Far Too Long

Jonathan stormed into the locker room and threw his stuff down in his stall. He was still furious after last night. Danielle hadn’t gotten back to his apartment until almost two in the morning. He had laid awake in bed waiting for her to come home, so on top of being furious he was tired and grumpy. “What’s with you?” Patrick asked from a few stalls over when he noticed Jonathan’s sour mood.

“Don't talk to me.” Jonathan muttered through gritted teeth.

“What?!” Patrick asked with a smirk not actually thinking that he was being serious.

“What the hell are you doing?” Jonathan spat as he turned to face his teammate; his eyes burning holes through him.

“I'm getting ready for practice...” Patrick replied coolly. He had no idea what his teammate was talking about.

“What are you doing with Danielle?” Jonathan demanded as he squared himself off with him. He was going to kill Patrick if she wound up even more broken than she already was.

“Oh.” Patrick said with a laugh. “That’s what this is about.”

“I swear to god Patrick, if you..”

“If I what?!” Patrick countered. “We’re having fun! I'm taking her mind off of her douche bag boyfriend.”Jonathan tensed up upon hearing this and Patrick picked up on it. “What? Are you the only one that's allowed to fix her?” Patrick asked sarcastically. “You were gone all day. You left her there by herself. All I did was take her out and..”

“Don't even think about trying anything with her, Kaner.” Jonathan ordered.

“I'm not going to try anything, but if I get the vibe that she wants it I sure as hell am not going to say no.” Patrick informed Jonathan. There was no doubt in his mind that after tonight he would have Danielle right where he wanted her.

“Jesus!” Jonathan exclaimed as his hands went up and began pulling at his hair out of frustration. “I don't want to have to hurt you Patrick.” He told him seriously. “But if you do anything to her I will make you regret it for the rest of your life.”
__________

Jonathan had given up on talking Patrick out of hanging out with Danielle. He knew that it was a lost cause. Patrick was like one of those little stubborn little kids that wanted something even more when you told him he couldn't have it. He knew that there was no point in wasting his breath so he gave him a warning and decided to try to talk to Danielle about this.

He went into his apartment and immediately began scanning for Danielle. It was dead quiet in the apartment as he made his way to the living room. “Danielle?’ He called out, hoping that she was here and not out with his ass of a teammate.

“Jonny?!” She called out mocking his tone of voice as she emerged from the guest bedroom. “What's up? How was your day?” She asked as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Uhh...it was okay.” He told her, but Danielle knew Jonathan better than that. She knew when he was lying and when he was omitting information.

“Bull!” She exclaimed, calling his bluff. “What's going on?” Jonathan sighed and rubbed the back of his neck; yet another sign that he was uneasy about something.

“Can we talk?”

“Of course!” She replied as she followed Jon into the living room and sat next to him.

“How long are you going to be here?” Jonathan asked. Danielle could stay as long as she needed, this was just the only way Jonathan could start talking to her about Patrick without just coming right out with it.

“Uhm...I don't know? Am I cramping your style or something?”

“No! No, no, no!” Jonathan denied quickly. “That's not what I meant at all, Danielle! You can stay for however long you want! I just...I’m not comfortable with you hanging out with Patrick.” Jonathan told her and then wished he hadn’t. He hadn’t planned on just coming out and saying it like that but his brain clearly wasn’t working. That seemed to be how things always were when it came to Danielle.

“I'm sorry...what?!” Danielle asked with widened eyes. Had he really just said that to her?!

“You don't know him! I'm sure he seems like a sweet, caring guy but that's not him, Danielle! That's all an act! He’s..”

“I don't think he's sweet and caring. I think he's self-centred and full of himself.” Danielle told him. Jonathan’s eyes narrowed at her. He couldn’t understand why Danielle would be spending time with Patrick if she thought that way about him. “He’s fun.” She clarified as if she heard his thoughts. “I don't think about TJ when I'm with him. I mean, yah it was only one day, but it was the first day that I haven’t been absolutely miserable.” Jonathan immediately felt a surge of jealousy run through him. He wanted to be the one to make Danielle forget about everything. He didn't want Patrick being that person for her.

“Well why don't we do something tomorrow? I feel like I haven’t seen you since you’ve been here.” Jonathan told her.

“That’s because you haven’t.” She muttered.

“What's that supposed to mean?” Jonathan questioned hearing the bitter underlying tone.

“I'm sorry, Jonny, but you can’t go getting your panties in a twist because I'm spending time with Patrick rather than being alone. You haven’t been here at all. I've seen you for a total of a few hours! And that was the night that I got here. You have no time to spend with me!”

“So you’re befriending Patrick because you're lonely? Fine! I’ll cancel my days for the next..”

“I don't want you to cancel your life for me.” She said sarcastically as she cut Jonathan off. “You don't want to do anything that I want to do anyways.” She muttered as she turned to walk away.

“So you only want to hang out with me if we’re going to drink ourselves stupid?” Danielle turned around and glared at Jonathan.

