26. Comprehension

Thank you for your feedback - this one's another shorty I'm afraid. Please let me know your opinions & Happy Commenting :)

Song: Florence and the Machine - Kiss with a Fist


JORDAN'S POV


I had been pacing around my apartment for a few hours whilst Max and TK sat on my couch and listened. “Stop wearing the carpet out, and go and see Gina,” Max advised. “She’ll know what to do.” TK looked relieved that Max had finally suggested something – honestly, TK is no help in these situations.
“Thanks Talbo,” I said grinning as he gave me the thumbs up.
“Go get her back,” he replied. Was she ever mine in the first place?


I stepped into Ella’s room and took a look around. It wasn’t the first time I’d been in here, but it was the first time I’d been in here without her. I’d never paid any attention to the huge corkboard that took up one wall stretching from floor to ceiling. However I did now - it was Ella’s life. Her life that I’d just bypassed before on the way to getting laid. It was covered in post-its, notes from her friends, doodles, letters, postcards and hundreds of photos and polaroids. It was a sneak peek of her life – of her memories and experiences. One photo kept drawing my attention back to it, the same guy reappearing in many photos.

“Who’s the guy?” I asked not removing my glance from a photo of a grinning Ella with her arm around a guy who had the same big green eyes, blonde hair, freckles and the same snub nose.

“Felix, her twin,” Gina said quietly perched on Ella’s bed. She had never told me she had a twin. Actually she hadn’t told me a lot of things about herself.

“Jordan, I want you and Ella to be together, her eyes look brighter when she’s around you and you bring out this side of her I haven’t seen for ages since Acapulco. You made her so happy on her last evening, she didn't want to come back. If you do want to be together, you’ve got to want to know and accept everything about her. Felix is very important to Ella, and understanding their bond is part of understanding Ella. He is her best friend, her brother, confidant and biggest supporter. She’s flown back to Montreal to clear her head. She’ll be back in a week; she needs the time and space.”

I had to go to Montreal. I had to. It was the only way to get her back. What if she made up her mind in a week that she didn’t want me? If I got there beforehand I could change her, convince her that we were good together.

“I don’t think you should go to Montreal, it’s the last thing she’d want,” Gina mind-read. “And I’m not sure Felix would welcome you just turning up like that.” Screw her brother. What does he know? Apparently a lot more than me.



“Why you here?” Geno said, taking the beer out of my hand and drinking it dry. “You have woman problems, you fix them.” Woman problems I still had. Trust Geno to be so fucking moral right now. Thieving Russian drinking my beer. Earlier, Gina had given me an insight into Ella’s life but hadn’t dropped any clues on how to win her back. If ‘winning’ was even the correct thing. She had told me it was up to me to fix, but that I should know I had her full support.

“Woman, Ella, is in Montreal,” I sighed looking out over the balcony onto the crowded Diesel dance floor. I don’t know why I was speaking to Geno as if he was stupid, but I didn’t want to explain the whole situation to him right now.
“We have game there Thursday, you find her,” Geno stated. If only things were that simple. We don’t all live in Crosby’s miracle world where everything goes like clockwork. Hell, if you rewrite his firstname it spells Disney – his life is like a Disney fairytale. Back to Ella. And it’s not like I even know where she lives in Montreal. Maybe Gina would help with that?

“Maybe, thanks Geno,” I said, not knowing why I’d been persuaded to be here. I didn’t want to be here, I didn’t need to be here, and I didn’t even have plans to pull a puck bunny tonight. What changed?



Uh oh. Here comes Sophie, I thought, bracing myself for Hurricane Sophie and probably the tirade of abuse that would come.
“Jordan, what are you doing here?” she asked. So friendly? Guess she wasn’t out to have a go at me.

“Celebrating a win,” I guessed, tyle:italic;">was that the right question, or was she asking something else? Like why am I here with the team and not Ella. Technically she’s not my girlfriend so I don’t have to Velcro her to my side. Why am I justifying myself to Sophie?

“It’s nice to see you again,” she said, gently swaying on the spot. Man did she look out of it, her eyes were all over the place.

“So you haven’t heard?” I asked her, half hoping she’d spoken to Ella and could tell me how she was doing. I needed an ‘OK’ or a ‘She’s doing well’. I kind of wanted Sophie to say she was miserable so I knew we both felt the same way. That’s so selfish of me.

“Yeah, I heard,” she stuttered. “What the hell were you doing?” She changed her tune. A minute ago she was happy to see me - women are so fucking hormonal.

“I didn’t know. She doesn’t mean anything to me, we slept together, once,” I lied, I couldn’t admit it had been more than once. Now the thought of it disgusted me. “And I regret it. I don’t even remember last night. I need to get her back. Gina talked to me today but won’t help me. She told me not to go to Montreal.”

“Pfft. Ignore Gina,” Sophie said laughing, wobbling on the spot. She really is out of it. “Go to Montreal, do the romantic gesture and get her back. If you chase her to Montreal, she knows you want her. Right now, she’s not sure if you want her and she’s not sure what she wants.” Sophie made more sense than Gina, even if she was absolutely trashed.

“Of course I want her,” I argued back, trying to understand why Ella would think I didn’t want her. We have a match in Montreal this Thursday, I'm going to see her however I can. I turned away, heading towards the door and peace.

“Jordan?” Sophie shouted above the music, taking a couple of steps towards me. I turned, as she planted her mouth on mine. It took me a second to respond, pushing her away. “What the fuck?” I said, feeling violated. She tasted like foul liquor, scotch at best.

“I just wanted to see what Ella was missing out on.” Bitch, she’s a skanky bitch. From now on, I’m going to listen to Gina’s advice. At least she’s not wasted and delirious like Sophie.

“Max, we have a problem”

I sent to Max as I got in a cab back to my apartment. Fuck, she really threw a spanner in the works. As if I haven’t fucked up enough.