Smile

23.
“Good morning!” Arabella said waltzing into the living room where Jenn, and the Toews family. They were the only ones up while Jonathan was sound asleep in the bedroom tired from last nights game. Everyone but Jenn said hello to Arabella as she passed the living room and into the kitchen to start breakfast.

“So how does some crepes, omelets, tartines and coffee sound for breakfast?” Arabella asked pulling out various pans and setting the coffee maker. Andree came over to try and help but Arabella just shoo’d her away. As the food got on the way Arabella put on some Carla Bruni in the iHome on the counter.

Jonathan woke up to the smell of food cooking and the soft sounds to the television and Arabella’s song playing on her iHome. She always needed music to play when she was cooking. When she thought he wasn’t looking she would start dancing like a ballerina. Well she was a ballerina but she never would do any dance moves for Jonathan or the guys saying she had stopped all together when her parents had died.

“Morning.” Jonathan said walking into the living room to find his family and Jenn lounging in the living room while Jonathan saw his girlfriend dancing around the kitchen. She wasn’t even paying attention to what was going on she was just jamming out to the french music that was playing.

Jenn kept her eyes on Jonathan the whole time in the kitchen. She saw him walk up to his dancing girlfriend and just hug her from behind. It was a weird sight since she was only 5’4” while he was 6’1” so he had to lean quiet a bit. Soon he just sat down on the island drinking a cup of coffee watching her cook. They weren’t even talking and yet Jonathan seemed to be having fun.

“Drop the bacon.” Arabella told her boyfriend as her back was to him and she was finishing cooking a crepe. Jonathan never knew how Arabella would know what he did when her back was towards him but she knew. It was like those mothers who knew if you made a face behind their back. Jonathan dropped the bacon but he dropped it in his mouth.

“Breakfast is done!” Arabella said taking the plates and setting the dining table. It was a rare thing to do with her and Jonathan. They ate at the table but it was never set and neat like this. Usually Ara would have her own dinner while Jonathan had something else with meat. But lately 5 out of the 7 dinners he would eat only vegetables with Arabella.

“Why is your plate full?” Jenn asked looking at everyone’s empty plate and then Arabella’s plate full of food. There was only an omelet on it but Jenn found it rude that she had served herself first.

“Oh, this omelet is different than the others. There’s only vegetables in it.” Arabella replied back irritated with Jenn.
“Ew.” Jenn remarked with a gross face, who would only want vegetables with their omelet. As soon as she said ew, Jonathan shot her a look.

“Shut up Jenn, being a vegetarian is cool.” David said standing up for his brother’s incredibly hot girlfriend.

After that little incident things got back to a normal a little. Jenn was just pissed off that Jonathan and David both stood up for Arabella. She was the new girl and Jenn was their best friend. She just sulked during breakfast and was ready to leave Chicago already. She didn’t know that the whole Toews family would love Arabella like they did.

When the dishes were washed and the bellys were full Patrick Kane came knocking on Toews’s door. He had an announcement for Arabella and Jonathan about a little wager that him and Arabella made. It was a while ago when he said that ballet wasn’t hard at all. Deciding this would be a good time for a team bonding since they lost last night’s game he booked a dance studio with a ballet teacher.

“Now?” Jonathan asked surprised that Kaner had thought about all of this by himself. Usually it was going to be one of the captains or alternate captains to think about the team bonding activities.

“We leave in half an hour, meaning get ready now.” Kaner said directing his last part at Arabella since she always took awhile to get ready. She just rolled her eyes and left the living room to get ready. Meanwhile in the living room Kaner was explaining all of this to the Toews family and Jenn.

Patrick Kane never liked Jenn and when asked why he could never really pinpoint the answer. He knew that whenever he saw her he got this fake vibe from her, like she was being someone she wasn’t. And those were the kind of people Kaner didn’t like the fake ones and here his best friend was best friends with one. Plus it was obvious that Jenn liked Jonathan.

With only 5 minutes before they left Arabella came out of the bedroom ready for today. She was dressed in a tank top, shorts with heels of course so it looked like her legs were longer than they actually were. Apparently the place was going to provide the clothes that they needed to wear so they just had to show up. Since the car situation was a little squished like last night Arabella agreed to ride with Kaner.

“What do you think about Jenn?” Patrick Kane asked his teammates girlfriend as they led the way to the dance studio. He really wanted to hear her impression of her because he knew that Arabella probably wouldn’t like her.

“I don’t like her one bit. I can’t wait until she leaves because she thinks that Jonathan should date her. She’s fake and has a problem with me being vegetarian. You know what she can just SMD!” Arabella ranted as they were waiting at a red light. Never in the months that he has known Arabella ever seen her this upset over something. She was usually the happy always smiling kind of person. Now she was just mad.

