Islands
Smooth
December 2, 2010 Capitals 1 @ Stars 2
December 4, 2010 Thrashers 3 @ Capitals 1
Jaden was passed out after just five minutes in the car. It gave me a chance to explain to Nicklas—Nicky—where he was going, that Jaden was my nephew, and what I was doing in DC.
“You are going to university here?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I answered. “I’m a senior at Georgetown.”
“Oh,” his voice indicated that I’d piqued his interest. “Georgetown is one of my favorite neighborhoods. I hang out there often with my brother.”
Often. I really liked the way he spoke. He spoke English very well. What gave away that he was foreign was his enunciation and inconsistent use of simple contractions. He paused for a split-second each time before he spoke, and it resulted in pretty good sentence structure for someone who’d only lived in the Western Hemisphere for a few years. Who else in their early twenties would use ‘often’ in their daily speech?
Nicky asked another question. “Do you work there, too, in Georgetown?”
“Sort of. I’m an R.A.”
We came to a red light and he looked at me, his sentence structure finally slipping. “What is R.A.?”
I grinned at him just as the light changed, his foot going to the gas pedal. “A resident assistant. I’m in charge of a floor in one of the first year student dorms.”
He nodded. “Oh. That is fun for you?”
“It’s okay,” I shrugged. I don’t know why I shrugged, because his eyes were on the road. “It’s their first semester of college ever. I make sure that they don’t burn down the building and keep a handle on their lives away from home. Sometimes they come crying to my door. A lot of them are 18, and I’m 22, so they can be a little annoying. But I get to live on campus for free.”
“That is nice,” Nicky agreed. “I just realize I hang out in Georgetown lots, but not on campus.”
The rest of the way to Jaden’s house, I told Nicky a bit more about my college experience. I was a math major, but in my last year, I’d completed all the requirements for it and was taking it easy. I’d loaded up on major classes through the first three years and was only taking general education classes that were university requirements. He told me how he enjoyed living in Arlington and a funny story about his brother.
Jaden was still down for the count when Nicky pulled into the driveway. We thought it best to leave him be and Nicky scooped the six-year-old up into his arms, like it was no big deal, while I rang the doorbell. I had our bags and Nicky had Jaden, ready to settle him onto the couch, or in bed, whatever my sister, Rochelle, decided. She did not expect to see Nicklas Bäckström in his jersey and matching track pants standing there, on her front steps, holding her son. She had Nicky put Jaden on the couch, but decided that the two of us had made the wrong decision.
Rochelle asked Nicky if he could wait a few minutes so she could get a picture of him and Jaden together. I’d snapped a picture on my phone of them skating hand in hand back at the park, but she wanted one with smiling faces and red eyes. She was a good mother, and she knew Jaden would be disappointed if he slept through his chance to boast to everyone that Nick Bäckström had been to his house.
Jaden was fussy at first, cranky as any other child being woken up. But when he processed it, and when he saw Nicky and me standing there beside each other near the dining table, he sprung up and dashed toward us. We had a group hug then, or rather our knees did, with Jaden. I felt awkward about it but the Viking god rested one of his elbows on a chair and laughed.
“This is soooo cool!” Jaden was as enthusiastic as he’d been in the park.
Rochelle made her way over, an expensive looking DSLR camera in hand—so actually there wouldn’t be any red eyes. With the flip of a switch, she turned on the dangling light above the dining table and then started playing with buttons on the camera. When she declared she was ready, I prepared to move out of the frame and let Jaden have his moment with the hockey star. Nicky leaned in closer and I felt his arm, the one that was rested on the chair, go to my back. I didn’t move an inch as Rochelle took two pictures.
I finally moved off to the side then and instructed my sister to take one of Nicky and her son. Nicky squatted so he was closer to the ground, crouching beside Jaden. The little boy looked elated.
“Thank you so much for doing this,” Rochelle gushed when she was finally done taking pictures. “You’ve gone so above and beyond.”
“Is no problem,” he shrugged it off. “We gotta keep the fans happy, you know?”
Their conversation carried on for another minute and Jaden walked towards me. When he was in front of me, he craned his neck up and spoke, “Auntie Erin, thanks for going to the park with me.”
His little boy’s speech made ‘to the’ sound like ‘ta da’. I ruffled his shaggy brown hair and moved onto my knees on the carpet so we could hug. “No problem, squirt. I had a good time.”
“Me too,” he said, planting a sloppy kiss on my cheek. “The best.”
When I was back up on my feet, the conversation between Rochelle and Nicky had lulled. Nicky was looking at me expectantly.
“Erin…you wanna go with me?” he asked, sounding unsure of himself. “Georgetown is there on the way to Arlington. I can drop you off.”
It was a Sunday, and I had class the next day, but not until the afternoon. I had planned on sticking around Rochelle’s house until Tanner, her husband, came home with the car so she could drop me off.
