Whatever It Takes

“Ari? James? Who’s at the door?” Arianna could hear her mother’s voice echo through the large foyer as she approached the door where they all stood.

Oh my God, she thought silently as she closed her eyes momentarily. Just kill me now.

Arianna’s eyes snapped back open as she felt her mom place a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to see her mother staring at the three bodies on her front porch, her face pulled into confusion as she smiled at Marissa.

She instantly knew she was screwed as she saw her mother’s eyes light up like a light bulb as they landed on Jon. Although her mom wasn’t very knowledgeable about hockey players, they were Canadian. A national treasure like Jonathan Toews didn’t go unnoticed.

“Marissa, it’s so lovely to see you sweetheart,” her mom said as she leaned over and engulfed the girl in a tight hug.

“You too Cynthia!” Marissa replied back bubbly, letting the older woman smother her in their hug. Arianna’s mother loved Marissa as if she were her own daughter after years of watching the girls grow up together.

As they let go and stepped away from one another, Arianna’s mother glanced back at the boys.

“Hi, I’m Cynthia Del Torro, Arianna’s mom,” she said as she reached over to shake each boys hand.

“Nice to meet you Mrs. Del Torro. I’m Patrick,” he said as he reached over and shook her hand, his infamous smile spreading across his face in a second. Although to everyone else he must have seemed calm and collected, Arianna could tell he was nervous and jittery.

“Please, call me Cynthia” she responded sweetly as she gave him a smile and moved her hand to shake Jon’s.

Arianna could feel James still tense by her side, causing her to grow uneasy with every passing second. Her brothers were more than just overprotective; they were almost overbearing. Although she was mad at Patrick and didn’t want to see him, she couldn’t let them kill him like she was sure they were plotting too.

Her eyes glanced over to Patrick, where he stood beside Jon and engulfed in a polite conversation with her mom about the great early spring weather they were having for early March.

She felt her throat tighten as she watched him make her mom laugh lightly at a silly remark, his smile flashing bright and his eyes lighting up. This was how it should be; him fitting in perfectly with her family and in her life. Watching it unfold in front of her made a piece inside of her break. Beyond all that anger and rage that she currently felt, was a girl who had fallen too fast and too hard for a boy who had more secrets than he cared to share.

As much as she wanted to walk over there and hit him and demand he leave, another piece of her wanted to run up and have him hold her. Above all else, anger aside, she was heartbroken to know he wasn’t who she thought he was.

He must have sensed her watching him because his face turned ever so slightly to look at her, their eyes instantly connecting. His blue eyes revealed his nerves but also happiness at the fact that her mother was warming up to him.

In a million different ways his eyes were shining into hers, revealing all his emotions, so content with this moment and yet not knowing how she felt. It took everything in her to shut herself off from him. She didn’t want to do this now, not with so many people around and his game that night.

“Arianna?” her mother’s voice snapped her back to reality as she broke her gaze with Patrick. “Yeah?” she responded, brushing her hair out of her face and behind her ear.

“I asked if you wereplanning on inviting them to stay for lunch. Your father is outside barbecuing right now. And you know there’s always more than enough food,” her mom continued, giving her a curious look as she glanced back at Patrick.

Cynthia Del Torro might not have been a teenager anymore, but she could spot a secret stare a mile away. Did she notice the way Patrick Kane kept looking at her daughter? Of course. Did she see the nerves all over her daughter’s face? Absolutely.

It was then that she realized this was a lot more than what it appeared to be. And to be honest…she wasn’t sure how she felt about the whole thing. He seemed like a great kid, more down to earth than she ever imagined a hockey player to be. But this was her daughter; her baby. She needed to know him more before she made a full judgment.

“Uh…I don’t know mom, I’m sure they have other things they need to do,” Arianna said, suddenly torn between what the right thing to do was.

“Actually we have absolutely nothing to do for the next hour,” Marissa said brightly as she walked past everyone and took off inside the house. The boys hesitated for a minute before following her inside, giving Cynthia warm smiles and James cautious grins.

Arianna felt her throat close up as she watched them all go and follow her mom into the kitchen. This couldn’t get worse, could it? She thought as she silently kicked herself for thinking it. Obviously you never ask that; it always gets worse when you do.

***

“And this is Patrick,” Arianna finished as she introduced the boys to Mike and her father, Sam. They had made their way to the backyard and currently stood on her large balcony as her father finished barbecuing the food.

She could see the lines form on his forehead, the ones that only appeared when he was confused and uncertain. She could only imagine the thoughts going through his head right now. All she could do was pray that he acted polite now and asked her questions later.

“Nice to meet you boys…Although I must say I never imagined I would be having two famous hockey players in my backyard,” he half joked through a slightly forced smile. The boys laughed back lightly, suddenly feeling the intimidating that Sam Del Torro had the power to impose at times.

“Alright then…well we are going to go inside and set up the table,” Arianna said as she tried to cut the evident tension and awkwardness in the air. She shot mike a pleading look to help make this easier. Her shrugged his shoulders in a careless manner ready to object to her silent pleas.

Suddenly a phone went off, it’s ring tone blasting through the momentary silence. Jon hurriedly went through his pockets, looking to grab his phone until he found it deep inside his left side. He pulled it out with an apologetic look and placed it to his ear. After a few minutes of brief talk, he hung up and looked nervously at Patrick.

“Ari, Mr Del Torro, I’m so sorry to have to do this but I have to get back to the hotel. Some last minute interviews with me that they want to get done now before the game. I won’t be able to stay for lunch,” he said as he glanced back and forth between them all.

“I’ll drive you back then since I drove you here to begin with,” Marissa said without thinking, as she began to pull out her car keys. She slowed down as she suddenly realized this meant she would be leaving lunch as well.

There was a moment of silence as they all took this in. Only Patrick and Arianna would be staying to have lunch with her family. It seemed like everyone already knew there was this unspoken thing going on between them that was more than just friendship. Arianna was sure her father had even picked up on it by now.

“So…you’re both leaving?” Arianna asked, just to double check she hadn’t misunderstood and was going into panic mode for nothing. “Yeah…seems that way,” Marissa said as she glanced at her apologetically.

Arianna glanced back at Mike who had a huge smirk on his face. She narrowed her eyes at him although they were filled with panic. He just shook his head and tried to muffle his laughter. “This should be fun,” he mouthed to her with a cocky grin.

Fun was the last thing she thought this would be.