Hockey Is My Boyfriend: Part Three

by Ting, Melanie

  “Wow! Thanks, Jimmy.”

  He took the necklace from my hands and went behind me to put it on. After he fastened the chain, he kissed me gently on the back of the neck. I went into the bathroom to have a good look, and he stood in the doorway watching.

  “It’s beautiful.” The key hung perfectly in the V of my neckline. I looked at him in the mirror. “Jimmy, it wasn’t too expensive, was it?”

  He smiled and shook his head. “You have the key to my heart, Kelly.”

  “So original, did you spend the whole plane ride thinking that one up?”

  “No, just thought it up on the drive here.” He laughed, and we took off for the restaurant.

  I had heard of Bishop’s but had never been there before. It was elegant but not stuffy, and Jimmy had scored a private corner table. I tried not to worry about how expensive it was. The service was really nice, and the food was delicious. Jimmy was so comfortable in nice restaurants now; he seemed to know exactly what to order and how to tip. One year in the NHL had changed him a lot.

  I had a glass of prosecco and then a glass of red wine with dinner, so I was feeling pretty mellow. Jimmy told me all about the Blackhawks fan conference, which had taken place over the weekend. It was the first time such a thing had been done, and he said it showed the commitment of the new management to growing the fan base.

  “Who goes to these things?” I wondered.

  He blushed. “Oh you know—fans. Families, kids, guys that have supported the team forever.” Then in a lower voice, he muttered. “Young girls.”

  “What was that last group?” I asked him, pretending I couldn’t hear.

  “Girls.” He shrugged it off. “We’re a young team.” So far, every team member I had met or heard about was young and single. Which probably meant a lot of partying. “Anyway, I hate that stuff.

  “Sure you do.” I laughed.

  The restaurant owner came over to chat and ask how we were enjoying everything. It wasn’t because he recognized Jimmy, as he seemed to do that for everyone. When he found out it was my birthday, he arranged for a special dessert, which was a yummy chocolate pie topped with a thin wafer of chocolate with Happy Birthday Kelly written on it.

  After that fabulous dinner, Jimmy and I decided to take a little stroll in the cooling summer air. He took my hand in his warm one. We walked along 4th Avenue. Most places were closed, so we window-shopped. Then we drove out to Kits Beach and walked along the water.

  “It’s such a beautiful night out,” I said.

  “Yeah, I’m tired, but I don’t want this to end.” Jimmy put his arm around me as we walked. “You know I’m not into all the fan girls, right?”

  “I’m not jealous. Don’t worry. But I don’t believe you hate it.”

  “Well, you don’t like it when guys hit on you at work, do you?”

  “That’s because it’s all about my looks. They have no idea what I’m like.”

  “I rest my case. Girls watch me on the ice and think they know me. Or they want the money and status.” He sounded really pissed.

  “Why are you getting so upset about this?”

  “Because….” He paused for a long time, and seemed to be debating his response. “I’ve had stuff happen to me. I dated a girl at UMaine, and I overheard her saying—” He shook his head and didn’t finish, but he looked suddenly miserable.

  I put my arms around his waist and hugged him. I didn’t say anything though. Who was I to reassure him? I couldn’t even choose him for my one and only.

  He hugged me back and then raised my chin up and kissed me gently.

  “So, birthday girl, where to now?”

  “Home, please. I have to work tomorrow.” Tomorrow, he was visiting this chiropractor that Ty had recommended and then he had to take off again, but we were meeting for lunch. All this eating out was not healthy for me.

  “I think you might sleep better in a nice, comfy king-sized bed,” he suggested.

  “Sleep? Yeah, right. I know what happens in those king-sized beds.”

  Jimmy smiled down at me. “And that’s why I asked. You sure enjoyed that night in Toronto.”

  I turned pink. We headed back to the car. Jimmy drove me home and walked me up to the apartment. I leaned my back against the door and looked up at him.

