Chapter 8

I dragged my old equipment and my sore carcass down to my room and put the dirty clothes in the washer and started it up. After knocking on Vicky's door and getting no answer I crashed on my bed. It had been a long hard day and my body was sore all over. There were no aspirin in the apartment so the aches and pains just throbbed. At six I pulled myself up and made some Mac and Cheese and ate it out of the pot while watching some TV. After switching the laundry to the dryer, it was time to log in to the system, print out some copies of the new schedule and plan the first day of school. I printed out a campus map and plotted best routes and times between classes, the apartment, as well as the arena. Why not make use of the free meals when it was convenient to do so?

There was a knock on the door at about eight. I got up off of the bed slowly —damn my back hurt from that check, and limped over like a crippled old man and opened it to see a smiling goddess with her Dad standing behind her.

"Hi Vicky" I said with a smile. "I wondered when you were going to show up. I missed you."

"My God Michael, what happened to your face" asked Vicky looking shocked as she put her hand to my face gently.

"It ran into someone's fist" I replied laughing. "Come on in. Can I get you guys something to drink?"

I backed up and walked slowly to the fridge and opened it. "I've got some pop and some juice. Who wants what?"

"Mike, we're good. What happened to you?" asked her Dad. "It looks like you've been run over by a truck!"

"Just typical new guy treatment by a guy worried about his position" I replied as I grabbed a coke and slid into a chair grimacing.

"So the coaches allow them to beat the crap out of you the first day? I hope you got in a couple of shots at least" Mr. Waters chuckled.

I just put my hands on the table with the backs showing but didn't say anything.

"What happened to your hands Michael?" gasped Vicky as she picked up my left one in both of hers.

"I hit it against something, that's all honey" I replied as her Dad chuckled again.

"Well, I knew hockey was a rough sport but geez, you look like shit Michael. Are you sure you want to keep going?" she asked.

"The coaches seem to like what they see so I will probably make the team. I should be in better shape by the end of the week. This won't be happening again" I assured her as I pointed to my face. "Do you have any aspirin or something over in your apartment Vicky? I asked her.

"I'll go check" she replied and rushed over to her apartment.

"So how did it go after I left Sunday morning?" I asked Mr. Waters.

"Well it was a bit frosty between the girls and their Mom, but they got it settled and my wife will be backing off a bit. The girls are old enough to be making their own decisions and their own plans without her butting in" he let me know. "Here's my card with my cell number and our home phone number if Vicky or you need us, ok?"

I took his card and put it on the fridge just as Vicky returned. She went into full Mother mode as she told me to go lie on the bed and she would take care of me with a massage.

"Well that's my cue to head home" said her Dad, rising from his chair.

"Ok Daddy, thanks for driving me home" she said.

"Goodnight Mr. Waters" I said and shook his hand after I got out of my chair.

Vicky walked him to the door and gave him a kiss and a hug and then shut the door and locked it when he left.

"Vicky, before we start, let me give you my new schedule that they worked out for me. I will also get a cell phone and a voucher tomorrow to go and get some suits to wear. I hope you will come with me if we can schedule it. Finally, I need to get your cell number so I can call you whenever I need to get a hold of you" I said.

"I'm glad you're getting a cell" she said. She grabbed my new schedule and looked at it. "It doesn't look too bad. I'll have to see how it fits with mine."

"Oh, it fits very well. I made sure of that when we were doing it. That was a big priority for me so they pulled up your schedule on the computer and made mine fit as well as they could" I assured her, hoping for some brownie points.

"Wow, you did that for me and they agreed?" she said with a huge smile.

"Yep, had to make sure we could see each other as much as we could. I don't want to lose you over playing hockey" I replied with a smile.

"Well, that's good to hear. Ok, let's get you looked after. Here are some aspirins, you better take three. Then get that shirt off and get on the bed for your massage" she commanded in full Mother voice.

"Yes Dear" I said faking meekness as I smirked.

