Chapter 43

“I don't think I can do this much longer, my assistant on set asked me if I was pregnant. She thinks I have morning sickness.” Elia said, sitting on the sofa in her trailer in front of her computer.
“Why did you think it was a good idea to keep saying you needed to throw up?” Jon asked, sitting at his kitchen island in Chicago.
In order to find time to talk every day, Elia had come up with the plan to stop production every day at 9:00 a.m in Toronto so that she could Skype call Jonny at 8:00 a.m Chicago time. Naturally, her first instinct was to yell out “I think I'm going to be sick!” and run to her trailer. It had worked once, so she just went with it.
“I figured they'd think I was doing coke or something. This is a lot worse.”
“I'm not sure I see how being pregnant is worse than having a drug addition, but at least it's only for one more week,” Jon said.
“Yeah but then you'll be traveling for a week,” Elia said.
“That's fine, you won't be working so I will just call you whenever I want.” Jon replied cheekily.
Elia glowered at him before changing the subject. They had never talked about what happened on Sunday. She had called him when she got to Toronto like she said, and they had agreed to always find time each day to talk, no matter how busy they were. It was easy to text, and Elia sent him random photos of things all day long, but actual legitimate face time was now a priority. Not only were they both happier when they had more contact with each other, but it had eased Elia's nerves. There was no telling what would happen once they were in touching distance, but for now she was back to being relaxed and herself while talking to Jon. Unfortunately, Elia's morning sickness only worked for sixty minutes, and then she had to get back to fighting space robots with Tom Cruise.
The pregnancy rumors were really taking off. Not only was Elia throwing up every morning, but she was positively glowing, or so people were saying. She tried telling the film crew she was addicted to cocaine, but they just kept telling her it was bad for the baby. Typical movie crew, nobody from Hollywood ever cared about drugs. Tomorrow she wasn't going to be fake sick, she would have to come up with something else.
She was supposed to pick Paul up from the airport after work, but delaying filming for an hour had pushed the day back a couple of hours. He was waiting at her apartment when she finally got back.
“Honey, I'm home!” she yelled as she entered the condo. He yelled back that he was laying on the couch. She walked in to the living room and collapsed on the sofa next to him.
“I'm so tired, where's my dinner?” she asked. He patted her on the head, ignoring her questions, he asked her some.
“What's up with your Netflix recommendations? You have a whole category titled 'Because you watched: Fortress of the Bears', and look at this one, 'Because you watched: Pig Bomb,' Elia what the hell is this shit?”
“What are your Netflix recommendations? 'Because you watched: After Porn Ends?”
“Why would I watch a movie about what happens after porn when I could just watch porn? Why would I watch porn when I could just invite a woman over and make some myself?”
“Less than two minutes, and we are talking about home videos. That's gotta be some kind of record of depravity.”
“I know you are very frustrated, I'm not surprised your mind goes in this direction so fast.”
She turned to glare at him. Then looked down.
“You're not wearing pants?” He shrugged. Elia shook her head. She was starting to feel the exhaustion, but wanted to make sure Biz had fun while he was in town. Promising they would party later, Elia closed her eyes for a short nap.
Paul didn't wake her up for an hour. She woke up feeling groggy, with Paul gently shaking her shoulder. “Hey sugar pie.”
“Uh, what time is it?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.
“Almost nine. You just really messed up your makeup.”
Elia sat up, wiping smeared eyeliner from under her eyes. Great.
“Okay, so I know Drizzy is having a party on like a boat or a barge or something out by Bluffer's Park Marina. He got some DJ from Sweden to come out for it, and like, it's going to be seriously A-List. That is option one. Jay Baruchel texted me yesterday saying Seth Rogen and Franco are going to be in town tonight, so he's going to have a party. That would be option two, of course you would probably fail a drug test just being in the same room as Jay and Seth. What else is happening tonight...”
“Hey, you look like you could fall asleep again any minute. Why don't we just have a chill night? Let's go get some dinner and then go see a movie or something.” It took a while for him to fully convince her that he was fine having an easy night.

Elia was sitting in makeup when she video called Jon the next day. A short red haired woman was applying something to her face. When the video chat finally connected Elia looked sideways without moving her head, waving to the computer on the makeup counter.
“So, I didn't have to throw up today, I had a real accident,” she said.
“What happened, are you okay?” Jon asked.
