Evelyna's POV

I arrived at my friend Kristin's house, where a party was occurring. I was invited to it, unsure who it was exactly for. I was told it was all of my online friends who I had talked with and we were celebrating someone's birthday. And when I arrived, it looked like I was the last one there. The one-floor townhouse was on the corner of property, adjacent to large, dense woods. In back of the quaint home, there was a massive swimming pool almost the length of a hotel size pool. We were in Dallas, Texas, out in the country and away from most of civilization.

Overhead the waning gibbous, almost full moon shined brightly and cast eerie shadows and swaths of light toward the house and the woods. As I stepped out of my car and walked up to the door, I felt a cool breeze blow through me. It wasn't cold...it was actually refreshing. I knocked on her door and was immediately welcomed inside by one of my other online friends, Dani. She had a huge smile on her face as she guided me into the main room.

Everyone was here, I could see and to the right side, pressed against the far wall, a miniature bar was set up. Jonathan Toews and Tyler Seguin were apparently bartending and mixing drinks behind the counter. Jonathan had on nice black suit and tie and his dark brown hair was slicked back with gel. It glistened under the house lights. Tyler, on the other hand, had a black vest on that was open down the middle, exposing the center of his athletically toned chest and he wore black sweatpants with a drawstring at the waist. His hair was styled nicely though, combed neatly on his head.

In the center of the room, I saw one of my first online friends, I'd met through Tumblr. It was Christina, or Chris as many called her, and she was having a blast. She was partying with some guy who looked an awful lot like Jamie Benn. And well, if Tyler Seguin was here, I wasn't shocked if that was the real Jamie who she was with. I half wondered if she knew.

"Why are Jonny Toews and Tyler Seguin here? And possibly Jamie Benn too?" I asked. "How'd you manage to get them?"

Dani looked at me and giggled. "You may want to ask Kristin. She's the planner of the party here."

"Who's party is it?" I questioned, looking around at everyone there and pinpointing all of my online hockey friends I'd met through the sites: Tumblr, Wattpad, and Hockey Fanfiction. I had never been a social media person, but hockey had made me into one. I did Facebook and then I joined Hockey Fanfiction, which led to Wattpad, Tumblr, Twitter and heck I was even toying around with getting an Instagram. (Mostly so I could follow and possibly communicate with a certain Russian forward.)

"Yours of course, silly!" she replied, laughing some more.

I sighed and chuckled to myself. Naturally it would be for me. "Oh! But my birthday isn't until December 31st...it's only August something."

"Yeah, well, happy half birthday, Evelyna!" Dani explained.

"Is-Is Val here?" I asked, a massive blush creeping onto my face. I couldn't help it, that Russian had my heart held tightly and wasn't letting go. I saw Dani smirking and then she looked out at everyone and pointed toward the back of the room, which was opened up. Just beyond that, was the outside pool area.

"He should be out there somewhere. Last I saw, he was hanging out with Robin," she informed me. "That was a good ten minutes ago though."

I clapped my hands together and rubbed them, grinning. "Well, I'm gonna have to track down that Russian sweetheart and give him a nice long chat about how much I love him."

"Well, come on, let's see if Tyler or Jonny can mix you up a little drink or something. Maybe you can try Texas' moonshine, I heard it's pretty potent and yummy." Dani put an arm around my shoulders and guided me toward the bar.

"On a night when the moon is a full as it is...I don't think you wanna give me any moonshine. I might start seeing bigfoot or something!" I joked as I took a seat at the bar.

"There are no bigfoots in Dallas, Texas," Tyler said, as he put the palms of his hands on he mixing area and leaned over the counter, facing me. "If there was, we'd all be screwed. Not only that but if there were any such creatures around here, they'd be nothing but a bunch of people in masks trying to scare people away or play a prank on a rookie player...I've seen Scooby Doo. And I also know Brad Marchand around Halloween."

I looked at the Stars forward, ignoring the view of his glossy chest. He looked a little unconcerned about his own comment. He was attempting to cover it up by smiling, but he looked awkward and uncomfortable and I caught it. He grabbed a glass and began to wipe it down, looking away.

"Wait here Eve. Get her something, Tyler, I'm going to get Kristin!" Dani remarked, starting to back away from the bar.

"Like what? Moonshine?" Tyler called out at her.

"No, maybe a shot of vodka or something...let her pick, she'll tell you!"

And just like that, I was left alone with Tyler Seguin. He looked at me and gave me an awkward smile. "So, um, what do you want?"

"I don't know...why the hell are you bartending for my party anyway?" I asked him, twirling a strand of my red hair in my finger. "I'd much rather prefer like to see Val bartend for me...that would be something. Have Val mix up a Russian fruit drink concoction with some vodka...oh yeah! No offense of course Seggy."

