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The Moonstone Starlet

Chapter 38

CHAPTER 38

It was a rare day lately that Elia could snag some one on one time with Kaner, but she finally succeeded. Unfortunately, it had coincided with a day that she had told the Sharps she would babysit. Abby had promised that Madelyn would be sleeping by the time Elia got there, and would probably sleep until they got back. Elia was skeptical, but needed to prove she could handle babysitting. She had long term goals for this baby. The most epic prank to ever be attempted.
“I'm going to make Madelyn's first word be Kaner.” Elia announced to Patrick once the Sharps had left. Patrick's jaw dropped, “How?”
“I'm going to get into this babysitter routine, and just fucking, say Kaner non stop the entire time I'm with it. I'm going to redub all these kids shows and kids movies so that all the characters are named Kaner, and just say Kaner all the time.”
“I don't think you should refer to her as an it.”
“Oh, right.” Elia needed to remember that better.
Kane smiled, “I would die to be there the moment that Maddie looks up at Sharpie and says 'Kaner'. He's such a fuckin' dick. I really hope you can pull it off.”
“Yeah, what a dick. Wait, you're joking right?”
“No, Sharpie is an asshole. I kind of hate him. Jon really hates him.”
“Are you serious?”
Pat looked at her in disbelief. “You really don't know that?”
Elia had been around enough sports teams to know that locker rooms can be a strange place. Once the guys are in there, they're brothers. Warriors. About to do battle together. But that didn't always mean they liked each other. She had been hanging out with the Cubs during the infamous Sammy Sosa boom-box incident. When Alex Rodriguez had joined the Yankees it had started a cold war. Patrick Sharp liked to joke around and tease the other guys, particularly Kane and Toews, but she didn't think it had caused that much resentment. Could she have overlooked that? Was it all smiles for the camera? She didn't press the issue.
“I hope they don't have a nanny cam. We should throw out all the stuffed animals just in case.”
Elia was joking, but they did check around just to be sure. They had a quiet evening, baking some pre-made cookie dough and watching the final Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie. It seemed like a long time ago that they had read the books together on away game trips. The nights they spent out closing down bars together with Versteeg seemed like a whole other lifetime. Truthfully, she preferred the way things were now. Most nights she spent just hanging out with Jon, or practicing with Dan if the Blackhawks had a game. Of course, she wished she could spend more time with Pat, and wished Steeger hadn't gone away, but the slower, simpler pace was nice. And the hangovers were fewer and far between. It was also amazing to see Pat so smitten with his girlfriend. He talked about her endlessly, and had a new confidence in himself. She kept finding herself staring at him and smiling. He was starting to get weirded out by it, and started laughing. “Stop looking at me like that,” he told her. “I'm just really happy right now, don't tell me to stop.” Since he couldn't make her stop he just put his arm around her in a way that prevented her from turning her head like that.
As promised, baby Madelyn slept the entire time the Sharps were out. Abby was exhausted when they got in at eleven. She hadn't stayed up that late since before the baby was born. They had gotten dinner at Perennial Virant and then went to IO.
“That's great, you know I used to make $20 bucks when I babysat as a teenager AND the dad always drove me home.” Elia told them. Sharpie started laughing, “That's great, get out.” Elia could hear Abby yelling at him as she and Kaner walked off the front porch.
“I was really expecting to be paid in gum, that's how babysitting works in commercials,” Pat said.
“Let's go get a drink at the Pony for old time's sake and start rumors on the internet about the Sharps stiffing their babysitters.” Elia suggested. Pat laughed and agreed. The Pony it was.
They sat in their usual spot in the upstairs lounge. The bartender, Mike, brought them their usual drinks, and a shot they had never had before. It tasted foul. Incredibly bitter and almost toxic. He laughed as he watched them chug beer trying to get the taste out of their mouth.
“Welcome to Malort,” he said.
It only took a few drinks before Elia started feeling a bit drunk. She hadn't drank in a while and her tolerance had diminished somewhat. It probably hadn't helped that she chugged a whole beer after the Malort shot. Pat was busy texting Amanda so she decided to check her twitter.
@eldowns It's my birthday can I get a retweet?
Why did people always want to be retweeted for their birthday? What was the point of that? She sent a tweet: People spend your bdays doing something you like, then tell me bout it maybe i'll RT that.
@eldowns is it true you hooked up with Sean Penn?
She replied: What happens in a tent in Haiti stays in a tent in Haiti.
@eldowns why did brad cheat on you?
What the hell kind of question is that? Elia thought. She considered what to say for a minute before replying: he found out I promised @88pkane i'd name my first born KANE and he couldn't handle it.
There were a ton of notifications from a tweet she was mentioned in being RT'd. When she finally found the original tweet she screamed. Everyone in the bar stared at her. It was a tweet from Biz.
#tbt w/my girl @eldowns
Attached was a picture of Elia topless with Paul Bissonette standing behind her covering her breasts from the camera with his hands. She had almost forgotten about that night. Now she was certain she never would.
“Pat what does #tbt stand for?” She asked.
“Throwback Thursday, why?” he replied. She showed him the tweet.

