Someone Left Behind

Jordan came crashing back down the stairs 5 minutes later and wolfed down the rest of his coffee and a banana, “Ready?” they heard Tanya call from outside and ‘Yeah!’s came from various places in the house, Staal men emerging from every nook and cranny.

Jake went to hop off the stool but Jordan grabbed his shoulder, “Wait, I wanna give you something.” he reached into his pocket and produced a necklace, a charm with two hands clasped together on it. “Your mother gave me this before my first game…I know she’d want you to have it. It means that, who ever gives you it, they’ll always be with you. If at any point today you get nervous, just think about this around your neck, and I’ll be right there with you, okay?” Jake nodded and wrapped his arms around Jordan.

“Thank you.” he whispered gratefully in his ear and pulled away, turning around and allowing Jordan to clip it around his neck; then he bounded out the door with Jordan right behind him. Jake scrambled up into his car seat while Jordan begrudgingly climbed in the very back by himself.

They arrived at the rink at 7:10, Eric walking him down to the locker room entrance, kissing his forehead and wishing him good luck. Jake walked into the locker room and greeted all his friends he’d made from practices and coin drops. His coach suddenly appeared out of no where, bending down next to him.

“Hey Jake, look what I got.” he produced a jersey from behind his back and unfolded it, turning it around Jake lit up when he spotted the big STAAL and # 12 across the back, just like Eric. “How do you like it?”

“I love it!” he laughed, taking it from him and running his hands over it, “Thanks!” he giggled and made his way over to his stall, sitting down next to his best friend on the team, Nick. He untied his shoes and pulled his hockey pants on, tying them and then tossing on his socks and taping them.

“You excited?” Jake questioned as Nick’s dad helped Nick put on his rollerblades. Jake started doing the same, not needing any help.

“Yeah!” Nick lit up, “I can’t wait, me and Daddy have been counting down the days until I was old enough…where’s your Daddy? Why isn’t he helping you put your skates on?”
“Oh…I know how to do it…” he trailed off, standing up and spinning in a circle to make sure they were comfortable. He sat back down and started pulling his shoulder pads on, strapping them tight and picking up his jersey.

“How do you know that?” Nick questioned, his dad helping put his own shoulder pads on.
“Oh, well, I hang around my uncle and his teammates a lot, so they taught me.” he smiled at Nick as he pulled his jersey over his head, it getting caught on the shoulder pads and he started to struggle with it when suddenly he felt Nick pull it down. He turned around and grinned at him in thanks, then helped him pull his own jersey down over the shoulder pads.

“Well it doesn’t seem like you need my help anymore.” Nick’s dad bent down and kissed his sons head, then waved and walked out of the locker room.

“Your uncle is Eric right?” Jake nodded, “Then who’s your dad?”

“Hmm?”

“Your dad, which one is your dad? If Eric’s your uncle, then which of his brothers is your dad?” Jake shifted slightly then stuck out his pinky.

“Promise you won’t tell?” Nick’s eyes lit up at the thought of being in on a secret.

“Pinky swear!” he locked pinkies with him and stared at Jake.

“Jordan.”

“Jordan’s your daddy?” Jake nodded and sat down, a smiling Nick plopping down next to him, “That’s so cool! What’s he like?”

“Well--” he was cut off by the coach who started talking about how it was only a game and it didn’t matter who won or lost and all that mattered was to have fun. Blah, blah, blah.

The first shift of the game and Jake realized how much he actually benefited from playing in the practices with the Hurricanes. He picked up the ball at the center of the rink and rocketed towards the opposing team’s net, swerving around the 2 defenseman, if they could even be called that with how they were fumbling around, and shot the ball right past the goalie. He curled around to see everyone staring at him, then his teammates started celebrating and hugging him. He decided he was going to take it easier until the rest of them got their skates under them.

Halfway through the game there was a disturbance up in the seats, Jake turning beat red but laughing when he realized what it was. Jared had got in an argument with one of the hockey moms of the other team. Eric was dragging him backwards while the lady’s husbands was pulling her away as well.

“Hey, isn’t that your uncle?” Nick questioned, poking him in the side and motioning towards the commotion.

“Yeah…leave it to Uncle Jared.” he giggled and they resumed the game.

Jake was pretty much unheard from the rest of the game, settling to just hang around and pass the puck, not trying anything spectacular but assisting on 2 other goals. He was probably the hardest working kid in the rink because despite not making any plays, he was still running around to make up for his other teammates being out of position.