Off The Ice // A Patrick Kane Fanfic

Before

“You said that to him?” Kailey asks, laughing. “Hey hand me that eyeliner.”

I do, and laugh with her. “You should have seen the look on his face.”

“Terrified beyond all reason?” She asks, putting on her makeup. I do the same.

We’re almost done getting ready for the team party tonight. With every passing minute I’m getting more and more nervous about this. I’ve only met some of the guys, even though they were all at the team breakfast I crashed. This is a completely different setting though, and besides I wasn’t Patrick’s girlfriend then. Things might change now. I’d never admit it but I’m scared to see how that happens.

“No,” I answer her question, pushing aside my inner monologue to fix my own eyeliner. “More like game on.”

She snorts, tossing the pencil in her clutch. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Because it’s him?” I suggest, smirking.

She laughs again. “Yeah exactly, because it’s him. And he’s just like you.”

I almost stab myself in the eye I’m so shocked by her words. “You think we’re alike?”

“Well yeah,” she shrugs. “You used to say the same thing, before.”

Before. Before she hooked up with Jonathan and against all odds they made it. There were actual bets taken on this too but I’ll never tell her that or she’ll throw the fit of a lifetime.

It’s a little strange to think about Before. It’s almost like that was happening to two different girls. I was stuck in physical therapy after my knee surgery and she was at college. The most we had to worry about was grades, sometimes boys. Nobody but our friends and family knew who we were. Kailey’s picture wasn’t splashed all over the gossip boards or one of the search results when you Googled ‘Jonathan Toews girlfriend.’ Now it’s the first one that shows up, despite them not even going public yet. Now she goes on twitter and people are bombarding her with questions.

It’s not all related to her new relationship. Some of it is her own accomplishments. But it’s still so different to anything she’s ever lived with before.

Now it’s about to be my turn for that. The thought makes the knot in my stomach triple in size.

“Hey, Earth to Jen,” Kailey waves her hand in front of my face, trying to get my attention. “Hell-ooooo come back from Jen Land and join us here in Chicago. We have important things to do and now is not the time to go radio silent on me.”

I shake my head at her. “Have you always been this weird?”

“I’ve been saving it up just for you,” she responds. “Now hurry up and finish or we’re going to be late. The guys are waiting for us downstairs.”

I finish my makeup silently.

“What gives?” she meets my eyes in the mirror. “You’re never this quiet. You’re like the queen of energy.”