FLASHBACK

"Where'd you get off to last night, and the night before?" I said to my roommate over the phone. "Where are you now? Mike steal you away from me? You know how I feel about that, I mean a text would of been nice, or a how'd you shift go? Because it was crap thank you very much." I said huffing as I finished my rant.
"Is she always like that?" I heard an unfamiliar male voice.
"Yes."
"Wait! Where are you?" I exclaimed.
"Chicago."
"Funny. Now where the hell are you?"
"I'm taking a much needed break. I told you I'd be MIA for a few days."
"The hell?" I exclaimed. "A break from what? And who the heck is that? Am I on effing speakerphone?"
"One question at a time goodness…." I heard her sigh.
"Alright why the hell do you sound like shit, and why are you calling me on speaker?"
"Two questions but fine. I'm taking a break from men. Oh and Patrick wanted to hear your meltdown."
"One. Why? Two. Why are you with a guy then?"
"One. Her boyfriend's an asshole. Two. I'm a pretty cool guy."
"Hey. Don't answer for me."
"Ow. I was just stating a fact."
"Sorry, yes that first part is true. As for the second, I guess he is pretty cool for letting me crash here."
"Rewind. What?"
"Mike's a cheating bastard, and Pat said I could crash here."
"Oh I'm gonna kill that effing son of a bi--"
"Go ahead." I heard a soft chuckle.
"Are you alright?"
"Honestly? No. But I'll be alright." She said softly.
"Yeah? You're coming home right?"
"I--"
"Frig. Why not?"
"Because he's going to come there first. I can't deal with it."
"Ughhh but you need to. You need to be sitting on the couch eating your weight in ice cream, watching romance movies and crying your eyes out. Please? You can't stay wherever the hell you are forever."
"Yes she can." I heard in the background, at least he's got a sense of humour.
"TAKE me off speaker, go get a laptop and we are having a girl chat."
"Oooooooh skype dates. Thanks for reminding me I've got to call my sisters. Laptop's on my bed, just down the hall to the right, first door should be lying on there."
"Thanks." I heard Rachel call as I could tell she was moving.
"K. I'll call you back in a minute." She said hanging up the phone, and calling my skype a few seconds later. The bedroom was a good size, well decorated, with pictures I couldn't make out. She looked like shit, but not as bad as I had expected.
"Yes. I look bad. Get over it." She said scowling as she flopped down on her stomach.
"I wasn't saying anything." I said throwing my hands up in surrender.
"Subtly my friend. You ain't it."
"I didn't say anything." I said laughing. "But I'm loving the whole sweats theme you've got going on there."
"I'll come back after he's given up showing up at the apartment. I need clothes." She said chuckling.
"So what happened?"
"Well it all just kind of turned to crap all at once. I went to use the bathroom, and it took me a while to get back out to where I had been due to all the people. I don't know if he was drunk or something, but it seemed like he just forgot about me and I witnessed the whole thing, even them leaving together. How the hell was I supposed to even get home?"
"He just left?"
"Mhmmmm. Left a three year relationship too. I loved that idiot for three years, what a friggin waste huh?"
"Sure he's shit. But look at all the things you've gotten to do. You moved here with me." I said winking.
"Worst mistake ever." She said laughing.
"Worse than Mike?" I said raising my eyebrow. "I better damn well not be."
"No, you're awesome. He's a tool."
"Awe thanks babe. I love you too, and hate that fricken ass of a 'man.' "
"I really do love you. Best friend ever."
"So what have you and this Patrick character been up to?"
"Relaxing. Just getting away from all the stress. It's been nice."
"He's just letting you stay there. You aren't you know?"
"No." She said chuckling and shaking her head. "It's not like that. His ex was the girl Mike took off with, apparently she was a bit buzzed and thought he was going home or something, but he had gone to the bathroom and came back, same shit different pile."
"Wow, you two are both messed up huh?"
"It's been good though. To have someone to go through it at the exact same time. A healing buddy. A friend. And yes I know you are my best friend, but I'm healing here and I feel alright. But no worries you can't get rid of me that easily."
"Oh I can tell. You're actually smiling and it's only been a few days. I was more worried when I hadn't heard from you. I know you'll come back here for more of this awesomeness you call your best friend."
"I'm addicted. Just keep coming back for more."
"Speaking of addicting, is he walking around without a shirt?"
"Heard that." He called. " I'm taking a shower if you must know. In my bathroom, attached to my bedroom which you two are currently occupying. So if you can take looking at a shirtless man then scram." He said laughing.
"I wasn't complaining." I said laughing. From what I had seen the boy was fit.
