I Knew That Would Haunt You

Disclaimer: I only own Cleo, her dad and Macy and the friends of Cleo. Jonathan Toews belongs to William Rockwell.

***
We had gone to school together Jonathan and me. I wouldn’t exactly say we were friends though- more like enemies. He liked to get me mad by pulling mean pranks and telling my boyfriends lies about me. I would scream at him and it would usually end up with me on top of Jonathan with my hands around his neck, strangling him. By then our friends, well more like my friends would pull me off of him- ‘cause God forbid that something unfortunate happened to him. My friends loved him- to them he was like a god and would worship the ground he walked on. His friends, however, found it rather funny that I could pin him down and beat ‘im up. They always got a good laugh at it.

My parents knew how much I hated him, but they always told me that I would get over it and find him as a wonderful, amazing person- probably by the time I was a senior in high school. But I never found out if that was actually true because I distanced myself from everyone that year. I had already been offered a volleyball scholarship in Illinois, so I thought it would be easier for them, more me, not to have close relationships with anyone. Nobody knew about the scholarship and me going away to the USA, but my father, he was the only one.

Every day at school I would watch my friends continue with their lives. I remembered that the first few weeks of school they would always come up to me and ask if everything was alright. I would just shrug and walk away, after that nobody really cared. I would watch Jonathan and his friends goof off, some of them would even stare at me for a minute or so and then go back to their conversation. After a month all my girlfriends acted as if I had never been in their group. Jonathan’s pals would sometimes smile and nod at me if we passed in the hallways. They always looked at me as if they knew why I was distancing myself from my friends.

At the end of the year my scholarship was announced and I was headed off to Illinois, USA. My dad had told me before I boarded the plane that if Mom was still here, she would be very proud. I gave him a hug and kiss goodbye and went on the plane. I still remember that day perfectly, even after almost three years.

I was now a sports doctor and had been working for about two months now at the Chicago Stadium where the Blackhawks practiced and played. I knew little about them, in fact I knew nothing about them, it was just the fact that it was my favorite sport and I didn’t feel like moving again. I chose here because ice hockey reminded me of home and all the times I would play with my father and cousins. I was walking around the rink, staring off into space when I heard a familiar voice call my name. I turned around and saw my best friend of two years, Macy, holding my cell phone up in the air.

“Cleo! Someone’s calling you!!” she said, her red hair falling out of her ponytail. She handed me the phone and I looked at the caller ID, it was Jonathan. This was like the 20th time he had called during the week and it was only Wednesday.

“What does he want from me?!” I yelled. I hadn’t changed my cell phone number because of my dad, he would probably forget that I had a new number and accidentally call somebody else, and so pretty much everybody I went to high school with still had this number.

“I don’t know! But all he says in his messages that he leaves you is ‘Hey, we need talk.’” Macy told me.

“Fine,” I said, “Hello?” I asked.

“Cleo! I’ve been trying to reach you for the past week.” He told me. He sounded different…and more mature, maybe?

“I know.”

“How come you never called back?”

“Been busy.”

“Doing what?”

“My job.”

“Can you answer my questions in complete sentences- not just two worded sentences?” he asked and then sighed.

“Yes.” I said and looked at Macy- who was listening in on the conversation- she just gave me a dirty look.

He sighed again, “Are you still in Illinois?”

“Uh, yea. Should I ask why you want to know?”

“Look at that, she can say sentences with more than two words in them!”

“Oh hush it.”

“So, anyways I was just calling because I’ve been in Illinois for awhile and I remembered that you went to college here, so I thought I’d give ya a call and see if you wanted to hang out.”

I heard the world blow up in my mind. Did he just ask to hang?

“Uh no-”

“She would love to!” Macy exclaimed, taking the phone away from me, “Meet her at…” I drowned Macy out and went my separate way; there was no way that I was going to hang out with him. She knew that I hated him and told him yes anyway. I didn’t bother taking the phone away from her either because either way I was not going.

***
I was in my room, taking off my nice, work clothes and putting on a pair of really badly ripped jeans and my Ottawa Senators’ t-shirt. I took a brush through my brown hair and just decided to keep it down.

“Smells good.” I said, walking to the kitchen.

“Thanks. I want Jonathan to feel right at home here.” Macy said, cutting something up.
“You told me I was going to watch a movie with him.”

“Yea, you are, here. I told him to meet you at our place; luckily he’s only like a half hour away or so. I really wanna know why you hate him and why he came down from Canada to be here.”

“Just you wait. You’ll regret it! And yea, maybe it’s for hockey or something. I think he was supposed to play for some professional team, but I don’t really follow hockey anymore- so I have no idea.” I went to the fridge and took out the leftovers from the other night.

“I don’t know. I’m not a really big hockey fan, unless of course the player is really cute, then I care.”

She didn’t question me when I heated it up and walked away. I went to my room, locked the door and sat on my bed eating Chinese food with chopsticks. I turned on the TV and watched P.S. I Love You.