“Exactly! That’s what I saw, she’s fake!” Patrick Kane excited that someone finally agrees with him that she is fake.

The whole ride there the two just continued to talk about the things that they don’t like about Jenn. It was nice to know that what they were saying the car wasn’t going to get to Jonathan’s ears. The only thing that Patrick Kane didn’t share to Arabella was that he hoped Jonathan didn’t mess up anything. Or that Jenn would meddle in their relationship something that she tended to do a lot.

When they arrived at the dance studio the whole team was there just sitting around the hardwood floors. They were dressed in a old shirt and sweats thinking that this would be easy. Besides Marian who had went to his fair share of ballet shows thanks to his fiancee and knows that this was going to be harder than a lot of the guys thought it would be.

Before Kaner, Toews and Arabella could change into their clothes the ballet teacher walked in. He was a world renowned ballet teacher who had flown to Chicago for a show that one of his students were doing. It was a traveling show so after Chicago they would be going to L.A. But the Chicago shows were the only ones he could make so here he was.

“Iz dat de Arabella de-Graf Clare?” The teacher boomed out as his eyes fell on the blonde girl who was talking with her boyfriend and his friend. The whole team looked at Arabella wondering if she knew the guy or he just knew who she was.

“Bernard!” Arabella shouted hurrying off to hug a friend of her mother’s. Throughout Arabella’s life she met a lot of her mother’s friends who were big names in the ballet world and he was one of them. He only taught the best and committed girls in the world so that meant if you were picked by him it was an honor. He only taught two girls one on one for year. But he had a class but that was also impossible to get into.

“Why you here?” Bernard asked greeting his old pupil. They kissed on the cheeks like every other French person. Bernard was greatly distressed when his good friend and his star pupil had both disappeared. While his friend had passed away, his star pupil quit ballet. Usually this would anger Bernard since his time was wasted but he understood the pain the young girl must have been feeling.

“The guy over there is my boyfriend and that is his friend over there. I said ballet is hard and he disagreed.” Arabella said pointing out the two guys who were just looking at them like they have been busted. For some reason both guys didn’t like the look they were receiving from Bernard, he was judging them.

“Montrons-leur ce que signifie être une ballerine prend, allons-nous?” Let’s show them what being a ballerina takes, shall we? Bernard asked as he handed Arabella a leotard, tights and flats. Of course her flats weren’t the ones that she wore but it was just an extra pair that Bernard had kept with him. The guys also had put on their ballet shoes.

For the next hour never in the boys entire life would they think that being a ballerina would hurt that much. Surprisingly Arabella had kept her form after all these years of not doing anything. Some parts she was a little rusty but most of all it was almost as if she didn’t stop. The goalies were pretty good with the whole flexible part since their job required them to be more on the flexible side.

By the end of the class Patrick Kane was in so much pain. His feet hurt, his legs hurt, his whole body hurt. His feet hurt for Arabella when she went into a pointe; that’s when you stand on your toes. It was just like the movie Titanic but Kaner actually saw this in real life. And he couldn’t believe it when Mr. Bernard told them that he was going easy on all of them. Everyone had trouble keeping up but Arabella.

“So I do admit it that ballet is hard. It’s actually really hard. But now you have to play hockey, but on another day because well I’m in too much pain.” Kaner said as he hobbled around the dance studio. All of the guys were laughing at him until they started to walk around and felt pain in places that they never knew could hurt like that.

“Sure, when you guys come back I’ll play some hockey.” Arabella said walking around normal in her heels. The Toews family and Jenn couldn’t believe that she had just done everything and more that Bernard had asked of her and she excelled. Jenn felt like if Arabella wanted to fly somehow she would be able to pull it off. This made Jenn that much more jealous of her.

To Jenn not knowing the background of Arabella she seemed perfect. Like everything in life went her way. That everyone loved her and wanted to be just like Arabella. Hell it seemed like everyone that Arabella met instantly got along with her just like Jonathan’s teammates. They took a huge likingly towards her; Jenn knowing that when a whole team likes the girlfriend then sometime down the line does the girl and hockey player get married.

“Why is Arabella leaving with Patrick Sharp?” Jenn asked as she saw Arabella and Patrick Sharp head in the opposite direction of where the Toews family was going.

“Because she’s going to help Abby with more wedding plans. Plus she wanted us to have some quality time.” Jonathan said looking proud of how kind his girlfriend was of course sending Jenn into a fit of curses in her head.

A week later....
It was game six and the Toews family flew to Nashville to watch hopefully the last game of the first playoff’s. The Hawks were currently winning the series with a 3-2 and they just needed to secure this win so they could move on without playing a game 7. After this playoff series the Toews family and Jenn would be flying back to Canada until the Stanley Cup Finals.

