The Hockey Life
Jealousy
PART FOURTEEN: JEALOUSY
In the morning, I felt really bubbly. I usually hated mornings, so such a good mood that early was a rare occurrence for me. Tess was confused by it. She knew something had to be going on.
“You’re too happy. Did you just talk to your lover or something?” she asked as I sat down at our breakfast bar to eat a bowl of cereal.
“Not just now. Last night I did. What could that possibly have to do with my current mood, though?”
“Your happiness from last night could have easily carried over into today, Lean. That is possible, ya know.” Lean. That nickname was what made me so happy the night before.
“Whatever you say, Tess.” I finished my breakfast and went to the UC. It was a day of media. We got to film for miscellaneous videos. I had never used professional equipment to film anything before, so I was actually excited to do it for the first time. All the videos I had ever made had been extremely amateur work, to put it nicely and give myself some credit.
We all began filming during practice. We learned the camera basics and we got some awesome shots of the team doing drills. I was actually proud of the footage I got. I was told that I did a decent job.
Although the during practice filming was cool, it was the after practice part that was the most fun. The one and only, adorable Joey the Junior Reporter was at the UC to do another video with the Hawks. I loved little kids, and I couldn’t wait to meet him. I might have fan-girled more over him than I had when I first met Patrick. In a different way, of course.
Joey got to interview the players, as usual. For this video, he asked them how their Christmas’ went and he also asked them about their New Years plans and resolutions. It was so cute to see him interacting with the players. I could tell that they loved having him there. He was so entertaining. I had to stifle my laughter behind the camera a few times.
“Alright, you can go ahead and step back from the camera. It’s your turn to be interviewed,” Brad told me.
“What do you mean?” I questioned him.
“Joey’s going to interview interns. He said he wanted to talk to you first,” he answered. I looked over at Joey and smiled at him. I sat down for the interview, which was filmed by Puck Bunny. I didn’t even care about the faces she was making behind the camera. I was in too good of a mood when talking to the Junior Reporter to even be phased by her, especially when the little guy told me I was the prettiest intern. She rolled her eyes at that, which only made my smile bigger and brighter.
“Wow, someone’s got a crush on you,” Dylan said once it was Puck Bunny’s turn to be interviewed.
“Yeah, if only he was closer to my age. That might be nice,” I laughed, although I actually thought Joey’s comment was cute.
We watched Joey and Puck Bunny interact and we giggled at the fact that he seemed a little uninterested in her. The interviews continued on and Patrick came over to me towards the end of Dylan’s.
“So I hear that Joey likes you,” he said.
“Yeah, I guess he does. He said I was the prettiest intern. But that’s not saying much since I’m only one of two girls,” I replied.
“Yeah, but gender doesn’t necessarily matter. I mean, he told Sharpy that he was beautiful.” Of course! That was when Sharp had been considered one of the fifty most beautiful Chicagoans.
“Yeah, that’s true. Wow, Sharpy’s beautiful and I’m only pretty? Damn, that’s kind of a low blow, and from a six year old, too,” I realized.
“Hey, don’t take it too hard, he never even told me that I was cute, let alone pretty or beautiful. I’m still trying to get over that,” Patrick said, making me laugh.
“Well, I think that you at least deserve the cute part. Pretty is taking it a little too far, though. Sorry.” Was I really flirting with him? I never flirted. With anyone. Ever. What was I doing?
“I guess that’s better than nothing. But I mean, I don’t blame him for thinking you’re the prettiest intern. He’s got pretty good taste in girls for such a young kid.” Maybe I should flirt more, because that time, it worked. He was doing it right back. His words weren’t even his only mechanism of flirting, either. His smile was different, genuine. His eyes were really taking me in. If I wasn’t mistaken, he was even leaning his body slightly towards mine. I couldn’t complain.
“Hey Kaner, you coming?” The sound of Andrew Shaw beckoning him over interrupted my thoughts.
“Yeah, I’ll meet you guys there!” Patrick hollered back. “Well, I guess I better get going. We’re going out to lunch,” he explained.
“Okay. Have fun!” I told him.
“I guess Joey’s not the only one who has a crush, here,” Dylan said. He startled me. I hadn’t even realized that he had been done with his interview, but it seemed like he had been done for a few minutes, since Joey was already having a deep conversation with Alex. Or at least as deep as a conversation with a child could get.
“I guess,” I answered, keeping things light. When I looked at Dylan, however, I couldn’t see anything light in his expression. He almost seemed angry. “Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” he answered. I could tell that he was lying though. He had tried to flirt with me before, too. I had never really tried to flirt back, though. Was he jealous? It was always hard to tell with guys, but it seemed like that was the case.
The rest of the day was a little awkward between us, so I was actually glad when I was able to leave. I got home only to find out that I would be leaving again. Tess and I decided that it was time for a shopping spree. We needed dresses for New Years, after all, which was only two days away.
