Brendan's P.O.V
We just won our game. I texted her to see if she was awake but the likelihood of that happening isn't logical. Logical. That very word reminds me of her. Everything I think of someway, somehow can connect back to her. She's so shy and secretive yet open and creative. She's unique. My El is unique.
After we finished showering and talking to the media, we got inside the bus and drove to the hotel room. Alex and I shared a room like always. He was talking to me about what he thought we could have done to do better in our next game. And I nodded along with his suggestion's. And making sure I remembered them later or else he would have gotten upset with me. Once we got inside our hotel suite, I grabbed a glass of water and went straight to my room. I got changed into my pj's and got ready for bed. I stared at the right side of the bed.
That's where she would have been laying. That's her favorite side. I remember asking her one day why, and she told me "It's because I'm always right. So I need to sleep on my right." I touch the fabric from her side. She needs to be here with me. I want her, here with me. We could have lost the game and it would not have been half as bad if she was here. I shake my head, I can't be thinking on if's. So I crawl inside the bed and get ready to sleep. That's when their's a knock at my door. Before I gave the person permission to enter, they did.
"What is it Alex?" I asked. He showed me a phone.
"She's calling you." He said sourly. I laughed at him.
"Why are you so bitter?" I ask. He shakes his head at me and mumble's some Russian profanities.
"I better not hear you man giggle from my room. I want to sleep." He says. I smile at him and nod.
"I'm serious Brendan." He says. He passes me my phone before leaving my room. I quickly dial the number that my fingers have memorize and wait. At the third ring she answers.
"Hello El." I say.
"Brendan!" She shouts into the phone.
"Brendan! You were amazing. You guys were amazing. I cannot believe I witness that hockey game." She says enthusiastically.
"Easy there, isn't it like 1 am?" I ask her.
"Yes. Yes it is. I feel asleep but then remember that I wanted to call you." She says. I can hear her giggle slightly. She does that when she's nervous.
"Oh yeah? And what exactly did you want to talk in this conversation?" I say.
"Nothing." She says.
"Then why call?" I ask confused at the moment.
"Well, Brendan honey." She said in a joking matter "You didn't seem to need a reason to call me the other day at 2 am. So why should I need a reason?" She asked. She did have a point. That's when she let out a laughter.
"But in all honesty, I don't call people just because I want to call them. I just wanted you to know that I watched you."
"Oh yea? Prove it." I said. I loved saying that to her. She's so competitive but her shy personality hides that. Only when I challenge her, is when I see Isabelle. The confident women that she is.
"Okay well second period, when you toe dragged the puck and out deked the defencement in front of you. Then passed it to number 14, who I say had a wide open net and missed the shot. Oh and when Alex was one against 3! The way he out skated, out stick handled the players in the offensive zone. Just wow! And..." She kept going. She knows the game. Maybe didn't follow it for a large period of her life but she still knows the game.
"Toe dragged? Since when you know that?" I asked her laughing.
"Since I was 5." She said laughing as well.
A moment of silence happened. I was okay with it. I could imagine her as if she were standing in front of me. Right now, she would have been averting eye contact. Her soft brown waves would be covering her face and she would play with her fingers. The same fingers that write endless poems and unshared stories. That draw lines on me as if they're memorizing my landscape.
She let out a yawn causing me to come back to reality.
"You should probably get some sleep." I told her.
"Okay." She said in a low voice. "Goodnight Brendan."
"Goodnight El." I told her and the line went dead. She might have been asleep right now. But I wasn't. Not anytime soon that is. So I laid there, wide awake until my eyes finally gave up and drifted me to sleep.
****
The next 2 days, it was the same thing. Wake up, practice, eat, game or sleep then finally call her.
Isabelle
That's the only part in my day where I waited anxiously for. She's consuming my mind and my heart in a way that I have not experience before. She's gentle. Everything she does is gentle. I love that so much about her. She's something. I can't quite understand why I'm drawn to her. But I am.
"Are you going to order?" Alex asked me. Some of the boys and I decided to go out for breakfast. Well more like brunch. It seemed that everyone had ordered besides me. Embarrassed by the fact I was that deep into my thoughts, I apologize to the waitress and told her I would order later. She nodded and left to go give the chef their order.
"Are you okay?" Nathan asked me. I looked at him and nodded.
"Yea. I'm just tired ya know." I said. He nodded. The guys went back to the conversation they were having. And I tried to focus on what they were talking about. But I wasn't. I couldn't. She was taking away my focus. Get it together man. I had to keep my head focused.
"I'm going to go and place my order." I told my teammates. They nodded and went back to their conversation. As I was walking towards the waitress, trying to remember the name of the dish I wanted. I saw a girl that looked familiar. I tried to brush the thought aside but when the girl saw me she seemed to have recognized me. She walked towards me and embraced me in a huge. Once she pulled away, I was still trying to identify her. Getting annoyed with myself because I didnt know. I decided to just ask the question."
"Do I know you?" I said. Her blue eyes told me something.
"Gally? Don't you remember me?" She said smiling. A beautiful smile in matter of fact.
"No. I don't sorry." I told her. She placed her hand on my forearm gave me a very flirty smile.
"Oh Brendan, I'm Cat." She said. "We've talked before. But obviously in less clothes then we are right now." She continued.
"Ah! Catherine. I remember you know. How have you been?" I asked.
"Great." She said. "You? I see that you've gotten yourself a maid." She said laughing. I furred my brows.
"Maid?" I asked.
"Yea. This brunette, a little shorter than you, has a big attitude."
"Cat, I don't have a maid." I told her. "In fact, the girl you described is my girlfriend." I told her angry. She stood there in shock.
"Don't you ever talk about my girl like that. Ever. You don't know a thing about her." I said and walked away.
I had told the waitress what I came to talk to her about and got back quickly to my table with the boys. I pulled the chair and sat down.
"What happened?" Nate asked.
"What makes you say something is wrong?" I snapped back. He looked at me with a perplexed look. None said a thing. Only Alex dared to speak.
"Maybe because you're hands are in fists." He said. I looked down at my hands and hadn't realize that I was doing it. I relaxed my hands and let out a deep breath.
"Okay, now that you're calm. Explain." He said.
"I saw Cat." I told them. They knew Cat. They loved Cat. When we were had something going on.
"And?" Nate said. " It's not the first time you meet someone you were fooling around with." He continued.
"That's true, but she insulted Isabelle. She called her a maid! Said that she had attitude." I said in disbelief from the words coming out of my mouth.
"You don't say that about Isabelle. She's is kind and smart. Calling her that is basically putting down all the efforts she's had to do in her life to be were she is." I told the group.
"I still don't understand the problem." Max said. "It's one girl being jealous of the other."
"She can be jealous all she wants. But you do not lower Isabelle hard work in front of me." I said. "Its as if you're telling me that you would be okay with people thinking you're some guy who couldn't make the big times?" I asked him. He shocked his head.
"Exactly. It's the same thing about El. She's worked hard. Jealous or not you should be human enough to except that." I said. I took a sip from my water. I laid everything on the table from what had just happened. Everyone was silent but they kept looking at one another as if they were in a secret meeting. A few more seconds of this agonizing silence, Alex finally spoke.
"You love her." He placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Don't fuck it up." He said. Our food came and they had moved on from the subject. But I hadn't.
I loved her.
Could be. But how would I know what love is if I've never been in love?

Notes