Together Until We Die...

Adam Burish arrived to Chicago. His plane touched down at 5:00 pm. Patrick Sharp and Andrew Shaw awaited his arrival. Patrick was silently hoping that the older man wouldn’t pick on him the instant they were reunited. He loved Burish, but Adam could be overly obnoxious at times.

They sat in the benches, by the baggage claim. As soon as the man emerged from the escalator at Chicago O’Hare, his mouth lifted at the corners. His eyes locked with Patrick’s.

“Sharpy, my man! How are you?” The big man exclaimed, darting forward. He had brought a small carry-on bag and another bag with him. He didn’t think he’d be staying there that long.

Adam Burish threw his arms around Patrick, wrapping him in a big bear hug. He gave Patrick a nuggie, messing up his perfectly combed hair. Patrick yelped, as Adam squeezed him, like a little kid would embrace their favorite stuffed animal. But Patrick wasn’t a stuffed animal and he wanted to keep his head on his body.

“Hey, Bur,” Patrick squeaked, as the big goon finally released him. He gulped in the air, bending over slightly in exhaustion.

Adam turned to Andrew. “Who’s your little friend there?”

“My name is Andrew Shaw!”

“Oh, Andrew Shaw, yes I know about you! The little pesky forward the Blackhawks drafted!”

“And weren’t you the guy who had that awkward thing that made it to youtube, the Downwards Desert Dog yoga pose?”

“Yeah, the Upwards Facing Desert Dog with Eks!”

“That was strange. What was that whole shit about?”

“Ha-ha, it was a funny thing, man,” Adam laughed, as he put his things down for a second to explain. “I blocked his shot and I just felt a little bit of irritation at the act. I don’t really know what was going through my mind, I can’t really remember, but it was certainly a bizarre place to be.”

“It looked like it was set up.”

“It was...kind of…Eks and I had made a bet the night before. We had gone to the club and got wasted. I bet him that if I blocked a shot or made a great defensive play, he would have to go along and help me out with a pose, on live TV. It was great. I never thought it would actually happen, but it did. What came out of it, was the yoga pose, which wasn’t entirely planned.”

“It was definitely strange, Bur. That I can attest to!”

“The ref cracked me up though. He had no idea what was going on!” Andrew chuckled.

“Yeah, he came up and was like, “what the hell was that?” He wasn’t sure whether to call a penalty or not, but he ultimately laughed and just gave me a warning not to do anything else for the remainder of the game!”

Patrick Sharp shook his head. “We’ve got bigger problems here, Bur! We need to find the kids: To-ez and Peekaboo!”

“You all still call him Peekaboo?” Adam inquired, looking at Andrew Shaw.

“Occasionally, but mainly just Sharpy!” Andrew replied, much to Patrick’s chagrin.

Adam snatched his bags back up and gave his friend a sympathetic look. “Alright, Sharpy, let’s go find the kids! If Pronger has them, they might not last very long!”

Andrew and Patrick shared a glance between themselves. They led the ex-Blackhawk to Patrick’s car, which Adam chirped about to his partner-in-crime once upon a time. Things had changed though. Patrick Sharp had matured a lot. He had put the pranking ways behind him.

When Adam Burish had left Chicago, he didn’t feel the need to carry on with the teasing and pranking. Instead, he turned to the ice and focused on kicking Patrick Kane’s ass in the goal scoring category. Sure, he enjoyed hanging with Burish when he came to town, but he was glad not to have the man draped all over him.

They headed out of the garage and toward the heart of Downtown Chicago, toward the Sharp residence.

Notes

Last update chapter for the day. Another one tomorrow. :)