The Moonstone Starlet

Chapter 21

For once, Kane was more right than he even knew. The very next day Elia started filming scenes with Corey Beckford and Zac Efron. The Blackhawks wouldn’t play again for five days and Elia was losing almost ten grand a day for every day they pushed filming back. Most of the cast and crew was waiting around at this point, so she decided to jump in. They put filming on hold again when the series with Philadelphia started.

Those last two weeks went by like a dream. Jon felt like he remembered everything and nothing. He thought back on each day and could relive every second in his head, but when he thought about the present he couldn’t remember how he had gotten there. Maybe it had been the non stop partying and drinking that had gone on ever since that fateful moment in overtime when Kane had shot the goal nobody else saw. Maybe it was that everything was perfect and everything was wrong at the same time. The Blackhawks were Stanley Cup Champions.

They were watching Breakfast at Tiffany’s on one of the plane rides, her head resting on his shoulder. She was half asleep.

“I'll tell you one thing, Tazersaurus, darling... I'd marry you for your money in a minute. Would you marry me for my money?”
“In a minute,” he had replied.
“Good thing we’re both rich,” she said softly. He had said nothing.

He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, holding her tight, holding on to the moment tight. But when he opened his eyes, he saw blonde hair and a tan rounded face. It was just another dream. Every girl he brought home was Elia, but the illusion faded when the sun came up. Elia was somewhere, maybe she was with someone, but she wasn’t with him.

Elia was sitting with Patrick’s family when the puck went in. She didn’t see it, but she saw Kaner skate off, throwing his gloves and jumping around like a child, weightless. She remembered running down to the ice, hugging Patrick, and the other guys. Even Quennville gave her a hug. She remembered Jonny telling her she wasn’t allowed to pick up the Cup, but to be honest, it was really heavy and she wasn’t sure she could lift it. The stadium was silent, but the ice was so loud. Everyone was yelling and shouting.

The flight back to Chicago was so quiet. She had left almost immediately. The team wouldn’t arrive back in the city until almost three in the morning, but she had to start working at five. She had taken an earlier flight back, missing the champagne in the locker room and the post game media blitz. It was a lonely flight. She tried to sleep, but something was keeping her up, some nagging feeling in her mind like she was forgetting something. The older couple sitting next to her were sleeping, silently holding hands. She turned to watch out the window, watching the small white lights flickering in the darkness below as they passed over the world.

Once the sun came up again, Elia’s life had rotated once again. Life in the film industry was nomadic and ever changing. Flitting from project to project, location to location. Working with the same people for a few months and then disbanding. It was all consuming. Tight budgets and tight schedules left no breathing room. She was on set filming all day, and reviewing film at home all night. Before she went to sleep she would check her phone messages, but when she tried to call any of the Blackhawks back they never answered. A few times Patrick stumbled in at five a.m. for breakfast and passed out on Elia’s couch, but she didn’t have time for that anymore. The player she ended up seeing the most that summer was Antti, who would show up to the set early in the morning with blood shot eyes, and sit behind the camera drinking. Elia would sit down next to him between takes and talk at him but he rarely talked back. Sometime mid July he stopped showing up, and Elia assumed he had made his way back to Finland.

Most of the players had vacated the city by that point. Jon had finally gotten in touch with Elia and met up with her for lunch on set one day. They were filming on the historic Hutchinson street in Buena Park, a small street lined with large prairie-style mansions built shortly after the Chicago fire. He stood to the side watching them film the last scene before they would take a short break. It was strange seeing Elia transform into Daisy, her whole demeanor and mannerisms became foreign in an instant. She spent several minutes watching playback on the cameras with her cinematographer before coming over to greet him. Smiling, she gave him a huge hug.

“It’s so good to see you!” She said, and he could hear the exhaustion in her voice.
“How have you been?” He asked. She rolled her eyes, smiling still.
“I haven’t committed murder yet!” She said in a fake happy voice. She started whispering, “Did you hear what happened last week?” He hadn’t. “Yeah, Jeremy and Corey literally got in a fist fight, and were both arrested. I…I can’t even like believe this is my life right now. I think I’ve convinced Jeremy to not press charges on Corey but...I don’t even know. Hopefully they are chill in two days when they have to shoot scenes with each other again.”

Elia didn’t want to dwell on the hazards of filming a movie with an ex-boyfriend, and changed the subject. They got some food from the catering line and headed to Elia’s trailer. She showed him some clips on her computer of some scenes they had already finished.

“Tell me about your summer plans! Tell me about the parade, I wish I had been there!” She said excitedly.
“I’m heading back to Winnipeg tomorrow with the Cup, they are going to name a lake after me.”
“No shit. Wow.”

He continued detailing the trip for her, the charity events, family parties. He told her about the parade and Kaner's awesome drunk parade speech. He was meeting up with Sharp, Seabs and Keith later in the summer for a fishing trip. He asked her to come visit him in Canada, but she said there was no way she could. Maybe next off season.

There was a knock on the door and a head popped in, “El, I’ve got overhead sun, let’s go.” Elia apologized to Jon that she didn’t have more time. She promised to call him whenever she got a free moment, and told him to let her know when he came back to Chicago. They hugged goodbye, and Jon watched her walk away. She smiled at him over her shoulder, her green eyes shining in the sun, before turning away from him and directing cameramen and other actors. He would never forget the way she looked that day.

Notes