  “I’ll be a lot happier when we get to end these evenings together,” Jimmy said with a frown.

  Me too, I thought, but I didn’t voice that. “I had a lovely evening. Thank you for everything: the flowers, the dinner, and this.” I touched the necklace.

  He looked down the deep V of my halter and picked up the silver key necklace and toyed with it. Then he ran a finger down between my breasts, and I let out a little gasp. He bent his head down and kissed my open mouth, plundering it with his tongue and pushing his muscular body hard against mine.

  After a long, dizzying time he pulled away and whispered, “Are you sure I can’t come in?”

  I shook my head, not really trusting my voice.

  “Good night. And Kelly….”

  “Mmm?”

  “I really hope you make up your mind soon. I’ll make it worth your while.”

  I walked into the apartment and flopped on my bed. I really needed to think these things through a bit more carefully. I seemed to be spending my days in a state of sexual frustration. And I already knew too well what that could lead to.

  What was the point of dating these guys anymore? The dating game had brought out the best and worst in everyone. Nobody was behaving naturally. Phil alternated between charming and childishly jealous. Jimmy was never his sweet self, and he constantly acted worried and pushy. And all the pressure on me to decide was getting intense.

  I looked at my calendar. The only important event was my beer league hockey final next weekend. As soon as that was over, I’d make up my mind once and for all. Even deciding to decide made me feel better.

  23

  It’s Up To You

  Well, dear reader, I leave it up to you. Knowing Kelly and both guys, which one do you think she should be with? If you want her to be with Jimmy, go here. If you want her to be with Phil., go here.

  24

  Hockey Night in Vancouver

  “Phil is sulking or something. And his playing sucks.” Dave Vanderhauf was getting in my face after a rare practice. Dave really wanted to win the final, so he had actually ponied up for practice ice. Phil couldn’t come of course, since he was working overtime again.

  I knew why Phil was sulking. We had been on an emotional seesaw ever since I got back from the NHL Awards weekend. He was mad at me for breaking my own rules and fooling around. If I had thought about my stupid dating game idea for more than a minute, I should have predicted that this would happen—Phil’s jealousy was his worst quality, and now he was acting like a tool. But how could I blame him? He had good reason to get jealous, and it was all my fault. And Jimmy was bugging me too. He was all puppy dog eyes and guilt trips, letting me know how much trouble he was going to, just for me. My personal life was so dramatic and pressure-filled. Lately, I was tempted to blow them both off.

  “What am I supposed to do about it?” I asked Dave.

  Dave waggled a finger at me. “You know what I’ve noticed about your relationship—you never sleep over. So, how about tonight, I’ll let you in and you can be waiting for Phil in his bed. Naked—or how about just boots? I like boots. That’ll cheer him up.”

  “Wow, thanks for showing me the Vanderhauf charm that’s shipwrecked a thousand relationships. Not happening.”

  “Then what, Kelly? He got on this team because he wanted to be with you. And I had to trade Matt Sakura, who was a big goal scorer, to balance things. Now he’s sucking, and it’s all your fault.”

  Dave was right. I had brought this on myself, and now hockey—the one place I went to release my stress—was becoming a new source of tension. Between Phil being pissed and now Dave getting mad, I felt like slamming someone into the boards. Too bad it wasn’t that
kind of hockey.

  Friday night was our big championship game. Our opposition was the Ice Hogs, and Dave had some personal vendetta against them. But they had beaten us all three times in the regular season, so we were the underdogs for sure.

  Phil was working late, so Dave drove me to the rink. He spent the whole ride formulating our game plan. Then when we got to the dressing room, he started droning on about strategy. It wasn’t like we were a real team; we were a bunch of individual players. If everyone worked hard and did their best, we could win. We weren’t suddenly going to start doing complicated power plays or flashy break-outs because Dave told us to. “Pass the puck hard, and keep your shifts short,” that’s all I would have said.