"Of course you weren't." Rachel scoffed. "So what have I missed?"
"Nothing, nothing at all. I have tonight off finally. How about you?"
"Hawks play tonight. Thought I'd watch."
"See, Chicago's growing on you." I said winking.
"Well I went last night."
"Oh right you and Mike had tickets. Did he show?"
"I asked them to change my seats if possible, so I actually got a seat in a different section all together."
"That's good. So you had fun I hope."
"Yah. It was good. They won." She said laughing. "So you don't work tonight?"
"No! Thank god! I really need to find a better job."
"No teaching stuff yet? "
"Nope. Oh well I've survived this long. What's up?"
"Would your Chicago ass like to do something tonight?"
"What were you thinking?"
"We could watch the game together?"
"Sounds fun. Where ya thinking of going?"
"Going?"
"To watch the game duh."
"Oh, to the game." She said shrugging.
"Like to the game? Like right there?"
"Mhmmmm." She said nodding her head. "So you in?"
"Hell yes! You got the tickets legally right?"
"Yeah. Pat actually has a pair of season's tickets so I bought them off him for tonight."
"You actually bought tickets?"
"Mhmmmm. A bit cheaper but yeah I forced him to let me buy them." She said chuckling.
"And if I couldn't have come?"
"Well I was hoping you would…but if not then I'd give him back a ticket."
"So cool!"
"Yes, now go get ready. I'l meet you there in a couple hours."
"Bye! Thanks again!" I exclaimed. "I'm going to give you a hug tonight, just be warned." I said.
She chuckled, and nodded. "See you later." And with that the screen was back to black and I was alone.
A Hawks game! It's been a while. I thought to myself as I started thinking about making myself presentable.
**
"El!" I heard Rach shout from somewhere. Oh there she is I thought smiling and opening my hands for a hug.
"Hey." I said as we broke apart.
"Hi. You ready?"
"Yeah, you've got the tickets?"
"Mhmmmm." She said nodding.
"Thanks for inviting me. This is going to be so fun!"
"No problem. Who else would I invite?"
"Good point." I said chuckling. "Got off your ass and bought a jersey I see."
"Something like that."
"Woah where are our seats?"
"Ummm right there." She said pointing looking at the tickets.
"Shit! How'd you get those seats? They are amazing!"
"Connections." She said chuckling as we sat down.
"Wow!" I said in disbelief. "There's no way you could have afforded these."
"Why not?"
"They are like 800$ seats. That's why."
"That liar." She huffed. "200 my ass."
"Oh that is good." I said laughing. "It's almost one hundred for standing room alone."
"Well I'm going to enjoy this game then kill him."
"Don't kill him. These seats are awesome. But why are people staring at you?"
"Uhhhhhh…. Because I'm not his girlfriend."
"They used to sit here together? I don't get it."
"Well not exactly." She said smiling.
"Not exactly?" I said confused.
"I'll explain later. The game's about to start."
"You better." I exclaimed
"Oh shush. I got you a ticket didn't I?"
"You did." I said focusing back on the game. The game was a good one, Chicago pulled off a 4-2 win against Minnesota.
"Didn't we come in the other way?"
"You did I didn't." She said laughing.
"Well then where are you taking me."
"Oh just lighten up, you'll like it."
"We can't get in there!" I hissed.
"Your right." She said. "But these can." She said handing the tickets to the guard who smiled.
"No, no we aren't together…friends…thank you…you too have a great night."
"El you coming?"
"Hmmm…. right." I said following her. "Thanks." I said to the smiling guard.
"Bar girl!" None other than Andrew Shaw exclaimed giving Rachel a hug.
"Nice goal." She said laughing. "Wait you scored right?"
"Yes I did. Thank you for noticing. Who's your friend?"
"Andrew, Ellie. Ellie Andrew. She's my bestie, and room mate."
"Nice to meet you." Andrew said sticking out his hand.
"Yo-you too." I said shaking his hand.
"I'd best be going, I'll see you guys around."
"You've met Andrew Shaw!" I exclaimed.
"Yeah----"
"Rach." Sharp said waving in our direction.
"Nice goal." She said smiling.
"Thanks kiddo. I've got to run my own kid is sick."
"That sucks. I hope she feels better." Rach said patting his shoulder before he quickly said hello to me before making his way out.
"WTF!"
"Atleast one of you is wearing a good jersey." Holy crap! I thought as the captain himself came up to us. "And no it's not you." He scowled at Rach as she was going to say something back.
"Hey Jon." She said seemingly unamused.
"Rachel. How'd you get tickets?"
"I bought them." She said scowling.
"Really?"
"Yes. Mind you the person I bought them from told me they were cheaper than they actually were."