“What happened to you?!” Danielle exclaimed. “I feel like I don't even know you anymore! I never would have had to ask you to go out and get drunk with me to help me forget all this shit. You would have just done it!”

“Yah well I grew up. Maybe you should try it. This isn’t college, Dani.” Danielle stood there staring at the guy that she had once known so well and she got chills at how much he had changed.

“What have you done with my Jonny?”

“What have I don't with your Jonny?! You can’t just show up here and expect things to be like they were! You can’t just expect me to fix you after you pushed me away, Danielle!” Jonathan yelled. “I didn't do anything with your Jonny. You threw him away! You dropped me like I meant nothing! Like I wasn’t important enough to be in your life.”

“You weren’t important enough to me?! Are you fucking kidding me, Jonathan?! I had to distance myself from you because you were way too important to me! You were right up there with TJ in my eyes! That's why I had to give us some space.”

“Some space?! You call me barely talking to you in three years space?! You’re insane!”

“I know I made a mistake, okay?! I know that! I never should have done that and I am so..”

“It doesn't matter, Danielle! It doesn't fucking matter.” He exclaimed out of frustration.

“You know what? Fine. You’re right. It doesn't fucking matter.” Danielle replied in agreement and turned on heel and began towards the front door.

“Danielle! Don't be like this, I..”

“You know what, Jonathan? I came out here because when TJ fucked me over you were the only person that I wanted to be with. YOU were the person that I came to when I needed my spirits lifted. I don't need you making me feel shittier than I already feel.” Danielle grabbed the handle of the door.

“Where are you going?!”

“Out.”

“Where?!”

“Don't worry. I wouldn't want to corrupt your new squeaky clean mind with thoughts of all the awful, unmoral things I may be doing.” She told him resentfully before bolting out of his apartment. Danielle turned to her left and quickly walked the hallway toward Patrick’s apartment. She raised her hand and knocked on the door.

“Hey there beautiful.” Patrick greeted as he opened the door.

“Hi.” Danielle retorted as she let herself in.

“You okay?” Patrick asked, observing Danielle’s jittery appearance.

“I think it’s time for us to go out. I need booze. Preferably something that will have me feeling fantastic like...now.” She told him. A grin crept across Patrick’s face.

“You’re really hot when you're all frazzled like this.” He told her. Danielle shot him a look and rolled her eyes. “I’ll be ready in fifteen.” He told her. “Make yourself at home.”
__________

“What the hell do you mean Aspen was cancelled?!” TJ practically yelled into his phone at Dylan.

“Mom and dad are in Italy. It was a last minute business trip. We’re going to do Aspen in January so don't worry. We’ll still get to..”

“So Danielle isn’t in Aspen?” TJ asked, cutting Dylan off. He really didn't care if they were going to get their family trip or now, right now he needed to know where the hell his fiancé was.

“No! She never left St. Louis. Mom called her while she was sitting at the gate waiting for the plane.”

“Oh my god.” TJ muttered to himself.

“Wait...” Dylan said, just now realizing what was going on. “You don't know where Danielle is?”

“No! I don't know where the fuck she is! I was under the impression that she was in Aspen and she was just busy with family shit. I called to tell her that someone fucking used our credit card in..” TJ trailed off and all the colour drained from his face. Their credit card information wasn’t stolen. Danielle was in Chicago. “I’ll call you back.” He barely managed to get out before hanging up on Danielle’s brother. He immediately jumped to his feet and ran out to the living room where he had left his laptop.

“Woah! Where’s the fire?” Patrik questioned. He then saw the panicked look on TJ’s face. “What happened?” He asked as he moved the giant bowl of popcorn from his lap and placed it on the coffee table in the spot that his feet had just been.

“Danielle is in Chicago.” He told Patrik.

“Chicago? I thought she was going to Aspen.”

“Yah. So did I.” TJ said bitterly. “I just got off the phone with Dylan. Apparently while she was waiting for her flight her mom called to cancel and instead of coming home she went to fucking Chicago.” He explained to Patrik as his fingers were furiously typing away in an effort to find the next flight out of St. Louis to Chicago.

“So...you’re going to Chicago?” Patrik questioned as he leaned over to read the computer screen.

“Of course I am! She won’t answer my calls, she won’t return my texts. She’s not even checking her fucking voicemail!”

“Okay...why are you so freaked out? I mean...yah she went to a different state without telling you, but you’re acting like this is life or death.”

“Do you not realize who lives in Chicago, Bergie?!” TJ pressed and then allowed him some time to think it over.

“Ohhh.” Patrik said when he remembered the history between TJ, Danielle and Jonathan. “Shit!” He exclaimed as he ran a hand through his hair and leaned back on the couch. “Well I'm coming with you so book me a ticket.” TJ’s head whirled around to face his friend. “We don't have a game tomorrow so I've got some free time. And besides...someone has to keep you from killing Toews.”