Hockey Is My Boyfriend: Part Two

Home > Other > Hockey Is My Boyfriend: Part Two > Page 9
Hockey Is My Boyfriend: Part Two Page 9

by Ting, Melanie


  All the girls obediently lined up for breakfast. I got my cereal and fruit, but before I made it to the girl’s table, Jimmy called me. “Kelly! Over here.”

  As if I didn’t always know where in the room he was. He had saved a seat for me at the big boys’ table. When I got there, Jimmy pulled out the chair for me. After I sat down, he placed his hand on my back and asked me sweetly how I was doing this morning, as if we hadn’t already spent time in the gym making out.

  “Good, I’m good.” Until I went through that 1950’s time portal and ended up going steady with the Beav.

  “Well, you look great. As usual.”

  Definitely, if a ponytail, jean shorts and the world’s oldest t-shirt qualified as looking great, that was me. I looked down the table, but to their credit nobody else was laughing at this turn of events. Probably none of them were awake yet.

  Loreal walked by, and I gave her a raised eyebrow meant to communicate my mystified state of mind, but apparently she didn’t read eyebrows and sat down with the girls. I ate my cereal in silence.

  Jimmy kept smiling as he made his way through one of the biggest breakfasts I have ever seen: eggs, bacon, sausages, toast, muffins, yogurt, fruit cup. And with only one hand too, as the other one had to be either around me or stroking my arm or holding my hand. All before 9:00 AM.

  The only thing that kept me from slugging him was the fact his touch was igniting a fire in my stomach, or actually in an area six inches below that. All before 9:00 AM.

  After breakfast, we split up to work our own schedules. I had an early morning practice session with the Peewees. Then I was supposed to supervise the crafts area, which was an optional activity hardly anyone showed up to. Except one ten-year old boy, who seemed to live in the craft room. His name was Max, and I finally asked him why he didn’t go to art camp instead of hockey camp.

  “You wouldn’t get it,” he said, without even looking up from his drawing.

  “Try me.”

  “There was this one camp: computer animation. I would totally give anything to go to that camp. But here I am instead.”

  “Why didn’t you tell your parents you wanted to go there?”

  “It’s my dad, he’s a former NHL player. For the Sabres. I have two older sisters, and I’m the one who is supposed to follow in his footsteps and be a big time hockey player. My mom and sisters love hockey too. I’m the only one who’s into computers and art.”

  “Wow, that’s so weird. We should totally swap families. My mom is a ceramic artist, my brother is a computer geek who invents stuff, and my dad is a florist. Nobody in my family even watches hockey, they all love the arts.”

  Max stared at me like I was kidding him.

  “Really? Your family sounds awesome.”

  I guessed my family was awesome in one way, instead of discouraging me because I liked something they didn’t understand, they had let me play hockey, paid the fees, and bought the equipment I needed. Poor Max. The thing was, I saw him play yesterday, and he was a really good hockey player. The knock on him would be a lack of intensity, but no wonder if his heart wasn’t in it. Trudy had mentioned he was one of the few kids who was staying for two weeks instead of one.

  “You know, you can come here anytime you want. Let me know, and I’ll open up the room for you. Maybe I can even negotiate some time for you on Coach Iverson’s computer.”

  “Really?” His little face was glowing. He had a happier expression than when I saw him go end to end and score a glorious goal top shelf. “You’re so nice.”

  I smiled back. It was so easy to make little boys happy. Come to think of it, it was equally easy to make big boys happy.

  15

  Photogenic

  My week was pretty uneventful. There hadn’t been any more free time on the schedule, so Jimmy and I hadn’t had any more “dates.” But we were the talk of the camp, with lots of giggling when Jimmy draped an arm around me during movie night or when he walked me up to the cabin and kissed me goodnight. I found it all a little embarrassing until I finally decided to roll with it. Jimmy was so happy, and it was contagious. And it seemed like everyone else was happy for us; Trudy had beamed at me, and Loreal was ecstatic.

