Those Three Words (ON HOLD)
Taking Two
"Spezz, what are you doing this for? She's probably a puck bunny. I'm not up for this," I heard someone mumble as he was being pulled by Jason. I seen him. Erik Karlsson was right in front of me.
"She's perfectly fine and smart," Jason warned.
"Hi, I''m Erik. I hope you don't uh—mind my strange friend," He said apologizing for Jason's rude actions. I was frozen. I wanted to say something. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say.
"I—uh—I'm Bella," I said introducing myself. Jason was smiling. Erik was narrowing his eyes at me. Great, he's probably recognizing me right now. This is what I didn't want to happen.
"Izzy Ryquist, it's been so long. Everywhere in the world and you're here in Toronto!" He exclaimed. His smile was huge. Jason was just straight up confused. I felt like hiding under a table. I was so lost and a little worried. He remembered me, surprisingly. After all these years.
"You know her?" Jason asked.
"She's one of my old highschool buddies." Just a simple highschool buddy. That's all he remembered me as. He was holding back on the truth.
"It's nice to see you."
"So, you're living your dreams of being a columnist?" He asked intrigued.
"Yeah for the Sun here in Toronto. It's great." I smiled.
"That's good. As you can see, I'm living my dreams too," He said.
"I've watched a couple of games before."
"What a small world, huh?" Jason decided to say. I felt someone put their hands on my shoulders and kiss me one the cheek, quickly. I turned around the a laughing Tyler Bozak and Nazem Kadri.
"These two bothering you?" Bozak asked, bitterly. I just looked at Jason and Erik. By the looks of it they were both confused.
"Oh, no—no it's fine. We're just talking and catching up." I said to the two Leafs.
'So, how do you know them?" Naz asked.
"Friends from back in Sweden." Erik had a blank expression. He wasn't impressed by my friendship with the Leafs.
"We better get going," Spezza said as he peeled Erik away from us three.
"Nice talking to you, Izzy."
I turned around the Nazem and Tyler with a huge grin. "You two are so embarrassing!" I shrieked with a laugh. We all erupted into a laughing fit. "'Are these two bothering you?'" I said mocking the long-haird Tyler Bozak.
"Oh shut up," He said as he rolled his eyes.
"Up for a couple of drinks? John's gone home. We told him we'd take care of you," Nazem asked, cheerfully. I shrugged nonchalantly. Alcohol in my system right now wouldn't be so bad. I didn't have the column tomorrow. Not to mention I wanted to forget about this dreadful night.
* * *
Days Later
I was looking at my mail that I had recieved. It was usually critics and fans that I had some what of. I was reading some of it. My attention wasn't all there—I will admit that. I felt like I shouldn't have been so brief with Erik. I regretted rushing our encounter.
I looked around my office. The chestnut desk full of papers and a computer. I had the photo of my small family in the corner of my desk. On my wall there was a picture of Rurik, Nora and I when we were kids. The one photo that always made me laugh was the background on my computer. It was some stupid photo I took with Nazem, Joffrey and Tyler. We grew quite fond of each other since meeting.
I scrolled down on my screen. I seen an email that was sent by: ekarlsson@hotmail.com. I hurried myself and opened it.
Iz,
It's been so long. I really liked seeing you a while back. I know this isn't the best way to say this, you know, through email and all. It was the only way I knew how to contact you. I read some of your columns. I'm so happy that you went on to pursue your dreams. Anyways I was wondering if we could talk. My number is 406-989-5565.
Erik
Why did my column have to give away my email address? At least this gives me some type of way to ask why he didn't pick me over her. I was his best friend. He told me he loved me, but why did he go? Sometimes life doesn't always treat you right. Karma was irrelevant.
