Heart of Gold

The party was actually going really well. Some of us still couldn’t believe that we brought Chicago back from their 49 year drought. Amazing. There was a poke coming from my shoulder. I turned around to see Pat and Gwen with worried faces. “Guys what’s wrong?” I asked. Pat took a deep breath. “Jon. Katelyn is here.” he said as I took a sip from my beer. “What do you mean? Who the hell invited her?” Gwen grabbed a hold of my shoulders and shook me a little bit. “Who knows. As long as she stays away from Stella.” “Why is she even here?” I asked.

“She’s probably here because she probably found out about you and Stella being back together again.” Pat implied.
“I don’t understand. Katelyn and I weren’t really a couple. I was drunk and stupid when that happened.” I set my beer down. “Stella has forgiven you for that but Katelyn is just drama waiting to happen.” I looked over towards Katelyn she spotted me and smiled walking towards me.

“Jon just go away!” Stella said crying. “But Stell…” I started. “No Jon just leave.” she said breaking into more tears crying on the floor. I hated seeing her like this. This fight was stupid but I understood why she was acting like this. I grabbed coaot, my duffle bag and my car keys and headed for the door. But first I stopped in my tracks to look back at my precious girlfriend crying her butt off. She didn’t want me to be there with her right now. I loved her dearly especially my times at UND. I dropped everything walked over to her and kissed her lightly on the top of her head.

I walked out of my condo headed towards my truck. Once I got everything situated with my stuff I headed to the UC for the big game tonight. Once parked in the parking lot I shut off the engine and just sat there. I thought about all the time Stella and I have had. There was a picture of us on graduation day sitting in my car. That was my favorite picture ever. If I get out of this truck I would be getting ready for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. My brain was telling me to head back and take care of Stella but my body moved me towards the UC to the dressing room.

I sat in my stall getting ready for the game tonight. The girl of my dreams hated my guts over a stupid fight. I got up and looked at the shelf holding my gloves. There laid a small velvet box. I was thinking about popping the question with Stella. I guess not so much now.

Most of the team walked back to the dressing room happy that we won the first Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals. I automatically just walked to my stall. Sure it was one of the best games I’ve ever played but I still felt bad about Stella. When Coach Q was done
congratulating us and the press was out of the way Kaner looked towards me. “Dude what’s up? We just won the game.” I sighed. “But I lost my love.” I said looking at the ring in my stall. “Oh dude what happened?” Somehow the rest of the team came over to listen to the story of what happened between me and Stella. I didn’t know how it happened or even why. All the guys looked surprised. This was the first fight Stella and I ever had.

“Boy is that something.” Burish said. “I guess that perfect couple was never meant to be.” He continued. I took a glance at him. “Gee thanks for making me feel better Bur. Real supportive.” He shrugged. “Just trying to help.” Seabs put his hand on my shoulder. “Why don’t we have a guys night tonight. After all we did win.” Most of the guys agreed on this. I guess this was one way of taking things off my mind.

Usually most of the sports bars that show the game are crowded. Luckily since we are the team that won we were able to get in. A lot of fans came up to us and congratulated us. The feeling of winning was completely awesome. But at the end of every game when we solute the fans I always see Stella’s bright face smiling behind our bench. This night I didn’t see her. “Tazer you have to get over it.” Kane said chugging down a beer with one hand and handing me another with his free hand. I took it from him and started gulping it down. By the time most of the team left and it was just me, Kane, Bur, Sharpie, Seabs and Keith I already chugged down at least nine beers. My drunken self just lost control.

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My eyes blinked open to the crisp risen sun. I rubbed my eyes and looked around. There was a girl next to me. A random girl. Not Stella. Boy was I in for it. “Hey babe.” She said while getting up. “Who are you?” I asked. She pushed me playfully. “Don’t be so silly Jon. Remember my name is Katelyn.” She tired to kiss me on the cheek but I pushed her away. “What’s wrong?” she asked me. But I ignored her. I slipped on my boxers and walked to my kitchen. Was I that drunk to bring a girl I don’t know to my condo after what had happened with Stella. I heard the door open. I turned around to see Stella. “Oh uh hi Jonny.” She glanced at what I was wearing. I felt myself slightly blush. “I uh just left my keys here.” She said walking towards me. “Stell..” I began. “Jon who’s there.” Stella turned her head to see Katelyn only wearing my shirt. “Not now.” I stated. “Oh uh I have to go.” Stella grabbed her keys and left my condo. “Who the hell was that?” Katelyn asked. I sighed. “No one.”
“Looks like a someone to me.”

“Look I don’t know who the hell you are. All I know is that she was the love of my life. And so help me right now because you shouldn’t be here right now.”

“Jon. I’ll be twice the better person she’ll ever be. And I know that for a fact.” She said touching my face. I smacked her hand away. “Oh I don’t think so.”

The next few days were kind of a blur. Katelyn was so in focused that she was dating someone famous in Chicago. I didn’t believe any of it. I don’t even consider her my girlfriend. The rest of the team thinks so too. Big Buff told to stay away from me, Stella, and the team. Although I kinda felt bad for how that happened but she finally backed off. Finally it was Game 5. Another game after losing back to back in Philadelphia. I walked in to the United Center to see Stella and her friend Gwen standing outside the entrance to the dressing room. She turned around and gave me a smile. I smiled back knowing that this could probably be the end of our fight. She walked towards me. “Jon. I’m sorry I over reacted.”
“It’s okay. As long as your okay. And about the other day with that girl. I was drunk the night before and didn’t really..” I got cut off by Stella pulling me into a hug. “I know. Kaner told me.” I pulled away. “Everything?” She smiled. “Everything. From you getting drunk to Buff telling her back off.” I laughed. “Good.” This meaning that everything was back to the way it was.

“Hello Jonathan.” She said putting an arm over my shoulder. I took her arm and pulled it away from me. “Katelyn no one said you were invited.” “Jonny don’t be silly. I missed you.” She said sitting on me. I gave Kaner a ‘go tell Stella’ look. He grabbed Gwen and pulled her into the bedroom where Stella was. “Look Katelyn. What ever we did. I was drunk and wasn’t thinking straight.” She kept on touching me. With every touch I pulled her away. Most likely. I looked towards the hallway seeing Stella looking right there towards my direction like she was about to cry. “I think you need to leave Katelyn.” She scoffed. “I don’t think so. I won’t leave until I get what I want.” I pushed her off me. “Seriously. I don’t want you. And I don’t want you here.” Some of the guys surrounded us. “Look usually don’t do this but we like having fans around. But we stick up for our teammates. You should just leave now before anything bad happens.” Buff stated. She looked at all of us and rushed towards the door. “Thanks you guys.” “No worries. Us Hawks stick together.” Sharpie said pushing me towards Stella.

Stella looked hurt. “Stell.” I started. “Yea?” “She’s nothing. I didn’t even know she was going to be here.” I said pulling her into a hug. “Don’t be upset.” I continued. “Honestly I’m not.” She whispered in my ear. I pulled away. “Really?” “Really.” I pulled her into a kiss and heard tons of gags behind us. “GET A ROOM!” yelled Burish.