  On Thursday, I got called out of dryland training with the younger kids for a phone call. I was thinking the worst, so when I heard April’s voice on the office phone instead of my dad’s, I was relieved.

  “April, are you here or something?”

  “No, I’m still in Vancouver. There’s this miracle called long distance. Speaking of which, do you ever have your cellphone on?”

  “I forget. Nobody ever calls me here. Is everything okay?”

  “Fine. Well, sort of. Listen, I found out something you should know. I don’t know exactly what to do about it or if we can do anything at all.”

  “What is it?”

  “I don’t know if you know, but there are these on-line discussion boards where people speculate on the love lives of hockey players, especially cute young guys.”

  “They need to get a life.”

  “Yeah, probs, but here’s the thing. Do you know a hockey player named James Frechette?”

  “Yessss.” My stomach dropped to the floor.

  “Okay, I can hear in your voice that something’s up, but maybe you can’t talk there.”

  “That’s correct.”

  “Anyway, there are photos of you and him on one of these sites. They’re kind of… graphic. At first I thought they might be photoshopped, but it sounds to me like they could be real.”

  “That’s correct.”

  “Having quite the summer?” That April could be funny at a time like this was a bit of a relief. “Anyway, I’m sending you the website in an email. You need to get to a computer and check things out. You need to get these down. Like yesterday.”

  “April, who else knows about this?” Sports sites were the last place April hung out in, so I was pretty shocked she was the one telling me about this.

  “Oh, um, just me. But your name is written right there.”

  “Oh man. Well, I better go.”

  “Bye, Kelly. Don’t worry, it will work out.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. So much for a secret fling in the middle of nowhere.

  I turned to Trudy Iverson who had been hovering with concern in the background.

  “Is everything all right at home?” she asked.

  “Yes, but I need to get to town, just for half an hour. To see about… some things.”

  “No problem, I’ll get one of the boys to drive you.”

  I waited in a daze. When Trudy came back, she sat across from me. I had noticed that she was a smart woman and the organizational brains behind the camp. And now she had me in her sights. I sat up straighter.

  “Kelly dear,” she began. “I’ve known Jimmy since he was eight years old. All he’s ever thought about is hockey. So, for him to have a girlfriend is a big deal.”

  “Uh,” I stammered. I didn’t know what to say here.

  Trudy continued talking. “Everyone hoped he’d start dating a nice girl from around here, but he’s barely home enough. You seem like a nice girl to me. The kids like you; that’s always a good sign. And if you weren’t, I would have taken steps.”

  Steps? What the hell did that mean? Everything was happening to me at once. I felt like I was being kicked when I was already down. With skates. Trudy rose up, and I involuntarily flinched, but she only patted me on the shoulder. “I know you won’t hurt him. He’s so trusting.”

  Okay, great. I hadn’t wanted a big deal relationship and now not only was I in one, but everyone in the world could see it, and I wasn’t allowed to get out of it. Could Thursday get any better?

  There was a honk outside. Naturally, Trudy had gotten Jimmy to drive the pick up truck. He had a mile-wide grin when he pushed open the passenger side door. I hopped in.

  “This is a sweet surprise,” Jimmy began. “Maybe we can stop at the drugstore and get some—” He stopped at the sight of my
tense expression. “What is it?”

  “Someone has posted photos of us on the internet.”

  “Photos of us? Doing what?”

  “Playing scrabble? Skating? I haven’t seen them yet, but I assume they’re bad or my friend April wouldn’t have called to tell me about them.”

  “So we’re going into town to see them?”

  “Yeah, Loreal mentioned there’s an internet café there. It might be better than pulling them up on Burt’s PC.”

  “Jeez.”

  “Yeah. Who could do something like this?”

  “I don’t know.” He was looking towards the highway and not at me. I got the feeling he was lying.

  We didn’t say much more until we got to the café. We went to a terminal at the very back. I pulled up my email account, April’s message, and then the site. It was totally primitive: message after message speculating on hockey players and who they were with. Girls suggesting possible girlfriends and then tearing them down. “And a total lack of grammar and correct spelling,” said the voice of my grade eight English teacher.

