The Road Back to Your Heart

Whitney got dressed that morning just like it was any other day but it wasn't any other day, it was the draft day. Jordan's draft day. For years, she knew this day would come and go and at the tender age of 7 decided any day that took Jordan way from Thunder Bay was the worst day in the world. At 7 though she and Jordan were actually friends and he didn't hate her. Her worst day had already come and gone though. It wasn't a day that took Jordan way from Thunder Bay, there had been a few of those since he went to play for the Petes. No it was the day that she took him away from Whitney. When they were younger, Jordan and Whitney were inseparable. They did everything together. They even played on the same hockey team for a little while before the girls got their own team. It was Whit and Jordy to the end or so she thought. When Jordan turned 13 everything changed. His guy friends picked on him for having a "girlfriend" that was a year younger than him, so Jordan stopped hanging out with her as much. At first it he could only avoid her for a day before he felt bad and they hung out again, then it all changed. On Whit's 13th birthday, Jordan was a no show. When she asked Eric, Marc and Jared where Jordan was, they told her that he was sick but she could tell they were lying, mainly because she had seen him at school earlier that day but she dropped it, not wanting to cause a scene at her own party. Whit waited until the next day to talk to Jordan but when she went to talk to him, she saw why he wasn't at her party. Heather. Heather was the mean girl of the school and for years her favorite target was Whit. When she saw Jordan with Heather that day, her heart sunk. Instead of trying to talk to him about it, she walked away. Jordan never tried to explain it to her, he just stopped talking to her. That day was the day that Whit threw her self into her school work. She stopped playing hockey, stopped working at the sod farm as much as she used to and stopped talking to Jordan. If he wasn't going to talk to her then she wasn't going to talk to him. It has bee over 5 years since they have had a real conversation and there isn't a day that goes by that she doesn't wish that it would change.

Whit shook her head trying to clear the thoughts that were swirling around in there. She picked up the notebook that was on top of her bag and on the first page was a list of the the first 10 teams picking and next to it was the mileage from Thunder Bay. The first team the St. Louis Blues were 870 miles away, it wasn't too far but not close enough either. The second team, the Pittsburgh Penguins were 1, 057 miles away, more than St. Louis, so that was a big no for her. The third team, the Chicago Blackhawks were 658 miles away, better than St. Louis and Pittsburgh but still a good ways away. The fourth team, the Capitals were 1, 292 miles away, so if Pittsburgh was a no at 1,093 miles then the Capitals were a big no. Boston was also a no, it was 1, 288 miles away from Thunder Bay. After five she had drawn a line because she didn't think he'd make it passed the top five picks but she still humored the other five in the top 10. The Blue Jackets came in at 956 miles, so she had a no by that one as well. The Islanders were 1, 384 so that also had a huge no by it. At almost 2,000 miles away from home, she had crossed out the Coyotes. Whit had circled, stared and underlined team 9, the Minnesota Wild at only 339 miles away, it was the only team in the top 10 draft picks that didn't have a distance that scared the crap out of her and she definitely couldn't say that about the tenth team. Jordan going to them scared the crap out of her. 2,013 miles were between Thunder Bay and Sunrise, FL were the Panthers played. 2, 013 miles. She had crossed that team off the list as well. In her mind the most ideal place for Jordan to end would be with the Wild but she knew in her heart that she wasn't going to be that lucky. She took a deep breath and headed to the draft with her family.

As the draft started, butterflies, filled her belly. She was excited for Jordan but also nervous and scared. Whit knew she should tell him how she felt about him, how she has felt about him for as long as she could remember but she was scared. Scared that he'd reject her but also scared that he wouldn't. Whit didn't want to get hurt by Jordan again. He had hurt her so bad when he just stopped talking to her that when he tried to talk to her again a couple of months ago, she threw punch in his face. Whit was afraid of letting Jordan in because in heart she knew that once she let him back in then she'd head down the crazy rabbit hole of love, and what if Jordan didn't follow her down that hole and she ended up there alone, hurt and back at square one. She shook her head and wrote down the first pick, Jordan wasn't going to St. Louis. As the general manger for the Penguins came up to the microphone to announce their pick, Whit looked down at her list, 1,057 miles away stared back up at her as Ray Shero announced Jordan's name. Her heart fell and was filled with pride at the same time. Jordan went second overall, it was amazing for him but Pittsburgh was 1,057 away from her and his family. 1,057. Whit watched as Jordan went up and got his draft jersey with a huge smile on his face that tugged at her heart strings. Jordan was so happy, and he deserved it. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes tightly to stop the tears as she felt her sister place a hand on her back.

"Are you okay?" Gabi asked her.

Whit shrugged and opened her eyes and looked right at her sister, "1,057."

Gabi nodded, not asking what Whit meant because she knew. She knew what that number was because three years prior she had done the same thing, expect the miles weren't from Thunder Bay, they were from Yale. Gabi hugged Whit tightly, not saying anything even though Whit knew there was a lot she wanted to say. Whit closed her notebook, no longer caring about who went to what team. None of it mattered now that Jordan had been picked. She took another breath. 1,057.

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