*photo credits go to Brianna briiswriitings because she's actually been to "New" The Igloo and Pittsburgh where I have not so please don't go all God's fist on me for screwing things up 😂*

My hands gripped the wheel as they sweated from anger, "I don't give a fuck if you care about me! I hate your guts and I don't want to talk to you ever again!" I screamed at the car dashboard, my mother on the phone while I was driving down the highway going through Toledo.

"Don't you dare fucking talk to your mother like that Sydney Win-!" She snapped back.

Clenching my jaw, I cut her off, "I don't fucking care if your my mother or not! I never wanna talk or see you ever again! I'm done with your shit! Ya, hear me?! DONE!" I screamed, pressing the end call button with my thumb on the steering wheel.

I then looked down at my phone near the center console, going into my contacts and blocking my mother's number on my phone.

"God! Fucking hate her!" I spat, still driving down the highway.

Eventually, I made my way out of Michigan and into Ohio, arriving in Toledo. The sun was still up and shining bright as ever, still somewhat blinding me through my sunglasses. Then my phone started ringing again. The caller ID showed up on my dashboard display.

A huff escaped my lips, I then pressed the accept button on my wheel, "Hey Bri." My happy voice was fake as I smiled.

"Lemme guess, you got into an argument with your mother again?" She saw right through me.

Again, I huffed, surrendering, "Yeah, I blocked her number though so I won't have to deal with her shit anymore," I then paused, shaking my head. "I'm so fucking done with her," I said lowly.

"Well that's why your moving in with me," I could see Brianna nodding her head through the phone. "To get away from her."

"I really wanted to move in with Bee but I dunno. California is pretty crazy. All the paranormal shit, earthquakes, wildfires, murders."

"Yeah it's pretty crazy out there," There was a slight pause before she spoke again. "The last of your boxes came earlier today and I saved you the time of unboxing them."

"Aw, Bri, you didn't have to!"

"No, no, no, ya would have done the same for me. Hey I'm gonna have to let ya go, I have some more photo editing to do so I can send them to Jade and Thomas to put on the Instagram page."

"Ok you go do that, I'll see ya in a few hours, I just got into Toledo."

"K, please drive carefully Syd, love you."

"Love ya too Bri, bye." I then hit the end call button on my wheel.

I'm a 25-year-old Michigan art school graduate with an artistic talent moving to Pittsburgh looking to land an internship with the Penguins as a graphic designer. I decided to move to Pittsburgh with my friend Brianna because for one Minneapolis had nothing. No jobs. No internships. Nothing. And two, I want to move away from my mother.

She raised me in such a toxic environment and turned me into a bitchy person, just like her. Her always nagging, hounding, yanking on my chain. Expecting me to be perfect, like her, every. Single. Time. It didn't matter if it was school or tennis, or when I took my driver's training class when I was 16, she was always bitching. If she wasn't bitching then she wasn't happy, is my motto for her. Half of my friends flat out hate my mother and some of my relatives dislike her choices and how she raised me. She just kept on pushing me away and that's what she did.

Half of the time I feel sorry for my dad because for almost my entire life they were never happy. They never kissed or hugged each other in random times, never showed each other affection after coming home from work, no date nights, nothing. Probably half of my life they would be bitching to each other. I was surprised that my dad never dumped her ass a long time ago. I would just be apart of another broken family in the sea of divorced parents.

This is why I move in with my friends because they don't constantly judge me or criticize me for having a voice or a different fashion sense. My friends are my only TRUE family. My real family is a lie, just another broken American Dream.

I truly wanted to move in with my best friend for life, Beth, who is also a photographer like Brianna except she doesn't take pictures of NHL players for a living. Her photos are almost everywhere in California. Magazines, billboards, posters, the news, newspapers, social media, basically everywhere you can think of. She's that good.

Brianna is also my best friend, only a year older than me. She takes pictures and records videos for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Her pictures also go into social media and the internet. She's also really good too. She was kind enough to talk with her boss and land an internship interview for me. I was the only intern, how she said, I have to pass this super-secret test towards the end of the hockey season to see if I'm good enough to keep on and then I would land the job of Junior Graphic Designer.

