I Swear I'll Change Your Mind

“Ashlee, where’s Jonathan?” My mother asked me as we began to set the table for dinner.

I let out a sigh, “He’s on the Canadian Olympic hockey team, Mom. He’s in Vancouver now I’m guessing”

She frowned, “You should have brought him here, so me and your father can meet him, you never know Ashlee, this could be the guy you’re going to marry”

Too bad I’m not even dating him, and you’re already talking about marriage

I sighed, “I don’t know, maybe. I really don’t want to think about marriage right now though, I’m only 21 years old”

My mother scoffed, “I got married when I was 21. Me and your father have been happily married for 30 years now. That’s a long time, sweetheart. You just know when it feels right with someone, and the day I met Jon I knew that it was right between you two”

I shrugged, knowing that my mom had a point. Everything was easy when it came to me and Jon; it was like we fed off each other. I was myself whenever I was around him, and I knew that Jon was like that with me; whenever he was with Pat or one of the guys, he was a completely different person than when he was with me.

Austin’s voice broke me out of my thinking, “Damn, even when she’s not in the same vicinity as him, she’s daydreaming about him”

I looked up to see the smirk on my brothers’ face, and slapped his arm playfully, “Shut up Austin, I’m pretty sure you have your little fantasies about Chrissy when no one’s around, and then you-“

“Ashlee, that’s enough” My mom interrupted, not wanting me to finish my sentence.

I shrugged, “He deserves it” I looked down at my phone vibrating in my hand, and smiled when I saw the name on the Caller ID, Jon.

“Oh look, it’s lover boy” Austin smirked, looking over my shoulder down at my phone.

I punched his arm and turned to my mom, “Mom, do you mind if I talk to him for a little while?”

She smiled knowingly, and shook her head, “Not at all sweetheart, take all the time you need. Dinner won’t be ready for another half hour anyway”

I smiled, and quickly darted up the stairs, and ran into my room shutting the door behind me. “Hello?” I asked, the smile never leaving my face.

“Hey beautiful, how are you?” Jon’s voice from the other line came through, and my smile just became wider.

“I’m good. How are you? How’s Vancouver?”

“I’m great, actually. A little tired, but good. Vancouver’s great; the hotel kind of sucks though, it’s all the countries’ men’s hockey teams packed in one hotel. It’s like a sausage fest over here”

I laughed, “I’m sorry to hear that, I’m pretty sure Pat’s going crazy not being able to see someone that doesn’t have a penis between their legs”

He laughed, “Trust me, he already made three trips to see all the girls. But that’s Pat. Do me a favor?”

“Of course, what do you need?”

“We have our first game tomorrow, so you better be watching or I’m going to be really upset”

I smiled, “Of course I’ll be watching. I wouldn’t miss it for the world”

“Good. I have to go now, but I promise I’ll call you tomorrow after the game. Bye Ash”

“Bye Jon, tell the guys I said hi for me” He agreed, and I ended the call. I sighed and leaned back in my bed. My thoughts didn’t drift to Jon, or watching the game tomorrow. They drifted back to Adam, and that night. They drifted to the fact that I would probably see him while I was here, and that scared me.

“Ashlee, let’s go!” Austin yelled from the bottom of the stairs, “I want to get there before the little kids go and practice”

I rolled my eyes, and grabbed my skates from my suitcase. Austin wanted to go to the ice rink and practice since he was away from Chicago, and there was no practice for two weeks because of the break, and I agreed to go with him since I had nothing to do until the game was on.

“I’m ready,” I announced, coming down the stairs. Austin rolled his eyes, obviously annoyed, but grabbed his bags and the keys to my dad’s car from the table.

“Hey Austin, do you think I’ll run into Adam while we’re here? I mean, it’s not really unlikely” I asked, nervously.

“Maybe, but maybe he moved away from here. It’s been a while, Ash. It’s not 100% out of the ordinary, though”

I nodded, “I was thinking about it all night last night, I don’t know why. I couldn’t stop thinking about that night, and what almost happened”

“I know how you feel. I think everyday that my baby sister almost got raped by some douchebag”

“If I see him, you’ll protect me, right?” I asked.

Austin smiled over at me, “Of course Ash, you’re my baby sister, I have to protect you from creeps. It’s my job”

I laughed as Austin pulled into the parking lot of the ice rink that held many memories for Austin when he was a kid, and many memories for me watching my brother do what he loves.