The picture had been taken the year Paul had visited the island with her. In the outdoor great room between the guest houses was a large chalkboard. They called it the Challenge Board. The first year Elia owned the island she and Elijah Wood and Dom Monaghan had come up with twenty challenges and written them on the board. If you completed one, you wrote your name next to it and went down in island history. Over the years more challenges had been added. One that had never been completed was “Swim Nude to Sea Turtle Buoy,” and for good reason. Between the island and the mainland was a stretch of water referred to as Shark Ray Alley. It was literally full of sharks and rays. Someone had put a sea turtle shaped buoy about 100 meters off the shore. So it wasn't like Elia had been running around nude all week, she had just been dared to swim naked in shark infested waters. Diego Luna had done it too but had been conveniently cropped out of the picture.
“Whoa, have you hooked up with Biznasty!?” Pat asked, shocked.
“No, no,” she said, and explained to him about the skinny dipping. “Actually, we got really drunk and made out once,” she thought for a moment, “Eh, maybe twice. Three times tops. I also technically touched his balls once---but only to put icy hot on them while he was passed out drunk!” Patrick winced at the thought of that. He was glad he had always been on Elia's good side, because being on the other side of her pranks sounded rough.
“Don't ever tell Jon about that,” he said. Jon would flip out if he knew about that.
“Why?” Elia asked. Pat realized he shouldn't have said that out loud, “I meant don't tell anyone else about that, because it's just, you know, kind of, disturbing. Are you going to tell Biz to take the picture down?”
“A little late for that now, it's been retweeted like a thousand times,” she said as she texted Paul. Why did you post that picture?! He texted back almost immediately: just thought itd piss off your ex. Sometimes it seemed like everyone else wanted to get back at him more than she did.
He texted again: you still going to be in Toronto next month? I have a game against the Leafs. She texted back: ya, can you come out for any extra days?
He replied: yeah, let's party

Elia ordered another shot of Malort and another beer. There was something horrible about that drink that made her want to do it again. Like she needed to know if it really was that bad, or she had overreacted. It was really that bad. Why hadn't her publicist called her to deal with this? She decided to try and blow it over with a joke. She tweeted a response to Paul's picture. “Questions to ask on a first date: has paul biznasty ever touched your boobs?” It was the best she could come up with after a couple shots and a couple beers.