To make matters worse, my interview was tomorrow morning at 9 and I did my research about these hockey players before leaving Michigan. Bri gave me tons of info about her NHL crush, Jake Guentzel. By the way, Bri describes Jake, since she almost always interacts with these players every day, she describes him as a cute curly-haired blond who is a dork and goofball with an adorable laugh.

I didn't know very much about hockey, except the basics, since I just started getting into hockey in May of this year. I was fortunate to have Bri give me info about some of these players.

The NHL player I was mainly interested in was Sidney Crosby. Team Captain at the age of 19 in 2010 when he got drafted to the Penguins. His backstory of hockey is what sparked an interest in him. His father played for Montreal as a goalie and at a young age he developed a love for hockey and picked up an extreme talent for hockey. Every year, he just kept getting better, and better, and better. By 14 he was so good that he could make cheap shots all day long and the best goalies couldn't even stop him.

In all honesty, I do have a slight crush on him. He is cute like everyone says. Like the ladies dressing up in wedding dresses holding signs that ask Sidney to marry them in the audience or like the lady who made the sign asking him to break the headboard of her bed.

On my drive, I wasn't alone in the car, in the backseat of my older Jeep Compass was a doggie carrier with my dog Juno, a light-colored basset hound with cute floppy ears, in the carrier, scratching at the bars.

"It's gonna be ok Juno, hang in there baby," I said from the front seat, still driving with my head slightly turned around. Juno continued to scratch at the bars. "Hey buddy, I'll give you a Milkbone after you eat your dinner at Aunt Bri's house." Juno barked once and stopped, I assumed hope that he went back to napping.

While driving, I was tapping my thumbs on the steering wheel along to Halsey's song Drive from her BADLANDS album which was my absolute favorite album she made.

The drive from Michigan was 5 hours and some odd minutes and I hardly made any stops. When I arrived on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, I followed my GPS to Bri's apartment which took me to Bellevue. My head was looking back and forth for the apartment building when I saw someone waving me down, Bri was in her pajamas and her robe on the sidewalk, so I parallel parked up against the sidewalk behind her red Dodge Journey with a Penguins sticker on the back left of the window that had the Penguins logo.

Right when I got out of the car and came around the back of my car, we tackled each other in a long hug.

"I'm so happy your here, I was getting hungry as fuck." She giggled before the two of us broke away.

"What do ya mean? You didn't eat yet?! It's like almost 7 o'clock dummy!" I teased.

"Yeah, I made it extra special," She winked. "Had to drive 15 minutes into the Strip and get stuck in traffic bringing it back."

"Oh my God, you did not go to the place where I think you went that we talked about before!" I cupped my face, with my mouth agape.

Bri then raised her head high, "I did because today is a special day." Placing her hands on her hips, her lips parted showing her toothy grin, and the special gap between her front two teeth.

"Ugh, I can practically smell it." I groaned, then turned to the backseat door and opened it. Juno was sleeping in his carrier, I didn't want to disturb his slumber, so I carried the crate with two hands to set it down on the ground.

Bri, kindly, opened my trunk to get my small suitcase of clothes before closing it. She also opened the outer apartment door for me so I could get the carrier in before walking up a flight of stairs to her apartment.

The apartment was above two shops and was very well decorated and modern.

Granite kitchen countertops with an island that was near the hallway to the bedrooms and bathroom. Black fridge against the wall with a matching oven and white simple cabinets with a sink right on the countertop below the island. On the open wall space near the island hung one of the signs I got for Bri for Christmas. It was one of those Penguins signs that said "Penguins Fan Cave" with the logo in between Fan Cave. "Fan controls ALL remotes when the Penguins play" with a little remote on the left. "Team Colors worn at all times" with the logo on the right. "What happens in "the cave" stays in "the cave".

Kindly I took off my shoes at the door before turning to see another present I got for Bri. I was a long giant sign with HOME in bold letters and the O replaced by a hockey puck and crossed sticks in the background.