She just raised an eyebrow and folded her arms under her gorgeous chest while staring at me with an imperial look. If she wasn't so gorgeous, she would look like a snotty bitch, but on her it looked like she would fit right in giving Royal commands to her generals and admirals. I debated calling her out on it but I really wanted that massage so I smiled and walked slowly to the bed.

"Don't let me forget to get my hockey stuff out of the dryer tonight ok?" I asked her while trying to get my shirt off. "I have to be at the arena and on the ice at seven thirty tomorrow morning."

"I'll get it later for you and make sure you are up by quarter to seven ok?" she said as she moved behind me and spooned my back while helping me with my shirt. She dropped the shirt down beside us and hugged me lightly from behind as moved her hands along my stomach up to my chest.

"Hmmm, that feels so good honey, you have wonderful hands" I moaned as I tried to reach back and pull her tight.

She stepped back and instructed me "Now get on the bed Mister. This is a medicinal massage, not a pleasure one."

I lowered myself gingerly to the bed and lay on my stomach. Vicky pulled out some baby oil from the bag she brought over from her apartment and poured some into her hands and rubbed them together to warm them up. She put one knee down on the bed but kept the other leg on the ground and started massaging my feet. Like she said, this wasn't a sensual massage but a deep muscle one. She worked over my legs from the calf muscles up to the thighs and even my butt under my shorts. She removed her hands from my shorts ignoring my hard-on, and kept going on my lower back as she climbed onto the bed and sat on my legs. I hissed as she hit the spot where the moron hit me from behind and she was gentler in that area until the muscles relaxed. After spending time on my shoulders and arms she tapped me on the butt and told me to roll over.

She moved to the side and I rolled to my back.

"Well I see Big Mike is enjoying the massage" she said dryly.

"Big Mike, little Mike, Cousin Mike and Michael all are enjoying it very much" I replied sleepily. "Cousin Mike wants to marry you right now if you promise to do that every night."

"I'll have to meet this Cousin Mike. It sounds like an interesting proposal" she giggled.

She started at my feet again and worked me over, this time sitting beside me rather than on me. Big Mike was very disappointed. I was very relaxed and sleepy by the time she finished and lay beside me on the bed.

"Thank you very much for that excellent massage honey. You made me feel almost human again. I am definitely going to have to hire you on full time as my personal masseuse."

"Hmmm and how much does this position pay?" she asked.

"Um, how about my undying gratitude and a few kisses" I said hopefully.

"Well, that's not very much of an offer Michael. I think I will see what I can get on the open market" she said huffily.

"Sorry, honey, I don't think I can let you get to the open market. You would cause a bidding war that would cause a worldwide financial meltdown" I rebutted as I put my arm around her and pulled her close.

"Michael, you're all oily, you're going to ruin my clothes!" she yelped as she tried to keep away.

"Well, you have two choices, hope they come clean in the wash or take them off" I said cheerily.

"You're going to have to work harder to get my clothes off Mister" she huffed as she gave up and moved close to me, wrapping her arm and her leg over my body.

I caressed her back and gave her a kiss. She stayed unresponsive for a little but gave in and kissed me back with a grin. I felt too relaxed to do much more but Vicky seemed to like caressing my bare chest and stomach as she lay draped on my side. Her hands were so smooth and light on my skin and her hair smelled of peaches as she laid her head on my chest. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the closeness and wondered how I got so lucky to have this woman so close to me and seeming to want to be here. I made up my mind to make damn sure I didn't screw this up, especially by opening my mouth any more then I should.

I must have drifted off for a bit, but when I woke up Vicky was still running her fingers around my torso, vacillating between a light caress and a light tickle. I moved my hand to caress her back and side that wasn't covered by her short t-shirt.

"Oh, you've decided to grace me with your presence again, have you?" she snipped.

"Sorry honey, your massage was so relaxing, not even your fantastic body draped all over me could keep me awake" I apologized. "But I feel better now, was I out for long?" I asked.