The next morning Elia had a slight hangover as she sat on set. They were filming in an apartment building called the Tides, not too far from Jon's place in an area called East Lakeshore. They only had about a week left of filming. Today Charlie and Kristen along with two body doubles were filming a few sex scenes. It was the first time Elia had to direct other people having sex, and it was a little awkward. She wondered what Jon was up to later, and was about to text him when she remembered he was going out with Lindsay that night. Tomorrow the Blackhawks were flying to Nashville to play the Preds. She decided to spend the night out at the barn.
The game against the Predators the Blackhawks looked tired, and worse, Toews left during the second period and never came back out on the ice. Elia wasn't watching the game though, she had gone out drinking with the actors after filming. They were at her old usual table at Sub 51.
Sub 51 was the lower level club underneath the tavern Hub 51. It was small and dark, one of the reasons Elia had always like it there. Tonight though, it was a little boring. They sat around the small table drinking expensive alcohol, not talking to anyone else at the bar. She got a Skype call from Jonny. This was a strange time for him to be calling. She answered.
“What the fuck Jon are you in the trainer's room! You have told me so many times I can't make calls in there!” She started yelling at him immediately. He frowned at her. Once she was done rubbing it in his face that he was a hypocrite he told her he had hurt his wrist. She excused herself from the table and went to the hallway near the stairs so she could hear him better. He unloaded of stress onto her. Stress over the season, the way they had been playing so inconsistently lately, and now this. She tried to make him feel better and told him she could cancel filming tomorrow if he wanted to hang out. Jon told her not to bother, he had to do a photo shoot for Chicago magazine. Elia wished she had gone to Nashville with them, he was obviously having a hard time. It was hard not to be able to do more. He seemed depressed as he hung up the phone.

Elia didn't get a chance to talk to Jon again until two days later, at Elia and Dan's musical debut. The day was an anomaly. It started ordinarily enough, with the temperatures hovering in the upper teens and overcast sky, but as the day went on the temperature kept rising. A storm was moving in from the south west, bringing warm air and thunder. By evening Chicago was reaching the upper 30's, and a dense fog had settled in to the city.
Elia didn't believe in superstitions. Black cats and billygoats weren't really curses. But you also couldn't ignore the signs that were right in front of your face. January thunderstorms had to mean something. It was an hour before they were to go on, and Elia was nervous. She sat at the bar in Uncommon Ground and ordered a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Dan sat down next her, “I thought you said you were going to start eating adult food again.”
Elia tried to glare at him but couldn't find the energy. “Sid Crosby eats a pb&j before every single game,” she said.
“Hasn't he been injured for a year?” Carcillo asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Yeah but he also had to walk past the other team's locker room at that Winter Classic and he's pretty sure it was that and not the sandwiches.” Elia said earnestly. That wasn't even a superstition that was obvious cause and effect.
If she had been worried to play in front of a dozen strangers she was petrified when her friends and family started showing up. Abby, Elina, Caskenette, Amanda, Kaner, Niklas, Bolland, Sylvie and Crawford. Jon and her mom and Taylor and Brian. Coach Q, Clint, Kitchen. When Elia saw Jon she immediately knew who had invited everyone.
“Which wrist did you injure?” she asked him.
“This one, why do you want to know?” he asked suspiciously.
“I'm going to physically harm you.” she said, a sinister look in her eyes.
Jon just shook his head as he raised his arm above his head. She was always going to be a foot shorter than him thankfully. He told her to relax, she was going to be fine. Everyone showed up to support her. Well, her and Dan. They were only going to get to play four or five songs, everyone came out for just four or five songs, Elia kept trying to tell Jon. He was ignoring her.
“You're an actress,” he pointed out.
“I have performed live once and that was in a high school play where I had one line!”
“I bet you said that one line really great.” Jon said.
“I hope all your games end in a shoot out until April.” she had meant the threat seriously but Jon just laughed at her. He told her good luck one more time before sitting down at a table with some of the other Blackhawks.
Uncommon Grounds was a restaurant in Chicago with two locations, known for using sustainable ingredients. Inside it was warm and cozy, with exposed brick walls, wood tables and big hanging orange pendant lights. They had fostered the local music scene over the past several years with their weekly open mic nights. Some of the restaurant patrons were there finishing dinner, but many came on open mic night for great drinks and music. At eight p.m. Scott Schaefer, one of the managers, brought Elia and Dan up on the small stage set up at the back of the restaurant. Against a backdrop of exposed brick and under a blanket of tiny string lights were two microphones, some guitars and a drum. Elia almost tipped over the stool that had been set up for her, and she could feel her cheeks flush. Dan was standing in front of one of the microphones, holding an acoustic guitar.
“This first song is an oldie but a goldie. Dan loves when I use that phrase,” she looked over at him and smiled. He was shaking his head. “Anyway...Just really been feeling it lately,” Elia said, moving too much and cutting in and out on the microphone. Dan steadied her shoulder with his hand, telling her to stop moving so much. He moved the microphone closer to her face so she wouldn't be leaning so much. She started plucking at the banjo, half sitting on the stool with one foot still on the ground, tapping in rhythm.
“Oh, I'll twine with my mingles and waving black hair,With the roses so red and the lilies so fair,” she started singing, quietly at first before finding her voice. Dan watched her, following the pace on the guitar and keeping a slow rhythm on the drum with his foot.
“She sounds like Emmy Lou Harris,” Quennville said to Jon. He didn't know who that was but nodded anyways. She had her hair down straight, falling over her shoulders, with a grey knit winter hat on her head. She wore a simple gold dress, sewn in at the hips and flowing down to her knees. There was some embroidery and beading across the chest. Her moonstone necklace shone in the light, and Jon could see the matching bracelet he had bought her shaking as she moved her hand up and down the banjo.
“Oh he taught me to love him and promised to love
and to cherish me over all others above,
How my heart is now wondering, no misery can tell
he's left me no warning, no words of fair well.
Oh he taught me to love him and called me his flower,
that was blooming to cheer him through life's dreary hour.
How I longed to see him and regret the dark hour,
he's gone and neglected his pale wildwood flower.”

