Keep the Girl

Kris kept that text message on his phone for months. It might have seemed stupid to save such a simple message but to him it was so much more. To know that she had watched and seen him play, he felt like it was a bridge connecting the two of them again when they had been cut off for so long. He also felt it was some kind of a sign as he remembered what she had told him that night at the airport.

**‘I gave up hockey the day I gave up you’**

If she was willing to give hockey another chance, may be it wasn’t out of the picture for him too. Of course, this was all a bunch of speculation. He hadn’t had any real communication with her since the cab ride from the airport. Which was why he was currently staring at his phone intensely when he was supposed to be packing for the next road trip.

“Earth to Kris.” Andrew waved a hand in front of his friend. Kris blinked. “You do realize that staring at your phone won’t make it ring.”

“I’m not waiting for it to ring.” He responded, still staring.

“Then what are you doing?”

“Is it wrong to call an ex who’s with someone else?” Kris wondered aloud.

“Yes.” Andrew answered definitively.

“Why?” Kris whined. “I don’t have any intentions. I just want to have dinner with her!”

“Bullshit Versteeg, you always have intentions with a girl. And they’re never good.”Andrew laughed. He knew his friend and knew exactly how this ‘dinner’ would end.

“This girl is different.” He clarified.

“But you’re not.” The other man reminded. “Look, if you want my opinion, I say leave her alone. You don’t need to stir up any more trouble than you already do.”

“Well thanks but I already called her.” Kris stated. Andrew threw his hands up in the air.

“Then why the hell did you bother to ask me what I thought?!”

“Curiosity.” He shrugged.

“I sometimes wonder if your mother dropped you repeatedly as a child.” Andrew commented before huffing off to his bedroom. Kris just laughed slightly before heading off to finally start packing.
_______________________________________________________________________
“I’m sorry, Shane but I can’t.” Isabelle repeated, trying not to lose her patience.

“Well why not?” Shane said, not understanding.

“Because I have a dinner meeting already scheduled for tonight, I told you.” She rested her head on her free hand while the other clutched the phone.

“But this is important! I need to make a good impression on my new partners and I want them to see how committed I am to you.” He explained. Isabelle rolled her eyes at the last part. The only reason he wanted her there was because he had convinced them that he was a stable family kind of man like them and not a player.

“Shane I am sorry. But I’ve had this meeting scheduled for awhile now and it’s important for my future.” She responded. In reality, she’d only had it scheduled for a few days and it had absolutely nothing to do with her work but was in fact was of a personal nature but telling him that would have just enraged him more.

“How is your paper more important than my work?” He accused.

Isabelle’s eyes went wide and she was stunned silent for a second. It was not just any paper but her dissertation which was what her whole PhD rested upon and even though it wasn’t what her dinner was really about, it still annoyed her that he dismissed her work so vehemently.

“I’m going to hang up now before I say something bitchy. We can talk about it tomorrow.” She said, ending the conversation before she snapped on him and made the situation worse.

“I’m on call at the hospital tomorrow.”He reminded. She sighed.

“We’ll talk about it later.” She insisted. The couple said their goodbyes.

Isabelle groaned loudly as she hung the phone up. Shane had called her that morning telling her that he had invited his new business partners over to the apartment for dinner and he was commanding her presence. Unfortunately for him, she already had dinner plans with Kris who only had a limited amount of time that he was going to be in town and she was anxious to see him again.

After their meeting at the airport, she hadn’t quite been able to get him out of her mind and if she were to admit it, she was curious. She had expected after the way that the relationship had ended that Kris would have despised her but instead, he treated her warm and kind, like maybe there was still more love in his heart for her than hate. Isabelle had just turned back to her computer to try to get back to work when her phone went off signaling a new message.

~7pm tonight? I was thinking the Rosewater downtown by the lake?~

The message was from Kris. She smiled as she thought back to the conversation they had when he had called her a few days ago and told her that he was going to be in town and wanted to get together.

