WAG for Hire

Nearly twenty four hours later, Toby’s mind was still whirling as it processed the realization of those kinds of feelings for Jordan. She was sure she sat in her chemistry class with a blank look on her face as she relived the kiss as if it were on constant loop in her brain. If Lily noticed, she was polite enough not to point it out – although she did make an effort to repeat the assignment due on Monday.

Toby followed her newfound friend through the halls of Science building, glad for a few days off to sort it out. By the time she returned after the weekend she would be back in control.

Who was she kidding?

Three solid days to sit around and reflect. By Monday, she’d be a basket case.

“Toby?”

It suddenly registered that her name was being called. She came to an abrupt stop almost slamming into a rather sturdy looking fellow. She turned her head to find Lily giving her a questioning look.

“Are you okay?” Lily asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

Toby realized what she must look like to someone like Lily. If the situation was reversed and the blonde had just spent a few hours quiet and distracted, she would ask the same question. “Sorry,” Toby said, not offering any further explanation. What would she say? Oh, wow, I’ve just realized that I have feelings for the man who has paid me to pretend to be his girlfriend.

Lily was still giving her a slightly bewildered look but relaxed a little. Perhaps she just wanted to be sure that Toby was still on the same plain as her. She kicked herself inwardly, and told herself that until she left the campus she wouldn’t obsess over the kiss and what it meant.

Even if she wanted to remember how he felt, how he tasted…

No! Not doing it!

Toby even managed a smile as the two continued out of the building. It was a sunny day in Pittsburgh – one that reminded them that somewhere off in the distant future spring was waiting. She was looking forward to the end of the cold weather, the slushy walks to and from the bus stop and the ever looming threat of being buried underneath a few inches of snow.

“So, coffee and muffin?” Lily prompted beside her.

“Huh?” The words full from Toby’s lips before she could stop them. Lily’s request had fully registered now and she nodded. “Yes! That sounds like a good way to distress after an hour and a half of…” Toby scrambled to remember what they had actually talked about in class.

“Covalent bonding,” Lily finished and the questioning look was back.

“Right,” Toby said lamely as she led the way to the café. She and Lily joined the line of students desperate for a caffeine fix. She knew she would have to explain herself before Lily decided she had lost her mind. It was actually not that far from the truth. “I am sorry, I really am. I think my mind is on overdrive.”

“Jordan?”

Toby tensed, wondering how Lily had gotten it so quickly. Then again, she supposed that beyond the fact that they were in class together the only other thing that Lily really knew about her was that she was ‘dating’ Jordan Staal. It was a logical first guess. “Kind of,” she said quickly deciding a bastardized version of the truth would suffice. Maybe if she talked about what was going on inside of her head in a roundabout way she would be able to let go of some of her stress over the whole situation.

“Did you guys have a fight?”

“No!” Toby declared quickly. She realized she had raised her voice as well and flushed red at the stares she received. “No, nothing like that. I just…well, this is all new to me.”
That part wasn’t a lie – the situation with Jordan was definitely something unique. Her last relationship had been so by the book she had easily predicted the end weeks in advance. There was no set of instructions for what she was doing now. “I guess I am just not used to…” She trailed off, searching for a suitable lie.

“The cameras? The fact that people are watching?” Lily prompted.

“Yes,” Toby answered. It was easy to agree to that – it too wasn’t a lie. She had been prepared to be watched - it was the cornerstone of their agreement, but that did not mean she had gotten used to it.

However, that was not the real issue at hand.

The real issue was that she was not used to not knowing what to do next. A few weeks ago she had existed within her own parameters – she knew exactly what to expect and how to handle what was thrown at her way. Sure, it was predictable. Boring. And now she realized – lonely. But she hadn’t spent hours agonizing over how to handle herself, or wondering what her next move should be.

“Miss?”

Toby spun around, realizing she was at the front of the line. She wondered how many more times she could make herself look like an idiot in one day. She ordered a coffee and skipped the muffin. While Lily ordered, she found a table as far away from the crowd as she could get. The less people that saw her acting like a fool the better. She was blowing over the hot mug when Lily sat down.

“I guess I see where you are coming from. It must be creepy seeing your face in a newspaper,” Lily said as she munched on a cookie. “But then again, it’s Jordan Staal – so that’s a good trade off.”

Toby forced a smile. She knew Lily was trying to make light of the situation and she appreciated it. She found herself wishing she could just tell the blonde everything. She badly needed advice before she became so consumed by it she did something stupid - like walking out in front of a bus.

Or worse – like blowing what little she had with Jordan to bits.



Jordan knew he had a permanent grin on his face.

He had been told many times already to wipe it off his face throughout the practice. The last time occurred just ten minutes before it ended when Max had hip checked him while exclaiming that he needed to stop smiling ‘like a fourteen year old at a Bieber concert’.

He couldn’t help it.

It had taken one kiss for him to understand that he was not alone in his feelings. There was no way Toby could kiss him like that and not mean it. She so often wore her emotions clearly on her face. He could imagine her trying her best to deceive him but he knew he would have seen right through her.

No, the kiss was genuine.

It had been like sweet relief. After a morning of being consumed over what to do, the kiss was a sign that he wouldn’t have to spend a good part of his waking hours tortured by the thought of caring for someone who was indifferent to him.

Now the challenge came in getting her to realize it, to admit it out loud.

He hadn’t been wrong when he compared Toby to a skittish animal. He was full of questions about her previous relationships; surely there was something there that would help explain why she looked frightened at the possibility of having real feelings for someone. He would have to be subtle – pushing her slowly toward the realization. It would take patience, not something he was known for when it came to women. But she…she would be worth it.