Elia bent over to grab a glass of water off the floor and take a drink as Dan started immediately on their next song. He leaned into the microphone,

“Cocaine flame in my bloodstream,
sold my coat when I hit Spokane,
bought myself a hard pack of cigarettes in the early morning rain
Lately my hands they don't feel like mine
My eyes been stung by dust and grime
Held you in my arms one time and lost you all the same...”

It was another cover, played a little faster than the original, with a little more of a bluegrass sound because of the banjo. In the second verse Elia came in to harmonize with him,

“I found myself face down in the ditch, booze on my hair, blood on my lips, a picture of you holding a picture of me, in the pocket of my blue jeans
Still don't know what love means
Still don't know what love means.”

It was surprising that Elia was singing so well, but even more so that Dan could sing so well. People who he had grown up with wouldn't have been surprised. On ice he may have been an agitator, but he hadn't always been that way. He had been singing since he was a young boy in the church choir, and had been playing instruments almost as long. If he hadn't been a hockey player he may have been a musician.

“If it was up to Elia we would be a Ray Lomontagne cover band,” Dan said after they finished the song.
“That's not true, I wanted to be a Maroon 5 cover band so we could name ourselves Songs About Kane,” Elia contested, smiling. “Okay, here's an original.” They started playing a song with a slower tempo, sounding more like folk music.

“I met a bear under a dark night sky, he said love, I'll never break you.
Oh, I would've given him my heart, but a Phoenix had turned it to ash.
He said my brother ran like a river and my sister falls like rain,
but girl, you're hot like a fire together we'll burn brighter than the sun

He took me so far, far from any place I've known
together we lived above the city and the trees and the clouds
Oh, I gave him my heart for safe keeping and he burned it down
I said baby without you now I'll stop breathing.
Oh love, I'm still here
I'm still here, where are you?

I was suffocating, I was turning to stone
I let the wind take me out as the waves rolled on
Far enough along I lost the lantern room
And the moon shone down like a beacon but inside she's cold as bone
Oh love, I'm still here
I'm still here, where are you?”

Everyone started trying to guess what the song was about. They spoke quietly while the two kept singing the next song. The bear must have been Brad, because of the Bruins. They all agreed on that. But what was the Phoenix?
“Phoenix Coyotes? Maybe it's Paul Bissonnette. They clearly had a thing for a while,” suggested Dave Bolland.
“Did they? Why would you say that?” asked Jon.
“Uh, twi--” Dave started to say before Pat cut him off.
“--They didn't have a thing,” Pat assured them. They started brainstorming other Coyotes players. Elia's brothers started laughing.
“You guys think her whole life revolves around hockey but she has only been on your bandwagon for a few years,” Brian pointed out. If her brothers knew who it was about, they weren't giving up any information. The guys tried to think of baseball players, but their team was the Arizona Diamondbacks, not the Phoenix Diamondbacks. Quennville asked them all to be quiet and listen until they were done playing, and everyone hushed up.

