Stockholm Syndrome

Bobbie flew to Pittsburgh a few days later for mine and Carl’s birthday. Bobbie had a great energy and was always making me laugh so I loved having him around.

“So I’m staying at Carl’s, but I’ll be here most of the time,” he assures me over lunch one day.

“How long are you staying for?” I ask

“Just a week. So, got any crazy plans for your birthday?”

“No. I was thinking maybe just going out for supper?”

“That’s so boring. You and Carl always go all out.”

“There’s not a lot I can with a broken leg Bob,” I remind him. Carl walks through the door and takes a seat at the table.

“Hey what’re we talking about?” he asks while stealing half of my sandwich.

“Birthday plans. Are you down to go out for supper?” I ask.

“Yeah sure.”

“Do you mind if Natalia comes?” I ask him hesitantly.

“No I don’t care. I’m bringing a guest anyway.”

“Who?”

“Erica.” I drop the sandwich I’m eating and stare at him with my mouth open.

“As in your ex?” I ask disbelievingly.

“Well we’re kind of seeing each other again so technically she’s not my ex,” he says casually.

“Since when?”

“Well we’ve talking for a couple months now and she’s been staying with me here in Pittsburgh for about a week.”

“And you’re just telling me this now?”

“I was going to tell you eventually.”

“And you. You’ve been staying there and you didn’t tell me,” I angrily ask Bobbie.

“I thought you’d want to hear it from him,” he replies guiltily.

“She can’t come to dinner. Natalia is going to be there.”

“So?”

“So you can’t have your ex-girlfriend and the girl you were going to cheat on her with in the same room,” I say angrily.

“Hey it’s my birthday too. Don’t invite her then if it’s such a big deal,” he says rolling his eyes. Bobbie just sits there looking back and forth at us.

“She’s already invited and she wants to bring Ethan.”

“Who’s Ethan?”

“The doctor.”

“Of course she does. Then let her bring him.” I get up and put my plate in the sink. There was no way that this dinner was going to go well.

I stand in the bathroom looking at my reflection. Sidney had told me I wasn’t allowed to go upstairs so I had to get him to bring all my stuff downstairs. I was wearing a black lace dress. My hair was curled and tucked behind my ear on one side. My lashes were heavily coated with mascara and the bruising under my eyes was almost invisible under all the concealer. I wore a black ballet flat on the foot that wasn’t in a cast and looked at my overall appearance. I looked pretty good despite the broken nose and leg. I make my way down the hall where Sidney is waiting for me. I find him in the kitchen with a bouquet of flowers.

“Happy Birthday,” he says kissing my cheek. I stare at the roses and smile. I was never the flower kind of girl but I found myself fawning at any form of affection from the hockey player.

“They’re beautiful,” I reply.

“You have gifts but you have to wait until after dinner to open them. “

“Well now I’m excited. If birthday sex is one them I will die a very happy girl.” Sidney laughs and puts my jacket on and we head to the restaurant.

We’re the first ones to arrive and I order a glass of wine and a shot of tequila. Sidney gives me a questioning look and I take the shot.

“I’m going to need it if I’m going to get through tonight,” I explain. Bobbie, Carl and Erica walk through the door and I stand up to greet them.

“Grattis pa födelsedagen sis (Happy birthday sis)” Carl says while hugging me.

“Grattis på födelsedagen bror (Happy birthday bro),” I reply. ”Hi Erica, it’s nice to see you again.” We
hug awkwardly and i sit back down. We make idle chat and catch up. I always thought she was nice girl but once her and Carl broke up I didn’t think I would ever see her again. I look at my phone see I have a missed text from Natalia.
Natalia: Sorry running late, be there soon.
We get our appetizers and me and Carl tell Sidney and Erica the story of our fifteenth birthday where everyone forgot. Just as I’m about order more wine, Natalia and Ethan walk in.

“Sorry we’re late, Ethan had a work thing,” Natalia says quickly. She looks around the table and her eyes stop at Erica and she looks as though someone had just slapped her in the face. I instantly feel guilty and take a large gulp of wine.

“Erica you know Natalia, and this is her boyfriend Ethan,” I say meekly. Ethan smiles and reaches across the table to shake her hand. Natalia and Ethan sit down and the table is filled with awkward silence.

“So we were just talking about the time we all forgot the twins birthday. Our parents were out of town and no one realized it until Carl finally said something about it the next day.” Bobbie says laughing. I was so thankful Bobbie was here to diffuse the tension.

“I wanted to see how long it took until someone finally realized it but of course Carl had to ruin it,” I say rolling my eyes.

“I still don’t understand how you weren’t angry over that,” Carl replies.

“So Erica, how long have you been in Pittsburgh,” Natalia asks with a forced smile on her face.

“Only a week,” Erica replies smiling.

“So you guy’s are back together? That’s really great.” I look at Natalia and she’s stabbing her salad with her fork.

“Yeah it was kind of sudden but we missed each other. Sometimes you need to be apart to realize how special something is,” Erica says before sipping her wine.

“So do you anything or do you just follow Carl around?” Natalia asks boldly. Everyone turns to look at Natalia but she just sits there obliviously eating her salad.

“Well I can’t work in the states so I’m not sure. When Carl played for the Rangers I helped a lot with the charities and stuff,” she says timidly.