**“Remember when we were exchanging numbers and you said if I was ever in Toronto we should get together? Well I’m making good on that promise. I’m going to be in town this weekend and I want to have dinner with you, no unsavory intentions, just two old friends who’ve found each other again.”**

Isabelle felt little guilt in lying to Shane about his dinner meeting. He could be the jealous type sometimes and if she were to tell him that she was blowing him off to go have dinner with an ex he would have completely flipped out on her. So she figured it was better to have him irritated with a lie than furious with the truth. Putting her phone aside, she quickly lost herself in her work where she could keep her mind from wondering about the possible ways this dinner could go tonight.
_______________________________________________________________________
Kris Versteeg wasn’t sure he’d ever had a moment that had literally taken his breath away but he was pretty sure this was one of them. It might have been the frigid wind howling down the street as he waited outside the restaurant or maybe it was the absolute perfect sight walking towards him.

Isabelle huddled into herself more as she hurried to meet him. Her practical yet stylish tweed pea coat was buttoned completely with a blue wool scarf engulfed her neck. The hem of her skirt just peeked out from under the hem of her coat and while sensible black tights protected her legs from the bitter winter weather. He could see the bright red glow of her wind burned cheeks as she tried to dodge the patches of ice in her heels. As her blue eyes came up to meet his, a smile spread across her face and suddenly, Kris didn’t feel cold at all.

“Hi!” She called out to him as she approached. “I hope you weren’t waiting too long, the TTC decided to take its’ sweet time as usual.”

“I just got here myself. Shall we?” He said, ushering her into the warm restaurant.

“You know, I’m so glad you chose this place. I never get down here anymore.” She admitted as he helped her out of her coat.

The Rosewater was one of the premiere fine dining experiences in Toronto and Kris had wanted to treat her. The expense was not nearly as important to him as atmosphere. The restaurant had a cozy feel without seeming to obvious.

“Where are you living in the city?” He asked.

“Bloor Street over in Yorkville. I’m like 5 minutes from the University. It’s great.” She said but the shrugged that accompanied it made it seem like maybe it wasn’t.

“That’s a nice neighborhood.” He complimented but his tone suggested there was more behind the statement.

“It is. And yes, Shane pays for the apartment if that’s what you’re implying cause it’s not cheap either.” She informed, catching on to his subtle attempt. He did his best to look innocent.

“Ah yes, where is Shane tonight?” He wondered as he sipped his water.

“He’s having a dinner meeting.” She said with a frown.

“Does he know you’re not home?”Kris asked. He wondered what she had told him to get out of the house to have dinner with her ex.

“Of course he knows I’m gone. This isn’t like when we were 17 and would sneak out for milkshakes and …..”

“Sex.” Kris finished, unabashed. She nodded. “Those were some good times.” He smiled knowingly, remembering many a night spent in the backseat of his old car or whoever’s house had no parents. Isabelle tried to bite it back but he could see the smile on her face too.

“So tell me more about this Shane fellow.” He asked as the wine was poured. Isabelle rolled her eyes.

“Shane is a great guy-”She started. Kris wasn’t having it.

“Where’d you meet him?”

“He and I went to the same coffee shop about the same time every morning. We would talk in line sometimes and one time he asked me out. We’ve been together almost two years.” She explained.

Kris wanted to ask if he treated her well and if he adored her the way any man who loved her should but he knew it wasn’t his place to ask those kinds of questions. Not now anyways, so he just nodded instead.

“So two years and no ring? Do I sense a little fear of commitment?” He teased.

“It’s not him, it’s me. I told him that I don’t want to get married until I’m done with school.” Isabelle admitted.

“So you go get your PhD.” He said knowingly.

“You make it sound bad. I’m not purposely going to school to avoid getting married.” She informed. Kris just smiled at her. Deep down, he really did think that was what she was doing. “Besides, it’s not like I just got the wild idea to get my PhD, it was something I always wanted.”

“Really? Cause I remember at one point what you really wanted was to be a writer.” He reminded. She frowned.

“Things changed.” She said solemnly.

“They didn’t have to. You changed your mind after your father died because it was what your mother wanted.”He reminded her, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

“Yes, I changed my mind. Am I not allowed to realize that there comes a point when you have to let childish dreams go and come up with a more realistic plan for your life?” She said defensively.