The next two songs were co-written by Elia and Dan. They were faster and more lively, and Elia stood up off her stool and walked around the stage a bit. She occasionally stopped next to Dan and they sung into the microphone together. It was only a twenty minute set, but that was twice as long as they usually allowed on open mic night.
Elia and Dan were flushed and sweating when they pulled up seats between the two tables of friends. They thanked everyone for coming and ordered a couple drinks. Everyone was telling them they did a great job, but Elia was still not sure she believed it. Dan seemed happy with how it went regardless if anyone actually liked it. He just liked to play music.
“Mom, was that better than the play I did senior year?” Elia asked in a demanding voice, turning to the table on her right where her mom was sitting.
“Elia you know I always think you do everything great,” her mom replied sweetly.
“She always gives me the most mom answer possible.” Elia said shaking her head.
Caskenette started suggesting names for their band, and Elia and Dan tried to reiterate they weren't a band. It didn't stop everyone from getting in and coming up with names. Delia. Blackhawk Downs. The horrible list went on and on. Eventually the topic of conversation slowly shifted to other subjects. Elia's phone rang. She looked down to see who was calling.
“Sorry guys I have to take this, been playing phone tag,” she said as she answered and started to get up from the table. “Hey, what's up?....Hello?....B-raaad?” she pulled the phone away from her face to see if she had dropped the call and Dave Bolland grabbed it out of her hand. He spoke into the phone “If you ever call text email or whatever to Elia again I will choke you out with your own jock strap!” He hung up the phone and threw it down on the table, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.
“That wasn't Brad Marchand wise guy, that was Brad Pitt.” Elia said flatly. Dave's face dropped, “That was Tyler Durden?” he asked.
“Tyler Durden, Achilles, Jesse James, whatever the fuck his name was in Interview with the Vampire,” Elia listed badass characters he had played. Her phone rang again, “Hey, sorry about that. His name is Dave Bolland...He's a bruiser but I think you could probably take him.” she said, staring at Bolly. For once he looked unsure of himself. Elia started to get up and take the call elsewhere but everyone told her to just stay.
“Yeah, I read it. Pretty fuckin brutal....I kind of gathered you were thinking that, but I feel like I'm too young for that role, and it's like what-five minutes of screen time? What's the bottom line here?” She bit her lip and picked at the label on her beer bottle while she listened to Brad.
“Okay so you think attaching our names to the picture will help you get picked up by a distributor? Why don't you just pay to distribute it yourself, you have the money...This is sounding like something you are going to want me to do for a discounted paycheck. My agent has been really on my ass lately about not making people pay me. He specifically said to stop making myself a Groupon.”
Elia continued to listen to Pitt, but was starting to look tired of the conversation. As much as she wanted to be involved and help out a friend with a good project, he was putting her in a difficult predicament. Every time she accepted less than her standard fee for a film she gave other producers the impression she didn't have to be paid that much. Suddenly she gasped, and everyone at the table stared at her.
“Michael Fassbender is already committed to this? Why the hell wouldn't you say that to start with?! Oh my god, oh my god. Okay, here is what we do. What is the budget on how much you can pay me?...Alright, you're going to make me a producer, I'll put in $7 mil and then you pay me $9.....Why does everyone keep saying that? You're like the third person who has said that to me. I don't want to be set up with anyone...Nope...Ahhh! Yes! I would love love love to do that! This is the best phone call ever. Okay email me the details on that....Okay...Yeah...Alright, bye.”
Elia was smiling and dancing in her chair when she hung up the phone. Everyone was looking at her, and started asking what that was all about.
“Brad's production company Plan B is working on this movie 12 Years a Slave, and he wants to get me in minor role to add credibility cause they don't have a major studio backing them. Now in June I will be going down to hot New Orleans to film with hot Michael Fassbender. I need to stop thinking about it that way, this is a historically important story. Also, Plan B is starting development on a film adaptation of the novel Island of the Blue Dolphins, which I loved as a kid, and he wants me to direct. This is going to be a great year!”
While the table conversation commenced Elia was excitedly typing in notes on her phone. February she would be in Toronto filming, then home from March until May when she would be in New York to film Wolf of Wall Street. Filming in NOLA end of June to mid July, then filming Michel Gondry's Mood Indigo in France end of July through October. If she could get pre-production done on Blue Dolphins by then she could film somewhere warm through next winter. That would round out 2012 perfectly. She was already slated to film Sin City 2 in early 2013, and Interstellar with Chris Nolan after that. By then she would be sick of working again and would take a break.
“Why do you like Michael Fassbender so much Elia? He is old and worn.” Elina said suddenly from across the table. Elia gasped.
“You take that back he is perfect!”
“He wears camouflaged cargo shorts.” Elina said, passing her phone over.
“Eeeuhhhh,” Elia had no rebuttal to the picture, all she could do was stare at it in horror. There was beautiful Fassy wearing hideous shorts. It was kind of disgusting. Elina took her phone back.
“And this one.” She handed it back to Elia. It was a picture of Fassbender with baggy jeans and white gym shoes and a turtleneck.
“Oh god make it stop!”`Elia pushed the phone away with her hand. Everyone was laughing at her now.