"None taken, Eve. And Kristin asked me to. And Jonathan agreed to help out as well." He nodded in Jonathan's direction. "Not sure why...and why he isn't paired up with Kaner, who's normally all around him in cases like this..."

I glanced to the side, following Tyler's finger-pointing. Jonathan Toews, the captain for the Chicago Blackhawks, was serving a pretty hungover-looking Layna, who was in tears and crying. The Blackhawk set a margarita drink down by her quickly.

"Oh, Jonathan, I'm so out of place here! I'm a Lightning fan and there's just you, a Blackhawk and Tyler Seguin the Star...where's Gudas or Stralman! I need Lightning not Blackhawks!" she wailed, grabbing the drink and taking a big gulp of it. "And who knew you were a really good bartender who could mix drinks! You hockey players are perfect!"

"Uh, yeah..." Jonathan muttered.

"If only you were Gudas! Maybe if I drink more, you will become him and then I'll be happy! But how can I be? Even then I'll still know it isn't really him!" She choked on her tears and produced even more. She took another massive sip of the drink, getting it to halfway full and then she shakingly put it down on the counter once more.

Jonathan scampered over, eyeing the young woman as he joined Tyler. He hissed in whisper to the Star, "We're switching, Tyler, it's your turn to go be with Layna and calm her down! She's not a big fan of Blackhawks you know...?"

"...Or Stars. We're pretty much screwed here, Jonny."

"Still, I'm hanging over here, you take care of the bar over there."

"Fine. Maybe if I get as drunk as her..."

"Tyler Paul Seguin!" I snapped. "Don't you dare! I'll tell Jamie!"

"You wouldn't!" Tyler gasped, before he slunk off and made it to Layna, who was sobbing nonstop now.

"I just want to meet and fall in love with Radko Gudas! Is that so much to ask for?" Layna wailed, before slammed her head down into her arm and sobbing more. She had one hand on her margarita glass and it kept threatening to tip over.

Tyler gently pulled it away from her and then patted her. "Hey, it'll be okay, maybe lay off the booze a little for now Layna."

I looked at Jonathan, who was shaking his head. "Where's Kaner?" I asked him.

"He was too full of himself, didn't care to come and also, I quote "milking a cow", but it's alright, wouldn't want him here anyway. There is such thing as having too much Kaner now," Jonathan replied, putting his hands on his hips. He then turned to me. "So, what do you want birthday girl?"

I giggled. "I'm going to think about it some. I'm not sure. Is there a menu with the list of drinks on it?"

Jonathan nodded and pulled a menu out of nowhere (okay, it came from below the bar counter where I sat) and placed it in front of me. "Just take your time, no need to rush. But I do recommend the moonshine, that stuff is pretty tasty. Tyler and I sampled it earlier."

I blinked and rubbed my forehead, struggling to contain laughter. "You and Tyler sampled the moonshine? Oh, great, this is gonna be a fun evening."

"We did. We'd never had any before and wanted to try it. It is potent but damn good whiskey!" Jonathan remarked.

"Good to know. I'll stay away from it for now though..." I looked down at the menu, but before I could start to look at the list, Dani returned with Kristin at her side.

"Hey Evelyna, how's the party so far?" Kristin asked, wearing a huge smile on her face.

"It's fine. How'd you manage to get Tyler and Jonny here?" I inquired.

"And Val...though he's wandering around somewhere!" Dani added.

"It's a secret Eve."

Of course she wouldn't tell me and it was a secret! I got to my feet, sliding off of the chair and spotted two of my California friends. They were both to the side talking amongst one another. I knew both of them weren't really party people or necessarily outgoing. But they were chatting kindly with Robin, who'd appeared out of nowhere. And Shannon and her sister Kristina were also there. I knew the two of them were very similar to the Californians.

"Well, where's Val? I need to go find him! I wanna tell him how much I love him!" I stated, looking around.

"First, get a drink and then I can take you around to find the Russian. Here, I'll help you pick out a drink," Kristin said. She half pushed me back into the chair and opened the menu up. Then she spun around to Dani, who was standing there still. "Hey, Dani, think you can actually go track down Val for us. That way, by the time you find him, we should have a drink selected. Okay?"

"Alright, I can do that!" Dani exclaimed with a salute and then she spun on her heels and darted off.

Kristin turned back and we looked at the menu some more. There were a ton of choices. I could have a Margarita, a Mojito, a Piña Colada, a Caribbean Breeze, a Texas style 'Hawaiian Float' , a Russian Rocket...the list went on and on with different types of fruity blends.

I looked up at Kristin and said, "They all look good, I have no idea!" I glanced back down and spotted the moonshine drink in the list and rolled my eyes, chuckling to myself. Honestly, part of me did want to try out the moonshine drink, while part of me didn't.

And suddenly before I could make a decision on a drink, the lights went out.