Smile

17.
Today Jonathan Toews was heading back to Chicago and it was the same day that his girlfriend, Arabella was going to be leaving for France. It was spring break and for the week she was going to return home. Jonathan didn’t show it but he didn’t want Arabella to go back home, he knew how much she loved France so he was scared that she wouldn’t come back.

“Jon!” A blonde girl called out waving down the captain. He and his girlfriend were going to go back to his apartment. Arabella standing in her Chanel sweats and converse waiting for Jonathan. The Hawks just lost their last game so hockey was the last thing on Jonathan’s current mind.

The boy made his way to his girlfriend, any other day he would be kissing his girlfriend but just not today. She understood what Jonathan was going through so just accepted the faint hug that he gave her. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders the pair made their way to the front of the airport where Jonathan’s Mercedes was waiting for them.

“We’re here.” Jonathan said looking over to at his girlfriend, sound asleep. It was past midnight and she was tired. Ever since they came back from Vancouver Arabella was helping out Abby with wedding planning. Not wanting to wake her up Jon walked over to the passenger side and carried her up to the apartment.

As soon as Jonathan’s head hit the pillow he wrapped his arms around Arabella before he fell asleep. It was something they recently started to do, sleep holding each other. Sure, Kaner would rag on Jon for being such a sappy boy with his girlfriend. Jon would do anything for her, if it meant going across the world for her he would. Thats probably the reason of why he was stressing over their 1 month anniversary.

It was a Monday meaning that Arabella had school and work that day. Jonathan only had practice so he had a lot of down time to think of something to do. Arabella didn’t know what to do for their first anniversary. Jonathan took the whole situation into his own hands, made reservations and just told Arabella to dress fancy.

He chose a vegetarian restaurant feeling bad that whenever the guys went out they chose a diner. A diner that barely had anything close to a vegetarian meal so Arabella would either starve, eat the vegetables off their plate or eat a ton of fries.

“Let me go.” Arabella said trying to get out of Jonathan’s iron grasp. The sun was creeping through Jonathan’s huge window waking both of them up. Arabella wanted to get up and make some breakfast. “Never.” Jonathan whispered in her ear sending shivers down her spine. Jonathan pulled her under himself and tickled her.

“Fine.” Jonathan said rolling off of her and watched her leave the room. As he heard the pots and pans clanging in the kitchen, it got Jonathan thinking of the game. He was always the guy who would over think the game and analyze every little detail. The guy that took the lost home with him.
“Don’t think about the game.” Arabella called out for the kitchen earning a small smile from her boyfriend. Even though she couldn’t see it she knew he had ti on his face. It was the exact reason of Jonathan liking Arabella that much more. She was the only one who wouldn’t want him to think about the game. She wanted to him to relax for the day and then look back at the game.

“What are you making?” Jonathan asked walking into his kitchen looking at his girlfriend who was in deep concentration. She would always tap her index fingernail on a counter when she was thinking. It was always the left hand and it would soon create a rhythm.

“I’m debating between making breakfast, brunch or lunch.” She said looking at her boyfriend then at the clock. It was 1 o’clock in the afternoon showing that the two had only 4 more hours until Arabella had to be at the airport. Her plane leaves at 7:45.

“How about we just have salad? I haven’t had a good salad in awhile.” Jonathan said rubbing his stomach. The last salad he had was on his road trip that he drowned in ranch dressing. Soon Arabella was moving around the kitchen making her famous salads. Whenever the guys would crave a salad they would make a stop at Jonathan’s apartment and ask Arabella for a salad.

The two just lounged around all day on Jonathan’s couch. Light talk was made throughout the day about everything. At around four-thirty Arabella had to go to her apartment to pack her bags. They were going to have dinner at her apartment then head off to the O’Hare. Sam had already left Chicago for Seattle where his parents still live. He always left earlier than Arabella since he didn’t have to pack as much clothes as Arabella had to.