The makeup artist, Kelly, asked Elia to close her eyes so she could paint something on her eyelid. She proceeded to explain to Jon what had happened. There was a choreographed fight scene being filmed that morning. Elia was supposed to grab an alien's gun, kick them away, then turn to her right to hit a stunt guy in the head with the butt of the gun. Except Elia turned left. Right into somebody's elbow. She had spent half an hour holding an ice pack on her face, but it was still turning in to quite a nice shiner. “Such a rookie mistake, but at least I didn't give myself a concussion,” she was saying. Kelly told Elia she could open her eyes again. Looking back to her computer she noticed that Jon was looking dour, staring down at his computer screen.
“Is something wrong with you?” she asked, assuming the Blackhawks had a bad game the night before.
“Uhhh...You didn't watch the game last night, did you?” he asked. She shook her head.
“I didn't play,” Jon said. Elia stared at him, waiting for him to continue. He was silent.
“Why didn't you play?...Jonny?”
“Upper body injury.”
“Let me see your hands!” Elia shouted. Jon laughed slightly, raising his arms and waving them around.
“Your limb parts look fine! Stand up and take your shirt off!”
“No!” Jon said smiling.
“You're saying upper body to me because you don't want to tell me and what I can see looks find so I am assuming you have a concussion.” Jon stopped smiling and started looking around with his eyes.
“And when did this happen? Can you stop for a minute? Please.” Elia said to Kelly. The makeup artist looked annoyed, and left the room. Elia's eye was half black, like a purple crescent moon was eclipsing her eye. She jumped off her chair and sat at the bench closer to the computer. Jon didn't exactly specify, but admitted it was sometime during the long road trip that it had happened. He didn't even realize it at first, because he was so focused on trying to get out of the loss streak. Then during their last game, it felt worse. He had told the Blackhawks staff, and they had decided to keep him out after that.
“Wait, so they just let you play for a while, even though they knew?” Elia said, confused.
“And then I crashed my car this morning.” Jon tried to say nonchalantly.
“WHAT.”
“It wasn't a big deal, I just got confused driving down one of those roads where the L tracks are overhead, and hit a support beam.”
“Oh my god, I will come back to Chicago right now,” Elia started to say.
“El, no, it's fine. It was nothing. If you come back now you will just have to go back to Toronto again later, you're almost done anyway.
“But--”
“--But nothing. I'm fine.”
Elia tried to look normal, but she suddenly felt like she might cry. This was his second concussion since she had known him, and who knew how many he had actually had. The door to the room opened. Kelly was back, with one of the producers. She told Jon they would continue the conversation later and got back on the chair to finish her make-up fix.

Later that night she grabbed a sandwich and a coffee at Tim Horton's on the way to the ACC with Paul. Elia got her usual grilled cheese to go, and they continued to walk down the street. She had been ranting to Paul about Jonathan the whole way. He was not very sympathetic. For starters, he was annoyed they were walking. Additionally, his general opinion was that Jonathan was a hockey player, shit happens. It was a part of the game, and it happened to everybody at one time or another.
“El, my advice is that you should just tell him. That simple.” Paul said, uninterested in the conversation.
“He already knows I'm displeased with how he has handled this.” Elia countered.
“No, I mean you should tell him you're into him. Just straight up.”
“That's not what this is about, I am a co-chair on a brain injury foundation, I am concerned with head injuries.”
“Never heard you complain about all the hard hits your lover boy Marchand took.”
Elia took a huge bite of her sandwich as they walked, buying herself a moment to think before talking again. The winter wind coming off the lake blew her hair across her face. She stopped and Paul brushed her hair away, since her hands were full of coffee and sandwich. He looked at her for a moment, noticing the make up around her eye.
“What if we're just not relationship people Paul?” she asked. He put his arm around her shoulders as they walked on. There were many fears swirling around in Elia's mind. The obvious being whether or not Jon felt the same way. But there was that other problem of what happens after. Elia had always been fine being alone, but she had always believed that having someone to share a life with is what made it all meaningful, worthwhile. That still didn't always equate to her being able to do that. Her relationship with Brad had been a perfect example. Every decision she had made in the relationship had come down to how it would affect her, not him.
“I think when you find the right person it all comes naturally.”
Elia thought about it. She thought she had been with the right person before, but it had started volatile. For a while it had come naturally. And then...
“Maybe not that it works out naturally, but you will want to make it right no matter what happens. If not, I look forward to trawling retirement homes with you.” Paul continued, giving her a kiss on the top of the head.
“There won't be anyone left in Arizona you haven't hooked up with so I guess we are retiring in Florida?”
