Ride (Reposted)

February 2014

Touching down in Sochi after a 6 hour layover is Paris followed by another 2 hour layover in Moscow.

A 21 hour trip in total coming from Montreal where they had met up with PK Subban and Carey and Angela Price as they had decided to fly over together. As well as she was also sharing a hotel room with Angela, so they had to check in together.

She should have been used to the long flights going to Tehran when she was a child to see family, but it had been a while since she had experienced an extremely long flight.

She had one night with Jamie before he had to ship off to the athletes village.

They were exhausted, and extremely jet lagged. Jamie's gear was safely stowed with Carey's and PK's with the Team Canada equipment manager.

The men's team also had made plans for everyone and their partners to go out for dinner at an Italian Restaurant in town.

Checking into the hotel they had an hour to freshen up and get to the restaurant the team had booked out. Luckily it was just a street over from their hotel which made things easy to get too. She was nervous about meeting the team, only knowing a handful of the guys and their partners. And Jamie wasn't a superstar on the team compared with to Sidney Crosby, PK and Carey, and would most likely be third line.

Jamie lead her into the restaurant when she noticed a significant amount of the wives all had the same body type; skinny, enhanced features and in amazing shape. It was the same with the Stars, but she knew everyone there, but it wasn't the looks that counted, since most girls were actually super nice.

"You look beautiful." Jamie said quietly, sensing she was feeling self conscious about her body.

"I call it the 21 hour flight look." She smiled up at him.

"Just be yourself. Everyone is in the same boat we are." He squeezed her hand, "and you are
also the hottest girl in the room."

"So says you." She slapped him lightly on the arm.

After introductions and a few drinks she immediately felt comfortable, with Angie as support and Lindy and Gaye were there too.

When she got her visa she started to learn Russian, it even surprised Jamie. Knowing so many languages it was easy to pick up, but it was completely different then what she knew.

She had also been teaching Jamie Farsi, which he had been picking up great through speech, but writing was completely different. Especially since it was going from right to left, where English was left to right.

"Have you been to Russia before?" Shae Weber's wife Bailey asked her.

"This is my first time. You?" Emily smiled at her, it was a familiar face from Kelowna last year.

"My first time too. Looking forward to watching anything besides for hockey?"

"The snowboarding and skiing. That's about all I did in the winter. You?"

"Maybe the figure skating. I'm sure we'll find some events to go together the bunch of us."

"I'm looking forward to it. It will be nice having a family since we're so far from home."

"We have to make the same thing work at home sister. Especially to the newbies in the room."

"This time last year I was the fresh meat in the room."

"Oh you'll be fine. We were lucky last time around. The Olympics were in Vancouver."

"I speak a small bit of Russian. I'm glad I have you Bails."

***

He was happy Emily was getting along fine with all the other girls that made it over. Despite how tired they both were they were enjoying themselves.

He often found her catching him watching. She owns the room whenever she enters one. He still didn't 100% trust her if she would go to the hill and not do drugs. As she had occasionally made a comment about it she antagonized him a little bit which would cause an argument every time.

He didn't let her know that he didn't trust her entirely as it would have turned into World War 3.

"I'm gonna head back to the hotel. You going to stay or come with me?" He asked her quietly.

"I'm going stay a little bit longer. Angie and I will come back later." She wrapped her arm around his waist, leaning her head against his chest.

These two weeks were going to fly by. He was excited to represent his country at a Olympic level, competing with the best in the world. For him to be considered best in the world. A chubby kid short kid from Victoria that would have been better suited for baseball was now considered an elite hockey player.

***

She was going to need a vacation after this vacation. She was cramming in so much.
Between taking in all the different events and then making it to every hockey game Jamie played in was exhausting. By day 10 she was much rather preferring to be on the beach in the Dominican instead of being in Russia. Sochi was a beautiful town. It was warm too. But it was way to busy with everything. Their hotel was noisy, despite being in a penthouse suite. The locals were rude, her and Angie have almost been hit by cars to many times to count.