"That makes more sense." He said nodding. "Bringing friends now I see."
"Yes Jon, I bought two tickets so my best friend who is a diehard Blackhawks fan could come watch your game. Happy now?"
"Hawks fan eh?" He said turning to me.
"Yup, I lived in Chicago my whole life. I don't get to come to games that often though."
"And you aren't going to ask for an autograph or picture?"
"Nah. I'll save that for my favourite player." I said winking.
"I'm hurt."
"Well if you really wanted to I wouldn't complain."
"Haha Thanks." I said after Rach took the photo. "By the way, you are my favourite." I said laughing.
"Well it was nice meeting you. Rach I guess we'll be seeing you around more?"
"No clue." She chuckled before we made it down to the locker room.
"Did that just happen?"
"Yes. You aren't dreaming." She said laughing.
"Pinch me. There's no way I just met Jonathan Toews. No friggin way!" I stood in amazement as more players filed out all acknowledging us before leaving. Most of them stopped to chat with us…well mostly Rachel but they were all nice to me. What the hell is happening?
"This still much be a dream. There is no way I am standing in front of the Hawks locker room."
"It's actually happening." Rach said laughing.
"How?"
"Magic." She said laughing.
"OMG. Look who it is." I whispered.
"Mhmmm, and look at my tickets." She said laughing as none other than Kane walked up to us, shaking out his wet curls.
"Hey." He smiled. "You're coming back tonight right?" He asked Rach. Wait. What now? I looked at the tickets. Ah hell no.
"Holy effing shit!…Oops" I said feeling my face go red as I slapped a hand to my mouth.
"She's not so talkative anymore huh?" He said slinging his arm around her shoulders as they both smiled at me.
"Damn. I would have ditched my ass for him too." I said laughing. "Ellie. Nice to meet you." I said sticking out my hand.
"Patrick. But I'm guessing you knew that." He said chuckling and shaking my hand.
"Of course. She knows. She's like a diehard Hawks fan. It's like in her blood." Rach said laughing.
"Really?"
"Mhmmmm. I even met my favourite player today and everything." I said laughing.
"Yeah, we might have to do something about that." He said looking over my jersey before scowling playfully.
"Good luck." Rach scoffed. "That girl has been following the team ever since she was young. Don't take it personally, I think it's just cause he came first. Speaking of is he mad at me or something?"
"I don't think so why?"
"Well he was kind of a tool to me, and then super nice to Ellie after he learnt that he was her favourite plan. He made it seem like I shouldn't be here or something. Oh and two hundred dollar seats my friggin ass." She said punching him lightly in the shoulder. "Why would Jon care if I had tickets?"
"First off. I wasn't using the seats anyways, so why not let you have them. But no you wanted to buy them, and there was no way in hell I was making you pay the actual rate so I changed it a bit." He said chuckling. "Secondly he's being a protective bastard and I'm going to kick his captain ass."
"I'm the threat?" Rach asked, as I laughed.
"Like you'd friggin hurt a fly." I said laughing. "Honestly?"
"Yeah, he's always been like that. I've had a rough past in the relationship sense. Now I can't even hangout with a girl before he does the famous Toews analysis on them. I swear he's so annoying sometimes. I think he's thinking the worst of you. He thinks you're using me basically."
"Am I?" Rach asked nervously.
"Hell nah. I said you could stay. Plus it's none of his friggin business if I give you tickets or not. So did you guys enjoy the game?"
"Yeah!" We both said nodding.
"Damn good seats too." I said.
"We got a few looks when they saw we weren't Megan."
"Aha sorry." He said scratching the back of his head.
"Eh. They were just jealous of our awesome seats." Rach said laughing.
"Obviously." He said chuckling. "So Ellie do you want a ride home?
"Uhhh….. sure." I said still unsure of what was happening in front of me.
"Great! So do you want to go right home….?"
"What did you have in mind?" I asked raising my eyebrow.
"Hmmm food, and then hang? I don't know." He said laughing.
"So wait you Patrick Kane, hockey superstar wan't to hang with me?"
"Well me Patrick Kane, the person would love to hang with you and Rach."
"Well then by all means lead the way." I said and Rach chuckled.
"I should have gotten cheated on earlier. Lose one girl and get two new ones." He said slinging his arm around my shoulder as well as we walked out into the parking lot.
"That's not quite how it works." Rachel said laughing.
"That girl must of been an idiot." I said shaking my head.
"I guess… I mean I've just never had it happen, though she was really my first try at a girlfriend so two years wasn't bad." He said laughing it off.
"But you loved her right?"
