Page 6 of Conner

“Who is we all?” She also had a whole slew of siblings, seven of them, so all could mean a lot of people.

“Not all, just me and your dad and Mario and Chris probably.”

Her two younger brothers and her parents...that was manageable for a first visit when she was still learning the ropes. But she knew her family, all of them would be out to see her soon enough.

“Great, I’ll get you guys some game tickets.”

“Oh, how fun! I still can't believe you got a job for a professional hockey team.”

“I know. It's been a learning curve. I'm still trying to figure out what offsides and icing means, I just don't want to mess things up.”

“Oh Sasha, you'll be great. You're so good at that online stuff.”

“Thanks mom, tell dad I love him.”

“I will, sweetheart. I love you.”

“I love you too, mom,” she said as she hung up her phone.

She was glad to be here. This job had been a godsend to her for many reasons. She was grateful it got her family off her back about using her degree and getting a real job. But the biggest reason was how quickly things had gone south for her as an influencer. She was happy as an influencer. She made good money living her life as a fat woman online. Many clothing companies paid her lots of money to model their clothes and she did a little bit of everything from clothes to swimsuits, even some lingerie.

Personal style had always been important to Sasha. She took pride in her appearance and enjoyed taking care of herself, so being an influencer was the perfect job for her. Sure, she had comments she needed to delete, accounts to block, all of that was fairly commonplace for living your life online as a fat woman. People had lots of opinions about what she should and shouldn’t wear, about whether she was brave or glorifying obesity, whatever that even meant. She was able to let all that slide. Faceless trolls with a bad attitude didn't bother her.

But then ten months ago she started getting creepy comments. She would block them, but they kept popping up. Then they started posting pictures showing they were where she was at the same time and that was creepy. Then someone sent her a picture of her front door.

That was when she got scared and called the police. They said there was nothing they could do. Not only did they completely dismiss her, but they had pretty much told her it was her own fault.

“When people live their lives online, they are inviting people like this into their lives,” one of the officers had said to her. Just thinking about that still got her riled up. They were too busy judging her to see she was actually in danger.

Then the packages started showing up. First it was weird stuff from Amazon she didn't order, things she had mentioned in her live streams that her followers would send her, but they would send them to her PO Box not her house. Then one day there was a single red rose and a card in front of her door. That was when she hid her accounts and moved in with her sister.

So, while this job is great and right up her alley, it wasn't really her choice, but she hadn't heard from him since. Glendale and this job with the Magic were her chance to get away.

She settled in with a glass of wine, put on some under eye masks, and pulled up some YouTube videos about hockey. She would figure out what offsides meant. She graduated summa cum laude, she could learn the rules of hockey. As she watched and tried to learn she still found herself cringing at the interaction she'd had with Conner. He was a big part of her five-point plan. Tomorrow was another day, and she would hit the ground running so she could get the socials up very soon.

4

Conner

It had been a couple days since Sasha started working at the Magic Center and Conner was doing his best to avoid her. His shot was still off. He refused to think about the yips, but the little twitch at the end of his shot was weighing on him heavily. No player likes the clink of the post as the puck bounced off, but it had started to haunt his dreams. It all started when she showed up. She was a distraction he didn't need. He had answered his questions for the player profile, but she kept trying to get him to film some videos, but he needed to focus. Still, he couldn't help but look for her in rooms and walk by her office on the way in, no matter how he tried.

He was dressed in his suit walking into the arena for his game on Tuesday. As he walked in, he walked past some of the camera's that were always set up to catch them on their way in. He usually ignored them and tried to focus on the game. Tonight's game should be a decent one for them. They were playing one of the lowest ranked teams in the league but with his game being off he was nervous. Before the break for the All-Star game, he and Wes had been on fire, if his game was off, it would be noticeable.

“Hey, Conner.”

He turned around to see Sasha coming in over to him. “I have the camera's set up to catch you guys walking in. In the past I know you have always just ignored them, but I was wondering if I could get a smile or a wink or something for the camera this time.”

“What?” he asked. He was trying to focus and get into the right headspace.

“Smile for the camera,” she said pointing the camera in the hallway. And she gave him a big smile herself.

“Sasha, I’m trying to focus on the game,” he said with a sigh.

“Not even time for a smile,” she said to him with her big doe eyes.

“No. I'm here for hockey not to smile for a camera.” As he walked away from her, he regretted saying it like that. He knew he must have sounded like a dick, and he didn’t mean to. His head was a mess, and he hadn’t dealt with anything this bad in years. But as he walked by the camera he did turn and give it a smile. There. Now he needed to focus.

Once he was in the locker room, it was time for his game face.

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