Chapter Text
Shane was driving towards his meeting with Rolex? Or was it Uniqlo? It might even been that weird local cherry cream soda ? Or the maple syrup beer he had done an ad for....
Honestly, he hardly knew what he was promoting these days, Yuna Hollander had shown him a list of queer friendly brands and he had shown up when he had to, like always.
And speak of the devil, the touch screen of his Land Rover lit up, the contact for “Yuna Hollander” flashing in the centre.
“Hey, mom, what’s up?” Shane said as he picked up the call
“Hey, honey” she said “so, the meeting has been pushed back to 6:45”
Shane looked at his car’s clock, fuck, 45 minutes left. He had left the house early to avoid traffic and now he was stuck downtown. He wasn’t going to drive back home, driving home and back took 30 minutes each way, he might as well wait.
“Fuck” Shane cursed “I was 5 minutes away”
“Sorry” she said “They just let me know”
“It’s fine, I’ll just hang out until then”
“Okay, dear” she said “see you later”
“Bye, mom”
“Bye!” Yuna said as she hung up the phone.
He started driving slowly, scanning the streets for any place that seemed interesting. Suddenly, he got a peek at bar that looked nice, it was old school, made of wood. He could go in and nurse a beer while he watched a game. Plus, there was parking up front.
Shane made his way inside and quickly noticed the TVs all around, the trophies, the different neon sign with hockey puns. One read ‘Go Puck Yourself’ another said ‘My other Ride is a Zamboni’. Fuck. Well, bartenders where usually pretty chill, he didn’t mind a bit of small talk.
He made his way to the bar.
The bartender was a woman in a tank top, her frankly huge arms were covered in tattoos with flower decals, Shane was almost mesmerized, she’d probably make a great gym buddy. She had long brown hair braided down her side and she wore long earing made of beads.
“Hey” she said with a smile “what’s your poison?”
“Do you have ginger ale?” Shane asked
“Canada’s own” she said, taking out a glass and serving Canda Dry from the soda dispenser.
“Thanks” Shane said and she just gave a half nod at him and went back to drying glasses.
Nothing else.
Well…
I mean, it wasn’t that Shane was expecting to be recognized but, this was a sports bar in Canada, to be more specific, a hockey bar in Ottawa.
He just, maybe wasn’t used to it. He was Shane Hollander.
Get over yourself.
He looked around the bar properly, there where Jersey’s and scarfs -- for sure -- just not for any team he recognised, maybe they were more into a beer league he didn’t know about???
While looking around he realized the expert craftsmanship of the bar. It was beautifully made, carved out of a deep wood with decals going down. Shane ran his fingers down the grain to feel the woodwork.
“Is this oak?” Shane asked
“No, Mahoganey” the bartender answered as she looked back at Shane
“This is beautifully made” he said as he looked at the nicer details
“Well, I learned from my ancestors, it’s an ancient tradition”
“This is your work?” Shane said looking up in awe
“Yes” she said with a proud smile
“It’s beautiful” he said, admiring the handiwork “do you work on commission? I would love to know a woodworker”
“Sadly, no” she said “just a hobby, but my wife does sell the neon sign you see around the bar” she said motioning around her
Shane looked around to admire the signs, they were fun, not traditional, he saw one that said, “Ask me about my crease” and another that said, “Always looking how to score between the pipes” that made Shane chuckle.
Suddenly, the emptiness was interrupted by a group of three women entering the bar
“Hey Nim” the first woman said, she had curly brown hair and a piercing above her eyebrow, and she wore a leather jacket that makes her seem very cool
“Hey girls!” the bartender - Nim - said to the women “Just in time” she said as she passed pressed the remote and put on a ice rink. Hockey? Shane didn’t know who was playing right now….
“You know I wouldn’t let my girl Hilary down” The leather jacket woman said as she sat at the bar
“Is this hockey?” Shane asked looking at the TV
The leather jacket woman turned to him, looked him up and shrugged “obviously”
“Who is playing right now?” Shane asked
“The Chicago Dream vs. The Detroit Storm” One of the women said without looking away from the TV. She had short blond hair, and her full earlobe was pierced.