"More than other girls. She was the first one I thought I could settle down with. Looking back though, there were signs I could have seen."
"You miss them when you don't expect them." I said understandingly as I remembered back to my high school boyfriend who had done similar to me.
"Did I ever. Anyways… Italian good with you guys?" We ended up back in Pat's apartment. Takeout containers filled with pasta, soups, salads and my favourite, garlic strips. I mean who doesn't like garlic strips?
"Wait, wait you went to prom by yourself so you could go home with whoever you wanted?"
"It seemed like a good idea at the time, but everyone was all paired up so me the hockey jock was left alone." He said pouting.
Rachel and I both laughed. "I don't think that lasted too long."
"Overrated."
"Suuuuure." We both said laughing to his eye roll.
"Girls." He said sighing.
"You and Jonny an item?" I asked winking. "He seemed kind of defensive and jealous today." I said laughing.
"No!" He exclaimed. "Don't start that." He said as we high fived. "Pleeeease." He said pouting.
"Hey I'm just saying… I'm not going to judge or anything."
"Well in that case…Jonny and I have been lovaas since the first day in training camp. Megan was just a decoy girlfriend, duh." He said waving his hand.
"Really? That's sweet, totally had me fooled. So are your kids going to wear 88 or 19, and who gets to keep their last name?"
"Good question." He said pondering his answer. "I don't really know. I'll have to ask Jonny. We were a bit too preoccupied to think that far into the future." He said chuckling.
"Good god." Rachel said laughing. "I'm going to bed, stay out of trouble you two." She said shaking her head before going towards what I assumed to be the bedroom.
"So…."
"So Mr. Kane why might I ask are you pampering my best friend?"
"She's heartbroken I guess. She deserves it." He said shrugging. "I don't really know why but…I think she's keeping me sane and I guess I just figured I had the means to thank her so why not. I mean she is pretty cool."
"Okay." I said nodding.
"Okay?"
"I accept the two of you being friends. She's had some shitty friends so I don't want to see it happen again. You seem great. I admit I was a little bit skeptical when I heard what went down that night, but I see no revenge in your eyes. So thank you for being kind, and taking care of her. Believe me you are keeping her sane as well. She's told me stories of her past, and well she's holding up pretty well. So what I mean to say is thank you." I said giving him a quick hug before making my way towards the door, and slipping on my boots.
"I'll give you a ride." He said hopping up from the couch.
"I'll be fi--"
"No." He said shaking his head. "NO if ands, or buts. I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you."
"You don't even know me."
"Rachel does. Imagine what it would do to her if something happened to you. Now quit complaining, you aren't walking."
"Fine." I huffed. It was a loosing battle anyways so I shut up and followed him down the elevator and out to his SUV.
"Thanks." I said going to shut the door as we pulled up in front of my building.
"I'll take care of her…yeah." He said flopping his head over to my side.
"Thank you." I said smiling and nodding my head slightly before shutting the door and making my way into bed. The words "I'll take care of her." resonating in my mind. That was the first time I realized that they were going to be something more than just friends, it was inevitable.
END FLASHBACK
***
"He was just so protective of you, and you barely even knew each other. I remember you said something about him getting pissed off at Jon the next day at practice. Then you guys got closer and closer just like I figured you would. Then a few dates, fights, and a Stanley Cup later you told me you were pregnant and that you were going to be a mom in less than a couple months. I figured the boy would crap his pants, or faint when he found out but instead he looked like he was the happiest man in the world holding his daughter. Then you started playing with the guys instead of just training with them but sadly you guys didn't win the cup. However you also played, well play for the Team Canada girls. You won that tournament with flying colours. Then there was the wedding, and then the accident and well you know everything since then. We sat right here that night." I said chuckling.
"And here we are again a couple years later."
"Same spot, different circumstances." I agreed taking a sip of my coffee.
"Mhmm the guy I married isn't here."
"He will be." I said laughing as I knew where he was.
"You better not be telling her embarrassing stories about me." Pat said walking through the door with perfect timing and a joking glare aimed towards me.
"Nope. I wouldn't do something like that." I said smirking. "Nah I just told her about the night of the first game I went to, the night I learned who you were." I said chuckling.
"That one's fine." He said returning the laugh. "Now wifey, open this." He said chucking over a box.
"What is it?" Rach asked shaking the box confused.
"Just open it." I said hitting her shoulder.
"Okay, okay." She said ripping back the paper, revealing an envelope. "Really?" She asked looking up

"Really." Pat said nodding. "I think it will be good for us to take a break."

Notes

Srry work's been crazy....ill try and update soon...i'll leave you with this lovely? chapter xoxoxo Jordan