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The Moonstone Starlet

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

It didn’t last long. In the next game against the Canucks Toews took a hard hit in the third period and didn’t return to the ice. Elia found her way down to the trainer’s room where he was being evaluated by the team doctor for concussion like symptoms. Jonny was disoriented, seeming to struggle to sit upright and maintain his sense of surroundings. Elia hopped up on the table with him and squeezed his hand.

“If you can’t tell where you are, just feel my hand, I’m going to be right here. If you think you might throw up I’ll get you a bucket, just don’t stand up.”

Soon the game was over and the doctors had cleared Toews to go home and rest. Kane drove him home. Elia wondered if she should have offered to come over, but decided Toews would probably prefer to be by himself. He wasn’t really the type to need comforting.

The next game disaster struck again when Adam took a hit into the boards and came up limping. He was initially diagnosed with a suspected ACL tear and would need to see a specialist the next day. To be polite Elia asked if he wanted company, and he immediately said yes. When they got to Northwestern Memorial hospital Elia had to help him get out of the car with the crutches. As he pulled himself out of the car he grabbed her around her waist to steady himself. Her arm wrapped around him with her hand resting on his back.

“You okay Bur?”
Instead of his normal brash attitude he just winced and nodded. Being only about 5’5 Burish was almost a foot taller than her. She could feel the warmth of his chest on her face as he held onto her and readjusted the crutches. She breathed in and the scent of Old Spice, cedar and sweat made her heart race. When she raised her eyes up she found him looking down at her in that way that made her body melt.
“We had better get you inside or we’ll be late for your consult.” They stared at each other for another several seconds before Elia found the strength to look away.

With the humor drained from him, Elia felt they were finally having real conversations. As they waited for his appointment he recounted stories about playing hockey on frozen lakes around Madison. He told her about the new drum set he just got, and how much he liked to play guitar. When he was called in for his exam she went with him and had the job of holding his tear-away pants. The doctor examined him only briefly before sending Adam for an MRI of his knee. Elia was sent back to the waiting room. The MRI would take at least a half hour so she decided to go to the Museum of Contemporary Art up the street.

It was almost November and the city felt like it was starting to brace itself for the coming winter. Patios had been cleared, fall decorations had been set, and the cool night breeze came earlier every day. The MCA was only a short walk from the Water Tower and the Mag Mile but even just a block from Michigan Ave was like a different world. It was quiet with few people walking around. It was one of the reasons Elia liked it. As opposed to the Art Institute, the MCA was smaller and you could see everything in just a couple hours.
Once there she got a chai from the cafe and sat down in the special temporary exhibit upstairs. She took out her phone. No texts. She hadn’t heard from Toews at all since the game and wondered how he was doing. She typed out a message, “Hey Kaner, have you heard from Toews, how is he doing?” Instead she deleted it. The current featured artist was Liam Gillick. Elia looked around at the stacked brightly colored pieces of aluminum set all around the room. She thought it looked like a bunch of cubicle walls or storage units you could buy at the Container Store. The ceiling installation was kind of cool, with tiles of random colors filtering the light. She got up and walked to the next room. The floor was painted in large orange, black, and white stripes with the words “outside of any given context” written in the center. She took a picture of it and texted it to Patrick. “In any context this is laaaame”.

The phone vibrated. But it wasn’t a text back from Kane. “Holy shit!” she said out loud, drawing looks from a pair of hipsters walking past. She sent out a text to the guys that read, “Meet at Houndstooth tonight at 9, this is not a drill!”
“Houndstooth sucks,” replied Duncan immediately.
“Why Houndstooth,” sent Sharp.
“BECAUSE I promised Burish we would go to Houndstooth later!”

Later that night Burish and Elia sat at Ian’s eating pizza before heading to the bar. Ian’s was a tiny pizza place in Wrigleyville famous for crazy pizza combinations. Adam had a slice of buffalo chicken pizza, and spicy chicken taco pizza, while Elia had gone with a good old fashioned slice of Florentine style and a portobello pizza. Elia kept complaining that it felt unnatural to eat at Ian’s before drinking but Adam couldn’t eat after 9pm because he would have to have surgery the next day.
“Do you want to split another slice?”
“What, where are you going to put that?”
Elia pointed to her stomach and looked at him hopefully.
“I really don’t understand where food goes when you eat it, I see you eating all the time…”
“Ok I’m getting more pizza, I’m one away from a free slice on my punch card!”
“You are bouncing off the walls today kid, what’s got you so crazy,” he asked when she sat back down.
“It’s country night Bursh! I’ve got my boots on,”
“Yeah I can see that,”
“Its going to be Halloween soon, we’re hitting the road soon, its going to be fun, I’m pumped up. I’m sorry I know you must be feeling pretty sucky right now. On the bright side you get to sit in a box with me every game now!”