Paul didn't want to talk about relationships anymore after that. He said it was too heavy for pregame conversation. Elia thought that was bullshit considering he probably wouldn't see ice time anyway. In order to prepare for the post game fun time, Elia wore her sunglasses in to the game and took a nap from first intermission through second intermission. She woke up during the beginning of the third period when someone spilled beer on her while trying to get to their seat. When life give you lemons you make lemonade, and when someone spills a beer on you get them to buy you one. She was determined to rally by the end of the game so they could go out.
A few of the other Coyotes players decided to join Elia and Paul to meet up with Rogen and crew at a bar called Cameron House. On the way out of the ACC Elia saw Nazem walking across the parking lot. She called out to him and they walked over.
“Hey, I didn't see you play? I didn't realize you were here,” Elia asked.
Naz looked at her with his face full of disappointment. “Sjöström skated this morning but Coach wasn't sure if he was going to start until close to game time so I had to be here just in case. But he got activated from the IR and now I am going to the Toronto Marlies.”
“Hey, you'll be back.” Elia said, trying to cheer him up. “But you know, nobody is going to give it to you. When you get these chances you need to take it.”
He looked at her skeptically, as if that wasn't the way it was going to be. He was too good to be in the AHL.
“Have you ever heard of Wally Pip?” Elia asked. Kadri shook his head. “What about Lou Gehrig?”
“Oh yeah, I know who that is.” Naz said.
“Well, Wally Pip was the Yankees starting first baseman. One day, he took a sick day, and they called up Lou Gehrig to fill in for him. We all know the rest of that story.”
“And then he discovered Lou Gehrig's disease.” Naz said, nodding knowingly. Paul started laughing.
“You kill me Naz,” Elia said, dumbfounded.
Kadri thanked her for the advice and they hugged. As he started to walk away Elia called his name and jogged over to him. She was heading back to Chicago in a few days, but the apartment was paid for through April. He could stay there until he found his own place. Naz was an odd kid, but he was a good guy. He hadn't been upset or anything when Elia had told him she didn't want to hook up anymore. She hoped he figured it all out some day.
The Cameron House was a bar on Queen and Spadina that was painted in murals around the outside walls. Inside it looked like an old movie theatre, with red booths lining the walls and an intricately painted ceiling. The sconces on the walls focused light up and down, cascading a warm glow over the space. At the back of the bar was a small stage where a woman was playing guitar and singing, and a man played piano next to her. Grown men with tight skinny jeans and flannel shirts sat along the bar drinking craft beers, flirting with androgynous women. Elia and Paul hated the place immediately. They would have turned around immediately if Seth Rogen hadn't called out Elia's name. She told Paul they would stay for one drink, at least wait until Shane and Taylor met up with them before going elsewhere.
They sat down with Jay, Seth and James and ordered a couple beers. It wasn't long before Shane Doan and Taylor Pyatt joined them. Bissonnette was used to hanging out with Elia, and being around other actors now, but Doan and Pyatt were a little taken aback by the whole situation. On the other hand, Baruchel was a huge hockey fan and was geeking out about the hockey players. It started out a little weird. Elia pulled her phone out of her coat pocket. She had a missed call from Jon. She started to call him back. James Franco was looking at her.
“I heard you thought I was hot,” he said. She wasn't listening, so he repeated himself. She looked over at him.
“I didn't say I thought you were hot, I said it looks like your body was made for sex. Did Rogen tell you that?”
Franco smiled at her.
“Same difference, you want to find out?”
“No thanks, it's a life goal of mine not to be eskimo sisters with Lindsay Lohan again.” Elia replied.
“Uh, hello?” Jon's voice came over the phone.
“Oh hey Jonny! I saw I had a missed call from you. Is everything alright?” she asked back.
“Yeah, just thinking about you,” he said. “Missed you,” he added.
Elia smiled, hesitating to say anything with the other players around. She excused herself from the table and walked towards the front of the bar.
“I missed you too.”
“So, I probably won't be traveling with the team on the road trip.” Jon said.
A mix of emotions hit her. That was not good news. If the team doctor didn't want Jon traveling, they must have been pretty worried about him. On the other hand, that meant she would see him in a couple of days. How was she supposed to react to that news?
“That's...It's probably best to be cautious. You and I can catch up on rest together,” she said.
“Silver lining. What are you up to tonight?” he asked.
She told him about going to the Leafs Coyotes game, and the bar they were at. He asked who she was talking to when he first answered. Jonathan had the ridiculous idea that he looked like James Franco. Elia couldn't stop laughing when he said it. There was no similarity. At all. Jon didn't want to keep her on the phone too long, so they said their goodbyes. When she returned to the table Shane asked her if she was talking to Toews.