Dream and Storm, Shane didn’t recognize the names until he looked at the TV and realized this was the woman’s league. Suddenly he looked around and realized that all the channels where set to women’s sports and he finally caught a glimpse of a rainbow flag. A lesbian bar.
“What’s their current standing?” Shane asked as the announcer showed the players
“The dream is 9th and The Storm is 12th” the third woman said, the one with long reddish straight hair.
And so, the game began, the forward on the yellow team with a lightning bolt on their jersey, number 45, quickly won the puck, she did maneuverer around a defensive player and was doing an assist and a goal in less than 5 minutes, fuck, that was better than Shane’s record.
He found himself mesmerized. The hockey was…
Well, it was hockey but, it was different, the type of play was more focused on plays and passes more than brute force, it wasn’t as fast but, more strategic which was interesting to see, harder to read the plays that what Shane was used to. There was a beautiful assist from number 36 to number 45 where Shane couldn’t help but let out a whistle.
“What a beauty”
The woman with the control turned to him and smiled “My girl Hillary”
The hockey was interesting; he noticed that these teams played more as a team and less as players on a team.
Suddenly, he felt his phone vibrate, he looked down at a call from his mother.
“Hey, mom” he said
“Where are you? The meeting is in 5 minutes”
He looked down at his watch and fuck, he was going to be late, he hadn’t noticed the time
“Fuck” he said he quickly left his half-forgotten ginger ale on the bar and turned to the bartender “Thanks!!” he said as he ran off to his meeting.
----
Two weeks later, Shane was in town, with a couple of home games scheduled, he drove over to the bar. In his haste to make the sponsor meeting he had forgotten to pay for his tab. If Shane had also looked up the women’s hockey schedule and knew that the Minnesota Sound and the Detroit Dream were playing against each other again, he could chalk it up to coincidence.
“Hi” he said as he walked into the bar
“Hello” Nim said “What can I get you?”
“Oh, um” Shane started “I was here two weeks ago and I forgot to pay for my ginger ale”
The bartender looked at him and then noticed “Oh, my god yes!! I remember !!” She said pointing at Shane “you had to run off mid hockey game”
“Yeah, I had a meeting” Shane admitted
“Oh, don’t worry about it, it was just soda” the bartender said with a shrug
“Oh, okay” Shane says, his hands in his pockets as he looked down
The bartender looked at him as he doesn’t make a motion to move
“You can stay for the game if you want” she says
“Um” Shane gulps “that would be okay?”
“Yes, of course” the bartender says “the girls love adding new fans to The Dream Team”
“Great!” Shane says, a little too loudly
“I’m Nimkii by the way” she says, offering her hand “but, everyone calls me Nim”
“Shane” he says shaking her hand
Suddenly the door opens to the three women from the last time Shane was here.
“The best time of the week is here” the main woman, the cool one with the leather jacket and the eyebrow piercing walks in she looks at Nim and then at Shane
“Oh, shit, Mama’s Boy is back” the cool woman says
“Momma’s boy?” Shane asks, quizzically
“Well, yeah, your mom called and you ran away” the woman shrugs
“I think we’ve recruited him to the Dream Team” Nim jokes
“Oh” the cool woman says and turns to Shane “are you coming for my Hilary?”
“He’s married, Mel” Nim says with a laugh
“Right” Mel says “so what your name?”
“Shane” Shane says
“I’m Mel” Mel says “these are Zoe and Andy” motioning to the two other women behind her, he realizes that Zoe is the one with the short blonde pixie cut and Andy is the one with the long reddish hair “Sit down have a drink with us”
And that’s how Shane found himself going to Nim’s Bar, called Creaser’s, every week he was in town, having a couple of beers with the Dream Team - which he had been informed he was now part of - and being told that “he didn’t know shit about hockey” or boo-ed by Mel or Zoe or Andy or Nim whenever he made bad call.
He had never had more fun watching hockey in his entire life.