"Not too long, maybe half an hour or so, it's about nine thirty" she replied as she sat up and looked at me. "I'm glad you liked the massage, I enjoyed giving it to you."

"Good, maybe I can return the favour soon Vicky" I said with a smile.

"Still trying to get my shirt off Michael?" she asked with a grin.

"I cannot tell a lie, the removal of said shirt would greatly improve my view of your stomach and upper torso, Miss Waters. But as I am a professional skin inspector, you can count on my utmost discretion while viewing any exposed or unexposed skin" I said in the most sincere professional voice I could come up with.

She started laughing.

"Miss Waters, please a little decorum here. We, at the skin inspection bureau, have a serious agenda and need our subjects to act accordingly. You were spotted as a potential example of flawless beauty, but to earn that title and our seal of authenticity, a thorough examination of all current exposed skin, as well as any skin that may be potentially exposed, must be completed."

Vicky howled and fell back laughing hysterically. Damn, she was hot even when laughing. I just looked at her with a smile until she calmed down.

"Michael that was hilarious" she said grinning. "I haven't heard that one before."

"It's Canadian" I replied with a straight face. "But it doesn't seem to work down here."

"Oh, you've tried it down here already?"

"Just once, but you still have your shirt on. It must be the water."

"I've got to get out of here before I bust a rib laughing at you" she said as she rose from the bed. I swung my legs over the side, pulled myself up to a sitting position and then slowly stood up. I followed her to the door and went down the hallway to get the clothes out of the dryer before they were forgotten for the night. She helped me fold them and then asked me for the spare key so she could make sure I was up on time.

"You don't have to do that Vicky, the alarm will do fine" I said while finding it to give it to her anyway.

"I will see you in the morning. You need a good breakfast so you have your strength at practice. I might come and watch and make sure no one else has any ideas to mess up my boyfriend's face or hurt your hands with their faces" she said in a very straight forward manner.

"Ok, but I'm not sure they allow spectators at the practices" I stated.

"I'm sure it won't be a problem" she replied, dismissing my concerns and walking back to her apartment.

I followed her and took her in my arms for a good night kiss. She returned the kiss but cut it short and said "Ok, get to sleep. I'll see you in the morning; it will be a big day for you. We'll work out our schedules about when and where we'll meet during the day over breakfast. Good night Sweetie."

"Ok, Vicky good night and thanks again for the massage tonight" I replied and watched her get into her apartment before I returned to mine.

I tiredly shut down the lights and got into bed and was out like a light shortly after, dreaming of Vicky sitting on top of me, giving me a massage without her shirt on...

Tuesday morning came too early. The alarm wouldn't shut off even after hitting it a couple of times. The shower helped a bit but I really woke up when I walked out of the bathroom and a sexy voice said "Now, that's a view worth waking up for; Hi Big Mike!"

"Aw shit, sorry Vicky, I forgot you were coming over this morning" I stammered as I turned around and walked quickly to my dresser to grab some clothes.

"You have a very nice tush there Michael; I think my new boyfriend is one good looking stud, except for that skin glowing condition" she laughed. "I sure hope that it isn't hereditary or Cousin Mike and I are going to have red glow kids lighting up the house."

"Cousin Mike left on an extended exploration of the polar ice in the Arctic and won't be back for at least ten years" I said sadly. "I'm afraid you're going to be an old spinster if you keep pining away for him. Luckily, you've seen me naked now so we have to have kids now. It's a little known Canadian law that applies in exactly this kind of situation."

"Well, it can't possibly apply to little old me here in the good ole U.S. of A" she said with a mock worried tone as she kept staring at me while I dressed.

"'Afraid so, darling" I said sadly, shaking my head. "The law applies no matter where I am physically. Why do you think those Mormons have so many wives? They came down from Canada and when they were bathing in the Canadian River, all the women saw them and they had to get married. Don't they teach you people history down here?"