“You know I have some funny stories about that kid.”
Elia was already amused hearing someone refer to him as a kid. Apparently, Doan and Toews had roomed together at the 2007 IIHF World Championship. Jon had just turned nineteen at the time, and Shane may have hazed him a little. Nothing serious, just making him fetch water bottles at the hotel (without being allowed to use the elevator), cleaning up pucks after practice and opening doors for him.
“That is too funny!” Elia said. She tried to imagine teenage Jonathan running up and down twenty flights of stairs to bring water to the veteran players. It was crazy to think that had been just two years before they met. There was only a three year age difference between Jon and Elia, but in a way they had both still been so young when they met. Timing could make such a big difference. Even though Elia had felt like an idiot for not realizing how she felt for Jon, this was the way it had to be. When they met in 2009 they were both young and figuring things out still. They had both grown so much, in some ways because of each other, and now it seemed like it was falling in to place.
One drink turned in to two, which turned into three, and then the group took it down the road to another bar. It was another night of sleep deprivation but it had been fun. Paul flew out with the rest of the Coyotes the next day. Elia went out the next night with Elisha and Dion. They had planned a going away party for Elia with some of the other Leafs. Although that Friday was her last day on set, the movie was still filming for another month. None the less, Tom Cruise, director Joseph Kosinski, Andrea Riseborough, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and the rest of the cast and crew wanted to go out and celebrate with her. They reserved a private room in a restaurant called Canoe, located in the TD Bank Tower, right across from the Hockey Hall of Fame. It had beautiful views of the lake and amazing food. Everyone chose the Ontario tasting menu, with meat and produce sourced from local farms and fish out of the lake they were looking at. Cruise graciously picked up the tab for the table at the end of the night, and expressed how great an experience it was to work with Elia. He hoped there were more films in the future for them. Elia thought they should wait to see the box office numbers before deciding that, but it had been a lot of fun.
Upon arriving at O'Hare the next afternoon Elia was surprised to discover her mother, brothers and dog were picking her up. She was more surprised to learn that they were coming back to her house with her, and wanted to spend the afternoon and evening “hanging out”. They had even brought board games. She tried to tell them she was tired from the jet lag and the time zone change but they weren't having any of it. Her mom was talking on and on about making sloppy joes, and ice cream sundaes, but Elia just frowned. She took out her phone to gchat Jon.
Elia: hey, mom&bros just picked me up from the ORD, they plan on staying all night.
Toews: yeah, brian told me about that.
Elia: what? Why are you talking to my brother?
Toews: we talk all the time
Elia: ok well don't, how am I supposed to set a good example for my brothers if they can find out about the bad things I do from you?
Toews: don't do bad things
Elia: >:(
Elia: anyway...sorry to have to cancel our plans for tonight, tomorrow? Unless you feel like playing monopoly and eating sloppy joes with my fam.
Toews: yeah, I can catch a cab in an hour or so
Elia set her phone down in her lap, smiling. He wanted to hang out with her family. He must like her as more than friends. Then she frowned. He was going to hang out with her family. He was going to get scared away. The rest of the way home Elia tried to set strict boundaries with the family about acting normal. Especially to her mom: no telling strange stories about Elia as a child. She searched their bags when they got out, making sure there were no family photo albums anywhere.
The dog seemed happy to be in her own home, running all the way up the stairs and back down several times before laying on the floor. Brian and Taylor went downstairs to play video games and Elia's mom went to the kitchen to make some coffee.
“What is this machine Elia?” she asked about the coffee maker.
“Mom, its a DeLonghi espresso machine, I got you one for your birthday like two years ago! What did you do with it?”
Her mother had always feigned ignorance about the gifts Elia tried to give her. She had simply refused to start living life differently when Elia came into real money. When Elia had first started riding professionally, all her money had gone back to helping the family pay the bills. She had earned about $150,000 for winning the Kentucky Derby, and used it to pay off her parent's mortgage. The Preakness had paid their credit card debt and put her brothers in private school. That was the last time her mom had accepted money from her. Elia sighed as she showed her mom how to use the coffee maker. It wasn't complicated, put in coffee and milk, press a button and cappuccino comes out. The dog got up suddenly and started running to the front door. Jon had arrived. Elia walked over to the front door, greeting him with a hug.
“Do your parents let you buy them things?” she asked him.
“Never. David does though,” he said.
“Brothers, they always need something,” Elia said.
