The Moonstone Starlet

Chapter 3

The closer they got to the season starting, the more hostile Toews was towards Elia at practice. She had been trying to keep the goofing off to a minimum, but the guys would instigate her. Burish continued to flirt with her shamelessly.

Outside of practice Elia and Kane had been practically inseparable. They went out to bars, or hung out at Elia’s with a group of the guys playing video games or ping pong. A few hot days they all went out on a boat to the play pen. When they were just hanging out it was easy for the guys to forget Elia was a wealthy superstar. She was easy going and unselfish. Instead of trying to be the center of attention she shied away from the spotlight and seemed happiest being one of the guys.

But then there were times when they went out and people would recognize her. Everyone would follow them snapping pictures and yelling things at her. At clubs owners and promoters would send over bottles of the finest alcohol. She would be seated at exclusive VIP tables. Even the boat they went out on wasn’t hers, people gave her things just to be associated with her. Everywhere they went people claimed to be her friend, and Elia’s demeanor would stiffen. “They’re not my friends,” she said to Kane one night, “friends are people you can trust.” She was uncomfortable at parties where everyone wanted to be seen with her, and when people would ask what she was wearing and who designed her jewelry. Those were the times she drank the most and seemed to withdraw. A couple times the group would be at Sub 51 and Elia would disappear. They would find her down the street at Rossi’s with Niemi, sitting in anonymity drinking PBR out of cans.

On nights that Kane didn’t go home with a girl they would fall asleep together on Elia’s couch. She hardly ever slept in her room, she said it made her lonely.
“What if I wake up and you’re gone?”
“I wouldn’t be gone.”
“What if I don’t wake up and nobody ever finds me.”
“I would find you.”
“Remember when you get to the top Kaner, remember who was with you on the bottom. Cause the people at the top won’t care about you when it’s over.”
“Who was with you at the bottom?”
“No one.”

Patrick never asked her about it in the daytime, and Elia seemed to prefer it that way. He never judged her or tried to figure her out, but he had her back and she knew it.
One day before practice in the locker room Elia and Patrick were mixing two flavors of Gatorade together to make a new super flavor.

“What kind of messed up freaks are you?” Dave Bolland asked as he watched, “What kind of person wants to drink purple gatorade and green gatorade mixed together. Those are the worst flavors alone and now you put them together? You aren’t even doing it in an efficient way,”

They hadn’t put a lot of thought into the process, that was true. They kept taking sips out of each one and then pouring them into each other. It was a slow and inconsistent. Dave was shaking his head at them, “You know what you are Elia? You’re like a hot girl version of Kaner. It’s not right.”

Toews stood up from down the bench, glared at Kane and walked out.

“That was weird.” Elia said as they continued to mix gatorades. Kane shrugged.

Elia hadn’t travelled with the team to any of the preseason away games, and wouldn’t be attending their season opener in Finland. Although that seemed to make Toews happy he was really irritated for the last practice before they left. For the past week Burish and Elia had been practicing pairs figure skating moves during down time. Nothing crazy, just skating side by side on one skate. Toews thought it was both stupid and dangerous and had told Elia repeatedly he wouldn’t tolerate it on the ice.

“I bet I could lift you,” Burish said while they were standing off to the side on a break.
“You’re tiny…” He put his hands on her waist.
“You could do that thing where you pick her up, and then spin and then let her down, and then she glides off backwards” Bolland suggested.
“Uh, no that. I can’t spin! No backwards!” Elia was not confident in this plan. She grabbed his arms with her hands as if she could stop him from lifting her.
“She’s right, coming down on the skates from the air is a weakness she has.”

Earlier that week they had a kids group practice in the morning and some of the players worked with them. One of their drills was to jump over sticks on the ice and keep skating, and although Elia tried to do it with them she mostly just fell all over the ice.

“I’m not an inanimate object.” She insisted. Burish still had his hands on her waist. Their eyes met, and he slid his hands down onto her hips, slowly. Each second felt like an eternity. His normal boyish grin was gone, replaced with an intense stare of longing. She felt his hard arms under her hands and for a split second imagined what if--

“I don’t think that’s how they start a lift,” Bolland speculated. Burish’s hands fell to his sides. “I think they do it more like this,” Bolland said, as he grabbed Elia and turned her so she faced away from Adam. “You would have to put your leg up like this, and then--”

“WHAT THE HELL are you doing? Elia!” Toews came over angrier than ever and started arguing with Elia. He took his gloves and helmet off.
“I’m NOT one of your players Jonathan, you can’t tell me what to do!”
“When you are on this ice, you listen to ME,”
“You aren’t MY Captain!”
“You think it’s fun and games to goof around and be picked up or whatever the fuck you guys are doing? You like that?”

To everyone’s surprise Toews picked up Elia and started carrying her off the ice.

“TAZER THIS ISN’T FUNNY”

He took her in through the locker room and into the training room. Elia felt helpless as her skates dangled. She wasn’t sure what he was planning to do but she wasn’t sure being dropped would end well either. They were heading to the back of the training room, Elia couldn’t see what was ahead of them. And then she felt it. The crippling cold water of the ice bath. The tub where players go to ice their sore muscles. Elia had used one before when she ran track in high school. She tried to put her feet down but he was putting her in butt first, the water engulfed her entire body, stabbing her like a million needles. She gasped. Getting out was difficult, and she had to pull her legs in in order to stand up. She looked at Toews, still stunned at what had just happened. He was staring at her with a similar expression of shock. She looked down at her white tee shirt soaked through with her white bra underneath. Toews realized the consequence of that and quickly grabbed a towel and threw it to her. She stepped clumsily out of the ice bath, sensing that suddenly they were both more embarrassed than angry.

“Don’t ever do that to me again.” She said quietly but firmly.
“I...I’m sorry…” Toews stammered, and ran out of the room.

Kane ran into the room to find Elia standing with a towel, chilled to the bone. He helped her get her skates off, but her soaked jeans were tight to her body. Versteeg was with them now and he got more towels and scissors. They ended up cutting off her pants. “Why does he hate me so much?” Elia asked, sadly. “He doesn’t hate you,” Kaner replied. “Am I really that distracting?” They assured her she wasn’t. Elia spent the rest of the practice watching from a box, drinking hot chocolate and working on her computer. Toews didn’t say another word to her. The next day they would fly to Finland, and she wouldn’t see them until their next game in Detroit.

Notes