Someone For You

“I’ve thinking about what you said,” Patrick Kane commented as he and Jonathan waited for their turn. They were playing golf with some of the other guys from the team. The majority of the guys had chosen to stay in the Windy City for a while before returning to their birthplaces.

“About you being terrible at golf?” Jonathan asked jokingly. He loved making fun of Patrick.

“No,” he quickly answered. “About getting a girlfriend,” he confessed. “And by the way, I’m not terrible, I’m still better than Staly.”

“Admit it already, you’re not meant for this sport,” Jonathan continued his teasing. “Not everyone is an all-around athlete like myself.”

“Or an egomaniac,” Kaner counterattacked.

“Look who is talking, you’re like the king of narcissism,” Jon said, it wasn’t the first time they had that kind of conversation.

“Kaner! You’re up!” Corey interrupted.

Everyone always paid attention to Patrick’s shots. The man was a terrific hockey player but the same couldn’t be said about him in the golf course. He always ended up messing up his shots one way or another. Sometimes they even ended up looking straight out of a comedy film, hitting people or being ridiculously out of direction.

However, this time wasn’t so bad. He was able to avoid the restless teasing from his teammates at least for a little while longer. After him went Jon, who, in all fairness, was actually quite good at it, possibly due to the long summers he’d spent playing with his brother and father.

“So, you were saying something about the girlfriend situation,” Jon said after taking his shot.

“Yeah,” Pat responded, he regretted having brought up the subject. If the rest of guys listen to their conversation he would be submitted to their teasing all afternoon. “I might give it a try.”

“What make you change your mind?” the captain asked with curiosity.

“I'll tell you later,” Patrick said and got in golf cart.

After they were done with golf they headed to the bar they usually frequented. The plan was to just get a couple of beers and hang out before the wives and girlfriends started calling to check up on them.

As usual, some girls came up to them and started talking flirtatiously with a few of the boys. The younger ones, like Marcus, Jeremy and Ben were flirting back, obviously loving the attention they were getting from the ladies. But the other ones had made it clear that they were not looking for anything, among them was Patrick.

“What’s up with you Kaner?” Brent asked him. “Why aren’t you all over that pretty blond?” he added motioning towards a girl that approached Pat earlier on.

“She’s not my type,” he said nonchalantly.

“Since when do you have a type?” Duncan intervened. “I was under the impression you’d bang anything that moves.”

“Maybe he's not that drunk yet,” Corey cut in.

“I just want to avoid another mess, I don’t want to end up all over the Internet again,” Patrick defended himself.

“Again, since when do you care about that?” Duncan questioned.

“Leave him alone guys,” Jonathan defended his best friend. “Little Kaner is growing up.”

The all laughed but let the subject drop, and Patrick was grateful for that. He was tempted to just go after one of the girls, just to shut up his teammates but he contained himself. He really was trying to change his ways. After his conversation with Jon he’d started admitting to himself that he wasn’t happy living this way anymore.

Truth was he’d been feeling lonely for a long time. His family was in Buffalo and most of his friends, the ones he could really count on, didn’t have the time to hang out with him as much. Something had happened and they'd all gotten involved with someone, even Jon, who usually stayed away from anything or anyone that could distract him from hockey.

Patrick didn’t want to end up like Jon, living the perfect little fantasy with cute puppy included. That wasn’t him. But he was beginning to realize that it didn’t have to be that way, he didn’t have to get a house with a picket fence and a dog; that was not what commitment meant.

He thought he was ready to let someone in, to have someone there for him and be there for that person too. If that meant getting a girlfriend, he thought he could do it. Maybe Tazer was right, he was growing up.

Patrick and Jonathan left the bar together early. They decided to drive together and had taken Jon’s car. It wasn’t unusual, they did that incase Pat had too much to drink and couldn’t drive home.

“Are you going to talk to me about the girlfriend situation?” Jon asked once they were inside the car.

“I just decided to give it a try,” Patrick said no knowing how to explain his change of heart.

“You have to take it seriously Pat,” Jonathan said sternly. “It’s not some sort of experiment. You can’t just play with girls trying to find someone to suit your taste.”

“I know that,” he said a little offended. He was aware that he wasn’t the brightest person on earth when it came to dealing with feelings, but he would never purposely give someone false hope.

“I think you missed the point I was trying to make the other day,” Jon continued. “I wasn't telling you to go out and return with a girlfriend. I was simply suggesting you stay open to the possibility of meeting someone worth getting involved with. I was just saying that commitment isn’t as bad as you think.”

“I know I act like and idiot but I’m not one,” Pat said a little angry. He was perfectly aware of everything Jon was saying. “I understood you perfectly the first time we talked about this, I just wasn’t convinced,” he explained. “The only reason I’m starting to consider this is because I’ve met someone worth the effort,” he blurted out without realizing the importance of his words.

Until that point he had even admitted to himself that he was developing some sort of attraction to a certain someone. He was barley comfortable with the idea of toning down his escapades. He didn’t want to confess it had to do with someone who possible didn’t even thought of him in the same way.

Jonathan was shocked. He’d never expected for this to happen so fast. He wasn’t even sure his best friend had listened to him when he brought up the girlfriend thing. He was sure it was going to take Patrick a lot longer to get to this point. He couldn’t help but wonder who the girl he talked about was.

“Really? Who?”

Patrick really didn’t want to answer that question. He had a feeling Jon wouldn’t be thrilled with the idea.

“Just a really cool girl,” he vaguely responded.

“Do I know her?”

“Yes, but I’m not going to say anything else,” Patrick said seriously.

“You are such a chick sometimes,” Jonathan teased hoping it would make Kaner say who the woman was.

“I don’t care, I’m not telling you,” he firmly responded.

The conversation ended there. Both boys entertained themselves with their own thoughts for the rest of the ride. Patrick was replaying in his head what he’d said to Jon, hoping it wouldn’t end up backfiring. On the other had, Jonathan was trying to figure out who the mystery girl was.

A couple of blocks before getting to Pat’s apartment the inevitable happened.

“Please tell me the girl is not Isolde,” Jonathan said breaking the silence. It was evident that Izzy and Patrick got along fantastically well; they had a lot of things in common and had a sort of connection Jon didn’t quite understand. He’d thought that they were going to become really good friends, but apparently Kane had something else in mind.

“What if she is?” Patrick said in a defiant tone.

“No,” Jonathan said firmly. “She’s Aimee’s sister. If things don’t work out between you it could create a mess that I don’t even want to imagine.”

“All I want is to take her out on a date,” Patrick confessed. “I’m not planning on marrying her.”

“I don’t think is a good idea,” Jonathan insisted. If he’d known this was going to happen, he would’ve never opened his mouth in the first place. He should’ve just let Patrick continue being the Blackhawks’s official manwhore.