For this game everyone was pumped and ready to wrap it up early. Arabella was in the stands among many other Chicago Blackhawks fans who decided to come out to Nashville to support their team. Sure Arabella may have been the only girl wearing ankle boots but she sure wasn’t the only one wearing a ’19 Toews’ jersey. It was an alternate jersey which was her favorite and it was tailored to fit her by Sam.

“And this series is wrapped with Chicago winning 5-3!” The announcers voice boomed throughout the arena. Most of the Predators fans left the arena already so it was mostly the Chicago fans left to cheer on their team. With glass seats Arabella got to see her boyfriend score a goal in the first period and he even got the third star of the game.

The whole team was just ecstatic to move one step closer to their goal but knew that they couldn’t let this get to their head. They still had a longs way to go before the Stanley Cup could be theirs. So after the mini-celebration which included Arabella brining down a cake that she had bought congratulating them on their win. She had bought the cake in advance hoping that they would win. It was just a simple ice cream cake from Baskin and Robbins.

“It was great to see you guys again. And it was nice meeting you Jenn.” Arabella said as everyone was going their separate ways. Arabella would be catching the flight home with Jonathan and the team while his family left to Canada. Truth be told Arabella couldn’t wait until Jenn left and hoped she would never come back. Arabella wasn’t stupid when it came to the fact that Jenn was trying to steal Jonathan.

“I’m going to miss you so much Arabella!” Andree said pulling Arabella into a huge hug not wanting to leave. Mrs. Toews really grew close to Arabella over the week that she was staying in Chicago. Everyone could see how happy Arabella made Jonathan and anyone who made her son happy was perfect in Andree’s eyes.

As Jonathan watched Arabella interact with his family he couldn’t help but let a smile form on his face. Whenever he would call his mom or when she called him she never failed to ask about how Arabella was treating him. And every answer he gave her was that she was just amazing. Now watching how his family got along so well with her made her that much more amazing. He knew that some girls didn’t like how straight forward his mother was, how serious his dad was or how much of a dork his brother was. But with Arabella she knew how to handle all of it with just ease.

“Now we get some alone time.” Jonathan said raising his eyebrows in a suggestive way causing his girlfriend to bust out laughing. He didn’t know what was so funny but he couldn’t help but laugh along at her as they made their way to their gate to get on the plane.

“Now I was thinking you play hockey tomorrow.” Kaner said bothering the couple just as they were going to sleep for a little bit. Both just agreed with him hoping he would go away and bother some other people. Sure enough when Kaner was satisfied with the answer he got he went to go and bother Sharpie.

The next day rolled around with the whole team at the Madhouse on Madison on their day off. It was going to be the day that Arabella was going to play hockey with the guys. The thing was that Jonathan and her didn’t tell the guys that she could skate fast but just let them assume that she sucked. Stepping out onto the ice was something different for Arabella. After being in the stands for so long she was actually on the ice skating with the Chicago Blackhawks.

“Can you even skate?” Kaner asked as Arabella was slowly warming up to skating after so long. She only skated when she went to Netherlands during the winter time with her family since her mom was from there. After her mom died Arabella hasn’t been to the Netherlands since it was also the place that her sister wanted to live in. See Sophie hated France and wanted to leave once she had the chance.

With Clint the equipment manager dropping the puck the game was on its way. The boys wanted Arabella to get a real feel of what a hockey game was since she never played one before. Some guys were the coaches, refs and audience so there wasn’t many players on the ice. Even Coach Q came out for the second period to watch how Arabella was holding up.

Much to everyone’s surprise she skated better than half of the guys and could skate backwards almost better than Duncan Keith. She was faster than any guy on the team but the only down side was her puck handling. Arabella could shoot the puck but she couldn’t skate with the puck that well. It was easy for the guys to steal the puck from her. Arabella was pushed around a little to roughen her up but nothing serious that could hurt her in any way. The guys knew if she got hurt, Toews would literally rip them to shreds.

“We should put her on the team and kick off Tazer.” Seabs said pushing Jonathan from behind as Arabella had scored the winning goal. All of the guys were laughing as Jonathan tried to push back but then Burish joined in to push Jonathan from behind as well.

“Does this mean she showers with us? Cause if so I agree!” Kaner said skating over to join the conversation. The next thing he knew was that he got Jonathan’s gloves thrown at his face and his jersey pulled over his head.

For the rest of the day everyone just skated around fooling around. It was going to be crazy that they were in the playoffs and that within a month the Stanley Cup could be theirs. And for entire journey coming up ahead Arabella would be willing to take for the team and Jonathan.