  It didn’t take long to find Jimmy’s page. He wasn’t a full NHL’er yet, but he had been noticed at the draft and the World Juniors.

  There were only two photos of us. One was a grainy close-up where you could tell we were French-kissing. You couldn’t tell it was either of us, unless you knew us well. Or unless you read the comment underneath which had our names in it. Shit.

  But the other photo was worse. We were lying on the beach and kissing. I had only my bikini bottoms on, and his hand was on my breast.

  We both gaped at the second photo.

  “Well, at least my hand is covering you up.”

  Did he actually say that? Oh my God. “Yeah, explain that to my dad when he comes to kill you.”

  “Your dad is going to kill me?”

  Actually it was pretty funny to imagine my slender dad taking on Jimmy. If someone did sock him, it would probably be Phil. Phil, shit, if he saw this he would already be on a plane here to kill someone. Whether it would be Jimmy or me, I wasn’t sure. The horrible feeling in my stomach returned.

  “It’s kind of odd, but actually if someone took these photos of us they only posted the tame ones,” I speculated. There were probably more photos, including me going down on Jimmy, and vice versa. But maybe the site had restrictions about how graphic photos could be. So there were probably more photos out there, and I needed to get my hands on them. I mean, for Jimmy it might enhance his rep, but for me this was a total disaster. I had to stay calm and figure out what to do.

  While I was having fourteen different kinds of fits, Jimmy had pulled out his cellphone and was talking to someone. He kept his head turned away, so I could only hear bits of his conversation: “Told me to call about stuff like this,” “I realize that,” “Isn’t this illegal?” and “I want to protect my girlfriend here.”

  His girlfriend? It took me two beats to realize he was talking about me. My summer fling was a huge fail, and I hadn’t even gotten to have sex yet. Jimmy was so intense about us. I felt confused and panicky.

  He got off the phone and turned to me. He took my hands in his and gave me this super-serious look. “Kelly, I am so, so sorry about all this.”

  “Why are you apologizing? It’s not like you did this.”

  “Yeah, but you get why this happens, right? It’s because I’m getting more famous. I mean, if we were two regular people there wouldn’t be any sites like this to post stuff on.”

  I nodded. The whole thing was bizarro world. Was Jimmy famous? I guess he was someone people were interested in.

  “Anyway, you don’t have to worry about this, I’m taking care of it. I talked to someone at my agent’s office. This kind of thing happens all the time, and it’ll be gone. They’ll make sure any further posts will get deleted right away.” He frowned and continued, “I hate this stuff so much. But what really hurts is how somebody as sweet as you gets yanked into this whole mess.”

  “What I don’t get is who took these photos? It would have to be someone at the camp. Who would do that?”

  “I dunno. It could be Steve Owen,” said Jimmy.

  “Steve? Why would it be Steve?”

  “Don’t you get it? People are jealous. I got drafted high, I’m going to the show, and now I get to go out with you. Everyone at the camp wants to be with you.”

  I shook my head. “That’s ridiculous. Everyone doesn’t—” I didn’t even finish the sentence, because it was stupid. Guys like Steve, they would hit on a tent pole if it were wearing a dress. But it could be about Jimmy and embarrassing him.

  Jimmy squeezed my hands tighter. “Kelly, you know I have to go back to Fredericton on Saturday. Why don’t you come with me?”

  “I can’t. I have to work for another week.”

  “I’m worried about you here. You could stay with my family while I’m in L.A. or go back to Montreal. I’ll make it right with Burt.”

  I shook my head. He seemed to be getting way too concerned about this whole deal. “Look, Jimmy, it’ was a terrible thing, but you’re getting the photos taken down right away. So everything is fine now, isn’t it?”

  “Maybe. Maybe he’ll give up when he sees he can’t get to us. Anyway, I’m coming back next Saturday to pick you up. I’m so sorry, Kelly. You don’t deserve this crap in your life.”

  I shrugged. It wasn’t anything we could have predicted, but maybe we could have prevented it by keeping things more private.

