Someone Left Behind

Jordan's Day With The Cup

Jake was excited, 2 weeks had passed and today was the day Jordan celebrated with the cup. He had gotten it the day before but today was the celebration. Yesterday Jake had watched from afar as Jordan showed everyone the cup and celebrated by himself with it, wishing one day he’d be able to bring it home to his family like this.

He wandered downstairs to see Jordan finishing up Frosted Flakes in the Cup’s bowl, watching as he rinsed it out and the set it down, walking past him and up the stairs to get ready. Jake knew the plan for today was that he was going to wait with his uncles until Jordan was done at the Children’s hospital, then join him for ice cream. He walked past the Cup, eyeing it from the corner of his eye as he sat down at the island and was handed a bowl of cereal by his grandmother.

When he was finished he set the bowl in the sink and slowly moved towards the Cup. He sat down next to it and ran his finger over all the names; the names including Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and his Uncle Eric’s, his eyes held wonder and amazement. These were the great names of the past, people he looked up to and wanted to be like, this silver cup in front of him was the dream of so many people around the world, including him, and here it was, sitting in front of him, innocently sparkling.

“Amazing isn’t it?” he nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Jordan’s voice a foot away from him. He quickly scrambled to his feet, holding his hands behind him.

“I--I’m uh…I didn’t mean--” Jordan laughed.

“Its okay…” he bent down next to it and ran his finger over the same names Jake just had, seeming amazed as well. Suddenly his uncles came thundering down the stairs, laughing loudly and running up to the island, grabbing bowls of cereal as they went. Jordan stood up, walking over to them and grabbing the keys off the counter.

“Well I’m off.” Jordan announced, then hesitated but ruffled Jake’s hair as he picked up the Cup from next to him, wandering out the door with Henry. Jake walked over and sat down next to Marc, doodling on a napkin and staring off into space. He came back at the sound of Jared’s laughter.

“Where were you right there Bud? You left us for a bit.” Marc laughed from next to him but seemed genuinely concerned.

“Just thinking…” he smiled up at him and then pushed the napkin and pen away, jumping down and wandering up stairs to get a bath from Tanya.

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At about noon everyone piled into the family SUV and headed off to the ice cream shop Jordan had called about half an hour ago. It wasn’t that far away and 15 minutes later they pulled up to the back. They walked in, to see Jordan arguing with the three young girls behind the counter. They stopped when they heard the rest of the family come in and the one sighed exasperatedly.

“What now?” she stalked over and stared angrily at them.

“We just--” Jake grabbed onto Eric’s pant leg, stopping him.

“I’m sorry Miss…my…family member,” he hesitated, not knowing what to call him, “just really wanted to celebrate in this ice cream place because its his favorite and this is a really important day for him because you see that?” he pointed shyly to the Cup, “That’s the Stanley Cup. Have you ever heard your dad or brother or uncle or someone talk about it?” two of them nodded, the really pissed off one included, “Well that’s it, it’s the dream of every little boy in Canada to win it. To win it takes a whole life, from the time you can practice shooting a puck, you have to work really hard towards it. And when you win, if you do, ‘cuz some people have 20 year careers and never win it. But if you do you get to spend a whole day with it, and he wants to spend part of the best day of his life here, does that seem so bad? To have a sundae out of his dream?” he was really pouring it on, with the big puppy dog eyes, sad lip, and baby-ish voice. Halfway through his mini-speech they could see the three girls breaking.

“Well…I guess not…the boss is a fan of hockey so if its really as important as you say I think he’ll understand…okay.” she nodded at them and Jordan completely lit up. He rushed over and started piling the ice cream into the bowl at the top while Jake smiled and thanked the ladies, then leaned back against Eric who gave him a pat on the shoulder.

“Nice one.” Jared, Marc, and Eric all said, chuckling quietly.

They all ordered their own ice creams as they watched Jordan eat from the Cup, Marc and Jared obeyed their superstitions and both kept a safe distance from the Cup, causing Jake to laugh. Jake didn’t really eat his chocolate ice cream, instead watching Jordan enjoy his suddenly Jordan looked up and caught his eye.

“Want some?” he mumbled through a mouthful of ice cream and held out to spoon to Jake, watching him closely. Jake debated slightly and felt Eric nudge his shoulder so he hopped down from the chair. He slowly edged forward and gently took the spoon from Jordan hand, then scooped up some chocolate from the sundae and popped it in his mouth, grinning at Jordan as he did. He continued to eat from the Cup and Jordan laughed, grabbing another spoon and joining him. They both could practically feel the wall Jake had around himself with Jordan breaking as they continued to eat and laugh, nearly getting in a ice cream fight if it hadn’t been for one of the girls working, panicking about the restaurant becoming a mess.

As they left, Jordan left a nice tip and Jake thanked them again, then they all piled into their own vehicles and followed Jordan as he went to a family friend’s accounting firm, boring Jake out of his mind. Then they stopped at a sports bar called the Penalty Box, which allowed Jake in for the special occasion, finally they headed off to Henry’s Sod Farm. Jordan headed out into the field. Then after half an hour of messing around and taking pictures they headed back in and Jordan made sure to sign and get pictures with many of his Dad’s clients, much to Jake’s dismay.

Soon after they all headed back to the house for the party and Jake bounced inside, getting changed into a more party driven outfit, as did everyone else. He then went and helped Eric and Tanya blow up balloons, joking with him about Jordan knocking him out of the ECF and here he was blowing up balloons for him, that gave them all a good laugh. Jake smelt burgers cooking and he shot over towards the grill to find Henry and Jordan flipping the burgers and joking. Hopping up on a milk crate they had next to it he stared, watching them cook.

“Can I learn?” he questioned and they both looked down at him.

“How to cook burgers?” Jordan questioned, setting down a beer.

“Yeah!” he grinned and Jordan moved him and the milk crate over so they were standing in front of the grill, Jordan stood behind him with Henry next to him.

“Its really simple…” and Jordan went on to explain it, Henry filling in certain spots and then wandering away, leaving Jordan to teach him how to flip the burgers. The first one Jake attempted went flying off to the side, causing them both to burst out laughing. The second one sort of flopped off the grill, making them both start giggling again. The third worked perfectly and both their arms shot up as if they were celebrating a goal.

“Yeah!” Jake giggled as Jordan picked him up and spun him around before setting him back down on the crate, watching as he flipped the rest.

“You’re getting good at that.” Jordan grinned at him and Jake beamed back before handing over the spatula and walking over to Eric and Jared.

“You seemed to be having fun.” Eric smirked at him before scooping him up and resting him on his hip.

“Yeah..” he looked back over at Jordan with a soft smile on his face.
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This is a long chapter but I couldnt split it into two because then it would be too short. This is one of my favorite chapters and I hope you guys like it too...enjoy!