*November 2015*
*Tempe, AZ*
*Arizona State University*


"Dude, so what's up with this whole USRPT thing? Is it actually like legit?" I ask Michael who was currently sitting next to me in the stands, watching as ASU took on USC. The boys were doing pretty well, while the girls were getting beat.


"No clue," He shrugs in response, causing me to huff," You heard from Jonathan lately?"


"Nope," I respond, popping my 'p'," Last I checked he was back in Chicago. Hockey season started about a month ago. He wanted me to come to Winnipeg with him, but I decided not too."


"Why not?" Michael questions.


I shrug," Too soon. Would've been fun to see his hometown but we both agreed that we wanted to wait awhile and see where things go before doing the whole hometown slash meet the family ordeal. Wouldn't want to go through it all early and watch as things fall apart."


"And besides," I tease, nudging Michael's side," Not all of us can be lucky and get into a relationship before we get super duper famous."


"Well it wasn't that easy for us either," Nicole pipes up from beside Michael," I think it's great that you're both deciding to take things slow. Much better that way."


"I'd say that it worked out pretty well for us in the end though, didn't it?" Michael asks, looking at his fiancé.


"That it did babe," She responds, looking back at him with the same look of love.


"You two are disgustingly adorable, you're lucky that I'm such a good person and will put up with your disgustingness," I feign gagging, making Michael laugh.


"I don't know if I would call it putting up with it more so than just being used to it at this point," Allison laughs from beside me," Been together so long that it's almost like we're engaged to Nicole."


I laugh while leaning back in my seat, taking it all in. The mix of the Arizona heat and chlorine fill my nostrils as I look around, smiling to myself. Never in a million years did I think that this was where I would be a couple of months ago.


Things had been going great with the National Team. Team camp had ended a little over a month ago, and everyone had returned to their respective teams, me to Arizona State where Bob was currently coaching both the college teams as well as a few of the Olympians that had followed him there, i.e. Michael and Allison as well as Cierra Runge and a few others. It was a good group, and I had a lot of fun coaching the college swimmers. They reminded me of a better time, and brought back old feelings that I hadn't felt in a long time.


Truth be told, I was starting to feel the same about swimming as I had long before my entire career had taken off. It was an amazing feeling that I really wanted to hold onto, which was why I was so scared to jump back into competing. I had been training for a while with the group, but I had yet to compete in an actual meet, something that I was just not allowing myself to do for some reason.


I had talked with Bob about it countless times, each time ending up with him telling me,"It's up to you Alexis, I can't make these decisions for you. I know that I used to, but it's not up to me anymore. It never was, and I can't say that I didn't have a part in your breakdown, because I did. I pushed you too hard, and I'm not going to do that anymore. I know that you can take a lot, and I will push you hard in the pool and do as you ask me to as well as what I see fit, but the rest of it I'm leaving up to yo. I might suggest something, but other than that the decision is all yours."


Michael had about the same response whenever I would ask him about it. Nobody wanted to give me a straight answer and I hated it. I needed a swift kick in the ass to get me back into gear, I knew that, everyone knew that. But it seemed as though everyone was afraid to, afraid that if they said or did the wrong thing I would immediately run back to retirement.


Truth be told, I didn't want to go back into retirement. Not yet, anyways. I had a lot of time left, and I was looking forward to making the best of all of it. I knew that there were newer, younger swimmers coming up through the ranks, but I was confident in both my training and my swimming. Not to mention I felt better in the water than I had in ages, which in turn made me train harder.


There was nothing holding me back now, except for the small fact that I couldn't seem to find the nerves to actually compete again in an actual meet.


"Okay no, so Eric Church is going to be in Florence next April, wanna go?" Allison asks, snapping me out of my deep internal trance.


"Is that even a question? Of course, duh," I state, smiling at the girl sitting next to me. Allison was one of my favorite people. She was one of my closest and best friends. Together we had been through a lot, her with her depression and me with my scandal, we had gotten even closer than before. If that was even possible.


We had a lot in common in the first place, which was great. We both loved country music, more specifically Eric Church, who was my all time favorite country artist.


"Great, I'll get the tickets when the time comes and get it all worked out," She smiles, turning back to the meet, watching as Bob coaches a young girl on the pool deck.


I smile, looking on at the meet below. Eric Church had always been one of my favorites.


--^--


"Hey babe," Jonathan's smiling face greets me as my Facetime finally decides to connect.


"Hey," I smile back, happy to have finally gotten the chance to speak with him. It had been a couple of days since we last talked," I miss you."


"Same here, Winnipeg was kind of boring without you there."


I laugh," You've never experienced Winnipeg with me in it Jonathan."


"Yeah, but I can just imagine how you'd fit in there. And besides, I really wanted you there for my Cup day," He says, making me sigh.


"We talked about this, we both agreed it'd be better to see where this goes rather than just jump right into the whole meeting the parents and doing the whole hometown thing. I'm sorry that I'm not there for your Cup day Jon, but I am sure that you'll have more."


"Yeah I guess," He says, looking away from the camera and then back at me," It just kind of sucks you know?"


"I do know Jon, and I really wish I was there with you. But I promise, that if by this time next year we are still together then I will come to Winnipeg with you," I tell him, earning a smirk in return.


"You and I both know that you're going to be swimming in Rio-"


"Jonathan Bryan Toews, don't you even finish that sentence! Just because I've been training these past couple of months does not mean that I am all of a sudden going to be competing next summer in the Olympics!"


"Aw but it does, even your brother said so," He smiles, making me shake my head.


"You two know nothing. I'm just training so that I can stay in shape. Honest," I protest, only to be met with a snort on the other side of the computer screen.


"Bob told me that you've been talking to him about potentially competing again. Don't lie," He says, making me gawk at him.


"You've been talking with my coach? Since when?"


"Since the National Team came to Chicago. He's a pretty cool guy, and he knows what he's talking about. He knows a little bit about hockey too, which is weird, but he had some good pointers," Jon says, making me laugh.


"Bob's lived on the East Coast for a better part of his life. And thanks to me, he gradually got immersed into it. Very multi-dimensional, that man is."


"Yeah, kind of like you. The more I talked to you, the more I realized where you got most of your personality from."


"Oh hush!" I scold and try to make a grumpy face, only making Jon laugh. I can't help it, and soon I'm laughing too.


"So when are you going to be back in Chicago?" Jon asks as soon as we've both calmed down enough to speak.


"I don't really know. The Minnesota Grand Prix is in two weeks roughly, and I might be making the trip back for that. I might be able to stop through Chicago on my way home though," I tell him," I watched the game the other day with Allison, you played pretty well."


"Yeah, we're still trying to find a groove though. It's just hard with so many guys that are new and so many guys that are gone, ya know? And I'm trying to be a good captain but it's just so hard and I'm at a loss for what to do."


"It's something different. It's new territory for you guys that you haven't had in a couple of years, luckily for you you've got the coach and the resources to turn that group you've got into an amazing hockey team. You just have to be patient," I tell him, which makes him smile.


"How do you always know what to say?" He questions, making me laugh.


"Magic, my dear Jonathan, magic."

Notes