The athletes had it lucky. They were in their bubble, close to the arena. And not to mention the odd time she got to see Jamie alone. Security was tight in Canada House and the coaching staff was tough on the boys.

"I need a beach." Kathy sighed as she came back from her spa treatment.

They all had agreed they needed a spa day. Everyone was exhausted from running after the boys and trying to take in everything.

"I think we all do." Paige stated.

Emily bonded with all of the girls quite well. They all hosted dinner parties at each other's rented condos prior to the boys games.

"How was 2010 compared to this year?" Emily asked.

"A lot easier. Everyone spoke english. Some of the Russians on the team and their wives taught us enough Russian to get by." Bailey noted.

"How have things been with Jamie since you two got here?" Angie asked.

"As long as I'm with you guys he's fine."

"What happened if you don't mind me asking?" Stephanie asked.

"He had a guys night out so I decided to have a girls night out. We ended up at the same night club, I thought I saw something that didn't happen. Took off for Montreal. Did a shit ton of coke, smoked a shit ton of weed. He got pissed, and now he doesn't entirely trust me yet." Emily said uncomfortably.

"I take it you love some blow and green and he doesn't?"

"Exactly. Coke got me through exams and papers and weed mellowed me out when I wasn't playing rugby. Like I know coke is awful for you. But marijuana is a miracle drug. It helps with glaucoma, seizures, anxiety. It improves lung function, chronic pain." Emily explained.

"To name a few." Kathy laughed, "there's nothing like smoking a joint after a long day."

"You smoke too?!" Emily exclaimed.

"Yeah I do."

"How does Sid take it?" Angie asked.

"He's from Nova Scotia. How do you think he takes it? It actually helped him through his concussion."

"That was my defence! Jamie's from friggen Vancouver Island and he hates, HATES, weed. Says he's seen too many friends go onto other things because of it. Like there are worse things to smoke."

"Did you ever do anything more then blow?"

"I dabbled in mushies a bit during Coachella with my cousin Shadi a few summers back. Some molly too. Just party drugs. No heroin or meth. Now that shit fucks up your life."

***

After a whirlwind two weeks, and a few very high intensity games, he couldn't believe he was playing for the gold medal. In the Olympics. The most coveted thing, most likely tied with a Stanley Cup. Which he was amongst Stanley Cup champions in the very locker room he was sitting in. It was between the second and third and they were tied up against a very good Swedish team.

He was nervous as he knew pretty much all of Canada would be watching. His family back home. The love of his life in the stands wearing his jersey.

He had never been this nervous in his life. He wasn't sure if a Stanley Cup final would be just as nerve wracking. He was bringing national pride to Canada, and he didn't want to come back with a silver, he, among the rest of the team wanted gold.

The third period was a blur. The 20 minutes went by so fast. The next thing he knew he was jumping over the boards and joining his team mates on the ice.

They won gold. They did it. He was so happy. It felt like a dream.

***

Emily ran down to the locker room area as fast as she could. She had been sitting with a special area where Hockey Canada had reserved for family. She wished Jamie's family had made the trip over to be with her but she was glad she had at least Angie and Paige, and Paige's kids, as hilarious as they were.

Getting as close as she could she got a glimps of Jamie. They hadn't seen each other in a few days and she noticed a bruise around his eye.

He would get a black eye at the Olympics. Only him.

She was so proud. Proud of him for making the team, proud of him for being a clutch guy. Proud of him for winning a gold medal. It was a while before they got off the ice. The wives with kids kept back, knowing the "fuckin right boys" and other profanities that would be coming through.

She was talking to a family member when she heard "they're coming!"

She watched them yell and hollar all the way back to the dressing room. She saw Jamie before he saw her.

When he did he scooped her up and held her tight. He was much, much taller then her in skates, and he smelled awful.

"This means so much to me that you are here." He whispered into her ear, while she tangled her fingers in his sweat covered hair.

"Ride or die baby. You stink. Go celebrate." She kissed him, before he placed her down.

Notes