ANASTASIA
After lunch concluded, Cassian waved to me and walked out of the dining room to meet up with the other younger players, leaving me alone at the small table with my laptop.
I set my camera bag on the floor, pulled out my phone from my pocket, and opened my messages to check on Bellamy.
I sent her a quick text to tell her about the successful game, and she replied almost instantly, asking if I was finally taking a break from staring at my computer screen.
We texted back and forth for several minutes about the chaotic energy of the New York sports magazine office, and then she told me to make sure I actually enjoyed myself over here rather than working every single time.
I smiled at my phone, typing out a response to tell her that I promised I would enjoy my last day staying here, and she immediately sent a funny "DO THAT" sticker before we ended our chat.
I packed my laptop into my bag, slung the strap over my shoulder, and walked out into the bright hotel lobby a few minutes later.
A large group of players was already gathered near the main entrance doors, and Cassian was standing right in the center of them while talking loudly with Miller.
When I walked closer to the group, Cassian turned around, and he asked me if I was ready to leave the hotel behind for the day.
They all said they wanted to walk around the city before tomorrow’s flight, and I agreed immediately, which made Cassian glance at me with a very bright amusement on his face.
"I am glad you finally decided to join us, Anastasia," Cassian said, stepping away from the other guys to walk right next to me as we headed out into the warm afternoon air. "I was worried we would have to drag you out of that media booth by force."
"I told you I would come," I said, adjusting the strap of my camera bag, and we walked down the busy sidewalk together while the other players laughed and joked ahead of us.
The afternoon turned out to be much more fun than I expected, and the constant noise of the city helped clear my head completely.
We walked down toward the harbor area, and after looking at a few shops, we visited a large game house that was packed with bright lights and loud arcade machines.
The players immediately ran toward the basketball shooting games, and they started competing against each other to see who could get the highest score before the timer ran out.
I stood back with my camera, taking quick action shots of Miller throwing the balls wildly, and I knew Cassian deliberately lost on different games with Miller just to keep everyone excited and laughing.
"You are throwing the game on purpose," I whispered to Cassian while Miller was celebrating his sudden victory across the room.
Cassian just smirked, leaning against the side of the machine, and he replied, "Hey, it is good for team morale, and besides, I want to make sure everyone is having a good time today."
At one point, we moved over to a classic photo booth near the back wall, and Cassian stopped in front of the curtain and tried convincing me to take pictures together.
I shook my head and told him I was supposed to, but he grabbed my wrist gently and insisted it would be fun.
Another teammate noticed us standing there and teased us loudly before taking a picture of us together with my personal camera.
I laughed out loud because Cassian posed with a massive, dramatic grin, and he looked at the preview screen and insisted it would become his favorite photo from the whole trip.
We spent two more hours exploring the pier, eating greasy food from the local vendors, and I took dozens of casual photos of the guys just enjoying their rare free time away from the intense pressure of the hockey rink.
Later that evening, the sky turned dark, and we finally returned to the hotel just a few minutes before the midnight curfew started.
The lobby was quiet compared to the afternoon.
As I stepped inside the sliding glass doors with the group, I saw Thiago standing near the elevators talking to Coach, and his large frame was dressed in a dark jacket that made him look incredibly too serious.
His eyes moved from the noisy group straight to me, and he stopped talking to Coach mid-sentence as he watched us walk across the room.
The coach gave him a short nod and walked away after finishing the conversation, leaving only the two of us standing in the wide lobby as the other players left to head upstairs to their rooms.
Thiago walked slowly toward me, his hands buried deep inside his jacket pockets, and his eyes were completely unreadable.
He looked at the shopping bag in my hand for a long moment before looking up at my face and asking one simple question.
"So... did you enjoy your day with Cassian?"