Match Game: A Fake Dating Hockey Romance

30. Epilogue

Griffin

Sometime in June

“That’s a big cup,” I murmur.

Ross sharply turns his head at me. “You did what in your cup?”

I roll my eyes. “Very funny, Mater. I see what you’re trying to do.”

He holds up both his hands. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

The cup we’re looking at, obviously, is the Stanley Cup. We won it. It took a while. Seven back-breaking games and moments where I felt like I didn’t know if it’d be possible. I let someone pass me and they ended up scoring the winning goal. I let my pride get the best of me and didn’t pass it to my teammate and ended up missing a goal.

But, we pulled through. We fucking did it.

I wish we were in San Jose to do so, but instead, we’re at Madison Square Garden. And even though there aren’t as many Stingrays fans as there are Rangers fans, we’re still ogling the cup in awe that we fucking did it.

We celebrate in the locker room, popping bottles of bubbly, each of us taking turns taking photos with the cup. After the season we had, we deserved it. We lost a few players to trades and Micah to injury and, eventually, retirement. He’s been on the bench every day since being discharged from the hospital, cheering us on even if he won’t be on the ice in a jersey ever again. I can tell he’s still taking his time, processing his new reality. Today may be the first time I’ve seen a cheek-to-cheek grin across his face when the buzzer went off, and we celebrated winning the Stanley Cup.

I walk over to him, standing in the corner of the room, away from the splashes of champagne and cheering from some of the other players.

“We did it,” I nudge him in the arm.

“We did. Well, you guys did. I was just cheering you all on from the sidelines.”

I give him a gentle shove. “Hey, you’re a part of this team just as much as I am, which means you did it. Doesn’t matter if you didn’t get to play in the game.”

“I know,” he sighs, taking another swig of bubbly. “I’m always in this loop of thinking that I’ll always have a lot in me to keep going. How old is the oldest NHL player? Has he reached forty yet? Before we know it, we’re going to be there too.”

Besides the rush of winning, I’ve been thinking a lot about my future. I didn’t think I’d ever see a Stanley Cup with my team etched in as a winner. And now that it’s happened, what’s next? Sure, we’ll try to do it all over again, but after next year, I think I’m ready to hang up the jersey. And if Ross wants to join me, he’s welcome to. But tonight, I have big plans in the journey to crafting my perfect future, and it’s going to begin right after this.

We gather our things and go greet our families, who have stuck around to celebrate with us. After school finished for the year, I asked Lydia if she wanted to meet my parents. She was nervous at first because when Lydia and I first met, I didn’t necessarily paint them in a positive light, but that changed after telling her about the moment when I poured out my feelings about her, about them, and we finally had the chance to sit and talk. Besides, something tells me she might be seeing more of my family in the future, anyway.

We step out of the locker room and head up to a suite that they’ve set aside for us to continue the festivities. I find my cluster of family and immediately, my mom rushes to envelop her arms around me.

“Good job, Griffin,” she says in a weepy voice. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you, Mom.” Her pride made a huge impact on me, especially on the idea that I betrayed my family by moving across the country. I can see now that I made the right decision.

My dad follows suit, then my brothers and their partners, and finally, her.

She beams as she looks up at me, and I swiftly pick her up and twirl her around.

“I’m so proud of you,” she whispers in my neck. “You were amazing.”

“Thanks, babe.” I slam my lips into hers and we quickly brush tongues. The rest, I’ll save for later tonight when we don’t have an audience.

Everyone splits off to their own celebrations. Ross asks if Lydia and I want to go to some club with him, and as tempting as that sounds, I decline. Right now, the only thing that I want to do is spend time alone with my girl. Ross knows what my plan for tonight is, anyway.

“Well, text me after it’s done. I’m sure we’ll still be up and at ‘em. Then there’s more that we can celebrate.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

I shoot a quick text off to the group chat I created with my family and tell them we’re a go to meet at the next destination. I make a mental note to myself that I never want to be in a position like this again. Devoting a majority of my time to trying to win the Stanley Cup while also planning a proposal? Too many emotions are flooding my mind. But I don’t think there’d be a better time to ask Lydia to marry me. We’ve only been officially together for a few months, but my head and my heart are telling me that I need to do it. It was going to happen sometime anyway. Hell, I would’ve been perfectly fine to elope in Las Vegas that night we got back together. But something in my mind told me that we should be surrounded by people we love when it happens. And with my parents here and Landon and Lydia’s parents landing today, everything is falling into place. Honestly, winning the Cup was merely icing on the cake.

I wait with Lydia as we say goodbye to my parents and keep her thinking that they are on their way back home since it’s a bit of a drive to New Jersey. When the car I book drives up, I tell Lydia we’re heading back to the hotel so we can change. Thankfully, Lydia hasn’t been around Manhattan enough to know that our car isn’t going in the direction of the hotel at all.

He drops us off at the entrance of 30 Rockefeller Center. I prefer their observatory to the Empire State Building’s. I get out of the car and rush over to open the door for Lydia. When she steps out, she peers her head up to the skyscraper and looks puzzled.

“This isn’t our hotel,” she notes.

“You’re right.” I take her hand and lead her to the doors. “I thought we’d check out the view first before going back.”

A worker greets us and takes us to the elevator that shoots right up to the observation deck. Before the doors open, I grab a hold of Lydia’s hand and our fingers interlace. We turn a corner and when Lydia sees the carpeted path, lit by small candles floating in the water, she stops in her place and gasps.

“Griffin,” she utters with tears already streaming down her face.

I chuckle and grab onto her hand again. “Come on.”

I walk her down the carpet to a beautiful floral archway that I had someone come in to make once the observation deck closed. If you have the money, you can wiggle your way into shutting down the deck for sole access. And I may have bartered with a potential guest appearance on one of NBC’s shows to sweeten the deal.

We reach the end and I turn to face Lydia, taking in a deep breath before I potentially fumble one of the most important questions I’m ever going to ask her.

“Lydia,” I begin. “I still can’t believe that we met playing a video game online. When I talked to you for the first time through my headset, I didn’t know if I’d ever meet the woman whose voice and personality had such an effect on me from the start. I know that I’m not perfect. In fact, I’m kind of broken. But you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. You’ve taught me so much, and I am so inspired by you and your strength. And,” this is where the tears begin to flow from my eyes as well, “I want to spend the rest of our lives together. I’ve never been so sure of anything in my entire life.”

I bend down to one knee and pull out a ring box to show her, what I found out, was the ring of her dreams. A simple rose gold band with a large solitaire diamond in the middle.

“Lydia Goh, will you marry me?”

Her trembling nod and shaky “yes” are all the indications I need. I use my shaky hands to place the ring on her finger. I pull her in and plant my lips on hers, moving to kiss her tears away, exploring her mouth.

I press my forehead to hers. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Griffin Markey.” She wipes her tears off her face. “I can’t wait to love you for the rest of my life.”

“Me too, babe, me too.”

We’d finally met our match. Now comes the rest of the adventure.