Shooting Stars

Chapter 10: The Beauty of Silence

{Ally}

The hardest part about being best friends with an NHL player, is that they are never by your side for longer than a week.

They have away games, and they leave you for a few days to go play the sport that they fell in love with, many years ago.

Today, is one of those days.

It’s Monday, April 21, at about 10:00 in the morning.

Jonathan and Patrick have to fly out to Anaheim to play games three and four of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Game three is tomorrow night, and game four is Thursday night.

Currently, the three of us are standing in the doorway, saying our goodbyes until this Friday, when they will return to home sweet Chicago.

“Good luck boys. I know you guys will do great.” I say, a bittersweet smile forming on my face.

“Thanks Ally.” Patrick smiles, looking down at me.

“Don’t throw too many parties without us.” Jonathan winks.

I blush, and smile at the ground.

Patrick wraps his arms around me, and I let my cheek rest against his pecks, embracing his hug.

We part, and he smiles down at me, before exiting through the door, leaving just Jonathan and I in the doorway.

“See you down there Jonny.” Patrick nods.

Jonathan nods back, and then Patrick is gone.

I move over to Jonathan, and he cuddles me up in his strong arms, for a brief few seconds.

Slightly less affection than Patrick’s, but that’s understandable, as I haven’t known Jonathan my entire life.

Although I feel like I have, reality is, that I haven’t.

“See you on Friday, Ally.” Jonathan smiles, holding me close to his body.

I can feel the warmth radiating from his body to mine.

To me, it feels like his warmth keeps my body running.

Oh shut up Ally, that’s fucking ridiculous.

What am I even thinking? He’s not interested. There’s just no way Jonathan Toews is interested in me.

“Play well.” I say, slightly less flirty than I was before.

I can’t come off desperate to him. 

He’s not interested anyways, so why would he care?

“I will.” He laughs.

“I’ll be watching.” I smile.

He nods, and then leaves, closing the door behind him.

“I’ll miss you.” I say to the closed door, looking down.

I don’t know if he will miss me too.

And this is when the feeling sinks in. I don’t want to need him this way, and I don’t want to miss him like this.

Not in the way I’m feeling. But as much as I am trying to avoid it, I do. 

I tell myself don’t get attached, and I do exactly the opposite.

I shake my head, and the familiar beauty of silence greets me again.

It envelopes me, creeping into every corner of my mind.

So much so, it makes me believe that I’ve never heard silence quite this loud.

I decide that I’m going to go out today.

I’m just going to go find a little corner coffee shop, and sit there for a while.

Although this apartment is beautiful, I don’t want to waste my whole summer stuck inside it. I need to get out, and just do something, even when the boys aren’t here.

I throw on some shoes and a jacket, and then make my way downstairs, and into the charismatic streets of The Windy City.

I start walking, the cool breeze hitting me with a vengeance, making my face muscles turn to ice.

I finally find a cute little coffee shop called “Chicago Street Coffee”, right on the corner of a busy intersection.

It’s my favorite little place in Chicago, and I come here whenever I visit.

I enter the busy coffee shop, and find a little leather chair to sit on.

I plop down on the chair, and look up at the TV right above me.

My eyes widen at who I see.

None other, than Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.

SportsCenter is on, and they are talking about how well the Blackhawks have been playing.

Pictures of Jonny and Pat are being displayed.

I immediately start blushing as they talk about how great of a Captain Jonathan Toews is.

It’s true. 

He is undeniably, the greatest Captain in the current world of hockey.

I can’t let myself get attached to Jonathan. I can’t.

This has to stop, and it has to stop soon. 

I need to face the reality that Jonathan Toews is not interested in me.

But whenever I’m with him, he makes me believe differently. He tricks me into thinking that maybe, just maybe, he is?

I order a coffee, drink it while people-watching, and living simply.

After a good two hours, I decide I should probably head back to the apartment.

I spent those couple hours thinking, mostly about Jonathan and Patrick.

I already miss them so much, and they won’t be back until Friday.

After not seeing Patrick for a whole year, it’s hard to have him slip away from my reach, even if it’s for the one thing that he has a burning passion for.

Hockey.

And it’s hard to see Jonathan leave my sight, when I feel like I’m so deeply attached to that man.

It’s about noon, and Chaunette invited me over to her place for dinner tonight, so I want to have some time to hang out before I go over there.

Jonathan and Patrick took Jonny’s car to the airport, so Patrick told me I could drive his whenever I needed it.

So, I’ll be driving Patrick Kane’s SUV over to Andrew Shaw’s apartment, to hang out with Andrew’s girlfriend.

It’s a good life.