‹ Prequel: Goth & Donut
Status: expect a chapter a day until New Years... bringing the story back to Mibba

Chasing Claudia

Capri, Italy

There may be only four of us on this trip but not having Luke around feels a lot lighter. After we got over the fact that Luke ditched us to go to Florence, we decided to go forward to our trip to Naples and Postitano. He’s really missing out on this because not only the sights are beautiful but so are the hot girls. Even though I have a girlfriend and Drew’s engaged, all that eye candy makes me go ape crazy here.

Today the boys and I are on a boat called the Magica Luna on the Mediterranean en route to the island of Capri. Most of the cruise is consist of hot girls and yet the boys and I were wondering if Luke doing okay on the mainland.

“Steve, you’re blocking my view!” PK yelled as I moved over to give PK a better view. “Good, at least I can look at her ass.”

“Peek, are you always horny?” Brayden took a sip of his wine as he looked over what PK was seeing.

“Every day and after dinner!”

“No wonder why you’re single.” I laughed as I reached for the crackers on the plate.

“Well you should’ve stayed single, Stamkos! This trip would’ve been more fun for you.”

“And be some lovesick puppy like Drew and Schenner, chasing some girl all over Italy? Nah. At least I have someone waiting for me in Tampa. Oh sorry Drew.”

“None taken but you mean ‘Trampa’.” Drew added as he finally took off his shirt. For a dude who is half-Portuguese, he’s as white as a ghost. “Yo Brayden, what are you reading?”

“Something Luke left me this morning.” Brayden replied as he continued to look at the letter. We all rushed to Brayden as we all looked at the letter. “He sent me an email and didn’t get a chance to read through it until now.”

Hey Bray. Don’t worry about me. I’m heading to Austria. Tell the guys I’ll meet them in Barcelona at the end of the week. PS: I found that girl at the Montreal train. Coincidence, eh? Here’s a picture of us on our way to Vienna.

We look at the picture of him and train girl and thought she’s a total hottie. Luke is usually fond of Playboy bunny types but this is the first time he took notice someone tame since… Janelle. He had a crush on her basically from the moment he laid eyes on her. But who wouldn’t want to have a crush on a girl like her. Anyway, he was happy when he found out he was a Maple Leaf when we were drafted because he knew she was going to university there and can get closer to her. However, the moment she said she was moving to LA, he knew he had no chance. Not only there was the distance but Drew lived there and we knew he was in love with her. I remember my conversation with Luke after Janelle went West.

*Flashback: 2 Years Ago in Tampa*

With this being our only time together until the off-season, Luke and I met up at Charlie’s, a steakhouse in town for some dinner. We haven’t hung out since All-Star Weekend and based on Luke’s mood, he wasn’t too happy.

“Schenner, what’s up?” I asked as I took a bite off my medium rare steak.

“Did Janelle called or emailed you?”

“I haven’t heard from her since All-Star Weekend. What’s wrong?”

“She moved to LA.” Luke sulked as he looked at his dinner.

“Really? She’s going after Drew?”

“Actually, she told me her old skating coach got her a job in LA and decided to take it.”

“Well that’s great for her. You know how much she loves skating.” I noticed Luke continued to sulk about it. “You like her, don’t you?”

“If you put it this way, yes. But I have no chance with her.”

“Why you said that? Aren’t you hooking up with this girl?”

“Yeah she’s nice and all but she’s no Janelle. Anyway, when I asked if she’s taking the job to be closer to Drew, she said no. She wanted to stay as far away from him as she can.” Luke would then bring up what happened at All-Star Weekend when Drew went missing for the entire day, only for him to feel depressed after that. “I can’t compete with that.”

“So you let her go without telling her how you felt?”

“Yeah. After all, she was never mine to begin with. She was destined to be with Drew.”


After that, Luke decided to never tell Janelle how he felt. It was when Drew told me during Olympics Camp a few months later that they reconnected and fell in love (though it took longer in her part to realized that) that Luke decided to let go and let our friend be happy. It was better to not say anything than to ruin his friendships with Drew and Janelle. After all, they are getting married once we’re back in Canada. Since then Luke’s been hooking up with any girl that is willing to but he never forgotten her.

“If I would’ve known he wanted to go to the land of Von Trapps, the Governator, and Thomas Vanek, I would’ve asked him if he can hook me up with some Mozart shit.” Brayden took a sip of his drink.

“Did you just mention ‘The Sound Of Music”? PK joked as he and Drew began to burst into a drunken version of “Edelweiss” while raising their glasses.

“At least we know where he’s at.” I look out the island we’re approaching to. Hopefully train girl can make him believe there’s someone better. “It would be funny if they start singing ‘Do Re Mi’ over there.”