There was almost a week between the Predators game and the Blackhawks next game in Vancouver. Elia had been working long days trying to finish up filming before she had to go Toronto. Midweek, however, she declared an emergency day off and came to see the Hawks at Johnny's Ice House. They had just finished practice and were coming off the ice when she came in. “I'm having an emergency,” she declared. One thing they had learned about Elia, she wasn't the kind of girl that said she was fine when she wasn't. Normally it was the complete opposite. Something small would be turned into an emergency and everyone would hear about it. This was no exception.
“What is it?” Jon said, sighing.
“I have to go back to Boston,” she lamented. While she had been with that other team, Elia had started a foundation with Marc Savard to raise money for brain injury research, lobby for stricter rules regarding letting players with concussions play, and strange but important: trying to get athletes to amend their wills to donate their brains to research at Boston University. There was a 5K over the summer, and next month there was a charity ball. The original plan was for Elia and Marc to co-host the event, but with the drama that went down with Brad, Marc had agreed to host solo. That is, until he had seen the proof for the program and noticed he would have to deliver a key-note speech. He had called Elia in a panic. Speaking in public was not his thing. He could barely handle talking to the media one on one, let alone to an entire room of people. He had practically begged Elia to come and do it.
“Just tell him to fuck off,” Bolland suggested.
“Agreed. Problem solved.” Duncan concurred.
“I can't. That's not what I'm here to debate.” The guys looked at her, wondering what the hell it was about then. She continued, “I've made a list of guys I could bring as a date which would indicate I am so much cooler than Brad, and so over him.

  1. Andrea Casiraghi, Prince of Monaco.
  2. --”
“---You should go alone.” Toews said, cutting her off.
“Are you insane?” Elia asked.
“No. You said before having a hotter, better guy wouldn't matter anyway. And if you ask me, the reason Marchand couldn't handle being with you is because you weren't going give up your life to become Mrs. Marchand. You're not a girl that is afraid to be single and I think you should show it off.”
Elia just stared at Jon for a few moments. Then she sighed, “God I fucking hate you some times Jon. Ugghhh, I have to do this now.” The event was February 10th, so all of the Blackhawks would be in San Jose playing the Sharks. She would have to go to Boston alone.

Notes

Thanks for reading everyone! I never anticipated I would have people wanting to read the story so I really appreciate it and hope you continue to enjoy. Next chapter will be a little sexier ;)

Comments

Well. There goes my reason for coming to the site. Brava on being done! Hope you find inspiration to write another story.

DELETED DELETED
4/27/15

omg its done.... what am i gonna read now :( So good girl!

hockeygirl07 hockeygirl07
4/26/15

What an amazing story. I can't believe it is over.

runawaycherry93 runawaycherry93
4/26/15

aweeeeeeeee

hockeygirl07 hockeygirl07
4/26/15

That was beautiful!!! Made me teary. Is this the end?

KWeber8771 KWeber8771
4/26/15