38. Forever

Thank you for all of your feedback. Keep the comments coming... Another fluffy filler.

Also please check out Beth's story on LeTang here because she deserves more followers.

This song inspired most of this chapter: Snow Patrol - Make This Go On Forever

JORDAN'S POV



I still couldn’t believe Lovejoy had been stupid enough to shack up with Lola. His reason being 'She told me I was amazing and I was her favourite player' - words I'd heard before from Lola. I know I didn’t have the power to send him down to Wilkes Barre if he pissed me off – but telling el Sid who did have the power was a certain way of getting rid of him. Also Lola was breaking her court order which would stress cappy out if she started stalking him again, another reason to get rid of Lovejoy. There'd be no joy left in him if he continued to piss me off like this.

I hadn’t wanted Lola to see me, so I’d hidden in one of the therapy rooms knowing Ella would have to walk past me to get to the locker room. It was nice to see her before her exam, even though I’d seen her merely an hour before. I had forgotten to wish her good luck so I felt I’d made up for it by wishing her luck even though she’d had to endure that shit from Lola before her final exam. Having said that, there are no skeletons in the closet any more; we have no secrets which is how our let alone any relationship should be.

“Iron Man! Run! Tanger’s it!” Max cried, running past me, his arms flailing in the air as I stood in the middle of the corridor, wondering what to do next. Tanger’s always it? I paused for a second before turning on my heel and sprinting off into a smaller corridor which would take me to the visitor’s locker room. This was where I’d met Ella again and where Ottawa would be tonight. Enemy territory. I opened the door and stalked through their smaller locker room to the showers. Tanger wouldn’t think to come here.

Flipping out my phone I sent a message to Ella:

“I know youre having lunch with Noah - wanna celebrate your freedom and a W later? XX”

“Cant, nice thought but Gina and I are going out as soon as we finish this afternoon. All day celebration. Love you XX”

She wasn’t even going to watch my game tonight? This was a big moment in Ella’s life and I wanted to celebrate with her, but with the playoffs it wasn’t necessarily easy. Ella was leaving in two weeks for Montreal and I wanted to spend as much time with her as I possibly could. The playoffs weren’t helping me to do this, especially if we were going to go to the final like last year and win it again.

“I’ll be in Ottawa tomorrow? Ideas?XXX”

“Soon XXX” Ella replied.

I sat there crouching in the dark for what felt like hours before my phone started buzzing. It couldn’t possibly be Ella – she had an exam. I looked at the caller id. Thank fuck it wasn’t Lola.

“Dude where the fuck are you? Tanger gave up ages ago?” TK said down the phone. Ha, Tanger's such a quitter. Thanks for filling me in.

“And you just let me wait here?” I asked.

“Where are you?” TK said. He hated being beaten at our ritual game of hide and seek. TK just couldn’t keep quiet – he couldn’t even breathe quietly and he chose to hide in the most obvious of places – like under a bench in the corridor.

Should I tell him? Would TK use my hiding place in the future? I didn’t know. “Can’t tell,” I said, not wanting to give up the new best hiding place in the whole of the Mellon arena. My previous places had been in the press box or up in the stands – Kris didn’t usually venture out onto the ice to look for us. I flipped the phone shut and put it in my pocket, walking out of the showers. I was tempted to write something along the lines of “Sens suck Pens cock” or something unsportsmanly on the visitors whiteboard. Something that would get them riled up before their game tonight. After deciding it wasn’t the best time – they might get riled up in the motivational way, I dropped the board marker I’d be holding and sprinted down the corridor.

“Coming!” I yelled, hoping TK could hear me. About three seconds later I heard the familiar ‘that’s what she said’ followed by Max’s loud guffawing. Geno speaks amazingly good English when he needs to – sneaky shit.

_____________________________________________________________


I arrived at Ella’s place fresh out of the shower after our Game 7 victory over Ottawa. Ella only had another week left in Pittsburgh and she was already packing up to move back to Montreal. After the next four days together, I didn’t know when I was next going to see her. One afternoon last week I had called her as she had just started packing. “It’s my apartment, but as I don’t know what I’m going to be doing – Gina’s going to New York for a four month internship – I might as well rent it out to somebody,” she had justified to me on the phone.

“Proud of you babe,” Ella said, standing on tiptoes to greet me at the door. She smelt gorgeous as I picked her up and carried her through to the living room. “What you cooking?” I said settling her down on her sofa as my nose picked out something delicious wafting through from the kitchen.

“Actually it was dinner. Dinner that Gina and I cooked before she went off with Max to celebrate chez lui.” I was a little disappointed that there was none left, I mean I’m still growing and I need all the energy I can get.

“So you’re gonna leave me starving!” I joked. Gently she took my hand, leading me through to the kitchen.
“We made you up a plate, because I knew you’d be hungry,” she said handing me a plate of grilled salmon and vegetables. She was seriously thoughtful and I wanted to show her just how much I appreciated her. Carefully I lifted her light frame up onto the work surface so that I was standing between her legs. “I love you,” I told her before kissing her lightly.

Those three words mean so much to me. I love how I can say those three big words and not be scared with her. I loved how she had accepted me for who I am and not ‘Jordan Staal – Pittsburgh Penguin’. I love how she has her own ambitions and doesn’t let anything stop her from achieving her goals. I love the way her hair falls across her face when she fixes her huge green eyes on me. I love how I don’t have to pretend to be anything around her, just myself.

“I love you more,” she said smiling against my lips, her breath warm on my skin. I don't think that's even possible.

“Forever?” I asked.

“Forever? Forever ever” Ella giggled.

“Who knew Outkast would be joining us in this,” I said as Ella kissed me again, wrapping her legs around my waist. I picked her up, leading her down the hallway to her bedroom.
The salmon can wait.