“Being a writer was your dream, and I proved that dreams can be realistic. I’m just saying.” Kris held up his hands in surrender. Isabelle took a long sip from her wine glass to calm herself down. She did not need him reminding her that she sacrificed what she loved for something that would pay the bills.

“You started to say something that night at the airport,” He said as their dinner was served. “After I had told you about being drafted but you cut yourself off….and I can’t stop thinking about what you wanted to say.” He admitted, slightly nervous about her reaction.

“Kris……” She sighed deeply.

“No, I need to know what you meant to say.”

“I was drunk.”

“You weren’t that far gone.” He corrected. “What were you going to say?”

“Kris can we please just enjoy this meal together as two old friends and forget about my drunken ramblings?” She pleaded.

“No. Not until you tell me.” He continued to demand. Isabelle closed her eyes in defeat.

“I was going to say that I wish I could have been there with you when you were drafted. I know it meant everything to you…..because it meant everything to me too. You getting drafted would have meant so many things for us. But I wasn’t there and I regret it because I always thought that I would be.” She explained, her eyes tearing up. Kris was a little stunned. He too had wished she had been there but he never thought it would be so upsetting to her to have missed it.

“Well, you could always make it up to me by being there when I win the Stanley Cup.” He said, not really joking.

“I’ll be there.” She said sincerely. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

The meal was everything that they had anticipated it to be and Isabelle had fussed when the bill came that it was too much until he insisted that money wasn’t an issue for him. As they were walking out, she took his arm and held onto him as he started to walk her to the metro stop. Half way there, he stopped suddenly. She continued on a few steps before she noticed.

“Kris? Are you okay?”

“You don’t love him.” He said bluntly.

“What?” She said, not sure where the comment had come from. She thought they were done with that subject.

“You don’t love him because you’re still in love with me.” He added. She paled a little.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” She insisted.

“Tell me I’m wrong, Isa. Tell me you’re madly in love with him and you can’t see yourself spending your life with anybody else and I will get on a plane tomorrow and never think about you again. I don’t know how but somehow I will learn to forget you exist to save my own heart.” He commanded. Her eyes teared up and a lump developed in her throat at the thought of him forgetting her.

“I could never forget you.” She whispered with a hurt expression on her face as she tried not to cry.

“Then tell me you love ME. Tell me that we can be those stupid 17 year olds who were so crazy in love with each other that they would sacrifice everything just to be with one another.” Kris rushed forward and grabbed her arms. A few tears escaped her eyes as she looked into his wild ones.

“I love you……… but I love him too.” She informed. “You have to respect the fact that it is complicated for me.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. As natural as breathing, she deepened the kiss and a long smoldering fire came roaring back to life. The kiss lasted a few minutes longer before he pulled back.

“Where does he think you are tonight?” he asked

“He thinks I’m pulling an all nighter.” She admitted without even thinking. Kris held on to her with one arm and used the other arm to signal for a taxi. She just looked at him.

“Stay with me tonight.” He insisted. She said nothing, just held onto him tighter. Things were about to get a lot more complicated.
_______________________________________________________________________
Kris had slept the best that he had in years. He had been having a great dream when he reached out and reality rudely awakened him. The bed sheets next to him were cold and the room was quite except for the sound of his own breathing. Isabelle was gone, having clearly slipped out before he could wake up. His good mood was quickly gone as he tossed aside the sheets. He checked the bathroom and could tell that she hadn’t even bothered to shower before leaving.

‘Good’ he thought to himself. ‘I hope she went home smelling like sex and me.’

Stomping back into the room, he reached for his pants that were lying in a crumpled heap on the floor somewhere between the door and the bed and rummaged through the pockets for his cell phone. If she thought she could get away without acknowledging what she’d done, she was sorely mistaken.

“Hello?”

“You weren’t there when I woke up.” He semi accused as soon as she answered.

“Did you really expect me to be?”Isabelle asked, taken aback.

“Well ya, I was kind of hoping you would be.” He replied, sounding slightly insulted.

