. Elle pulled back and I gave her a quick kiss, the same ridiculous grin on my face.

"This was.. Fun," I smiled, pulling her in one for one last hug, "I'll see you tomorrow at practice, right?"

"Definitely."

"Okay," I said, turning and walking back towards the front door, "See you tomorrow, babe."

Mr. Monroe stood by the front door, holding it open for me. I flashed him a small smile and walked forward, standing next to him. He just smiled at me, and that's when I let out a relieved breath. All of my panicking and freaking out had made me nervous for nothing; everything had been all right.

"You know, I never pictured my daughter dating a hockey player," Monroe said, "Or a guy with curly hair."

I didn't say anything. Just stared at him and waited nervously.

"But you're a good guy, Scott, and I approve."

That's when I grinned and thanked him, because I had gotten Monroe's approve. Everything was perfect.