Chuckling at the sight, I set the carrier down and opened the door for Juno to waddle out, "I see ya like to show off my gifts."

Bri laughed before closing the door, "Well of course I do! This is, after all, a Penguins apartment!"

"Very true." Juno let out a long yawn before stretching out his body, waddling off towards the couch in the living room.

"I put our dinner in the oven so it would stay warm." Bri automatically went into the kitchen, washed her hands, then opened the oven door, placing a few plastic bags on the counter.

"I appreciate that, but you didn't have to wait!" I playfully scolded, Juno hopped up on the couch and snuggled in the corner, then I sat down next to him.

Bri went back and forth in the kitchen, taking out plates and two wine glasses, taking circular ice cubes out from the fridge, "No, no, it's a special occasion," She then opened the fridge and grabbed two plastic drink containers and poured them into the wine glasses with the circular cubes. "Ok so, a fireball, fried zucchini, salad, chicken Alfredo, and a vanilla bean cannoli for me." Bri then came over with her alcohol in one hand with all her bags in the other, setting them down on the circular coffee table with a huge candle burning in the center.

I inhaled the scented air that seemed fairly familiar, "Is that cashmere amber I smell?"

"Yes ma'am, you are correct!" Bri then went back to get my drink and food in the plastic bags. "And your unsweetened ice tea, garlic cheese bread, Italian wedding soup, cheese ravioli, and brownie sundae supreme." She set my bags on the coffee table closest to me and handed me my drink.

"Thank you, ma'am." Smiling, I took the wine glass with my tea in it before she sat down next to me on the couch, taking our containers out of the plastic bags, setting them on the floor next to our feet.

The two of us then opened all of our boxes to inhale all the scents before moaning out of pleasure the smells gave us. Bri turned on the TV and scrolled through Netflix to find a movie to watch, we ended up watching Bohemian Rhapsody together with the volume down low.

"Ok, so let's make a cheer to this moment right now," Bri spoke out, making me turn my head, seeing her holding her glass up. "Here's to a great life, future career with the Pens, and us being roommates." The two of us smiled.

"Shin shin!" We clinked our glasses together before taking sips of our beverages before going back to eating our food and watching the movie on the TV.

In some parts of the movie, I looked around the apartment more. The couch we were sitting on was a grey L shaped couch with fluffy pillows and another matching uniquely designed pillows. Juno was laying on this giant cream knit blanket in the corner of the couch under this lamp that somewhat overhangs the couch in the corner.

Behind the couch on the wall was a shelf of pictures of Bri and her family, friends, and some of me with lights dangling down from it and black canvas with multiple fonts written on it near the shelf. It was another Penguins sign which read "Penguins Let's Go Pens Mario Lemieux NHL Hockey Sid The Kid He Shoots He Scores The Igloo Malkin Black & Gold It's A Hockey Night In Pittsburgh Fleury Mike Lange Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania The CHIVERS Family" Each in their dedicated line and fonts.

Next to the couch, we're two matching chairs that had open metal backings with white cushions and pillows in the living room along with a long white full body mirror separating the living room with the dining room.

A big wooden modern table with a wood bench on the longer sides with fluffy cushions and metal chairs at the heads.

After finishing and picking at each other's food to try, we got up to dispose of our garbage before going on to our deserts. While I was standing, I poured some food for Juno in his little doggie bowl on the side of the fridge next to the door of the apartment.

The two of us then came back to watching the movie together. We were singing along with the songs with our mouthed full, swaying back and forth with our forks in our hands, and our boxes that our desserts came inside in our other hands.

"Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very, frightening me!" We sang in unison, pointing our forks at each other.

"Galileo!" I screamed.

"Galileo!" Bri replied in a lower-pitched screamed as the two of us screamed Galileo back and forth before rocking out to the song, violently rocking our heads up and down like maniacs.

When the song ended, the two of us laughed our guts out, continuing our desserts, "Ok so your positive you did your research, right?"

Turning to Bri, I nodded my head, "I mean yeah, not like in-depth research but just enough I think for me to pass the first day if I do end up bumping into one of them." Replying with a mouthful of brownie with the back of my one hand covering my mouth.