“Shit, Staal, your girl really must know what she’s doing if you still have that look on her face.” Before Jordan could even consider the source, he had turned and landed a solid punch to the speaker’s shoulder. Letang stood there, eyes widened by Jordan’s sudden movement. “Okay, I get it. No insulting of the fair maiden.”

“Not if you like your teeth the way they are,” Jordan found himself saying. Letang’s insinuation irked him – he wanted to protect Toby from the locker room talk.

Locker room talk that he once had taken part in.

He left Letang standing there, heading to his spot. Marc was there, stripping off his goalie pads. As Jordan placed his helmet in the cubby, he spoke up. “This is cute, Jordan.”

“What is, Flower?” Jordan muttered, his voice on edge now. He hadn’t meant to snap at his friend and he gave Marc a remorseful look.

“Watching you moon over a girl,” Marc said simply as he continued to remove his gear.

Jordan couldn’t help it.



Toby was entering dangerous territory.

She knew better. She knew it would only lead to trouble. But that didn’t seem enough to deter her. She settled at the kitchen table, the remnants of a sandwich pushed aside in favour of her laptop. She took a deep breath and then typed her query into the search engine.

Apparently, the phrase ‘Jordan Staal girlfriend’ yielded many hits. More than she had imagined. She sat back in her chair and raised an eyebrow. It was become more and more obvious that people were interested in hockey players did off the ice. No wonder Jordan had been so desperate to pretend he was in a stable, and therefore, boring relationship.

She should just close the browser now. Start her assignment. Watch some mindless mid-afternoon television. Go for a walk. Anything but what she was about to do.

Of course she didn’t. That would go against her purpose. She had intended find out just what sort of girl caught Jordan Staal’s attention. The realization of her feelings had her desperate to find out if she had a chance at all – or if she would have to suffer in silence.

Toby clicked the first link.

A moment later she was greeted by the sight of a message board solely devoted to the discussion of Jordan Staal’s love life. It was hard not to find the whole idea preposterous- but at the same time it was hard not to scroll through the messages.

She soon discovered that Jordan was not kidding when he had implied the press took great pleasure in invading his relationships. There was dozens of pictures taken over the last few years: Jordan was smiling in every one of them – the same cocky smile no matter who the girl wrapped around him was. And there were many different girls – with a theme quickly emerging: blonde, and small enough to tuck under his arm. There was the rare brunette but she never saw a repeat photo of any of them.

The final picture on the page had her sucking in her breath.

It was the one that had gotten in trouble. It had to be. She remembered sitting across from him at Meryl’s as he described it. She had never looked, and she didn’t think she would care. But now that she had seen it, she wondered how she could be jealous of something that had happened before she had even really talked to Jordan.

She also wondered if she could ever measure up to the girls that flocked around him. She had expected them to look fake, heavily made up or showing the obvious results of surgery. But the two blondes that were pressed against him were stunning, natural beauties that had her feeling inadequate all of a sudden.

She listened to her common sense this time, and quickly hit the back button before she raided her cupboards for anything remotely chocolate. She slumped forward a little, her head coming to rest on her wrist. She supposed she had been a safe choice for Jordan. Even though he still towered over her, she would never be described as petite. She also had never been blonde a day in her life and never would be. She wasn’t a natural beauty – but she also knew she wasn’t entirely unfortunate looking. She was the perfect person for Jordan to ask to pretend to be his girlfriend because she was the last type of person he would be attracted to.

She needed that chocolate now.

She was about to close the laptop when another link caught her eye: Jordan Staal’s new mystery girl. Given what she had already seen and her current frame of mind, she knew better than to click. But much like witnessing a train wreck, she couldn’t help herself.

There she was – the two pictures the press had managed to snap so far, plus a screen cap of her in mid celebration for Jordan’s shoot out goal. She took a moment to really look at the photos. She looked like herself – nothing truly out of the ordinary. He…he looked handsome, a small smile on his face in each of the photos of them together. None of that shit eating grin business that was present in the other photos. Another sign that she was not his type?

Toby scrolled down to the end of the post and saw something that made her suck her bottom lip into her mouth. 41 comments. Comments…on her, on her and Jordan. “Don’t do it,” Toby said out loud, as if her voice would be a deterrent. She stood now, reaching for the fridge to pull out a bottle of water. She could see her school bag resting against the door.

She would do her chemistry homework.

And she did. For twenty whole minutes. She finished three problems and was well into her fourth when temptation became overwhelming. She groaned in frustration as she plunked herself down in front of the computer, took a deep breath and scrolled.

Anyone have a name?
- StaalsyLove 12:41am

Not his usual type
- Pensfan4life 1:34pm

Apparently she was not the only one who noticed.

She’s pretty. Like the girl next door.
- Crosby87 2:22pm

Toby almost felt better about the whole thing. Almost. Of course that disappeared as she scrolled further.

Ugh, come on, Staal, you can do better.
- JordanforMe 4:13pm

I bet she is just after his money
- StaalingAround 7:21pm

I didn’t know puck bunnies came in red
- GenosNumber1Fan 10:55 pm

Toby read every single one, knowing she wasn’t doing herself any favours. She tried to tell herself that it was the internet and most people who populated the internet felt they could hide behind anonymity and therefore post whatever the hell they wanted. Still, it was hard to be logical when each post was like a kick to the stomach.

She must be good in bed - something has to make up for her face
- MrsJordanStaal 11:31 pm

Finally, she had had enough. She slammed down the laptop with enough force she swore she heard something break. She pushed back the chair from the table, bringing her knees up so she could rest her chin on them. She found herself wishing she had never begun her ‘research’ in the first place.

The parade of blondes and hurtful comments had hammered the point home.

Jordan Staal had a type.

And she was not it.