They both agreed that it was probably difficult for parents to accept help from their children. Even wildly successful ones. Younger brothers didn't have this role reversal problem. They walked back towards the kitchen together.
“Hi Sue, how are you doing?” Jon said, giving Elia's mom a hug hello. She started telling him that her neighborhood was having problems with teenagers knocking over trash cans. Elia was about to intervene when she saw something outside on the porch that wasn't a chicken. “What the fuck is that?” Elia said aloud, walking over to the back door. Two kittens were sitting out on the deck next to a pair of ceramic bowls. One was empty, the other full of water. A note was taped to the window near the door, written by the neighbors that cared for the chickens. They had found the kittens sleeping next to the heated water bucket one morning and started feeding them. “God damnit,” Elia cursed. There was a bag of cat food in the pantry now.
“Ohh, they look so cold,” Elia's mom started to say, walking over to the door.
“Don't let those things in here!” Elia yelled.
“They do look cold,” Jon agreed.
“They look like little flea bags,” Elia countered. Jon and her mother stared at her with puppy dog eyes. There was no way she was letting those in her house.
An hour later they were all playing Monopoly around the coffee table in the living room, with the Bulls game on the TV and the fireplace behind them. One kitten was curled up on Jon's lap, the other was trying to climb up Elia's arm. Byfuglien sat between Brian and Taylor, unperturbed by the new residents. Jon had managed to purchase the entire side of the board containing the blue and green properties, and was starting to build houses. Everyone else was still trying to put groups together.
“Jon is a known cheater. He cheats at face-offs and he cheats at Monopoly, I am really not surprised,” Elia complained as she landed on Park Place and forfeited more of her money to him. He didn't say anything back, but took his time counting the money. When the game wrapped up Elia's mom started to make dinner and Brian, Taylor, Elia and Jon started a game of Risk. Instead of playing against each other outright, Jon suggested an alliance with Elia. They teamed up against Brian and Taylor. Developing a strategy required a lot of whispering, which was a perfect excuse to touch each other. Jon would put his hand across the back of her neck and lean in to tell her something, or she would put her hand on his knee to get his attention. Her brothers found it all quite obvious, but didn't bother teasing them about it. They found it all too pathetic to bother with.
The problem with alliances is that eventually only one person can win, and it came down to a slow war of attrition between Elia and Jon. After dinner they all played a round of Apples to Apples before Elia's mom decided she should probably get home to take care of her dogs. Jon, Elia and Byfuglien went to Kriser's to get cat things.
“This guy just got two cats, so we need whatever cats need,” Elia said to one of the store associates. “She just got two cats,” Jon insisted. The young woman looked back and forth from Jon to Elia, not amused. She helped them gather the necessary supplies, litter boxes, litter, toys, more cat food, scratching posts, a cat tipi. Elia hoped the cats wouldn't go upstairs if they put all the cat stuff on the first floor. She really didn't know what cats liked to do. They set up the cat tipi next to the living room sofas and sat on the floor, watching the dog watching the cats. Sitting side by side they caught up on details of the past month. As the night wore on they pulled some pillows off the couch and a blanket. Slowly, Jon put his arm around her, and later Elia put one arm behind his back and the other across his waist, letting her head rest on his chest. They talked late into the night, falling asleep in each others arms on the floor.
In the morning Elia awoke with a shudder, lifting herself up on to her elbow and looking around. This was not where she usually slept. She rubbed her eyes, willing the blurry morning to focus. The movement woke Jon, who looked up at her, and gently pulled her back down into his arms. She remembered why she was sleeping on the floor now, and lay her head back down on Jon's chest.
“Hey, good morning.” he mumbled, still half asleep. Elia made an “mhm,” noise, stretching and shifting her body so she was laying half on Jon with one leg over his leg and her arm up under his shoulder. Sometime in the night Elia had taken her jeans and socks off, but Jon was still fully clothed. Elia hated sleeping with pants on. Jon's hand was on the small of her back, and had just brushed the top of her silk lace underwear. He had just figured out that she wasn't wearing pants anymore. This is it, Elia thought. She felt Jon's hand move slowly over the curve of her butt, heading inwards toward her thigh. His other hand was moving under her shirt, up her back. Elia pushed herself up slightly with her hands, leaning over Jon's shoulders and pressing herself into his body. She was finding it difficult to breathe, the intensity of wanting to kiss him was so high. There was a strange bell sound. The dog jumped up and started running towards the front door.