We went to The Water Tower Place downtown and tried a couple different stores before we both found the perfect dresses. Tess got a gold, glittery, cap-sleeved mini dress and I got a long-sleeved, sequined, silver mini dress. We found them both at the same store - Macys. We loved them the most out of all the picks we took to the dressing rooms, and as soon as came out to model them for each other, we knew we had to buy them. We got jewelry and shoes to match and by the time we left the mall, I couldn’t wait until New Years Eve.
When we got home, I saw a text. I figured it was from Kaner, but it wasn’t this time. It was from Dylan, actually.
>Hey, sorry that I acted so weird today. I wasn’t trying to be mean, even though it might have seemed that way
Wow, an apology. I hadn’t been expecting that.
>Ok. So what have you been doing with the rest of your day
>Cool, whatcha shopping for?
>Oh, nice. You going to a party?
I prayed that he wouldn’t ask whose party I was going to. I really didn’t want to lie to him, and if I explained myself, he might get jealous and be mad at me again. Sure, Dylan and I weren’t best friends like Tess and I were, but we had gotten to know each other after being around each other every day. It was a new friendship that I saw as valuable. I couldn’t mess it up that quickly and easily.
>Me too! Tazer’s party? He said he invited all the interns
I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. All of us interns would be there together, it wasn’t favoritism between the players and the interns, so that was good. Also, he already knew I’d be partying with Kaner so I wouldn’t have to rain on his parade with the news. But then again, would he be around us the whole time, cock-blocking? I could see any jealous guy doing that to anyone. I also didn’t want him to be pissed at the world at the party. But I wasn’t backing out of the plans. I had to go. I had to hope for the best.
>Yep. It’s gonna be an epic party!
>Same here. Well I have practice in a few minutes, so I better go. See ya tomorrow
Good. Things seemed to be back to normal. He got over that quickly. Temporarily, at least. I had a feeling that there would be more problems between him and Patrick in the near future, but I was glad that we had settled things for the time being. I couldn’t possibly deal with any more boy-related stress when I already had enough trouble wondering why Patrick Kane toyed with my heart every single day.
In the morning, I felt really bubbly. I usually hated mornings, so such a good mood that early was a rare occurrence for me. Tess was confused by it. She knew something had to be going on.
“You’re too happy. Did you just talk to your lover or something?” she asked as I sat down at our breakfast bar to eat a bowl of cereal.
“Not just now. Last night I did. What could that possibly have to do with my current mood, though?”
“Your happiness from last night could have easily carried over into today, Lean. That is possible, ya know.” Lean. That nickname was what made me so happy the night before.
“Whatever you say, Tess.” I finished my breakfast and went to the UC. It was a day of media. We got to film for miscellaneous videos. I had never used professional equipment to film anything before, so I was actually excited to do it for the first time. All the videos I had ever made had been extremely amateur work, to put it nicely and give myself some credit.
We all began filming during practice. We learned the camera basics and we got some awesome shots of the team doing drills. I was actually proud of the footage I got. I was told that I did a decent job.
Although the during practice filming was cool, it was the after practice part that was the most fun. The one and only, adorable Joey the Junior Reporter was at the UC to do another video with the Hawks. I loved little kids, and I couldn’t wait to meet him. I might have fan-girled more over him than I had when I first met Patrick. In a different way, of course.
Joey got to interview the players, as usual. For this video, he asked them how their Christmas’ went and he also asked them about their New Years plans and resolutions. It was so cute to see him interacting with the players. I could tell that they loved having him there. He was so entertaining. I had to stifle my laughter behind the camera a few times.
“Alright, you can go ahead and step back from the camera. It’s your turn to be interviewed,” Brad told me.
“What do you mean?” I questioned him.
“Joey’s going to interview interns. He said he wanted to talk to you first,” he answered. I looked over at Joey and smiled at him. I sat down for the interview, which was filmed by Puck Bunny. I didn’t even care about the faces she was making behind the camera. I was in too good of a mood when talking to the Junior Reporter to even be phased by her, especially when the little guy told me I was the prettiest intern. She rolled her eyes at that, which only made my smile bigger and brighter.
“Wow, someone’s got a crush on you,” Dylan said once it was Puck Bunny’s turn to be interviewed.
“Yeah, if only he was closer to my age. That might be nice,” I laughed, although I actually thought Joey’s comment was cute.
We watched Joey and Puck Bunny interact and we giggled at the fact that he seemed a little uninterested in her. The interviews continued on and Patrick came over to me towards the end of Dylan’s.
“So I hear that Joey likes you,” he said.
“Yeah, I guess he does. He said I was the prettiest intern. But that’s not saying much since I’m only one of two girls,” I replied.