"Hmmm, I've never heard that version before. Well if you say that's the law then we had better call my parents and get them going on the wedding plans. Are you busy this weekend Sweetie?" she asked in a matter of fact voice.

"Well, I do have this game to play, but for you darling, I would miss one hockey game" I said graciously. "That noise you just heard was the entire Canadian nation gasping in collective shock by the way."

"They aren't all invited so they can butt out. It's their fault we have to get married in the first place" she said a bit peeved. "Ok, let's get my fiancé fed so he can defend himself better today."

She let me finish getting dressed and had some toast and boiled eggs on plates for us when I came into the kitchen. I hugged her from behind and gave her a kiss on her neck before sitting down.

"It looks good dear. Thanks for making breakfast" I complimented her.

"Well, now that I've got you committed to marrying me, this will probably be the last time that will happen" she retorted with a smirk.

"I had better just get you the pamphlet on all the rules before you embarrass yourself too much. Are you going to call your parents or should I, to let them know? Hopefully Becky is available as well."

"What, she has to marry you too?" she gasped in mock horror. "The poor girl; and she hasn't even seen you naked yet."

"She got lucky, then. We have to be real careful this weekend or it could be a double wedding."

She grabbed her phone out of her pocket and pressed a button while looking at me with a smirk.

"Yeah it's me. Listen, I have to get married this weekend."

"To Michael, who else?"

"No, I'm not pregnant; you know we haven't done anything yet!"

"It's some sort of Canadian law — I saw him naked."

"Nice tush."

"Why do you think I call it Big Mike?"

"Did you see him naked?"

"No you didn't so it's just me."

She looked at me and whispered "She's not very happy with us right now" before listening again.

"Hey, I don't make the rules, if you want to marry him, you need to come here and see him naked."

"Ok, I'll call you when we get back here tonight."

She listened for a bit and then looked at me and told me "She says hi."

I heard Becky shouting in the phone and Vicky smiled and said "Ok, fine, hold on."

"She says to tell you that she enjoyed your weekend together and she's going to come up here this weekend and spend the weekend with you and she'll give you a massage that will make you take your clothes off and make her marry you too."

"Tell her I look forward to it, as long as she brings her outfit with her" I told Vicky.

She talked into the phone "He wants you to bring your PJs you wore on the weekend."

"I don't know, maybe he's a little kinky. I would have thought he wanted to see you in the sexy one but no it's the PJs for him" she said into the phone.

"No, we haven't slept together so I don't know what he wears to bed. We will have to find out this weekend."

Ok, we have to go, talk to you later."

"Give him what for you? No, you can do that yourself on the weekend Missy — I'm a good girl!"

I heard Becky yelling again as Vicky smiled.

"Fine, don't get your panties in a knot; I'll give him a kiss. What's that, you're wearing a thong, not panties —oh you tramp you" Vicky teased.

I heard a screech before Vicky said bye and hung up. She walked over and gave me a hot kiss and grabbed my ass.

"That was from Becky" said Vicky. "Boy is she hot for you Michael. We are going to have to spend some quality time with her this weekend ok Sweetie?"

"Sure babe, I want to spend as much time as I can with both of you" I assured her.

That got me a big smile and another hug and kiss. I finished eating my breakfast and we headed off to the arena. I kissed her in the lobby and left her there to get changed. The guys were all pretty quiet in the dressing room which was fine by me. The Zamboni was just finishing as we headed out and did our warm up stretches and skate.

Frank skated by and asked "How you feeling Mike?"

I replied "Pretty good Frank, just a bit sore where I got hit in the back."

"Let the trainer take a look at it if it persists ok?"

"Sure"

"Ok, we're going to step it up a notch and pair you with the three best left defencemen at different times today so we can see how you would do in a game situation" he informed me. "Just try your best and we'll see how it goes."

"You're the coach" I replied.

With that Frank blew his whistle and had us all listen up. He went over the schedule of events for the morning practice while I had a quick look for Vicky. I found her sitting in the seats about half way up at the centre line. She was reading a textbook and looking up once and a while to see the action.