The bell. The door bell. Somebody had actually rung the door bell. Elia looked to her left, swore and quickly rolled to her side. The downside of having a mostly glass house, once again. The next door neighbors were at the front door. She quickly pulled her pants on walked over to the door. The girls were hoping to see the dog, they hadn't seen her in a month! Byfuglien strutted out the door and started jumping on them. Elia grabbed Buff's leash off a hook just inside the door and gave it to the neighbor kids. Jon was sitting awkwardly on the sofa when she turned back around. She sat down next to him, putting her legs over his and leaning into his shoulder. She put her arm over the back of the sofa. How could they get back to what they were just doing, except not in the living room?
“So, you know, I didn't plan on you being here this week, and I am supposed to get lunch with Abby and the Amandas and Elina later.” Elia said. Jon put one of his hands across Elia's legs, and nodded.
“I was supposed to watch the game with them, but I'm sure they wouldn't miss me if I maybe went to your place to watch instead?” she continued. Elia thought that would be a fun thing to do, but it made Jon get his grumpy face on.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” he asked.
She wasn't sure now, that was for sure. The more she thought about it though, she realized it had been a stupid suggestion. Of course he wasn't going to be happy watching a game he should have been playing in. From home on top of it all.
“I promise not to make any snide comments when you throw something at the television. And I'll get you the vegan cookies from Whole Foods that I know you like.” she said. If he was going to be cross about watching the game he probably shouldn't be alone.
“I can't eat cookies when I'm not even allowed to work out.”
“They're no sugar added!”
“Okay fine. But I'm making dinner.”
“I accept those terms.” Elia said. And I'm going to run through the Portillo's drive-thru on the way over, she thought. Jon being on a super healthy food kick was Elia's nightmare. She could already imagine the steamed vegetables and the butter-less refrigerator in his condo. Eating before hand was a must.
Elia took a cab to the Sharp house later since she had left her Tesla parked somewhere around there last time she was in town, and Carcillo had made off with her Wrangler. She needed to update Abby on everything that had happened since they last talked. Amanda G. was already there when she arrived, which was okay. So far she had proven very adept at not spilling secrets, and Elia liked her. The ladies sat down in the living room and Elia gave them a lengthy run down of how things had progressed. Abby and Amanda held their comments until Elia was finished.
“Just to be clear, Jon slept over last night, you didn't have pants on, and all that happened was he kind of felt you up?” Abby asked.
“I mean, when you say it like that it might sound like nothing has happened, but--” Elia tried to explain.
“--How did you not even at least get to first base?” Amanda interrupted.
“Maybe it's got like a funky curve and he's afraid of letting you see it,” Abby added. Amanda smiled, politely holding in a laugh. Elia stared at them incredulously.
“Or like...a sore...” Amanda said.
“A sore?”
“Maybe he only has one ball, that happens to guys a lot, they get a puck in the wrong place, and boom!” Abby said.
“Look at the time guys! We better get going!” Elia declared. Her friends were mean, horrible people. They drove up to Andersonville for lunch at M.Henry, a small bakery and cafe known for its delicious brunch. Elina had driven up with Sylvie and Amanda C. They pulled two tables together near the window and sat down, putting Madelyn's carrier in one of the chairs. Elia ordered vanilla almond brioche french toast, craving sugar after the stress Abby and Amanda had just laid on her.
“Have you seen this yet? Thought you would find it amusing,” Amanda C said, passing her a copy of the newest People magazine. Oh wonderful, Elia thought.
“Elia Downs 'On' Again Relationship with NHL Star Paul Bissonnette,” she read the headline aloud. “Oh that is amusing, they called Paul a 'Star'!” she said smiling.
The main picture was Paul looking like he was about to kiss her. She flipped to the article. There was a picture of her at the game wearing a stupid Sauce hockey shirt. A picture of Paul with his hand on Elia's stomach for some reason, probably stopping her from walking into traffic, with the caption “Rumors have been swirling on the set of Oblivion that Elia is expecting and in her first trimester”.
“Soooo, any truth to the story?” Amanda asked, grinning.
“No, none at all. Wait, do I look like I could be pregnant?” Elia said, trying to turn it around on them. It worked, and the ladies started talking about something else. Elia snapped a picture of the headline to tweet at Paul. He would get a kick out of that.

Lunch with the girls was smooth from there out. They made plans for later in the week, shopping and a game when the boys were back in town. Elia stopped to get cookies like she promised, then picked up her dog and some overnight items before driving to Jon's. They hung out the rest of the afternoon, playing some ping pong and watching television.
