Sweet Silver Lining

Annabelle walked into the rink, seeing Lily already sitting in the stands, looking out at the ice. She walked over to her friend, sitting down next to her. “What are you doing here?” Annabelle asked her, setting her purse on the floor and getting comfortable in her seat.

“Um, it’s Landon’s first game. Did you really think I was going to miss it?” Lily responded, keeping her eyes on the ice, watching the little kids skate around. Just as Annabelle had promised, she had gotten Landon signed up for a kids’ hockey team, and today was his first game.

Annabelle was extremely nervous since Landon had never played an actual game before. But, Landon was more than ecstatic to play, and he couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face, which was contagious and caused Annabelle to smile right alongside him.

“Thanks for coming,” Annabelle told her. “I’m a little bit nervous,” she admitted.

“Little?” Lily asked, looking down at Annabelle’s clinched fists. “If you’re like this before the game starts, I can only imagine what’s going to happen the first time Landon is thrown into the boards,” she said with a small laugh. She looked over at Annabelle, whose eyes went wide at the image of Landon going into the boards. “Annie!” Lily exclaimed. “You know it’s going to happen. It’s hockey, not figure skating.”

“I know!” Annabelle whined. “But, I just don’t want to see anything happen to him. I mean he just had surgery,” she started.

“He had surgery a couple of months ago. And, the doctors wouldn’t have cleared him to play if they thought that he would get hurt in any way. You seriously need to calm down. God, where is Ladder when you need him?” she asked jokingly. “He is probably the one person who can calm you down right now.”

“He wanted to be here so bad,” Annabelle said with a smile. The Blackhawks were away for a road game the following night, and Andrew had told her multiple times how upset he was that he was going to miss Landon’s first game. He and Landon had become much closer in the past month, and he really wanted to be at the game.

“Have you talked to Landon about your relationship with Ladder yet?” Lily asked. While Landon knew that Andrew and his sister had gone out on that initial first date, he didn’t know that they had continued to date or how far their relationship had come. Andrew had remained in Landon’s life, as a friend, and they often hung out. And, Lily and Dave would babysit Landon whenever Annabelle and Andrew went out on a date. But, Landon had never really figured out that the two of them were an actual couple yet.

“Not yet,” Annabelle admitted.

“You better get on that,” Lily told her. “Because one of these days, he’s going to figure it out on his own, and you never know if he’s going to be angry that you didn’t fill him in from the beginning. Besides, I don’t know why you’re so worried about telling Landon anyways. He’ll probably be ecstatic. I mean, his sister dating his idol. What more can a six year old boy ask for?” Lily asked. Annabelle glared at her, and Lily exclaimed, “What? It’s true!”

“That’s just it. His sister’s dating his idol. Meaning, his idol’s bound to start paying less attention to him and more attention to his sister. I don’t want Landon to end up resenting either of us,” Annabelle explained.

“Okay, first of all, Ladder’s not that type of guy. He loves Landon, and you know that. He’s not going to start ignoring him for you. Besides, you two have been going out for like a month now and he hasn’t been acting any differently towards Landon. If Landon isn’t angry at you two now, he isn’t going to be angry. So, you two might as well tell him! This is stupid, Annie,” Lily told her as two boys went to center ice for the first faceoff of the game.

“Yeah, it is stupid,” Annabelle agreed with a laugh. “I’ll tell him tonight,” she promised, and Lily nodded, letting her know that she had heard her.

Five minutes later, Landon got the puck and started skating up the ice when all of a sudden, one of the bigger kids ran him right into the boards. Annabelle gasped as she watched him crumple to the ice, and Lily put a hand on her arm, trying to keep her calm. Moments later, Landon stood back up, skating down the ice once again. Annabelle let out a sigh of relief when she realized he wasn’t injured. “I told you he’d be fine,” Lily told her with a laugh.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t make it any less scary when I’m watching it,” Annabelle pointed out.