Once they finished eating they walked down and across the street to the corner tavern Houndstooth. It was one of a few country bars in Chicago, although it really only had one designated country night, which Elia always pointed out when Burish wanted to go. By 9:30 the regulars had all arrived. Kane, Toews, Sharp, Keith, Niemi, Versteeg, Bolly, Byfuglien and Campbell. Niemi sat at the opposite end of the bar from them and watched the tv, which was pretty typical Niemi behavior. Adam updated everyone on his ACL. His surgery would be tomorrow, and he would probably be out until March. There wasn’t really any way around it.

Everyone was looking at Elia now, waiting to hear what she had wanted to tell them. She told them to wait for the right moment, which would be when the song she picked played on the jukebox. She assured them it would start soon because she paid extra to “play it now”.

“I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
Get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed.”

“What is this shit?” Byfuglien said laughing.
“It is Lee Ann Womack Buff, you are ruining it!” She yelled at him. Kane just laughed.
“Come on El get to the point,” Sharp prodded.
“Fine.” she pulled out her cell phone and showed them all a text. “I have been invited to a WAG party at Dunc’s house. What do I do?”
All the guys laughed.
“It’s not funny! ‘You are invited for pumpkin carving accompanied by seasonal cocktails and wine,’ Why is this happening to me?”
“What did this song have to do with that?” Toews asked.
“I don’t know I just thought it really set the mood.”
“Who is going to be there?” Burish asked.
“Abby, Kelly obviously, Julia, Elina, Jana and Dayna? Wow this is too many “a” names I don’t think I should go,”
“Are you one of those girls that’s like ‘ehh, I don’t like girls, I only have guy friends, blah blah blah’,” Versteeg teased her.
“It’s not me, it’s them! Do you have any idea how mean girls can be? They always think that I’m weird, I can tell. I’m going to have to buy a new outfit.”
“Newsflash El, we all think you are weird, if being around other females helps turn you into being normal I vote you are going.” Sharp replied.

Instead of closing down the bar like usual Elia went home early to get rest and stay fresh for the following day. The guys teased her relentlessly, as they had never seen her try to look good or dress up for anyone before.

Before she could head to the Keith residence Elia had told Toews she would go shopping with him for Halloween. He had decided he would get a costume for him and Burish to wear together since they would both be on the sidelines. Jonathan picked Elia up early afternoon and was surprised by how chic she looked. Instead of her normal white v and jeans she was wearing skinny black trousers with a black and gold brocade cap sleeve shirt, neon louboutins, and a black high collared wool coat. The clothes emphasized her slim figure. Her dark brown hair was tucked into a high bun and her eyes concealed by dark Ray Ban Clubmasters. Even her walk was more sophisticated.

Toews stared at her after she got into the car. She lowered her sunglasses and looked up over them, her deep green eyes, “What?”
“You look like Audrey Hepburn.”
“I can’t believe you know who Audrey Hepburn is.”

They drove to Wicker Park to check out a thrift store that had a special halloween section. Toews had decided he and Burish would be the guys from Dumb and Dumber, so he needed some bright leisure suits. As they were browsing the clothes, Jonathan asked Elia a question.

“Hey, I wanted to ask you...You mentioned that you had concussions before. How long was it before you were back to normal?”
“When did I say something about that? Umm...Well, I didn’t exactly start out just with a concussion, I had a traumatic brain injury, I...suffered a loss of consciousness for seven days.”
“What?”

It was hard to get Elia to talk about herself, but she was starting to open up. She had been riding in a horse race when the horse behind hers stumbled, causing her horse to stumble. Both horses and riders went down. Elia’s left leg was caught underneath the horse as it slid through the dirt. That was the last thing she remembered. Video footage saw her head impact the ground. It was speculated that her head was hit multiple times by the rest of the race field running past. She had been pronounced dead on the track, only to start breathing again a few minutes later. The paramedics said it was a miracle. Seven days later she opened her eyes for the first time and started crying. She couldn’t see anything. In addition to fractured vertebrae, a destroyed tibia and fibia, she had extreme mobility impairment.

“After like 6 months my scans were all coming back great, the swelling was gone and activity had resolved in all but a small area, which doctors thought would be permanent, so they said I could resume light activity. I took a really soft fall just doing some jumps, like barely even hit my head, and I felt okay initially. Later that night I started getting vertigo, started throwing up, went to the hospital and was diagnosed with a concussion. I shouldn’t have started back so fast. I was still having headaches, I would feel off balance sometimes just for a second sometimes for several minutes. Always feeling dizzy standing up after I had been laying down or sitting. I was so tired all the time. Sometimes still feel that way.”

She turned to look at Jonathan directly.

“Don’t try to make excuses for your symptoms. Accept them now and let your brain rest. This isn’t something you can play through. Hopefully this is your first and last concussion but don’t make it worse by getting another before your head is right.”

