Falling to Pieces

---- // December 2006

Stella and David sat in the middle of the crowded food court the next afternoon. His mother had insisted they go shopping, but his father had opted into staying home. Jonathan had been dragged off by his mother to a pottery store that was having a sale of up to 80 percent off. David and Stella had managed to sneak off, and were sharing a plate of fries while they waited for Jonathan and his mother to return.

“Do you do this crazy shopping every year?” Stella questioned, motioning towards the flocks of people moving from store to store.

“Pretty much. Well, last year we didn’t because we were out in British Columbia to watch Johnny play in the World Juniors.”

Stella nodded, grabbing another fry. Jonathan had briefly explained the tournament to her before, but he always tried to play his gold medal off as if it was nothing. He acted the same way about getting drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks at the beginning of last summer.

“This reminds me of Black Friday.”

“Exactly. Except we don’t do our shopping at ridiculous hours in the early morning.”

Stella laughed as her phone went off from inside the pocket of her sweater. She pulled out her Blackberry to see she had a new text from Jonathan, laughing as she read his simple text.

She’s crazy. Help me.

Stella typed out a quick reply, before focusing her attention back to David.

Sorry, boo. I’m busy bonding with your brother over some delicious fries.

“So what exactly are you studying at Boston?” David asked before taking a sip from the water bottle he had bought with the fries.

“I’m kind of just taking some general courses, focusing more on soccer right now. I’m leaning towards maybe working my way towards medical school. I’m not too sure about anything right now.”

“Fair enough.” David agreed with a nod of his head. “So what about you and my brother?”

Stella smiled, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the tabletop. “What about your brother and I?”

“He’s crazy about you.”

“I’m crazy about him too.”

“So are you two official yet?”

Stella paused for a moment, letting David’s words sink in. They had never really talked about giving their relationship a label before, so it had never even crossed Stella’s mind that they weren’t an official couple.

“I don’t mean to pry, but I assumed you were, but from what I’ve heard from my brother you two had yet to seal the deal. So I was just wondering…”

Stella leaned back in her chair feeling slightly dejected. “No, I guess we aren’t technically together.” It pained Stella to say the words. How could she have been so oblivious? She had fallen head over heels for a guy so fast that she never bothered to notice where the relationship was going. She had considered Jonathan to be her boyfriend, but maybe he didn’t think of her the same way?

As David began another story about Jonathan and him from when they were younger, his favourite stories to tell, Stella’s mind began to wander.

Was Stella the only one? If she wasn’t Jonathan’s girlfriend, he had the right to be seeing other girls. All the nights he would call her before he went out with his hockey team, it had never even crossed her mind that he could be going out to pick up other girls. He was one of the star athletes at his school; of course every girl would want a piece of him.

He probably wasn’t taking this relationship seriously, he had told her before that his parent’s really wanted him to marry a French girl so their grandkids would be raised fluent in both French and English, just as Jonathan had. But Stella couldn’t speak a word of French to save her life.

A sickening feeling began to fill Stella’s stomach as she watched David, who looked so much like his brother, shove fries into his mouth as he told his story. She finally tuned back into what he was saying as she spotted Jonathan and his mother, their arms completely full of shopping bags, approaching the table.

“It was probably the greatest Halloween ever.” David laughed just as Jonathan pulled out the chair next to Stella.

“Miss me?” He inquired, giving her a quick peck on the cheek.

Stella could only smile at him as his mother joined them, taking the empty seat next to David.

Stella kept quiet, only half-listening as everyone began talking to one another. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t shake the thought of Jonathan seeing other girls from her mind. She silently followed the three back to Jonathan’s truck as they all drove back to the Toews family home.

Once back home and putting away the few things she had bought into her suitcase, Jonathan poked his head into the bedroom, smiling down at Stella.

“How was your first Boxing Day shopping experience?” He joked, closing the door behind him as he fully entered the room. He leaned back against the door, one hand still resting on the doorknob.

“It was good.” Stella answered shortly.

“Is everything okay, Stella?”

“Mhmm.” She nodded, zipping up her suitcase, and standing up.

Jonathan chewed on his bottom lip nervously. “Did David say something to you? Because if he did anything to upset you, I will march downstairs right now and kick that kid’s ass.”

Stella cracked a small smile as she shook her head. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“Then what’s on your mind?” He approached Stella wrapping his arms around her waist.

“It’s just, David and I were talking, and it got me thinking-“

Abruptly dropping his arms from around her Jonathan took a step backwards towards the door. “I swear to God, I’m going to kill that kid.”

“No! It’s not his fault.” She grabbed his arm before he could reach the door handle, and gently tugged on his arm for him to face her. “I just… I need to know.”

“Need to know what?”

Stella took a deep breath, squeezing her eyes shut, afraid of what his reaction would be. “Have there been any other girls?”

When he didn’t answer, she pried one eye open to see Jonathan staring at her with a look of confusion on his face. “What do you mean?”

“Since you met me,” She repeated slowly, “Has there been any other girls?”

He was quiet for a moment, and Stella automatically assumed the worst. Burying her face into her hands, she had to bite down hard on her bottom lip to try and stop the tears from flowing.

“Stel, baby, please don’t cry.” He cooed, wrapping his arms tightly around her as she began to sob into his chest. “There are no other girls. There never has been, and there never will be.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” He kissed her hair, as he soothingly rubbed his hands up and down her back in an attempt to calm her down.

“Good.” She whispered as she looked up at him. He used his left hand to try and brush away the tears that had just fallen, before softly kissing her. “Because I’m starting to think that you’re the only one for me.”