Sticks & Spirals

Hockey ended, and my training went into full swing. I had no hockey boys trying to distract me and no love sick puppy dog called Kris making me his go-to person when he needs advice about Rhyne. Although he does still keep calling me from his home in Alberta. I mostly just ignore the phone calls. I need to concentrate.
However, there was also no Brent Seabrook. No distracting, perfect body and the best hair in the world. No beautiful hazel eyes staring at me, making my heart pound and cheeks flush. No bipolar personality making my head hurt from him being nice to me one minute and then screaming at me the next.
And oddly enough, I missed that fool.
But skating took my mind off of it. Off of many things. Traci has me skating six days a week, two to three or even four hours a day. My knee has held up, which is exciting. It means I’m fine, finally.
Andrew went home to B.C, leaving me in our Chicago apartment alone. Traci and Rhyne are essentially my only friends here now, since all of the guys and their girlfriends or wives had left for the summer.
“Vanna, the power’s out.”
I turned to stare at a towel-clothed Rhyne with her hair dripping wet with shampoo suds sliding down her face. I looked at the stove to see that the clock wasn’t working. Damn, the power really is out.
I sighed. “They must be working on the air conditioning.” Which hasn’t been working properly. “Here, let’s get the rest of the soap out of your hair.”
I grabbed a few bottles of water from the fridge and she tilted her head over the sink. With the cold water, I was able to get the rest of the suds out of her hair. “There you go.”
“Thanks,” she said with that cute smile before disappearing.
Rhyne has been staying with me a few days here and there so I’m not alone all the time. I really enjoy her company. She’s opened up a lot since the first time that I met her. She’s really quite cute.
“Coming with me to practice?” I called to her.
“Yes.”
I grabbed one of my old figure skating outfits, a blue sparkly number, and my skates to set them by the door for when we leave. My phone vibrated in my pocket and glanced to see my mom’s name. “Hello?” I answered.
“Baby! I haven’t talked to you in a week. You need to call me more often, Anna, baby.”
I sighed. “I’m sorry mom, but I’m crazy busy. I’m doing nothing but preparing for Worlds. You know that.”
“I know, V baby, but your mother wants to hear from you once in a while. You know, I have to find out stuff about your life from Andrew. He talks to you every day!”
“It’s called texting mom,” I moaned. “Maybe if you tried it out then this wouldn’t happen and you wouldn’t have to find out about my life from my cousin.”
My mother sounded annoyed. “You know I’m not into all this technical stuff, Vanna. It just isn’t me.”
“Because you’re so old fashioned.”
“Vanna!”
I sighed. “I’m sorry mom, but I have to go. I have practice to get to.”
“You better call me later tonight, Vanna Ariadne.”
“Yes mom. Bye.” I hung up before she could answer.
Rhyne appeared in the doorway, her hair braided down her neck. “I’m ready,” she said with a smile.
I nodded. “Let’s go.” I grabbed the keys to Andrew’s car and we made our way down to the apartment garage and then on our way to The Edge.
Once there, I quickly changed into my outfit and stepped on the ice to warm up before Traci got here. Since our confrontation a couple months ago, we’ve been cool again. She’s back to being the coolest trainer I’ve ever had.
I saw a boy sit next to Rhyne and I narrowed my eyes before I realized it was her twin brother. I forgot that he worked as a ref here.
“Vanna! Let’s get into your warm-up round, shall we?” Traci shouted as she stepped on the ice, her usual grin on her face.
I nodded and got to work.
Currently, we are working on perfecting my movements in my routine that we came up with for Worlds. I have my tricks down flat, like I did before my injury, but the fluidity and the grace is what I’m still lacking from my injury. I’m getting back to my normal self, though, and each day is getting better.
After practice, I showered off all the sweat and Rhyne and I left the cool rink for the hot and humid Chicago day.
“You’re so good,” she said suddenly as we pulled up to a restaurant we go to fairly often.
“Thanks,” I grinned. “You should skate sometime.”
She paled slightly. “Umm, I’ll have to pass.” She laughed it off, but I could tell there was something underneath all that. I didn’t press for information though. That’s not my kind of thing.
We ate and chatted before my phone went off again. I stared at the name that appeared on the screen of my HTC Thunderbolt and tried to ignore the way my heart pounded in my chest.
“Who is it?” Rhyne asked. She must have read the look on my face.
“Uh, Seabs,” I replied before finally picking up the call.
Rhyne made a cute ‘ooo’ sound as I said hello to the man on the other line.
“Hey, Vanna, I need a favor from you.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“Can you head over to my townhouse at some point and grab something inside? I got a gift for my brother’s girlfriend for her birthday for him because he saw it while here months ago. Could you grab it and express it up to me?”
“Yeah, sure,” I replied, writing down his garage code as he told it to me. “I’ll get it today and send it tomorrow. Is that ok?”
“Yes. Thank you so much. He was about to kill me.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, and Rhyne had a knowing twinkle in her eye that made me blush and want to run from her. “Alright. Talk to you later, Seabs.”
“Bye, V.”
“So~,” she asked in an interested tone. “What was that about?”
I tried to hide my blushing cheeks with my blonde hair. “We have to go over and pick up a gift that his brother asked him to get. He apparently forgot to take it with him.”
She nodded. “Ok. Shall we go get it now?”
“Yeah.”
We paid for our meal before heading over to Seabrook’s house. I haven’t been here since he saved me from Daniel, and the memories of him holding me all night crept into my mind as I entered his house.
Rhyne looked around with a look of awe on her pretty face. Brent Seabrook has a simple taste in his place, but it is still really nice. You wouldn’t expect that from a hockey player. Especially not when you know Kris and Andrew. Dear God, those two are some of the messiest people I’ve ever seen. Luckily, Andrew had me. Sadly, Kris has no one. That’s probably why he doesn’t take Rhyne to his place too often.
I found my way up the stairs in his room. I saw the little bag sitting on his dresser and I grabbed it and turned to head back downstairs. But something caught my eye. On the side table there was a picture of him with some girl. I sat on his bed and grabbed the picture off the table and stared at it, feeling my heart drop into my stomach causing me to feel sick.
The picture was of him and a pretty, dark haired girl, his arm around her and holding her close. They were both laughing in the picture.
I snapped a picture with my phone and quickly set the photograph back in its proper place before bustling my way down the stairs.
“Let’s go,” I mumbled to Rhyne, quickly leaving.
Rhyne gave me a curious look but didn’t ask questions as we piled back into Andrew’s car and headed off towards home.
The whole ride there I couldn’t help but think of the picture. Who is she? Who is she to him?
The most important question on my mind, however, is why do I care?