“I know what you mean about standing up and feeling dizzy, and I’ve been getting double vision sometimes, if I turn my head too fast or something,”
“Yeah, seriously Jonny, don’t ignore it.” She stepped over and put her hand on his arm, “Don’t feel pressured to come back and suck it up, you know? There was a time when I tried to race again, and I was only riding horses I was confident wouldn’t try to kill me, you know, and the bloggers and everyone started talking all this shit about I was cherry-picking the best horses, and I only win because I only ride horses favored to win. Don’t pay attention to what the press says about you. Don’t feel like you are letting the guys down. Okay?”

Jonny nodded. They ended up finding the perfect costumes for Jonny and Adam, and afterwards Toews drove Elia up to Roscoe Village to drop her off at Keith’s house.

Duncan’s house was on a corner lot between Lakeview and Roscoe Village. It was a huge red brick building, big enough to be several units in one. They walked up the stone steps to porch with a double set of french doors. Jonny knocked and opened the door.

“Hey! It’s great to see you Elia,” a woman greeted them inside.

Kelly Rae was intimidatingly beautiful, tall and blonde. The front door opened into a large room lined with windows, with grey walls and dark wood floors. Duncan and Sharp came down the stairs. They all walked through the living room into the kitchen in the back where the other women were. Cider was warming on the stove and a pitcher of sangria sat on the countertop. Jonathan said hello to everyone and introduced Elia before leaving with Duncan and Patrick. Elia was alone with the WAGs.

“It’s really great to meet you guys, I’ve heard so much about you,” Elia said. They all smiled.

Kelly offered her a drink and helped her get a glass for cider. Elina, Niklas’ girlfriend, complimented her outfit. “That top is from Marc Jacobs new fall line?” she asked.
“Uh, yeah,”
“I haven’t seen those pants before though,”
“They’re Loewe. I don’t know, sometimes designers just send me things,”

Elina talked excitedly about her favorite designers, telling Elia about her fashion blog, and asking if she could photograph her for the website. Elia agreed, and apparently Elina meant now because she made her stand up in the kitchen and pose.

“That’s a beautiful necklace, what kind of stones are those, Amethyst? Where did you get it?” Kelly asked.
“Oh, no, they’re just moonstones,” Elia said, looking down at her necklace. It was two strands of gold, one with an arrow charm and the other with three small moonstones on it. “I bought it from a gypsy fortune teller in Paris.” The women looked at her strangely.
“Well, actually I was trying to buy some pot from her and she just told my fortune and gave me the necklace for free.” That didn’t take the surprised look away.
“It wasn’t for me, I don’t even do pot, I was buying it for a friend.”
This was already heading in the wrong direction, Elia thought. The memory of that night was so hazy. The day started out normal, cappuccino at the cafe, late brunch, dinner, drinks, an art gallery opening, drinks. Next she was at an after party at Le Bristol with Nicolas Fromageau and it was 4 in the morning, the concierge was telling her about a dealer that lived under the Arc de Triomphe. Elia had to go because she was the least likely to get stopped and questioned by police. It was a mile walk in the cold rain.

“What was your fortune?” Elina asked, intrigued.

“She said I was going to face two betrayals, both fueled by fear. And only then would I find what truly mattered, and I would have to conquer fear to achieve true love. She told me to go to the top of the Arc and I would see all the paths of life laid out before me.”

But the stairs were locked up at night, you had to purchase a ticket to go up there. Elia waited until the sun rose, and a few hours after that, long after the haggard old woman had gone. She climbed to the top of the Arc and looked out. Twelve streets radiated out around her, spreading across Paris like a star, giving meaning to the name Place de l'Étoile. If it hadn’t been for the bag of weed and the necklace Elia would have thought it was an alcohol fueled dream.

"Speaking of betrayal didn't you just break up with your boyfriend?" Elia was snapped back to present, taken aback by the bluntness of Julia's question. Wasn't that a little personal for 20 min into meeting someone?
"Well technically I broke up with him...and technically he didn't accept the break up actually," Elia had forgotten about that. Did that make her still in a relationship? She hoped they wouldn't ask her about the Boston rumor, she decided she needed to change the subject.
"Yeah that wasn't betrayal or anything, just not a good match, how long have you been dating your guys?"
It wouldn't be dropped that easily.
"I always thought you looked mismatched on the red carpet," Elina continued, "he's so boxy and has too round of a face. You are thin and angular."
"Oh...I guess that's...true"
"Is it true you dated Leonardo Dicaprio?" Julia asked. She could see how Julia and Dave fit together. They both got right to the point and didn't care if it was rude.
"We are just good friends." They looked at her suspiciously.
"You know, friends...with benefits..." She gave them a look. This seemed to satisfy the groups desire for girl secret sharing.
"You two would look perfect together," Elina said wishfully.

The night went better than Elia had expected. Although they had to do boring shit like make pumpkins and bake pumpkin seeds, the girls were all really sweet and fun to hang out with. Unlike other WAGs Elia had met, they weren’t self-centered, dramatic and demanding. They were down to earth, but so were the players themselves, for the most part. At the end of the party they all had plans to get dinner at Sunda before the road trip.

Notes

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