CITY OF STARS
Mitch's Point of View
HALLOWEEN
📍AUSTON MATTHEWS' HOUSE
After watching her dance for longer than I should've, she leaves the dance floor and walks to the kitchen. I go in behind her, she grabs a plastic cup off of the counter and turns on the faucet. I watch her from the corner of the kitchen, I know she doesn't see me.
She waits a couple of seconds before she fills up the cup with cold water. She drinks it, then throws it away.
I'm sure she planned on staying in there for a minute to chill, but when she heard a certain song, she was up and out of there.
"Oh, hey." She says when she began to walk out of the kitchen. "Do you wanna dance?"
"I'm not really the dancing type." I say.
"Oh, come on." She says. "Just one song. Please." She drags it out forever.
"I don't dance, Lizzy." I say. She lets out a quick sigh and shifts her weight to one leg.
"That's too bad." She says. "Because we are dancing anyway." The next thing I know, I'm being pulled by my tie to the dance floor.
I am being pulled by my tie by Lizzy Keefe.
"If you ain't got no money take your broke a$$ home! If you ain't got no money take your broke a$$ home!" This is one of my favorite songs to dance to coincidentally.
"G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S." Shes standing in front of me, back to me, but not touching me. She leans to one side while I lean to the other. With each letter, we each got to a different side.
"First class up in the sky. Poppin' champagne, livin' the life." Her smile lights up the dark room we're in.
We dance for the rest of the song, and I'm tired by the time it's over. If my sleeves weren't rolled up to my elbows, I would be covered in sweat right now.'I follow her outside to the cool October air. It's fairly nice for it to be nighttime in Toronto.
We stand on the balcony looking at the stars. His house has a great view of the city, but also the stars.
We can hear the music pretty well from out here, well enough to know that City of Stars from La La Land starts to play. Camille always has control over the music, so I know this was her doing.
I take Lizzy's hand in mine and I hesitate, but I place the other one on her waist. She takes her free hand and puts it on my chest.
"City of stars, are you shining just for me?" I don't sing often, but I don't necessarily suck at it. But in no way could it be a day job. "City of stars, there's so much I cannot see."
"Who knows? I felt from the first embrace I shared with you."
"That now our dreams may finally come true." She looks at the city in the distance. "City of stars, just the one thing everybody wants."
"There in the bars, and through the smokescreen of the crowded restaurant." I twirl her, which makes her laugh a little, she manages to keep singing.
"It's love, yes, all we're looking for is love from someone else." We gather back the original position we were in.
"A rush."
"A glance."
"A touch."
"A dance."
"Look in somebody's eyes to light up the skies, to open the world and send it reeling." We sing together moving side to side as the beat picks up.
"A voice that says, 'I'll be here and you'll be alright'. I don't care if I know just where I'll go." She spins me around this time.
"'Cause all that I need's this crazy feeling." She laughs. "A rat, tat, tat on my heart."
"Think I want it to say." We start slowly swaying again. "City of stars, are you shining just for me? City of stars."
"You never shined so brightly." She finishes. Five minutes ago, we were dancing around in a crowded room to a Fergie song, but now we are standing out here in a highly romantic spot looking into each other's eyes.
Like every cliche movie, she says, "I should, uh, I should get going, it's getting pretty late." She says.
"Yeah, I'll walk to you your car." I state. We weave through the crowded room. She guides us as I follow behind her. She grabbed onto my hand so that we wouldn't lose each other.
"Thanks for tonight," She says once we get to her car. "I had a lot of fun, thanks for inviting me."
"Yeah, of course. I had a lot of fun, too." I say. I was going to tell her about the bet right then, but I didn't. I had a great time with her, and I don't want to ruin that.
I go back in the house, surprised that the party hadn't died down yet. Once it does, it's just me, Auston, and Will.
"Dude, how'd it go?" Will asks. I can tell he's genuinely asking me, but Auston only cares about the bet.
"Yeah, did you hop on that yet?" Auston adds.
"No, I didn't. I had a lot of fun, she's a really nice person." I wanted to add that the bet was a stupid idea and I was going to call the whole thing off, but I didn't.
"Don't forget about the bet, Marner. That's what this is all about." Auston says.
"Mhm." I grab my phone off of the kitchen counter. We don't have a game tomorrow, we actually don't have one until the third, but it's been a long day.
"See you around." Auston says. Will and I leave at the same time, so he locks the door behind us.
"She seems like a great person, Mitch. I can tell you both had a lot of fun around each other, real fun." He says.
"I didn't tell her about the bet, Nylander." I say. I know I should've, but I just haven't. I don't want to ruin this.
"You should tell her soon, Mitch. Before things get too serious and you end up ruining things down the line." He says.
"I will, don't worry." I say. What I wanted to say was, force me to tell her or tell her yourself because I'm scared to tell her please help me.
"See ya, Mitch." I nod at him and duck my head down to get into my car. I wait for Nylander to pull out before I do.
On the drive home, I think about how times have changed. On Halloween when I was younger, I would always dress up. It was my favorite holiday, I didn't count down until Christmas or my birthday, it was always Halloween I was excited for.
Now that I'm older, I don't really care for it too much. Without Auston's parties every year, it would be just another normal day. I still enjoy dressing up, though. That's something I'll always find fun.
If I told 13 year old me half the things I've been through between then and now, I would be hugged, punched in the face, laughed at, and see some tears of joy.
The main thing I think about is how badly I wanted to get drafted to the NHL, it was the biggest dream of mine. And here I am now, I've been in the league since the 2015-2016 season.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
the devils lost last night... which was embarrassing same with the leafs which was also embarrassing