  Every guy thinks he’s Scotty Bowman though, so I tried to pay attention. By the time we got on the ice, the Ice Hogs were already warming up. I threw my extra stick on the bench and went out for a skate. When I got out there, someone by the boards called out to me.

  “Hey, Kelly.”

  Holy fuck. It was Jimmy! He wasn’t even supposed to be in town this weekend.

  I skated over, and he opened the corner door to talk to me.

  “Jimmy, um, this is a big surprise. How did you even know where I was?”

  “You mentioned your team name before, so I looked it up. I remembered that you wished I had seen your championship game at McGill. I figured this is the next best thing. I’ve never gotten to see you play a real game.”

  Jimmy’s memory was scary. But this game wasn’t really important like my university final. I swallowed hard.

  “Oh wow. Don’t expect too much.” I felt completely inadequate. What could be worse than an NHL player watching your beer league game? “I hope you won’t be bored. Feel free to leave if you want.”

  “I won’t get bored. I got Baller to come with me.” He motioned up to the stands, and Ty gave me a little hand wave that I returned weakly. I guess having two NHL players watch your beer league game would be worse. He looked at my stick. “Hey, I should have gotten you some new twigs.”

  “It’s okay. I burned through your last ones during school, but I really appreciated them.” Composite sticks were great for shooting, but they were more fragile. “Look, I better warm up.”

  He smiled and wished me good luck. I was still feeling a little stunned. I started skating and tried to get into game mindset. But then Phil skated up beside me, and I realized the other disastrous side effect of Jimmy’s surprise.

  “How could you invite Frechette to the game? Hockey is our time together!”

  “Ground rules, Phil. Can we not do this right now? We’re supposed to be getting ready for a big game.” The buzzer sounded, and we skated to the bench.

  Phil wasn’t done though. He looked up in the near-empty stands. There were a few random girlfriends, but the two guys certainly stood out.

  “Who’s the other guy? Door number three in the dating game?”

  “It’s Tyler Ballanchuk.”

  “Two NHL players are watching our championship? That’s fucking ridiculous. Is there nothing this guy won’t do to kiss up to you?”

  I felt like screaming. After that first night, I never wanted these two within a kilometer of each other again. Then I got an idea of how I could at least take advantage of this situation. “At least they’ll get to see how good I am. You have more to be worried about though.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You’ve been in a major slump lately. What like, zero goals in the last four games? And I told Jimmy you were the top player on my team for years.”

  This was a total lie, but it was for a good cause. Those Ice Hogs were a cocky team, and they deserved everything that was going to happen to them.

  Phil played like a man possessed. If I weren’t on his line, I would have enjoyed watching him zoom around, going end-to-end, rushing, deking, dangling, and scoring. As it was, I could hardly keep up with him, and my only really good play was scoring a goal as the trailer on the play. Everyone else seemed to be following his example and going all out. The Ice Hogs were good though, and the game remained tight. I think they were a little surprised at how intense we were tonight.

  “Have I told you how fucking awesome you are?” Dave asked me when he was beside me on the bench, halfway through the game.

  “I never get tired of hearing that.”

  “I don’t know what you said to him, but PD is on fire. This is the best I’ve seen him play all season. What did you promise him tonight? A three-way? Anal? A little dominatrix action—I bet you’re good at that.”

  “Oh, fuck off.” Dave knew no boundaries.

  Between the second and third periods, Dave was yammering away about strategy. Jimmy motioned to me, and I skated over to see what he wanted.

  “Hey, gorgeous, good game,” he began. “We noticed that the goalie is really weak high on the blocker side, and he’s not completely shutting down the five-hole.”

  “If I could actually aim my shots, that would be really helpful,” I told him.

  “Whatever. You look cute in your gear.” He gave me a big smile.

  I smiled back and skated back to the bench.

  “What did that asshole say?” Phil asked.

  “He said to go high blocker or five-hole. If you can.”