The Blackhawks were playing the Blues again, and they weren't playing well. Brandon Bollig started a fight with Ryan Reaves shortly into the first period, which made a blood vessel in Jon's neck look like it might explode. T.J. Oshie scored a couple minutes later which didn't help. Elia wasn't sure how it was going to get worse, but then Seabs got an interference penalty against Oshie and they scored again on the resulting power play. Jon started shouting at the television then, clearly frustrated he couldn't do anything else. The period ended half a minute later. What a wave to ride into the second, Elia thought. Jon paced during the intermission, and called up one of the coaches on the phone.
Only twenty seconds into the second period Reaves drew a boarding penalty against Shawzer and put the Hawks on a power play. The power play had not been going so well that season so Elia was holding her breath. When Vladimir Sobotka put in a shorty Jon was disturbingly quiet. Elia thought he might have actually had a stroke.
She nudged him with her hand to be sure, “Hey?” He glanced at her briefly before staring back at the game. “Okay, scoot up,” she said, motioning for him to sit at the front of the sofa cushion. Elia got behind him, putting her hands under his shirt.
“What are you doing?” he asked, turning around.
“You're missing the game,” she said. He turned back around to the tv. Elia started rubbing the heel of her hand into his back. She felt his body stiffen more, then slowly relax. She changed it up, pressing the palm of her hands into his back, rubbing into the sides and pressing with her fingers in places. He let out a sigh, his jaw unclenching. He had calmed down a lot by the end of the second period, of course it helped that the Blues stopped scoring. Elia ran her hands around to the front of his body, rubbing his chest with her hands. She put her head down on his back. Jon put his hands over hers. They sat that way through the second intermission and into the third period until Andrew Brunette scored and Jon jumped up and started yelling. Elia stood up on the couch and started playing Chelsea Dagger on her cell phone. As she had been trained, Byfuglien started jumping around at the sound of the goal song and barking. Jon looked astounded.
“Do you do that every time you watch the game from home and we score?” he asked.
“You really don't know what its like to be a fan do you? Sometimes I play this when I wake up and its a game day, just to get pumped up. Sometimes I play it when I get...” laid, she was going to say, but quickly thought of something else “...when I get a really well made Subway sandwich.” she finished. “You know, because those Subways can be really inconsistent.”
“Yeah, I hate that,” he said slowly, giving Elia a strange look. He put his arm around her when they sat back down for the rest of the game. It was unfortunately the only time the Hawks would score.
“Blues penalty kill has been unreal.” Jon said flatly at the end of the game. He got up to make another phone call to Quennville. He was not any happier when he came back.
“I'm really tired, and it's getting late,” he said.
“Yeah, I'm getting tired too,” Elia said. She didn't know what to do, go home?
“Should we take the dog out before we go to bed?” he asked.
“Yeah, she will need to go out.” Elia said.
They took the Byfuglien outside for a short walk and then went back up to Jon's apartment. He walked straight into his bedroom and took off his shirt and jeans. Elia had seen him in his boxers many times, but this time it felt new and sultry. He walked into his bathroom and Elia was momentarily alone. She stripped down to her underwear and an under-tank, then wasn't sure what to do. Jon opened the bathroom door and walked over to her.
“I've got an extra spin-brush head you could use.” he put it in her hands.
For the second night in a row, Elia did not get to first base. But she wasn't upset about it. Jon was clearly not in the mood for romance that night, but did appear in the mood for being comforted. He held Elia tight in his arms the whole night through.
Elia had planned to be at the barn every Monday and Wednesday through March and April, teaching riding lessons. The other days of the week she really needed to be working on finishing editing the breakup movie. They were holding a spot for it to screen at South by Southwest, and she only had another two weeks to get it done. She and Jon continued to spend evenings together, and he liked to hang out at her place while she did editing. There had still not been any progress on the making out, and Elia was starting to worry about it. Without making out, they were still just friends, even if it did feel like they were in a relationship. Why didn't Jon want to kiss her? What if Abby and Amanda had been right? After the first night at Jon's, Elia made sure to wear the sexiest underwear she owned underneath her clothes, just in case she needed to strip.
The team arrived back from their road trip in the middle of the week. Jon was still not going to be practicing, but he was cleared for off-ice exercise and that greatly improved his mood. Thursday morning he left early to work out before the Blackhawks practiced so he could watch their morning skate. Elia had a busy day planned but wanted to try and get out of the house to see the guys.