“You don’t have to do that, Nicky,” I answered. “I’d feel bad. We already caused you enough trouble, driving all the way over here.”
My sister and her family lived in a townhouse in Columbia Heights, not too far from the Sculpture Garden where the public skate had been held, but in the opposite direction of Arlington.
“Really, is no problem,” Nicky insisted.
“Um, I—”
“Give her a two minute minor,” Rochelle interrupted me, speaking to Nicky with a smile playing on her lips. “She’ll go with you. I just need to give her something from the kitchen. Two minutes, I promise.”
Rochelle was pulling me by the wrist into her kitchen before anyone could say another word. Nicky was left to fend for himself with Jaden and it was the first time I was alone with my sister since she’d answered the door. I could tell she had an idea brewing in her head.
“Oh my God, you brought Nicklas Bäckström to my house,” she half-whispered and half-hissed. “And did you just call him Nicky?”
“That’s what he told me to call him,” I answered.
“That’s what he told me to call him,” she repeated, mimicking me. “Do you hear yourself? Obviously you have to go with him.”
“He’s just being nice.” I rolled my eyes. “He’s a millionaire who was just living up to expectation for some fans. I doubt he wants to spend more time with any of us.”
“You’re not a fan,” she pointed out.
“Well he doesn’t know that.”
“So let him know,” she said, rolling her own eyes, a deep shade of blue, at me. “He’s cute. You’re cute. Maybe there’s something there. Just go. If he doesn’t think so, then at least you’re getting a free ride home.”
“I am not a charity case, Rochelle,” I huffed.
“No one is suggesting you are. I said you were cute!” she teased. “Now come on, your two minutes are up.”
When we were back in the dining room, Jaden was wearing the beanie hat that Nicky had worn all afternoon. I could tell by the red ink scribbled on one side that he’d signed it. Jaden’s set of smelly markers were lying on Rochelle’s dining room table. Their ink wasn’t permanent, so I knew that the hat was never going to see the laundry. The boys were laughing together, straightening up when they saw us.
“Ready to go?” Nicky asked me.
I nodded wordlessly and felt Rochelle pinch me in the back. She and Jaden said their goodbyes to him, thanking him again and saying that he was welcome back any time.
In the car, he didn’t back out of the driveway or press the Engine Start/Stop button once the key was in the ignition. He turned to me. “Can I ask you a question?”
I think you just did. “Sure.”
He gestured at my purse, grinning, “What did your sister give you from the kitchen?”
Busted. I was in his gigantic SUV with less cargo than I’d originally entered the house with. I’d left the tote bag with the skates, including my own, in the entry closet. First semester final exams were only a week away at Georgetown, and though I didn’t have much to worry about with my easy classes, I had to make sure the freshmen on my floor weren’t going to crumble to the stress and hurt themselves. I wouldn’t be skating any time soon. I left Rochelle’s house with only a purse containing my essential belongings, and it was obvious to Nicky that my sister hadn’t actually given me anything. I imagined that he had an idea of what had happened in the kitchen.
“She gave me a piece of her mind,” I answered, not missing a beat. “She thinks you’re cute.”
He clicked his tongue, smirking. But it was almost a shy smirk. “I think she is cute, too. But she is married.” His next words were spoken much softer. “You know…you look a lot like her. Prettier.”
I bit down on my tongue to keep from snickering, tickled by his words. It was true that Rochelle and I had similar features: same height, same blue eyes, same chocolate brown hair. But that wasn’t what I was so giddy about. He had paid me a compliment and was flirting with me.
“You hungry?” he asked when I looked at him sideways, smiling at what he’d said about me. “I think we should eat.”
Suddenly I was silently thanking Rochelle for goading me into going with him. He was adorable. Rumor had it that Nicky was shy, composed, and quiet, among other things. He did turn out to be those things, I’d learned from our short time together. I guess with those things usually came awkward, and it would have made sense if he was. But I had no idea he would be so smooth.
“Sounds like a good idea,” I answered. “I’m pretty hungry.”
He nodded and opened his door. I raised my eyebrows, confused. “What—” he was out of the SUV and back in, in the backseat, quickly. “What are you doing?”
His hand was reaching behind the back seat. I heard a zipper open. “Changing,” he said and pointed down at his outfit. “I look like I’m trying to make an announcement.”
“Oh.”
I wasn’t sure how much privacy he wanted. Weren’t hockey players comfortable to be naked in dressing rooms around their teammates and members of the media? I sat facing forward anyway, taking the chance to peek at my phone, until he slid back into the driver’s seat.
“Okay,” he drummed his hands on the steering wheel, “I have a serious question for you.”
I bit my lip. “What?”
“Does my hair look okay?” he ran a hand through his blond locks and broke into a grin.
I rolled my eyes, resisting the urge to touch his head. “Just drive, Nicky.”
