36. Resolution

TWO CHAPTERS TONIGHT - MAKE SURE YOU'VE READ 35 BEFORE YOU READ THIS ONE!!!
What a horrible result. Anyone up for an early visit to a certain sod farm in T-Bay? I'm going Staalwatching. As a little consolation and a Jordan goal tonight, I'm putting up two chapters tonight :) Let's keep those comments up.


Song: Pearl Jam - Just Breathe


JORDAN'S POV


“So how’s woman?” Geno said, flopping down in the seat next to me on the plane. “You happy again?”
I gave him a little grin and he shook my hand, patting me on the shoulder. Geno was a guy of few words, partly due to his lack of English, but what he lacked in language, he made up for by his actions. He knew when everyone of the guys on the team was down or dejected and did his best to cheer them up.

“What is problem?” Geno asked. I wanted to be able to explain it to him. I know he understands more than he lets on – he’s a sneaky shit sometimes, but unlike TK, he’d figured out something was wrong.

“Ella, well, she’s got this amazing internship in Montreal this summer. And it’s a great opportunity for her. She’s graduating next week, and well, I want to spend the summer with her. I want her to come to the Bay with me.”

“You farm in summer?” Geno said. I nodded. Everyone knew the Staal boys worked on the sod farm when we weren’t playing hockey. Stupid question Geno. “Well, go Montreal. You have brothers. They not miss your little work.” Yeah sure. I may not be capable at driving a tractor like Eric but I sure as hell worked harder than Marc or Jared.

“Thanks Geno, your advice is, er, appreciated?”

“COD now?” Geno said, taking out his PSP. Of course, what trip wouldn’t be complete without an epic cod match. “Sid going down,” Geno said, his tongue sticking out between his teeth as he focused on the screen.


I was playing, I really was, but my mind was elsewhere. As I’d explained to Geno, I had to help out on the farm during summer – it’s an important time of year for us and well, my Mom really appreciates having all four of us under the same roof. However I couldn’t go to Montreal, life wasn’t as simple as that. What was I going to do in Montreal? I can’t speak a word of French beyond ‘bonjour’ and ‘tabernak’ and words I’ve picked up off Max – generally the most offensive ones. I didn’t know if we would work long distance, it was something I’d be willing to try, but who knows what would happen after the summer. Would Ella stay in Pittsburgh? Would she move abroad for work? These questions I didn’t have the answer to and only time would help me.

“Dude, Marc is shot you. He’s crap,” I heard Geno say. My mind wasn’t in the match, so I switched my psp off, leaving Geno to fend for himself.

“Gronk!” he muttered still engrossed in the game.

I shrugged, getting up and going to the back of the plane where Mario was sitting. I don’t talk to Mario too often, but when you need a fatherly figure or some unbiased advice, Mario’s the man.
“Have you got some time?” I asked, standing in front of him. Having played for his team for three full seasons, I still felt in awe of the man every time we were face to face. He had been one of my childhood heros, and I think he had this effect on everyone.

“Sure, take a seat. I’m all ears,” Mario said, closing the laptop down.

“Well there’s this girl,” I began. Mario rolled his eyes.

“All problems start with those four words,” he replied. He’s probably right, but right now I don’t need to hear that. I want to know what he has to say. I poured out the story about Ella, her going to Montreal in the summer, me being in the Bay, and what should I do. Ella was already on Mario’s radar after the whole PR – epilepsy thing back in March so he knew I had been seeing her.

“Well, if you want to make it work, you’ve got to do whatever it takes,” Mario said. I knew that. I would do whatever it took to be with her. “With Natalie, when I wasn’t playing hockey, I followed her everywhere. When I was playing hockey, she followed me everywhere. You think she’s worth it? Will she still like you if you stopped playing hockey tomorrow or discovered you had cancer? Natalie has stuck by me through everything and she’s the only woman I’ve wanted to have children with – and now we have four.”

That was certainly food for thought. Ella didn’t even know I played hockey when I first met her – that’s not the reason she’s with me. When I found out she was epileptic, I stuck by her. It’s epilepsy, it’s serious but it’s not life threatening as long as she takes her medication and avoids certain situations. Would Ella stick by me if I got cancer or was paralysed? I didn’t know. Maybe I should take a leaf out of Ella’s book and deal with it when we get there.



Strolling into the Mellon Arena the next morning for practice I was surprised to see a familiar racoon haired girl with what looked like Lovejoy in the corridor outside the locker room. As soon as they heard my footsteps they broke apart. You’ve got to be kidding me, I thought as I looked at them both. Surely Lovejoy is smarter than to mess around with Lola? Having said that, he’s just come up from WBS, so he probably doesn’t know the rules around here yet.

“Lovejoy, I need your help. Byls wants to talk to both of us,” I said making up the first bit of bull to come into my head.

“Hi Jordie,” Lola cooed doing some sort of baby wave with her hand. I ignored her. She was the last person I wanted to see this early in the morning. Sure she was great in bed but she’s a bonafide puck, and the reason Ella ran away. Luckily Lovejoy had more sense than necessary and followed me down the corridor until we took a turn. It wasn’t the way to Dan’s office and he knew it. Yanking open the cleaning cupboard I shoved him inside before stepping in after him.

“Why?” I asked, trying to keep my temper.

“Lola? She’s hot, met her at Diesel…”

“Everyone’s met her at Diesel. She’s not allowed in this arena. Technically she has a restraining order against Sidney so she really shouldn’t be here. People will shit bricks if she’s seen. And I thought you had more sense than to go with her. She fucked up my relationship with Ella…”

“No, you did that yourself,” Lovejoy bit back.

“What the fuck do you know? Now get out of my sight before you get sent back to the baby pens where you belong,” I said, shoving him out of the cupboard and into Dana.
“I don’t even want to know,” she said rolling her eyes as Lovejoy nearly fell over. He’s such a twat.


As I rounded back around the corner, I could see Lola with her hands on her hips talking to a bemused looking Ella. Whatever they were saying – it couldn’t be good.