Chapter Four

The remainder of October and all of November passed bring the beginning of winter and the first snow of the year. November thirtieth Nikki walked out of school with her phone in hand, texting Kris. Nothing had changed between them, they still talked everyday, and both still secretly had feelings for each other. Both the Foreurs and Penguins were doing well and Nikki kept up with both teams.

'Kris it's snowing!' she said excitedly, wiping the snowflake off the screen of her phone.
She walked down the street with Michelle and waited for Kris to text back. 'That's good, I love snow.'

'Probably because you're Canadian,' she typed, laughing out loud. 'Tonight's the night I ask about Christmas break.'

And that's exactly what she did. Nikki went straight home and sat down to eat dinner with her family. The discussion was something about history, mostly because Nikki's little brother had a question for his homework and her dad went on to tell a story. When the history lesson was ended Nikki spoke up. "Do we have any big plans for Christmas?"

"For now just your grandmother's on Christmas Eve," her mom said. "Why, do you have plans?"

"Um," she took a sip of her water. "I was just wondering if maybe I could visit a friend, with some friends."

"Where does this friend live?"

"Canada," she put a piece of meatloaf in her mouth.

"Yeah right, they're gonna let you go to Canada," he brother laughed and she shot a glare across the table.

"We'll talk about it," her dad said.

Nikki sighed and sat back in her seat. It had definitely gone better than she had originally though it would. When the table was cleared of dishes and little children Nikki and her parents discussed her trip to Canada. After about an hour a final decision was made.

"NIKKI!" Shelby said walking in to psych the next day. "How'd it go?" she asked when Nikki looked up."

"I'm going to Canada over Christmas break," she said excitedly.

"Oh my god, does Kris know?"

"No, he had a game last night and I didn't want to tell him in a text."

"You think he'll be excited?" Shelby asked quietly as their teacher, Mr. Bishop, told them to open their books, a rare occurrence.

"I hope so, I really miss the kid."

"Well that gives you something to look forward to."

After school Nikki was excited that it was Friday as she walked with Michelle to her bus stop before going to Sam's house for dinner. While watching House at around nine Nikki received a text from Kris asking if it was okay for him to call.

"Hello?" Nikki asked not more than thirty seconds after sending the reply of, 'Of course.'

"Hello Nicolette, so did you ask your parents last night?"

"Mhm, I hope Val-d'Or is pretty for Christmas," she said, smiling.

"It's beautiful," he smiled and gave a thumbs up to Luc who sat on the other end of the couch. "I think you'll like it here, are your friends coming with you?"

"No, our parents didn't trust us with a car in a foreign country. So I bought my plane ticket last night, after looking at your game schedule." She said proud of herself. "I'm getting an early dismissal from school on the twenty-second and I'll be landing in Montreal at six pm."

"Bon," he said trying to hide exactly how excited he was. "I'll have to get you a ticket for when Rimouski's in town on the twenty-third."

They decided that they should wait until it got closer to Christmas break to makes plans and talked about other things. At midnight though Sam's mom told the girls that they had to go upstairs if they wanted to stay up and they took that as their cue to go to bed.

"Well Kristopher it's been a long day and week so I'm gonna go to bed."

"Okay, goodnight Nicolette."

"Goodnight Kristopher." She pit her phone on the nightstand and talked to Sam for about an hour about some of the most random things anyone could ever think about. It was a usual occurrence when one slept over the other's house, school, and childhood were two of the top topics.

In Val-d'Or Luc sat on the couch watching a movie when Kris hung up. He rested his head back against the couch with a smile on his face when he dropped his phone to his lap.

"So I take it Nikki and her friends are coming over Christmas?"

"Just Nikki, their parents didn't trust them in a foreign country with a car."

"So they trust her alone in Canada with you?" he asked smiling.

"Obviously if they're letting her come. What's not to trust though, I'm too afraid to tell her that I like her. Nothing will happen and you know that."

"Alright man, I'm going to bed."

Luc went to bed and a few moments later Kris too went to bed.

The weekend was uneventful except for the Penguins' game that took place Sunday afternoon that Nikki missed band practice for.

***

Over the next two weeks Nikki was busy with Penguins' games and school. Taking AP English was not the best idea that she had had and had a paper due almost every week. The choir Christmas concert was coming up which meant that all of majors was choir, making it harder to text.

Kris, Luc, and the rest of Foreurs continued with there winning ways and so did the Pens.

Nikki's concert was Thursday and the next day she would be leaving early to go to Montreal, and she still had to pack. When the concert ended she quickly hugged all over her friends and when she arrived home started looking for things to pack. "All Penguins," she said to herself looking through her clothes.

Ten o'clock came, she was showered and packed and was awaiting either a phone call or text. He phone finally buzzed at around ten-fifteen and she answered excitedly.

"You ready for your trip tomorrow?"

"Mhm, can you help me make sure that I have everything I need?"

"Sure; clothes, toothbrush, passport, plane ticket, something to do on the plane."
"Got it all, do I need to bring shampoo?"

"No, you can borrow shampoo, and towels, and stuff."