We broke up into forwards and defence again and ran passing and skating drills while Frank gave us instructions and suggestions for improving aspects of each of our games.

After that we paired up against two forwards and defended against them. This time we kept the same partner for a few cycles rather than switch every one. I go into it faster than yesterday, especially after having the same partner for a few. It helped to know what he would do in certain instances. I still had trouble with a couple of guys and their speed rush to the outside, but I got back in time to make him go around the net versus cut in on net. All in all, I held my own at more or less full speed.

We took a break and I got a chance to give Vicky a smile without the whole team finding out that she was with me. She smiled back and went on reading.

Fred Benson came out and directed us in some power play strategy. He mapped out a couple of plays for the power play groups while the rest worked on penalty kill at the other end. I stayed with the power play people when the coaches directed us where to go. The fast defenceman from yesterday was paired with me and we took the first reps. Fred introduced him as John Reilly and we said hi to each other.

The first play was basically what we worked on yesterday. John would work it to his side of the ice, pulling their defenders over so there was less traffic on my side so I could get the point shot off, hopefully with the right winger either in front of or beside the net. If they cheated in defending me tight, I was supposed to pass it back to John or to the right winger down low.

The second play was having us both stay way out at the points and our centre help one of the forwards down low, thereby making their defenders collapse down towards the net. Then John would swoop into the open middle between the circles hoping for a pass out and a point blank shot while the goalie was caught looking back or in the corner. I had to move into the middle of the ice back by the blue line in case the pass got picked off and John was caught deep. I could also receive a back pass if John's shooting lane to the net was blocked.

We worked on both plays for about ten minutes each for both the first power play unit and the second one. Each unit would get about a minute on the ice of a two minute penalty and then be replaced. I didn't know which one was the first and which was the second yet, but my unit was on first.

Fred merged the two groups so we could work at each at full speed against each other. John would call which play we would run using an odd or even number for now. I got a couple of good shots away until they started keying in on me and I had to pass off to John or the forward. John would then switch to try the other one while I pulled their defender away from the middle by going farther out to the right point. The forward got too far out of position and John exploited it by getting open in the middle for a point blank shot as I eased back to the middle.

So the practice went, trying to learn new things without looking like an idiot. Frank or Fred would tell me something just like anyone else on the team so I didn't feel too much out of place.

The final twenty minutes was full scrimmage, five on five. I was kept with John as my defence partner as we relieved the pairing on the ice. He would carry the puck most of the time passing up to a forward or to me only if he was made to by the other team. If not, he would carry it in and set up an offensive play, which I knew nothing about yet. I just played the right point and covered him if he went farther into the zone. When we were off the ice on the bench, he would let me know the play number and name and what my responsibility was. He seemed friendly enough and was very helpful.

We stopped at nine and I had to rush to get changed and get to first class in the central campus a couple of blocks away. The trainer's helper told me to leave all the stuff this time so they could wash it for me. That would help.

I quickly left the locker room and went to find the coaches. Fred was in his office so I asked him if there was a playbook for any of the plays and he was pissed that I hadn't got a copy yet. He told me I would have one at the afternoon practice. I thanked him and left to find Vicky.

I found her with a couple of guys from the team trying to hit on her. One was the idiot's friend from yesterday and one was the short small forward. Vicky looked annoyed more than pissed off and was trying to be polite as she tried to get them to leave her alone. I walked over getting mad as I saw the big one not taking no for an answer and reaching for her arm.

She saw me walking up behind them and said "Hi Sweetie, do you mind letting these two know you are my boyfriend?"

The big one looked back at me in annoyance but visibly cringed when he saw me. The little one looked embarrassed before he even looked around but when he did he actually took a couple of steps back and stumbled while the idiot's friend turned white. The little one stammered an apology and quickly walked away while the other one was slowly debating what to do or say. I walked up closer to him and said in a quiet voice "Your friend got off easy yesterday but you won't. Go away now and never bother my girlfriend or me again or they'll be feeding you with a needle for the rest of your life."