“Yeah the Penguins wives association always needs more girlfriends involved, we’d love to have you,” I say smiling. She smiles gratefully and I see Natalia down her glass and the waiter pours her another one.

“So Sidney how’s hockey?” Bobbie asks.

“Pretty good. We’ve been battling a lot of injuries but have been able to pull off wins which is important,” Sidney replies. They dive deeper into the hockey discussion and I see Natalia excuse herself from the table. I ungracefully get up and grab my crutches and start following her. I get to the bathroom and she’s reapplying lipstick in the mirror. I walk in and sit down on the bench by the sink.

“What the hell Phoenix! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me she would be here! Do you know how much of a slap in the face that is?” she yells in Swedish.

“I’m sorry! I found out last minute and I figured if I told you, you wouldn’t come,” I say nervously.

“Well you’re right I wouldn’t have. You’re lucky it’s your birthday,” she says, her voice lowering to a more reasonable level.

“Okay but just so you know, grilling her isn’t going to solve your problems,” I tell her. I get up and we head back to the table.

“Nix how many bones have you broken overall?” Bobbie asks.

“18?” I say confused on how they got on the subject.

“We were talking about injuries in sports and you came up,” Carl says reading my mind.

“I always tell her she needs to drink more milk,” Bobbie jokes.

“That’s the life of a snowboarder though.” I see the waiter pour Natalia another glass and I’ve lost count on how many she’s had.

“Have you had any significant head injuries?” Ethan asks me.

“No, but he has,” I say pointing to Sidney. Sidney starts to tell Ethan about his concussion history and I find myself feeling anxious. Since I’ve met Sidney, he has been concussion free and healthy but even I knew he was one bad concussion away from his career being over. I worried about him being on the ice but he was doing what he loves and I wasn’t going to be the one to get in the way of that.

“I remember when Carl got a concussion in New York, he wasn’t allowed to do anything except sit in a quiet dark room,” Erica adds.

“Thank god he had you to take care of him,” Natalia says dramatically.

“Natalia,” I warn under my breath.

“This one doctor I went to school, his studies are all on athletes and concussions except he usually focuses on football players.” Ethan says. I notice his sideways glance at Natalia and I start to feel uncomfortable.

“What about sex injuries? Because I’ve definitely hit my head on a headboard more than once,” Natalia says slyly. Carl chokes, causing beer to come out of his nose. I snort loudly and Natalia smiles.

“So Natalia, have you been to Sweden lately?” Erica asks.

“Yeah. I went last summer with the twins,” she replies, her tone more serious.

“Oh that’s cool. I definitely miss it when I’m here,” Erica says annoyed. I could tell that Erica was getting irritated with Natalia’s behaviour.

“Looks like the Swedes outnumber the Canadians,” Ethan says to Sidney.

“Welcome to my entire life,” Sidney replies.

“Are you planning on going back to Sweden?” Natalia asks.

“Not anytime soon I don’t think,” Erica replies.

“Well that’s too bad,” Natalia says under her breath. I kick her under the table and she shrugs.

“Natalia how’s the event planning going?” Carl asks.

“Like you care,” she says annoyed. Natalia was drunk and I knew the night was only going to get worse.

“I do care. That’s why I’m asking,” Carl says seriously.

“I just planned a wedding it was amazing. So if you two ever want to get married you can call me. Or knowing you two you would probably just elope behind my back.” Everyone turns to stare at Natalia and she continues to drink her wine.

“So who wants dessert?” Bobbie asks awkwardly. The waiter comes with our cake and the staff awkwardly sing happy birthday to me and Carl.

“You know I think it was really nice of Phoenix and Carl to invite us all to their birthday,” Erica says, directing her statement at Natalia.

“I’m Phoenix’s best friend and I used to sleep with Carl so either way I’d get invited. You on the other hand are just Carl’s rebound.” Everyone goes silent and I put my head in my hands.

“I’m a rebound? That’s funny because the last time I checked you were the good time girl he got tired of,” Erica says sassily.

“Carl’s only wasting time with you to get back at me,” Natalia spits in Swedish.

“Yes Natalia because everything is about you. Like get over yourself,” Erica replies in our native tongue.

“Guys this isn’t the time,” I say annoyed. The table is silent and I look at Carl and send him a mental message.

“Well this has been fun but we should probably get going. We have practice in the morning,” Carl says getting my message and gesturing to Sidney. I hug Carl and Bobbie and they leave with Erica.

“What the hell was that all about?” Sidney asks.

“Yeah Natalia, what was that all about?” I ask her.

“She shouldn’t have been invited,” she says shortly.

“I should get going,” Ethan says while putting on his coat.

“Do you want me to come over?” Natalia asks smiling.

“Actually I think I’m going to crash early. I have early rounds. Happy birthday Phoenix,” he says smiling at me. He heads towards the door leaving Natalia alone with us.

“I can’t believe it. He’s mad at me,” Natalia says disbelievingly.

“That was brutal,” I say honestly.

“You do realize he’s going to dump me after this,” Natalia tells me.

“Hey lets go home. There’s more cake,” I say sympathetically,” Sidney pays for the bill and we head home.

Notes

Sorry for the delay! I promise to update more