Chapter 3
Sasha
Sasha kicked her feet up on her coffee table and nibbled on the pita and hummus she had picked up on her way home, mindlessly scrolling on her phone. She was looking at the other hockey teams” socials and what they were doing. Being hired midseason meant she was playing catch up. Her first day in she had been able to film a little with Wes and Ethan and had gotten to most of the players to fill out the questionnaire so she could start doing player spotlights soon.
Conner McPhee was something else though. She couldn”t quite figure him out. He had been so charming when they first met, even before practice he was cheerfully professional, and from all accounts that”s who he was. She was excited to work with him, after those initial jitters were over. Sure, she was ridiculously attracted to him, but she was surrounded by professional athletes all day, she would just have to get used to it. Even though none of them affected her like Conner had.
But their last interaction had been different. He was short with her. She got it though, it was the end of the day, maybe he was just tired.
She sat down and pulled out her laptop with footage she was hoping to get out this week so she could start editing and posting as soon as next week. All things considered; it had been a good day.
She dusted her hand on her pants before grabbing her ringing phone.
“Hi dad, how are you?”
“I’m doing good, I was just calling to check and see how your first day at the new job went.”
Sasha was excited to talk to her dad for once. He had been just about as happy as she was when she got this job. She had majored in communication in school but when she graduated, she had trouble finding a job, so she just started messing around on Instagram. Before she knew it a couple posts blew up and a company sent her a swimsuit to wear. That was it. She became a plus size fashion influencer.
She had loved her job, her father not so much. He never understood quite what she was doing and didn”t see the value in it. She saw the value. She was showing women that there was no right or wrong way to be beautiful, you just were. She was proud of that.But that was something her father could never seem to quite understand.
“Good, I met with my boss, and she liked my five-point plan for the social media strategy. And I met most of the players and coaches today. I”m hoping to meet some of the trainers tomorrow, but so far so good.”
“And how’s the apartment? Are you settling in?”
Sasha looked around at the unpacked boxes that lined her walls. Her bedroom and bathroom were unpacked, but that was about it.
“Yep, settled right in.”
“I still can”t believe you got a job after all you did was play around online for the past couple years.”
Frustration started bubbling inside her. “Dad...we”ve been over this. I have a degree in communications. I”m qualified. And yes, I worked as an influencer, but it was work and I made good money.”
“But now you have a real job,” he said, sounding proud.
Sasha took a deep breath and bit her tongue. She had a real job before. She was getting traction and by the end she was getting paid thousands of dollars per post. Her dad never understood how it all worked. He was old school. Her grandparents had immigrated from Lebanon before he was born, and he had a strict Catholic upbringing.
“I do, it”s going well. Is mom home?”
“Yeah, she wants to talk to you,” he said, handing the phone over.
“Hi baby,” her mom said, “how are you settling in?”
“Good. I still have a bit of unpacking to do, but so far so good.”
Things with her mom had been easier. Her mom was Irish Catholic, so while her mom and dad were high school sweethearts, their families had very different vibes. She loved both of her parents and both of her extended families to the moon and back, but it was just different. At least she had what they considered a real job now, so that would keep them off her back.
“We are looking into plane tickets. We all can’t wait to get out there and see your new place, and maybe a game.”
“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.