She showed up at Johnny's Ice House for morning skate just as the team was getting ready to head out to the ice. Not only was she violating the no cell phones in the locker room rule, but she appeared to be having two phone conversations at once, holding phones on both sides of her face. On one she seemed to be arguing, on the other coordinating some kind of business deal. She sat down at her usual place next to Kane's spot on the bench. Most of the guys gave her a passing glance and went back to getting dressed. Bolland walked over and sat next to her, leaning in close to her head and trying to say “nutsack,” into one of the phones. Elia tried pushing him away with her elbow, but didn't have adequate reach. Jon stood watching for a moment, but when Sharp started to get interested in the interference game he decided to put a stop to it. He walked over, grabbed the phones out of Elia's hands and ended both her calls.
“No. phones. In the locker room.” he said, glaring at her.
“What the hell Jon those were really important calls! Well, one was important.” Elia said, jumping up and putting her hands out, expecting to get the phones back.
“Then you can go outside and call them back.” he said.
“Seriously, you need to give me the white one back right now, I am in the middle of an auction to buy a house in Manchester and if someone outbids me I will flip out!”
“Why would you want to buy a house in Manchester?” Pat asked.
“Manchester England?” Sharp asked.
“It's got a Banksy on one of the walls and I'm going to have it torn down and shipped to my house!” She was almost yelling now. One of the phones started ringing in Jon's hand. Kanye West.
“Oh you don't have to answer that one. He wants me to go to the Grammy's with him but I can't because I got banned from the Grammy's in 2005 and on top of that I just got in a twitter feud with Katy Perry and I don't want to go.”
“You are about two seconds away from getting banned from this locker room too,” Jon continued in his most patronizing voice.
“You can't ban me from the locker room!”
“Do you remember what happened last time you sassed me Elia?”
The guys all started chirping her. Elia looked at him, squinting and furrowing her brow.
“Noooo.....”
Kane started laughing a little, then started mouthing the words “ice bath” to her. She looked at him confused before it suddenly clicked.
“Ohhhhh....Yeah, I remember that now. That was really horrible. But this is a Banksy.” she said. Jon had enough. He grabbed Elia by the arm and walked her out of the locker room. She complained he was hurting her and tried to get some help from Kane or Bolly but they were too amused watching her leave.
Jon shut the door behind them and glared at Elia, clenching his jaw so tight she thought his teeth might break. The hallway was deserted, so silent you could hear a pin drop. It made Jon shooting daggers all the more intimidating. Elia stared back at him, wondering if he was really thinking of icing her again.
“Do you really try to irritate me this much, or does it just come naturally to you?” he said finally. Elia considered the question for a moment. Before she realized what she was saying she heard the words come out of her mouth, “It's probably like a 40-60 split.” She winced. That probably counted as sass. Jon was biting the inside of his lip, searching her face with his eyes. And then he turned his head to the side, a small laugh coming out as he rubbed his forehead with his free hand. He dropped her phones from his other hand, “You,” he said, pointing at her with a strange grin on his face. For a second Elia thought he was going to hit her, but instead he stepped towards her, took her face in his hands and brought her mouth to his. He kissed her hard, too hard, and unexpectedly, their teeth hit, and the shock of it made Elia step backwards. He stepped with her, stopping to take a breath and look her in the eyes once before closing his and kissing her again. The second was better, softer. It lasted only a few seconds before Jon pulled away and turned around. He walked in a short circle, then turned back to Elia.
“I'm sorry, I just--”
“--no don't say that. I liked it.”
They stared at each other for a moment. Jon walked back over to her, putting one hand on the back of her head, and with his other hand pulled her body in to his. He leaned down and kissed her again. Elia put her arms around him, kissing him back. This time was perfect, the warmth of his breath on her face, the feel of his body around her, the touch of his lips on hers. Elia felt light headed. She almost forgot they were in a hallway at the Ice House, until someone opened the locker room door and walked out. They pulled apart quickly. Mike Kitchen nodded hello at them then continued on his way. He hadn't noticed anything. Jon pulled her towards him again.
“I have to get back to the practice,” Jon said before kissing her again.
“Me too,” Elia said in between kissing.
“No you aren't, go sit in the stands,” Jon replied. They heard footsteps down the hallway again. Kitchen was coming back with a folder of something. They waited until he had gone back inside.
“If you don't let me back in the locker room I won't let you kiss me anymore,” she said. Jon stood up straight again, looking at her more confidently now.
“I didn't ask permission the first time, and I won't next time either.” he said, heading back in to the locker room.

“There won't be a next time!” Elia yelled back. She dialed back her bid caller in England. They were still in it. She waited a few more minutes, then opened the door back into the locker room.

Notes