  Faroush, one of the defencemen, leaned across to talk to me.

  “That guy you were talking to, he looks a lot like James Frechette. You know, of the Chicago Blackhawks.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “He gets that a lot.”

  Dave was listening. His goal was high on the blocker side.

  Near the end of the third, Phil scored five-hole, skated by and stuck his tongue out at me. How mature. Almost as mature as manipulating Phil for the win.

  Final score: Flying Pucks: 7, Ice Hogs: 3.

  * * *

  James

  * * *

  We were sitting up in the stands watching the warm-up for Kelly’s hockey game. Baller was bitching a little.

  “I can’t believe I’m sitting at Eight Rinks watching scrubs. I played here when I was a kid.”

  I shrugged. “Kelly’s watched me play before.”

  “Yeah, but we’re the top hockey players in the world. This is beer league.”

  “It’s the championship for her.”

  I wanted to show her that I did take her interests seriously, and besides, I liked watching hockey. You could analyze problems and determine how to correct them. Bad hockey could be an even better learning experience. Besides, other than camp, I’d never seen Kelly play hockey.

  It was kind of interesting. She was the smallest player out there and not that strong. So she seemed to pick her spots and try to stay under the radar. Her skills were much better than last time I’d seen her.

  The centreman on her line was the best player on the ice; he was big and strong and had some decent puck skills. Plus he had that aggressiveness that really separates the good players: you have to want the puck and want to be the one who makes the huge play. He didn’t pass to Kelly much, and she was scrambling to keep up. He was a bit of a puck hog. He did make one beautiful drop pass to her, and she shot right away, but the goalie saved it. Her shot wasn’t hard enough. But she was the best female player on the ice.

  After the first period, I saw the big centre take off his helmet and throw some water on his head. I swore, and Baller followed my gaze to the bench.

  It was friggin’ Phil Davidson.

  Kelly had never mentioned that they were playing hockey together. To be fair, she had never mentioned her hockey team until I had noticed the gear drying in her room. I knew they had played hockey together when they were kids, but I didn’t know they were back on the same team.

  What a pain in the ass. If I were playing with her, I would be so much better than him. I would be setting her up for goals instead of hot-dogging. But there was no recreational league in the world where both of us could be on the same team unless we were 70 years old.

  “W
hat’s wrong, Freeze?”

  “The big centre on her line. That’s her ex-boyfriend from high school.”

  “So?”

  I wondered how much I should tell him. It was tough not talking about this. “It’s kinda complicated, but Kelly and I are not dating exclusively. And he’s the guy I’m worried about.” That sounded completely lame; “exclusively” was a chick word.

  “Are you shitting me?” Baller scowled. “I can’t believe that. When you guys were at my place, I could have sworn she was crazy about you.”

  “She is into me. She just doesn’t want to rush into anything.”

  He was silent for a long time. We watched the back and forth of the game, and Kelly’s team was in a little trouble. Finally, Baller delivered his verdict. “I bet this is your fault.”

  “My fault? How can that be?” From gifts to trips, I had fulfilled the dreams of any normal girlfriend.

  “You go off the deep end about everything. You’re probably talking marriage or something, and she’s running scared.”

  “That’s ridiculous. But it’s only logical that we can’t have a relationship unless she moves to Chicago.”

  “Where’s she going to live?” he asked.

  “My place. I’ve got that whole big condo now.”

  “Fuuuuck me.” He started laughing. “Did you buy that place so she’d move in with you?”

  I shook my head. Maybe it had been in the back of my mind, but I wanted my own place.

  “You remind me of my ex-girlfriends—but in reverse. Eventually, they all want to move in with me and I’m shitting my pants at the idea. I feel sorry for Kelly.”

  “Crap, Baller. You’re supposed to be on my side.”

  “Well sure, I want things to work out with you guys. But give her some space for Chrissakes. After a year of living together, I know you.”