“Yeah, but gender doesn’t necessarily matter. I mean, he told Sharpy that he was beautiful.” Of course! That was when Sharp had been considered one of the fifty most beautiful Chicagoans.
“Yeah, that’s true. Wow, Sharpy’s beautiful and I’m only pretty? Damn, that’s kind of a low blow, and from a six year old, too,” I realized.
“Hey, don’t take it too hard, he never even told me that I was cute, let alone pretty or beautiful. I’m still trying to get over that,” Patrick said, making me laugh.
“Well, I think that you at least deserve the cute part. Pretty is taking it a little too far, though. Sorry.” Was I really flirting with him? I never flirted. With anyone. Ever. What was I doing?
“I guess that’s better than nothing. But I mean, I don’t blame him for thinking you’re the prettiest intern. He’s got pretty good taste in girls for such a young kid.” Maybe I should flirt more, because that time, it worked. He was doing it right back. His words weren’t even his only mechanism of flirting, either. His smile was different, genuine. His eyes were really taking me in. If I wasn’t mistaken, he was even leaning his body slightly towards mine. I couldn’t complain.
“Hey Kaner, you coming?” The sound of Andrew Shaw beckoning him over interrupted my thoughts.
“Yeah, I’ll meet you guys there!” Patrick hollered back. “Well, I guess I better get going. We’re going out to lunch,” he explained.
“Okay. Have fun!” I told him.
“I guess Joey’s not the only one who has a crush, here,” Dylan said. He startled me. I hadn’t even realized that he had been done with his interview, but it seemed like he had been done for a few minutes, since Joey was already having a deep conversation with Alex. Or at least as deep as a conversation with a child could get.
“I guess,” I answered, keeping things light. When I looked at Dylan, however, I couldn’t see anything light in his expression. He almost seemed angry. “Is everything okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” he answered. I could tell that he was lying though. He had tried to flirt with me before, too. I had never really tried to flirt back, though. Was he jealous? It was always hard to tell with guys, but it seemed like that was the case.
The rest of the day was a little awkward between us, so I was actually glad when I was able to leave. I got home only to find out that I would be leaving again. Tess and I decided that it was time for a shopping spree. We needed dresses for New Years, after all, which was only two days away.
We went to The Water Tower Place downtown and tried a couple different stores before we both found the perfect dresses. Tess got a gold, glittery, cap-sleeved mini dress and I got a long-sleeved, sequined, silver mini dress. We found them both at the same store - Macys. We loved them the most out of all the picks we took to the dressing rooms, and as soon as came out to model them for each other, we knew we had to buy them. We got jewelry and shoes to match and by the time we left the mall, I couldn’t wait until New Years Eve.
When we got home, I saw a text. I figured it was from Kaner, but it wasn’t this time. It was from Dylan, actually.
>Hey, sorry that I acted so weird today. I wasn’t trying to be mean, even though it might have seemed that way
Wow, an apology. I hadn’t been expecting that.
>Ok. So what have you been doing with the rest of your day
>Cool, whatcha shopping for?
>Oh, nice. You going to a party?
I prayed that he wouldn’t ask whose party I was going to. I really didn’t want to lie to him, and if I explained myself, he might get jealous and be mad at me again. Sure, Dylan and I weren’t best friends like Tess and I were, but we had gotten to know each other after being around each other every day. It was a new friendship that I saw as valuable. I couldn’t mess it up that quickly and easily.
>Me too! Tazer’s party? He said he invited all the interns
I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. All of us interns would be there together, it wasn’t favoritism between the players and the interns, so that was good. Also, he already knew I’d be partying with Kaner so I wouldn’t have to rain on his parade with the news. But then again, would he be around us the whole time, cock-blocking? I could see any jealous guy doing that to anyone. I also didn’t want him to be pissed at the world at the party. But I wasn’t backing out of the plans. I had to go. I had to hope for the best.
>Yep. It’s gonna be an epic party!
>Same here. Well I have practice in a few minutes, so I better go. See ya tomorrow
Good. Things seemed to be back to normal. He got over that quickly. Temporarily, at least. I had a feeling that there would be more problems between him and Patrick in the near future, but I was glad that we had settled things for the time being. I couldn’t possibly deal with any more boy-related stress when I already had enough trouble wondering why Patrick Kane toyed with my heart every single day.
Notes
Sorry it took so long for me to update, I got really caught up in school work this week - tons of projects! Anyways, I finally got this chapter done, so I hope you enjoyed it! By now, you know the drill - vote if you like the story and leave me some comments :)Also, for your viewing pleasure, here is the link to the Joey the Junior Reporter video that was referenced in this chapter - the one where he discusses girls and beauty with the team. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_3IeL8lgAg
@hockeygirl07
Thank you so much! :)
11/1/14