  “You’re such an innocent,” he said to me with his wide-eyed gaze. Talk about role reversal. “I don’t want to leave you here alone.”

  “I’m not alone. I have Loreal, and if there’s a real problem I can go to Trudy and Burt. I can look after myself.”

  Jimmy was like me in that I could read his expressions easily. Right now he looked like he doubted I could take on a mosquito. He didn’t say another word; instead he kissed me. It was tough to enjoy it when I began worrying someone was watching us.

  16

  Girl Detective

  After Jimmy left on Saturday, I had more time to think about everything. The two photos had been taken down and nothing new was posted. I knew there were more photos out there, and instead of waiting for the other shoe to drop, I wanted to see if I could find them myself.

  After dinner, I took a little walk around the lake to see if I could find where the photos had been taken. Even with a zoom lens, there weren’t a lot of places without trees and brush in the way. I finally found what I thought was the spot: a rocky rise with a good viewpoint of the tiny beach we had been on.

  I looked at the ground like any good detective but found nothing. The weather had been dry, so the ground was hard as rock.

  Really, the person who took these photos would have to know the camp pretty well. And then be able to upload them to the internet. The Steve theory was looking better and better. Since we only had a dial-up modem here, that narrowed things down considerably. I walked over to the office where Trudy was locking things up.

  “Hi, Trudy.”

  “Hello, dear. Can I help you with something?”

  “Yes, can people use your computer to access the internet?”

  “Unfortunately no. We had some problems with viruses, so we don’t allow that any more. You’ll have to go to town and use the computers there.”

  “Um, has anyone gone to town, in the last few days?”

  “Actually only Burt and myself, the transmission is gone on the extra truck so we only have the one vehicle until Monday. Of course, you and Jimmy went the other day. And it’s not that far a walk.”

  “True. But back to the computer, some people must have laptops. Are they allowed to use them here?”

  “Well, yes. If you want to borrow a laptop, you could ask Eric or Steve. You can plug it in at the desk out here. But since it takes up the phone line, we ask you only use it after 11:00 PM and before 7:00 AM.”

  “Thanks, Trudy, that’s very helpful.”


  “No problem, dear. Agnes Frechette was asking me about you.”

  She must be Jimmy’s mom. That hadn’t taken very long, since he had only been home a few hours. Oh boy.

  “Don’t worry, I only told her good things.” Luckily, Trudy was in my corner, now that she had threatened to keep me in line if I ever broke his heart.

  “Oh, that’s great,” I replied weakly and hustled out of there.

  Well, well, Steve again. If I had to choose between Eric and Steve, I know that I would certainly not paint sweet and awkward Eric as a kind of villain. I needed proof though, so I checked back at the office after 11:00 that night. Sure enough, Eric was beavering away on the laptop.

  “Hi, Eric.”

  “Oh wow. Hey.” He looked surprised to see me, but not guilty.

  I pulled up a chair beside him, and he almost fell off his.

  “Hey, would it be possible for me to borrow your laptop to check my email?”

  “You want to…? Like for sure, eh.” He pushed the laptop towards me, but didn’t get up and leave. “Do you, like, know how to use this?”

  Good grief. “Oh yes. But it’s female stuff, so could I use it alone? Only for ten minutes or so.” Female stuff, the magic words for getting guys alarmed.

  “Female? Oh sure, no probs.” He got up, knocked over his chair and righted it. “I’ll be back in ten minutes, Kkkkkelly.”

  “Thanks, that’s really nice of you.” I smiled at him, and he backed into the door.

  Okay, there was no doubt in my mind now that Eric was not the mystery pornographer. He had turned his laptop over with no hesitation at all. Still, I would do a quick search. I checked his browsing history, which seemed consist mainly of World of Warcraft sites and game forums. Then I looked at his picture files. Nothing in the last two weeks, except—wait, what the hell was this? A photo folder marked KT and dated this week. I opened it. Four photos. One was me from the McGill sports website, another was the headshot from the camp. The last two were taken with a cellphone camera, one of me supervising swimming with the girls and another one of me doing dry land training.

 

‹ Prev