Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Score ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

A/N: Well I decided to update even though I haven't gotten any response at all. That doesn't mean I haven't continued to write the story, I just haven't been posting it. But if you do like it, please review and let me know and I'll start posting all the chapters. So I hope you enjoy. Please R&R! Thanks!

 

Disclaimer: I don't own the Edmonton Oilers and the characters are totally made up by me and any resemblance to real life people is merely coincidental.

 

Chapter 3:

 

The club was packed. Apparently, Jones nightclub was the place to be that Saturday night.

 

After finally getting into the club Aiko and the girls immediately hit the dance floor, eager to get moving. They danced all night, enjoying themselves quite a bit, dancing with a few random guys who asked them to dance.

 

Unfortunately, since it was so packed, it was impossible to see if the four hockey players were still in the building.

 

“Hey, hey… I'm beat, I'm going to our table, sit a few dances out,” Aiko yelled over the music to Sarah.

 

Sarah nodded at her from over the shoulder of some tall guy, and Aiko pushed her way through the crowds, making a quick stop over at the bar, where the bartender smiled at her flirtatiously. Smiling back, she ordered her drink and made her way to the table.

 

Aiko sat down and watched the crowd. Her friends were still dancing and she was amazed at how much energy they had. Her friends did this kind of thing more often then she did.

 

Sarah had opted out of university and decided she wanted to be an actress. Looking for jobs left her with a lot of free time. Laila went to a beauty school and now worked at a salon, hoping one day to open one of her own; hair was her passion. And Yumi was a genius. She wanted to be a doctor and she most definitely would get her wish. They all seemed to have more time than she did.

 

Aiko, on the other hand, was one of those girls who had no clue what they really wanted to do. She had taken a year off from school, but at her parent's incessant nagging she was back in school doing something that wasn't quite what she wanted to do.

 

She was thoroughly enjoying her pity party, staring down into her drink, suddenly feeling very sorry for herself. She couldn't help it. Her closest friends all knew what they wanted to do. And she…well she was good at a lot of things but nothing she thought could be turned into a real career. Except for one thing, but…her parents would probably freak over it.

 

“Hey, turn that frown upside down. No sad faces allowed tonight.”

 

Aiko lifted her face to tell the person with his lame line to go away, but she came face to face with one of the handsome hockey players.

 

Matthew McKenzie.

 

She was suddenly acutely aware of her mouth hanging open and she closed it abruptly. “Um…hi,” she said, nervously.

 

“Mind if I sit down?” he asked, giving her a boyish smile.

 

Shocked that he was even standing in front of her, she could only gesture to the seat across from her.

 

“I noticed you looked kind of down. So I thought I'd cheer you up,” he said sincerely.

 

He was being so nice to her she didn't know why. She smiled at him, slightly aware that she had yet to say a full sentence to him.

 

“I'm Matthew McKenzie, by the way,” he said at her silence, his smile was now an amused one.

 

Suddenly she was kicked back to life. “I know; you're on the Edmonton Oilers.”

 

“Ahh…a hockey fan,” he said, a tone of approval in his voice.

 

“I guess…I try to catch it as much as I can,” she replied. Then sticking her hand out she finally introduced her self. “I'm Aiko Tanaka.”

 

He took her extended hand and shook it, but looked confused for a second. “Nice to meet you, Aiko. Isn't that a Japanese name?”

 

She nodded and briefly supplied, “I'm adopted.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“So Matthew, what are you doing here?” Aiko asked, suddenly feeling back to normal.

 

“Coach is letting us have one day of celebration before he starts killing us with practice,” he said, chuckling.

 

She smiled at him, about to ask him something else when a couple of guys came barreling up behind Matthew.

 

“Matthew,” Hugh called. “Where have you been hiding this beauty?”

 

Aiko blushed and watched as three men, the hockey players, all sat around her table.

 

“Umm…” Matthew started, slightly taken aback.

 

“Stop your stuttering and introduce us,” Jacob said.

 

“Ha, ha. I thought I lost you guys,” Matthew replied, feigning disgust.

 

“No chance, my friend,” Tony spoke up. He turned to Aiko and gallantly introduced himself. “I am Tony Nieminen.”

 

She smiled at him, enjoying the way his foreign accent sounded. “Aiko Tanaka.”

 

“Hugh Casey.” Hugh shook her hand.

 

“Jacob Ritter,” Jacob said in turn.

 

“Well it's nice to meet you guys,” Aiko announced. And as if sensing all the hot guys surrounding Aiko, her friends came in sight and were approaching fast. “And hey, here come my friends,” Aiko said, hiding her relief. She was a little overwhelmed by all the attention focused her way.

 

She glanced back at the guys and saw they were all watching the girls approach except for Matthew, who was watching her. Ok, his attention she could definitely live with.

 

“Hey Aiko, who're all your friends?” Laila asked eagerly.

 

Aiko obediently introduced all the guys to all the girls. And after all the intros Jacob asked Laila to dance and Hugh asked Yumi, leaving Aiko, Sarah, Tony, and Matthew at the table in a little bit of an awkward silence.

 

Matthew wanted to ask Aiko dance, but unbeknownst to him so did someone else.

 

“Want to dance?” Tony blurted out to Aiko.

 

Aiko looked a little taken aback by his question and if she had glanced at Matthew she'd know that he felt the same way.

 

“Sure…” she replied politely. She stood up and followed Tony to the dance floor. Leaving Matthew staring after them wide eyed and open mouthed.

 

The sound of Sarah clearing her throat brought Matthew back to reality. He glanced at Sarah. `Oh right, there's one more girl left…not the one I wanted but…' he thought to himself. He knew that Sarah wanted him to ask her to dance, but she wasn't' the one he wanted to dance with. Sure, Sarah seemed nice enough, but ever since he caught a glimpse of Aiko, he only wanted to dance with her.

 

But if Aiko saw him still sitting there, not asking her friend to dance, would she think he was an ass? Definitely he decided.

 

“Would you like to dance?” he asked quickly, putting enough enthusiasm into the question to make it sound polite. It was a selfish move but who could blame him.

 

“Sure,” Sarah replied happily.

 

He led her out onto the dance floor and settled in around the middle. 1, 2 Step by Ciara blared in the background and they moved to the rhythm.

 

Matthew looked around and spotted Aiko and Tony dancing close by. They were rather close and Matthew didn't like it at all.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++

 

Well that's it. This was sort of an awkward chapter to write. I really hate writing beginnings. So if it sounds awkward to you…well I tried. All I can say is the next chapters are much better.

 

I hope you all still liked the chapter. And if so please leave a review. They really do help, even if they're just encouraging or discouraging comments. I'll take all of the above.

 

Thanks.