“Oh Kris, you never change.” She laughed humorlessly. “You were always a wishful thinker.”

“Why is it wishful thinking to think that the woman you just spent the night with would stay for breakfast?” He asked, getting upset with her now.

“Because the woman you just spent the night with isn’t yours!” She hissed as if she didn’t want anyone to overhear.

“That didn’t seem to be a problem when I brought you back to the hotel.” He huffed.

“I told you it was complicated.” She warned.

“Only because you make it that way!” He shouted.

“Me?! I was not the one who invited you to dinner, I was not the one who brought up the past and I didn’t initiate the kiss!” She shouted back. “I went for a nice dinner with an old friend. You made it complicated.”

“Oh really? If it was just dinner with an old friend then why did you tell Shane you were pulling an all nighter?” He questioned. She didn’t say anything. “Exactly. Don’t bullshit me, Isabelle. You know what you want, you’re just too afraid to go after it because it might ruin your precious plans.”

“There you go again with that wishful thinking, cause you think you still know me but you don’t have a clue.” She said, trying to shoot him down. The problem was, she was pretty sure he was right.

“Hey, I know what I want. Call me back when you know too.” And he hung up.

He could see the disbelieving look on her face as she heard the dial tone in his head. There was a kind of perverse pleasure in knowing that she was probably calling him names that were usually reserved for the ice. He had a few choice words for her himself as he tossed the phone aside. Kris was not a man who would be led on, but he also was not about to let
Isabelle get away. Not this time.
_______________________________________________________________________
Isabelle was pissed. No, more than pissed, she was furious. Not at Kris but at herself. She knew he had always been able to read her like a damn book and what had she done but left herself wide open for him to see all the hesitation and reservations she had about Shane. She hated herself for letting Kris walk back into her life because she also hated herself for letting him walk out of it.

At 19 it had been easy to tell him where the door was and not to let it hit him on the way out. Three months later, she realized the mistake she had made but couldn’t possibly tell him or anyone after having been so adamant that she was right about college. Now eight years later, regret had eaten away at a large part of her until all that was left of his memory was a big gaping wound that she felt suddenly beginning to close as soon as she saw him at the airport.

Isabelle was sick, she decided. She had caught some awful disease that crawl into her brain and distorted her perception and took away her inhibitions. It was the only way to explain why she would be so easily seduced back into Kris’s arms. She groaned and shook her head. The only thing she was afflicted with was the pain of heartache desperate to heal itself. As she set the phone aside, she wished she could vow to leave her ex alone but she hated lying to herself. Kris would return, in what capacity she didn’t know but she knew she hadn’t seen the last of him.
_______________________________________________________________________
Patrick Kane dodged another puck as it bounced off the glass and sailed over his head.

“Versteeg! Will you fucking quit it?” He barked as he skated towards his friend. “What is your problem today?”

“Nothing.” Kris grumbled, chipping another puck down the ice.

“Right, so all of the pucks you’ve been blasting down the ice aren’t any indication of your mood?” Patrick questioned. Kris lifted his head and was about to answer when Andrew skated over.

“Take it your date didn’t go well last night?”

“Shut the fuck up, Ladd.” Kris chastised.

“Wait, you had a date last night? With who? We just got into town, how could you already have found someone?” Kane asked, curious and slightly jealous.

“It was with an ex.” Ladd answered for him. “An ex who’s dating someone else.” He added. Patrick whistled.

“I said shut it!” Kris barked.

“So I take it things didn’t go well judging on your mood?” Andrew asked getting back to his original point.

“Dinner was great. Everything after dinner was great. This morning, wasn’t so great.” He replied.

“You slept with her?!” Kane asked, somewhat shocked.

“It wasn’t my intention!” Kris defended. “I just wanted to have dinner with her!”

“And what? Decided to have a one night stand for old time sake?” Ladd asked, not understanding.

“It wasn’t a one night stand.”Kris said adamantly.

“Who is this girl?” Andrew asked, totally confused by his friend’s behavior.

“That’s not important.”