I frowned down at my skates, “Austin, I really don’t want to skate. Can I just watch you?”

He frowned, and skated over to the wall where I was standing, “Come on Ash, you can be my goalie”

I laughed, “Um, I’m pretty sure that’s not up my alley. I’ll get killed, but you have fun”

He shrugged, and skated away, putting the goal into the net. I sighed, and sat down on the bench. I pulled out my phone, and smiled when I received a text message from Jon.

’Watch the game tonight! ;)’

I laughed, and quickly replied back, ’I will, don’t worry. Get to practice, captain serious’

“Excuse me,” I looked up and met a familiar pair of green eyes. At that moment, everything hit me like a ton of bricks. All the memories came back, all the feelings I had felt for him at one time were rushing through my body. I could have sworn I felt tears sting the corners of my eyes, but I knew I was stronger than that and held them back.

“I’m sorry” He apologized, “You just look like someone I once knew. I’ll just go” He began to walk away but I quickly stood up and grabbed his arm back.

“You don’t know who I am, do you?” I asked quietly.

He shook his head, but then he realized, “Oh my God, Ashlee” He let out, barely above a whisper.

“Hi, Adam”

“So, what are you doing here?” He asked, leaning back in his chair.

I raised my eyebrow, “Well, you asked me to come have coffee with you, so here I am”

He laughed, “I don’t mean that. I mean what are you doing here in Canada”

“Oh, well, Austin bought me two tickets so we could visit our parents since we didn’t have Christmas together”

He nodded, “That’s good. Tell Mr. and Mrs. Martino I said hi”

“Yeah, I will” I said. I twirled a piece of my hair and started biting my lip, causing Adam to smile.

“You always do that when you’re nervous” He commented.

“Huh?” I asked.

“Biting your lip, and twirling your hair like that. Am I making you nervous, Ashlee?” He asked, a smirk now making its way onto his face.

“No, you’re not. Don’t get too excited, Adam. We’re history, we have been for years now”

“Ash look, I’m sorry for what had happened between us. I really didn’t mean to do that. I was drunk; I had no idea what I was doing. And you were just there; you liked me. I was a stupid 18 year old and you were a nieve 16 year old. The past is the past, Ash. You can’t change that. But I do want to make things right between us even if we can’t be more than friends”

I thought for a minute. I took in Adam’s features, and realized that he changed quite a bit. His hair was no longer long and shaggy, he cut it so it was short and clean. He still had his little boy face, but it became more mature. His familiar green eyes still held his immature little boy fears, but it also held something else; hurt, regret, and pain. I sighed, realizing that Adam was sincerely sorry.

“Okay, Adam. I forgive you, but just know that you’ve hurt me so much. I can barely date because of you. Do you know how terrified I am?”

He nodded, “I know, I’m so sorry, and I would take it back in a heartbeat if I could, but I can’t change the past”

I nodded, and looked down at my phone, “Yeah, I know. Thank you for that, I really do appreciate it. But I really have to get going”
He grinned, “Have a hot date or something?”

I smiled, “Yeah, something like that”

“Will I see you before you leave?” He asked, standing up when my feet touched the floor.

I shrugged, “Maybe. If I’m not too busy, I’ll be sure to give you a call”

I smiled when the announcer announced that Canada had one the first game. I sat back, knowing that Jon would call me in a couple of minutes, and changed the channel.

“We need to talk,” Austin said moving my feet so he could sit down.

“What do you want? Jon’s going to call me in a couple of minutes”

He shook his head, “I don’t care. Why the fuck were you having coffee with Adam?”

I rolled my eyes, “Because he asked me. Austin, calm down. It was just coffee. We weren’t having sex in the middle of the ice or something. He apologized”

Austin scoffed, “Do you really believe he’s sorry, Ash? Guys like that never change, no matter how many times they say they have. He’ll never change. He’s a hockey player who tries to get in all the girls’ pants. Are you forgetting that I grew up with that kid? I know everything about him; including the fact that he’s living scum”

I sighed, “I know. But it brought back so many memories, you know? Especially in the rink, it just hit me like a ton of bricks, and I didn’t realize what I was doing”

“You’re never seeing him again, I do hope you know that”

I nodded, “I know, I wasn’t planning on seeing him again anyway. That was just a one time catch up thing”

He stood up, realizing that my phone began vibrating, “It better be Ash, you have a really great guy on the other end of that phone”