Full Strength

Thirty-Lillian❤️‍🩹

        It was hard to sleep after the adrenaline of being at the game. Lying in the dark, my eyes were stretched wide open and my brain felt like it was being powered by the sun.

        "Lilli?" Logan asked groggily, clearly having accidentally woken himself up. "Why are you still awake?"

        "Sorry," I whispered. "It's been a while since I've been to a game. That was really exciting."

        He chuckled. "You should've come to a game years ago."

        "Probably. At least now I have you to go with," I said, figuring that talking to him was better than staring into the dark and driving myself crazy with a lack of sleep.

         I could tell he was smiling before he spoke. "Lucky Eve got the hat-trick puck from Graham."

         "Lucky girl," I agreed, grinning.

         Logan snorted. "Should I be jealous?"

        I couldn't help but laugh. "Considering I'm your doctor and Graham is destined to marry your sister, I really don't think so."

        "Yeah. He's going to make a great brother-in-law. I mean, he's already my best friend," he said, bowing his head against my shoulder.

        Despite his arm around my waist, I twisted around, now facing him. "Am I being annoying?"

        "How could you ever be annoying?" he asked, smiling.

        "Well, I could be annoying if I wanted to be," I noted. "But am I being annoying on accident?"

        "No. I like talking to you," he said in a soft, sleepy voice. 

        Glancing at the clock, I found that it was close to midnight. "Are you tired?"

        "A little. Mostly just cozy." Understandable.

       Propping my head up with my elbow in my pillow, I whispered, "Can I ask you something?"

       "Anything," he said, his eyes sparkling.

        "What is the tattoo on your arm for? Like does it have any meaning?" 

        He looked surprised that I'd noticed. Glancing at his shoulder, he saw that his sleeve had revealed the petals of the intricate flower. It wasn't particularly bright or heavily-drawn, and the flower wasn't shaded. It was simple. And...I seriously found it way too sexy.

        "I got it because of Graham," he said finally. "You remember our loss in the playoffs last year?"

        My brain sifted through old hockey memories. "Mostly. You went to seven in the conference final, right?"

        He nodded. "After that game, Graham gave us this really great speech about how he was proud of all of us and that one game of a great season didn't define our team," he said softly. "He gave us all dahlias, saying that they stand for positivity and growth. So I got one on my arm, to remind me that bad games don't define me."

        "I really like that," I said in a hushed voice. "That's sweet, Logan."

        "My turn. Why do you hate hockey players so much? With me being the obvious exception," he said, giving me a half-grin.

        I looked down. "How well do you know my dad?"

        "Not all that well. I know he's a really upstanding coach," he said, frowning.