"Ok show me what your gonna wear for tomorrow and I'll tell ya if it's a go or no go."

"Right!" I almost half spit out my tea when I almost forgot. "Right! I was thinking about this my whole way up here!" I sat my glass down and ran into my room, going through my closet, and finding my outfit. I picked out a white long-sleeved shirt with a V neck, a black skirt, and my thigh-high black boots. "Do you want me to model it?" I yelled from my room.

"Ya! I wanna see it!" Bri replied, giving me the signal to get myself into the clothes I picked out.

I neatly tucked in my shirt around my skirt before sitting down on my bed and slipping on the black boots before coming out into the living room.

"Ok so I wanted something confident, I will be wearing my hair down and my glasses." I turned every which way for Bri so she could get a look at me.

"I love it! But are you wearing spandex under there since it's so short and your like a giraffe in that skirt?" She gestured to my skirt, waving her index finger at my skirt.

"Oh yeah! I'm just not wearing it now because I'm in the apartment." She took a sip of her drink.

"Ok good. I love it!" Bri then sat her drink down, giving me a round of applause, literally going in a circle, making me take a curtsy with my skirt on.

"Thank you, thank you very much," I spoke in my Elvis voice before going back to my room to change again except into my PJs.

My room wasn't quite exactly like Bri's. Mine was smaller but showed character. My room had a bit of a lower ceiling than hers, but our rooms had white brick walls. My bed was in the corner while my nightstand was next to my bed in front of a window and a laundry hamper next to it. On the wall was my closet that took up the whole wall and my desk on the remaining space near the door and in the corner next to my desk in front of my bed was a bookshelf that went up a good way showing two shelves before hitting the top where my TV was. Under my bed was a long line of drawers stacked in twos.

Carefully, I stripped off my clothes, hanging them back up on hangars, laying them down neatly on my bed before I then unzipped my boots. Bending down to my drawers, I grabbed a nude baggy shirt with a slight V neck and half sleeves with matching colored shorts. Then I found my fuzzy black slippers with bear faces on the front. When I slipped them on my feet, I wiggled my toes as I smiled down at my feet.

Going to the back of my door, I hung my shirt and skirt up on the hook towards the top of my door where some posters were plastered.

My Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets illustrated book poster with the flying car, my Doctor Strange poster, a smaller Star Wars Prequels poster with a printed out picture of Tom Holland's Spider-Man, and a ripped out page from a magazine of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

I glanced at my posters before gripping the knob, walking out of the room, back to the living room where Bri was still savoring her cannoli, watching Bohemian Rhapsody with Juno snuggled next to her, rolled over on his back with his paws half in the air. His head perked up and his body flipped over when he saw me enter the room. I plopped down on the couch, grabbing the nearby blanket, wrapping myself in it before picking up my brownie sundae again.

The two of us on occasion would laugh, chat, or make short remarks about the movie but whenever a song came on, we were singing along.

The night almost went by like a blur. I remembered the two of us finishing our deserts before the movie ended and the two of us were in the bathroom brushing our teeth together before bed. Soon enough, I was stretching my arms in my bedroom with the lights off except the light coming from the wall next to my bed where twinkle lights were hanging and a strand hanging above my window. My Mighty Ducks pictures of Adam and some hand-drawn pictures were on the left side while NHL team logos were hand-drawn out on the right side with some other cute pictures and players. On the separate strand above my window was all Sidney Crosby stuff. Mainly things I drew out from online and two pictures of him that I liked clipped above the window.

Smiling, kicking off my slippers at the foot of the bed with my shag rug underneath, I then slipped under the covers of my Star Wars bedding. Yes, Star Wars bedding. I am a complete die-hard nerd that I HAVE to have bedding for it.

My eyes stared up at the ceiling, not able to sleep because my eyes shifted from the ceiling to the wood cutout Penguins logo hanging above my bed with lights in the back to make the cutout light up.

Apparently, I was nervous about tomorrow because I was staring at the cutout I made for quite a while before passing out.