“Are you like this when you watch the Blackhawks play and Andrew gets thrown into the boards?” Lily questioned, looking over at Annabelle before glancing back at the ice to see Landon finish his shift and jump over the boards.

“No,” Annabelle answered as if Lily’s question was stupid. “Andrew’s a freaking professional hockey player who’s been playing his entire life. He’s not my six year old brother who just had heart surgery!” she exclaimed.

Lily rolled her eyes at her friend. “That means nothing,” she told her.

Annabelle continued to hold her breath every time Landon would be hit into the boards, but two hours later, she was going home with a happy kid, who had gotten the winning goal in his first game. “Can we watch the Blackhawks game tonight?” he asked her as Annabelle drove back to their apartment.

“Sure,” Annabelle told him with a smile. “What’s your prediction for this game?” she questioned as she parked the car and grabbed Landon’s hockey bag out of the backseat.

“Well,” Landon said, pretending to think about it for a minute. “The Hawks will win five to two,” he began.

“Five to two?” Annabelle asked. “Wow!”

“Yes, five to two,” he repeated. “And, Kaner will score twice, along with Keith, Sharp, and Ladd,” he concluded with a nod of his head.

“Um, speaking of Ladd,” Annabelle began, deciding that now was as good of time as any to tell Landon the truth about their relationship.

“What about him?” he asked, looking up at her.

“You know what, I’ll tell you after you take a shower,” she said, chickening out. Landon shrugged his shoulders, walking back towards the bathroom and starting the shower. Annabelle quickly grabbed her cell phone, calling Lily.

“Annie, what’s up?” Lily asked into the phone.

“How would you like to watch the game with me and Landon?” Annabelle offered, wanting another person there when she told Landon the truth.

“Sure, I’ll be there in a few minutes,” Lily promised, hanging up the phone.

Just as Lily had said, a few moments later, there was a knock on the door, and Annabelle quickly answered it. “Okay, so what’s the real reason you wanted me to come here?” she asked her.

“What do you mean?” Annabelle asked obliviously, and Lily gave her a pointed stare. “Okay, I chickened out when I tried to tell Landon about my relationship with Andrew earlier,” she admitted.

“And what?” Lily asked. “You want me to tell him for you?” she joked.

“No, I just need you here for backup,” Annabelle told her. “Please? I don’t know how Landon’s going to react. And, it would be great to have another person who has my back here with me.”

“What about me?” Landon asked, walking into the room and saying a quick hello to Lily before sitting down on the couch, turning the channel to the Blackhawks pregame. “I heard my name,” he told them, and Annabelle and Lily walked over to sit down next to him.

“Well, do you remember earlier how are started to say something about Andrew,” Annabelle continued.

Landon nodded his head, asking, “But, what does that have to do with me?”

“Um, I’ve been keeping something from you for these last few weeks,” Annabelle admitted, as Landon continued to focus on the television. Annabelle thought about just waiting until after the game to tell Landon, but Lily elbowed her in the side, urging her to continue. “Do you remember when Andrew and I went out on that date a little while ago?” Annabelle asked, trying to go from another angle to get the truth out.

“Yeah,” Landon said.

“Well, that wasn’t our only date,” Annabelle confessed. “We’ve been dating since then, too.”

That got Landon’s attention, as he whipped his head around to look at his sister. “Wait a minute!” Landon exclaimed. “Are you saying that Andrew’s like your boyfriend?” he asked, and Annabelle slowly nodded her head, wondering how he knew that much about a relationship. “Okay,” he said casually, turning his attention back to the television.

“Wait,” Annabelle interjected. “You’re okay with this?” she asked.

“Annie!” Landon exclaimed. “The game’s coming on!” he whined. “Can you please be quiet?”

Lily laughed while leaning towards Annabelle. “Well, that seemed to have gone over pretty well. See, you worry too much,” she told her.

“Yeah, it did,” Annabelle said with a smile on her face.