“Wait, let me get this straight. You’re packing pretty much your whole closet?” Jonathan asked looking around Arabella’s small bedroom. Clothes was scattered all over the room and suitcases were open in various places.

“Pretty much, I have to rotate the closet because this is all my winter clothes. I’m going to bring my summer clothes back.” Arabella said weaving herself around the room as Jonathan just stood in the doorway watching his girlfriend pack her clothes.

As Jonathan watched his girlfriend pack he started to wonder how she could always afford expensive things. Well he’s never actually seen her buy something but she is always wearing something expensive. Arabella worked two jobs and as far as he knew those two jobs could not afford a Chanel luggage set. He also always wondered why she never talked about her family, whenever she talked about France it was about the country never the people.

Arabella stole glances at Jon who was in a deep thought. She knew he wasn’t thinking about the game because he didn’t look mad. Continuing to pack she started to go through her mind of the possible things that he could be thinking about. Never before has she seen her boyfriend think this hard before when it wasn’t about hockey.
“Jon are you alright?” Arabella asked zipping up her final suitcase. While Jon had been busying thinking about everything, she finished packing. That meant she was that much closer to leaving for a week. Jon replied that he was perfectly fine but just didn’t want her to leave.

At the airport Jonathan walked with Arabella until her gate, being captain of the Chicago Blackhawks had its perks and this was definitely one of them. He was able to go and wait with Arabella at her gate. It was a nerve racking experience for Jonathan, never before was he the one staying. Throughout his whole life he’s the one that always left for St. Mary’s, college and then Chicago. And never before has Arabella thought she was going to miss this shithole of a place called Chicago.

“I don’t want you to go.” Jonathan whispered into his girlfriend’s neck as he was hugging her. He hated that he couldn’t go with her to France, that he couldn’t just drop the hockey world to spend a week in her hometown. Arabella mumbled in Jonathan’s chest that she didn’t want to leave either but she had to go home.

They said their goodbye’s and Jonathan watched her walk down the gate. It was only going to be a week surely something the both of them could handle. Because of the NHL schedule they have gone 2 weeks without seeing one another. Yet since Jonathan was going to be playing home games he was going to miss having someone to congratulate him or cheer him up.

Practice was the same as always, drills after drills, goofing around and then more drills. Arabella called Jonathan as soon as she got off her plane, it was 9:05 France time so it was 2:05 Chicago time. Jonathan didn’t care as long as he knew that his girlfriend was safe he would stay up all night or all week if he needed to. Arabella was so glad to be back at home, she immediately fell asleep in the room that she lived in for 18 years.

“So this hit me the other day as Arabella was packing. How does she afford all of the things she has? I mean all of her designer stuff because she only wears designer. And why doesn’t she talk about her family or friends in France?” Jonathan expressed his curiosity to his teammates. He knew maybe only half of them were going to listen while the rest had other things on their mind. Maybe he expressed it because he wanted to hear what Cristobal Huet was going to say. Sometimes Jon got a little jealous of how close the two were.

“Just google her.” Kaner said like that would solve everything. Well there has been stories of people finding out about their date from a google search. Jon never really thought about goolging her but figured he might as well give it a shot while she was away.

“No, don’t do that. If she has something to tell you then let her tell you.” Cristobal Huet spoke out surprising everyone. He was never the one to get into the drama or gossip of the other guys. Well none of the europeans really got into the gossip that the others discussed. Jonathan looked at Cristobal wondering if Arabella did have something to tell him.

The topic of searching Arabella was quickly dropped and Jonathan could see that all of the europeans had simultaneously agreed that Jonathan shouldn’t search her. Jonathan didn’t know what it was but it made his blood boil that they knew something and wouldn’t tell him. They were supposed to be his teammates and by code if they find out something about a girlfriend/wife they were supposed to spill. Jonathan just wished that Arabella wasn’t thousands of miles away but in bed right next to him.