I was hoping he would take a swing but he backed off and left quickly. Vicky took my arm and walked me out to the car where I grabbed my books. We walked quickly up the street to the main campus.

"Mike, you ok now?" she asked. "You were pretty intense there for a bit."

"Yah, I'm cooling off. When I saw them bothering you I lost it. The big one is a friend of the idiot I fought yesterday, so I was kind of predisposed against him. I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to you when I was around. Sorry if I came on too strong back there."

"Oh, I don't mind what you did; I'm tired of assholes that think they are the bull of the walk. Thanks for being there and taking care of them for me" she said with a big smile as she hugged my side.

I walked her to her class and she gave me directions to mine. We quickly looked at our schedules and agreed to meet at the arena cafeteria for lunch at noon in between my two training sessions today. I gave her a kiss and she went in with a happy smile and a bounce to her step that had people watching her as she passed. I watched her until she sat down and looked at me and then I grinned and left.

I walked over to where my computer programming course was to be held. I walked into a big hall that could hold up to 500 people at a time. It looked about three quarters full with more coming through the doors behind me. I quickly found an empty seat at the end of a row so I could stick out at least one leg straight. The rows were too close together to stretch them out in between the rows.

I looked around and saw people from all different nationalities intermixed and talking to each other. It was new for me as up north it was mostly white people of European descent. It was interesting to see everyone seemingly getting along just fine in a classroom when there was so much anger and discord in the real world between different cultures.

Many of the students had laptops open on the small desk table attached to the seats. Some had small tape recorders and a couple had set up small web cams to record the lecture. I pulled out my trusty paper notepad and fine point black pen and put the date and Class title on the top of the page and I was ready. I'm sure a few thought I was a Neanderthal, especially for a computer programming class, but writing things down seemed to hard wire it into my brain and I could almost visualize the page when I wanted and could regurgitate it verbatim on a test if needed.

A short, skinny, balding man walked into the room and introduced himself as Dr. Will Albert, the professor for first year Computer Programming. He went over the class and test schedules, the weekly assignments and the lab time in about five minutes. He gave out his open office hours for this class to come for help and put up the names of the teaching assistants who ran the Friday lab time and who were also available for help and tutoring.

He then handed out a class syllabus or the course outline for us non-language types. He explained that you didn't need any programming experience to take the course but it would come in handy. He asked how many of us were in the computer science program and half of the people there or about 200 people put up their hands. He mentioned that only about 50 would graduate from the four year program. It was not an easy program and those that wanted to graduate should be ready to dedicate the next four years to working hard to achieve that goal.

After that he gave the actual lecture of the day, quickly going through proper programming protocol and structure that was required in the class, no matter what language was being used; things like proper indents, naming conventions for sub-routines, variables etc. He then started on simple programming statements and used them to write some simple programs on the board. By the end of the lecture he had covered the first two chapters in the book, or about 50 pages. He advised us to read the textbook to flesh out some of his lecture and do the questions at the back of each chapter and then said he would see us Thursday. We had the class twice, for an hour and a half, Tuesdays and Thursdays and the lab to work on programs on Fridays from 9:30 to 11:00.

I followed the masses out the door and quickly walked the couple of blocks back to the arena. I had an hour blocked off for training before lunch and then another hour and a half after lunch. After that it was study time for an additional hour and a half and then team practice from 4:00 to 6:00 on both Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I wasn't sure who to see but went to see Chris Jenkins to see if he knew what was up. I found him in the weight room and waited while he helped one of the guys on the team do an exercise properly.

"Hi Mike, how's it going?" he asked.

"Good Chris and yourself?" I replied.

"I'm doing ok. What brings you in here?"

I showed him my schedule with the two training slots today and Thursday.

"Anyone tell you anything about this?" I asked him.