“Cleo! Jonathan’s here!” Macy told me.

“Whatever.” I mumbled and turned up the volume so that I couldn’t hear anything outside of my room.

***
“I swear Cleo, don’t make me unlock this door.” Macy yelled at me.

I laughed, “Do you have the key?” I turned the TV’s volume down.

It was quiet on the other side for a bit, until she realized that I had taken the key with me into my room, so that she couldn’t open the door.

“Don’t make me make Jonathan knock this door down. Cause I will.” She yelled.

“You wouldn’t.” I said, confident she wouldn’t.

I heard banging on the door, “You break, you buy.” I said, threatening her.

This time the banging got louder, “Alright, alright! I’ll come out of my room, just as long as I don’t have to talk to him.” I said, giving in.

I heard her sigh, “Fine.”

I slowly opened the door and poked my head out. Macy and some dude were sitting on the floor. “Are you happy?” I asked and stepped out of my room completely. The dude looked up and I realized that it was Jonathan. He stared at me and I stared right back. It was only for a few seconds though, because then I realized what I was doing and looked at Macy.

“Good, now let’s eat!” Macy said and I followed her to the kitchen. I know that I should’ve said hi to Jonathan, but Macy said that I didn’t have to talk to him.

I sat down at the head of the table, piling my plate with food. I was still hungry because there wasn’t much Chinese food left. I didn’t care what I was eating, it was good. Dinner was eerily silent and it was bugging the heck outta me so I decided to finally talk.

“So what have you been up to?” I asked Jonathan, trying to be civilized.

“Well I’ve been playing for the Blackhawks since high school ended, don’t you remember? They announced it right after they announced your scholarship.” He told me.

Really? They did? I don’t remember anybody saying that…hmm…

“You do? Wow, that’s really good.” Macy said. I stared at her, was she kidding?

“Yea, I do. By the way Cleo your dad wanted me to say hi and that he sends his love.”

I stared at him, who was this dude? He was completely different from the guy that I knew gosh- has it been, what four years?

“When did you see my dad?”

“Last week. I had to go to Winnipeg for a little bit and saw him. He told me that he hasn’t seen you in a whole year. Is that true?”

“Yea, I’ve been busy. I talk to him all the time though and he never mentioned that he ran into you.” I said.

I finished my dinner and excused myself from the table. I walked to my room and into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Jonathan had changed a lot over the years, but also very little. He still looked the same- except he had more muscle to him and was taller than I remember. And his attitude towards me was so much different. I mean during high school we hated each other and now he looked at me with this look in his eyes. Maybe something like sadness or understanding? I had no idea. I walked back out only to find him and Macy sitting on the couch together with a bowl of popcorn.

“What movie do you want to watch Cleo? He’s Just Not That into You or The Notebook?”

“He’s Just Not That into You.” I said and sat down on the floor. Macy quickly put in the movie and it soon began. During the middle of the movie though, my butt started to hurt.

“Is there any room up there for me?” I asked.

Macy nodded her head and scooted away from Jonathan and patted in between them. I glared at her as I made my way up onto the couch. I made myself comfy by putting a blanket on me to keep me warm. A little bit later Macy got up and told us that she was really tired and went to her room. I stared at her back and then when I realized I could scoot over it was too late. Jonathan already had his arm around me.

“You know Cleo, I always really liked you. That’s why I liked to irritate you.” He said. I turned my attention to him and tried to scoot away, too bad for me though, because he was really strong and was able to keep me where I was without being rough.

“I didn’t know why though during senior year you avoided everyone. Well, that was until graduation. Then I realized why you did it, you thought it would be easier if you slowly let your relationships tumble away. You’re friends were really hurt though that you didn’t want to spend time with them before you went away.”

“They didn’t care!” I said, “And I knew that after awhile we would all start fighting.”

“Cleo, look at me,” Jonathan said, “They have been worried about you sick since you strayed from them. You won’t text them back or answer their phone calls anymore!”

“They’ve stopped texting and calling me.” I told him. They had only stopped because I threw a fit over it.

He sighed, “And then me. Cleo I was going to ask you senior year to go out with me. I had the perfect plan for you to fall in love with me. Do you know what you did to me?”

I stared at him. Mom had always said that one day- mark my words- one day you will like that boy. I guess she was right, because as of right now, I was starting to like him. His brown eyes were amazing and sucked you in.

“I still like you and I know that you probably don’t feel the same way, I just wanted you to know.”

He was about to get up when I cautiously put my lips to his. It took him a second to realize what was happening, but soon kissed me back. It was the most amazing kiss I had ever shared with anybody and knew that he was the one. I put my arms around his neck and that’s when he broke it.

He was somewhat out of breath, “You weren’t planning on strangling me now were you?” he asked, dead serious.

“I knew that one day that would haunt you.” I laughed and kissed him again.