Don't Be Scared, It's Only Love...

Jordan Staal was in a hurry. That was for sure. He’d been late to practice 4 times in the past 2 weeks because of clingy puck sluts. Every morning he’d roll his eyes after finally getting another one out of his bedroom and think to himself, I’m never having a one night stand again. Yet every time he went out for a drink with the guys, he’d mysteriously forget all about his past experiences as he strut up to his next whore and smiled that smile.

"Look, why don’t you just give me your number and I’ll call you after practice, alright?" he said while gritting his teeth, smiling to reassure the pouty girl in front of him.

"But Jordyyyyy-", the girl, Marissa he thought she had said, whined and grabbed onto his muscular arm. He yanked it away and rolled his blue eyes.

"Look, Marissa-" , Jordan started to sigh.

"It's Melissa," she said, crossing her arms in anger. Jordan threw on a Penguins t-shirt and basketball shorts while he continued what he was saying before.

"Whatever. I don’t know if you understand, but we just had a one night stand. The proper etiquette of a one night stand would be we do the nasty and then you leave in the morning. No whining, no crying, no bullshit. So just leave so I don’t have to keep pretending that I’m ever going to or will want to talk to you again," Jordan burst out, watching as the girl in front of him scowled, grabbing her clothes, pulling them on hastily, and slipping into her high heels before walking out of the room.

Jordan let out a breath he just realized he was holding as he heard the sound of her heels clacking against his hardwood floors fade and then stop. He heard them quickly return and come closer and before he had time to process that the girl was coming back, she was in front of him, her face scrunched up with rage and determination.

slap.

Jordan held his hand to his red cheek as Mary, or whatever, finally left, stomping away on those annoying heels. He didn’t even pay attention to the red handprint on his smooth cheek as he hurriedly grabbed his stuff for practice and his keys before taking off.

***

"Hey Gronk, rough morning?" he heard Max Talbot call out to him as he entered the locker room. Jordan sighed.

"You have no idea man, this chick was crazy. I really need to get better taste." He said jokingly. Max smiled and laughed at the blonde boy.

"Or maybe you need to stop doing a different girl every night and find yourself a good girl who will be there for you," a voice said behind the two men. Jordan looked around and saw one of his best friends, Sidney Crosby, staring at him intently. Jordan scoffed.

"And what fun would that be, Sid?"

"Hey Staalsy, he’s got a point," Talbot said roughly, putting a hand on Jordan’s shoulder. Jordan shrugged it off.

"Yeah easy for you two to say, your girlfriends are amazing. So what sometimes I think I’d like to have someone to come home to at night? I’m only young once and I’m sure as hell not gonna give that up for some girl. Relationships are for old people. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, yeah?" Jordan said easily, smiling as he suited up for practice.

***

Another game, another day. Jordan Staal thought to himself, just a bit miserably.He used to love hockey so much. He loved hockey, but sometimes it was all just too much for a 20 year oldboy man to handle. The Pens were playing the Hurricanes at Carolina today and Jordan, despite feeling a bit down for some reason, was excited to see Eric.

He entered the RBC Center with a feeling in the pit of his stomach that he couldn’t quite place. Oh yes, Jordan Staal was in for a big surprise tonight. Who knew Mr. One Night Stand would ever fall in love? Surely not him.