"Kay, well I still have school tomorrow and I want to be rested when I get to Canada."
"Okay," he said with a laugh. "I'll see you at the airport tomorrow."

They said good-bye before hanging up, Kris getting home and Nikki getting into bed. All Nikki could think about was how excited she was to be going to Canada the next day. She hadn't been there since she was ten and that's when it was like the rest of the world. It was summer when she went, she wanted to see Canada in the winter, in all its glory.

Nikki was also excited to see Kris, it had been almost two month since she had seen him and she missed him. She missed looking into his chocolate brown eyes when he spoke and watching him run his fingers through his hair when he was nervous. Along with wanting to see Kris she wanted to meet the infamous Luc that Kris spoke so fondly of.

These thoughts soon turned to dreams and those dreams were interrupted by the sound of her cell phone vibrating on the table next to the bed. She groaned hitting the snooze button before reality hit her. "I'm seeing Kris today!" She said out loud.

She quickly threw on a pair of jeans and a hoodie over her Pens shirt and when she was ready she sat down in front of her computer. Her background was of the Penguins and was from when Kris was still playing for them. He just so happened to be in the center of the picture. After reading an article on the Pens' site Nikki glanced down at the corner of the screen to see that it was seven o'clock, time to go.

Classes went slowly until it was finally time to leave at noon. As she stepped out of school to meet her mom she pulled her phone from her pocket, excited to be starting her trip. 'Leaving school now, only six hours until I get to MN.'

Kris saw the text shortly after it arrived. She would be arriving in Montreal in six hours which meant he needed to be too. 'Can't wait to see you, the five hour drive to do so won't be fun though.'

Nikki grabbed her bags from home and arrived at the airport at around one thirty after spending a little time at home. Security and baggage check lines were crazy and Nikki was incredibly bored since she was unable to talk to anyone.

Kris started his trek towards Montreal shortly after texting Nikki. He had changed into his street clothes following practice, dropped Luc off at the apartment, and started the long five hour drive. Music kept him from going insane on the drive as he went through six cds.

Once she had checked her bags and been through security Nikki bought a small bag of cheddar sour cream chips and a bottle of Wild Cherry Pepsi. She sat down at the gate and took her phone from her pocket to see that it was only three o'clock. He flight wasn't supposed to take off until four which meant that she had at least half an hour until her boarding call would come. The seat next to her was empty so she put her feet up and pulled her notebook from her bag in which she had been writing a simple story that she promised no one would ever see.

She scribbled down a few lines about the young hockey player before she was finally allowed to make her way to the plane. Finding her seat wasn't very hard. It was in the middle and as she had wanted, a window seat. It wasn't the first time she would be flying alone, but she hoped that it wouldn't be as 'eventful' as the last time.

"Good afternoon everyone, my name is Jean and I'm your captain today. Our flight is scheduled to land in Montreal, Quebec at six pm and will last one hour and fifty-seven minutes." The man said in a thick French-Canadian accent. "We will be taking off shortly, thank you for flying Air Canada."

Nikki buckled her seat belt and didn't pay much attention to the safety demonstration having seen it multiple times.

The plane took off at four o'clock exactly and when it was safe Nikki pulled her MP3 player from her bag. Trying very had to not sing along she let her thoughts wonder. 'Canada for Christmas,' she thought. 'And I get to see Kris. God I miss him, wonder if he misses me? What if he's just trying to be nice by letting be come see him? What happens if he doesn't want to be friends anymore?' She stopped her thoughts there and looked down to see that she was listening to 'Tears Don't Fall' by Bullet For My Valentine.

'Wow what's with all the depression?' she asked, searching through the songs until she came to her favorite song, 'Don't Stop Believing.'

Kris also listened to Journey on his trip, all of the greatest hits. He pulled into the parking lot at the airport just after five thirty and made his way to baggage claim just as Nikki's plane was landing.

Nikki slowly walked through the airport, taking everything in. She went to find her one checked bad and after waiting about ten minutes it came down the conveyor belt and she picked it up with ease. She turned around to see a tall man with dark chocolate brown eyes, dark brown hair pulled back under an RBK hat, Kristopher.

"Bonjour Nicolette."

"Bonjour Kristopher."

Everyone around them in the busy airport spoke French. Nikki spoke to Kris in French as well but with her American accent she stuck out. Many different dialects were being spoken with different accents, but none seemed as smooth as Kris', at least not to Nikki.

She had heard his voice the night before, but hearing it on the phone was nothing like the experience of hearing it in person. She wished that he wasn't wearing that hat and that she could see his hair. She knew though that a backwards baseball cap was both his and her own style, and she adjusted the black Penguins' hat she was wearing. The ends that stuck out from under his hat were enough for her, leaving the rest to the imagination.

Once they made it passed the crowded part of the airport they moved to a tiny area and Kris pulled her into a hug. "I've missed you Nikki," the first thing he had said in English all night.

"I've missed you too," she smiled as she breathed in his intoxicating scent. "I like it better when we speak in French." He held her at arms length and she smiled, embarrassed. "I didn't mean to say that out loud."

"It's okay," he smiled. "We can speak in French if you want," he said in French.