December 4, 2010 Thrashers 3 @ Capitals 1
Jaden was passed out after just five minutes in the car. It gave me a chance to explain to Nicklas—Nicky—where he was going, that Jaden was my nephew, and what I was doing in DC.
“You are going to university here?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I answered. “I’m a senior at Georgetown.”
“Oh,” his voice indicated that I’d piqued his interest. “Georgetown is one of my favorite neighborhoods. I hang out there often with my brother.”
Often. I really liked the way he spoke. He spoke English very well. What gave away that he was foreign was his enunciation and inconsistent use of simple contractions. He paused for a split-second each time before he spoke, and it resulted in pretty good sentence structure for someone who’d only lived in the Western Hemisphere for a few years. Who else in their early twenties would use ‘often’ in their daily speech?
Nicky asked another question. “Do you work there, too, in Georgetown?”
“Sort of. I’m an R.A.”
We came to a red light and he looked at me, his sentence structure finally slipping. “What is R.A.?”
I grinned at him just as the light changed, his foot going to the gas pedal. “A resident assistant. I’m in charge of a floor in one of the first year student dorms.”
He nodded. “Oh. That is fun for you?”
“It’s okay,” I shrugged. I don’t know why I shrugged, because his eyes were on the road. “It’s their first semester of college ever. I make sure that they don’t burn down the building and keep a handle on their lives away from home. Sometimes they come crying to my door. A lot of them are 18, and I’m 22, so they can be a little annoying. But I get to live on campus for free.”
“That is nice,” Nicky agreed. “I just realize I hang out in Georgetown lots, but not on campus.”
The rest of the way to Jaden’s house, I told Nicky a bit more about my college experience. I was a math major, but in my last year, I’d completed all the requirements for it and was taking it easy. I’d loaded up on major classes through the first three years and was only taking general education classes that were university requirements. He told me how he enjoyed living in Arlington and a funny story about his brother.
Jaden was still down for the count when Nicky pulled into the driveway. We thought it best to leave him be and Nicky scooped the six-year-old up into his arms, like it was no big deal, while I rang the doorbell. I had our bags and Nicky had Jaden, ready to settle him onto the couch, or in bed, whatever my sister, Rochelle, decided. She did not expect to see Nicklas Bäckström in his jersey and matching track pants standing there, on her front steps, holding her son. She had Nicky put Jaden on the couch, but decided that the two of us had made the wrong decision.
Rochelle asked Nicky if he could wait a few minutes so she could get a picture of him and Jaden together. I’d snapped a picture on my phone of them skating hand in hand back at the park, but she wanted one with smiling faces and red eyes. She was a good mother, and she knew Jaden would be disappointed if he slept through his chance to boast to everyone that Nick Bäckström had been to his house.
Jaden was fussy at first, cranky as any other child being woken up. But when he processed it, and when he saw Nicky and me standing there beside each other near the dining table, he sprung up and dashed toward us. We had a group hug then, or rather our knees did, with Jaden. I felt awkward about it but the Viking god rested one of his elbows on a chair and laughed.
“This is soooo cool!” Jaden was as enthusiastic as he’d been in the park.
Rochelle made her way over, an expensive looking DSLR camera in hand—so actually there wouldn’t be any red eyes. With the flip of a switch, she turned on the dangling light above the dining table and then started playing with buttons on the camera. When she declared she was ready, I prepared to move out of the frame and let Jaden have his moment with the hockey star. Nicky leaned in closer and I felt his arm, the one that was rested on the chair, go to my back. I didn’t move an inch as Rochelle took two pictures.
I finally moved off to the side then and instructed my sister to take one of Nicky and her son. Nicky squatted so he was closer to the ground, crouching beside Jaden. The little boy looked elated.
“Thank you so much for doing this,” Rochelle gushed when she was finally done taking pictures. “You’ve gone so above and beyond.”
“Is no problem,” he shrugged it off. “We gotta keep the fans happy, you know?”
Their conversation carried on for another minute and Jaden walked towards me. When he was in front of me, he craned his neck up and spoke, “Auntie Erin, thanks for going to the park with me.”
His little boy’s speech made ‘to the’ sound like ‘ta da’. I ruffled his shaggy brown hair and moved onto my knees on the carpet so we could hug. “No problem, squirt. I had a good time.”
“Me too,” he said, planting a sloppy kiss on my cheek. “The best.”
When I was back up on my feet, the conversation between Rochelle and Nicky had lulled. Nicky was looking at me expectantly.
“Erin…you wanna go with me?” he asked, sounding unsure of himself. “Georgetown is there on the way to Arlington. I can drop you off.”
It was a Sunday, and I had class the next day, but not until the afternoon. I had planned on sticking around Rochelle’s house until Tanner, her husband, came home with the car so she could drop me off.
“You don’t have to do that, Nicky,” I answered. “I’d feel bad. We already caused you enough trouble, driving all the way over here.”
My sister and her family lived in a townhouse in Columbia Heights, not too far from the Sculpture Garden where the public skate had been held, but in the opposite direction of Arlington.
“Really, is no problem,” Nicky insisted.
“Um, I—”
“Give her a two minute minor,” Rochelle interrupted me, speaking to Nicky with a smile playing on her lips. “She’ll go with you. I just need to give her something from the kitchen. Two minutes, I promise.”
Rochelle was pulling me by the wrist into her kitchen before anyone could say another word. Nicky was left to fend for himself with Jaden and it was the first time I was alone with my sister since she’d answered the door. I could tell she had an idea brewing in her head.
“Oh my God, you brought Nicklas Bäckström to my house,” she half-whispered and half-hissed. “And did you just call him Nicky?”
“That’s what he told me to call him,” I answered.
“That’s what he told me to call him,” she repeated, mimicking me. “Do you hear yourself? Obviously you have to go with him.”
“He’s just being nice.” I rolled my eyes. “He’s a millionaire who was just living up to expectation for some fans. I doubt he wants to spend more time with any of us.”
“You’re not a fan,” she pointed out.
“Well he doesn’t know that.”
“So let him know,” she said, rolling her own eyes, a deep shade of blue, at me. “He’s cute. You’re cute. Maybe there’s something there. Just go. If he doesn’t think so, then at least you’re getting a free ride home.”
“I am not a charity case, Rochelle,” I huffed.
“No one is suggesting you are. I said you were cute!” she teased. “Now come on, your two minutes are up.”
When we were back in the dining room, Jaden was wearing the beanie hat that Nicky had worn all afternoon. I could tell by the red ink scribbled on one side that he’d signed it. Jaden’s set of smelly markers were lying on Rochelle’s dining room table. Their ink wasn’t permanent, so I knew that the hat was never going to see the laundry. The boys were laughing together, straightening up when they saw us.
“Ready to go?” Nicky asked me.
I nodded wordlessly and felt Rochelle pinch me in the back. She and Jaden said their goodbyes to him, thanking him again and saying that he was welcome back any time.
In the car, he didn’t back out of the driveway or press the Engine Start/Stop button once the key was in the ignition. He turned to me. “Can I ask you a question?”
I think you just did. “Sure.”
He gestured at my purse, grinning, “What did your sister give you from the kitchen?”
Busted. I was in his gigantic SUV with less cargo than I’d originally entered the house with. I’d left the tote bag with the skates, including my own, in the entry closet. First semester final exams were only a week away at Georgetown, and though I didn’t have much to worry about with my easy classes, I had to make sure the freshmen on my floor weren’t going to crumble to the stress and hurt themselves. I wouldn’t be skating any time soon. I left Rochelle’s house with only a purse containing my essential belongings, and it was obvious to Nicky that my sister hadn’t actually given me anything. I imagined that he had an idea of what had happened in the kitchen.
“She gave me a piece of her mind,” I answered, not missing a beat. “She thinks you’re cute.”
He clicked his tongue, smirking. But it was almost a shy smirk. “I think she is cute, too. But she is married.” His next words were spoken much softer. “You know…you look a lot like her. Prettier.”
I bit down on my tongue to keep from snickering, tickled by his words. It was true that Rochelle and I had similar features: same height, same blue eyes, same chocolate brown hair. But that wasn’t what I was so giddy about. He had paid me a compliment and was flirting with me.
“You hungry?” he asked when I looked at him sideways, smiling at what he’d said about me. “I think we should eat.”
Suddenly I was silently thanking Rochelle for goading me into going with him. He was adorable. Rumor had it that Nicky was shy, composed, and quiet, among other things. He did turn out to be those things, I’d learned from our short time together. I guess with those things usually came awkward, and it would have made sense if he was. But I had no idea he would be so smooth.
“Sounds like a good idea,” I answered. “I’m pretty hungry.”
He nodded and opened his door. I raised my eyebrows, confused. “What—” he was out of the SUV and back in, in the backseat, quickly. “What are you doing?”
His hand was reaching behind the back seat. I heard a zipper open. “Changing,” he said and pointed down at his outfit. “I look like I’m trying to make an announcement.”
“Oh.”
I wasn’t sure how much privacy he wanted. Weren’t hockey players comfortable to be naked in dressing rooms around their teammates and members of the media? I sat facing forward anyway, taking the chance to peek at my phone, until he slid back into the driver’s seat.
“Okay,” he drummed his hands on the steering wheel, “I have a serious question for you.”
I bit my lip. “What?”
“Does my hair look okay?” he ran a hand through his blond locks and broke into a grin.
I rolled my eyes, resisting the urge to touch his head. “Just drive, Nicky.”
Great story!
11/16/18