“Clearly it is because I’ve never seen you get this worked up over a girl before.” Andrew commented. Kris sighed and shifted uncomfortably. He really didn’t want to tell them and look like a sap but he swallowed his pride and opened his mouth.

“Her name’s Isabelle. We dated in high school.”

“She’s your high school sweetheart?!” Kane eyes went wide.

“Ya Kaner,” He admitted begrudgingly. “Why do you seem so surprised?”

“I just never pictured you as the type to have a high school sweetheart. I figured you more of the heartbreaker type.”Patrick shrugged and then looked at his friend’s face. “…….But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe she was the heartbreaker?”Kris stiffened and he knew he’d hit a nerve. “Do you still love her?” Kris thought about it for a second. Did he still love Isabelle? Of course he did, he’d never really stopped loving her.

“What’s your point?” Kris asked.

“My point is that if you still love her and if you think there’s even a chance that she still loves you, then you have to ask yourself if you can sit back and do nothing?” Kris looked at his blonde friend and Andrew could see the wheels turning in his head.

“Did one of those pucks hit you in the head? How can you encourage him to be a home wrecker?” Ladd questioned.

“One day he’s going to wake up and realize how much he loves this girl and when that day comes I don’t want her waking up next to the guy that already knows. Besides if she makes him happy then it makes me and should make you happy because he is a pain in the ass to deal with when he’s pissy.” Patrick explained.

“I should do something to apologize. I was an ass on the phone this morning. What should I do?” Kris asked, ignoring his friends’ side conversation.

“Well there’s the usual, flowers, chocolates, promises you never intended to keep….”Kane listed. Andrew glared at him.

“I’d start by sending her flowers. That way if she hates you at least she can’t throw them at your head.” Ladd suggested. Kane gave him a look for his sudden change of heart. Kris nodded and made a mental note to find a florist after practice.
_______________________________________________________________________
Isabelle took a deep breath and resisted the urge to throw her cell phone across her office. She had been in a bad mood since her conversation with Kris this morning and her boyfriend was currently not helping the situation. Shane was not happy with her for ‘blowing him off’ last night as he put it and was especially displeased when she didn’t come home. He had left for work by the time she had arrived home that morning which she was grateful for because she knew he could have taken one look at her and known what she’d done.

But she lied and told him that her meeting didn’t go well and that she had gone back to her office to do some revision on her paper and ended up falling asleep there. This didn’t help her cause any as Shane went off on a rant about how she was being a piss poor girlfriend right now and that she should be more supportive of him and his attempts to advance his career since he’s the one who supports her.

Clenching her eyes shut, Isabelle resisted the urge to cry. She never wanted to be dependent upon a man for any reason and yet she had allowed herself to become just that. Shane was the one who paid the rent and the utilities and the groceries. The only thing that she had to pay for was her tuition and even that was fairly minimal considering the amount of government assistance she received. This was why she wanted her degree so badly. She wanted to be able to take care of herself and not have to rely on her man to take care of her as her mother had predicted she would.

‘Suck it up and act like a big girl’ she told herself as she swallowed her tears.

Having a pity party wasn’t going to fix any problems right now. Taking a big breath, she turned her attention back to the papers she was trying to grade. She’d been working for about fifteen minutes when a knock on her door interrupted her. Standing there was Allison, one of her co-workers, who was holding a vase of flowers.

“In all the years that I’ve known you-“Allison started

“Which is a grand total of 3.”Isabelle interjected.

“-Shane has NEVER sent you flowers. Not for your birthday, not for Valentine’s day, not for your anniversary, which made me wonder what he did that was so egregious that he was sending you apology flowers.” Allison finished as she set the bouquet down on the desk. “And then I see that he’s not apologizing because….the flowers aren’t from him, they’re from ‘Kris’.”

“You read the card?!” Isabelle exclaimed.

“Well they didn’t put it in an envelope and it’s a long walk from the front desk to your office.”
Said Allison. Isabelle frowned. “So who is Kris? And why is he sorry?” She handed the card over to its intended recipient. Isabelle looked down at it and its three simple lines.

I’m sorry-Kris.

Well he always did have a way with words. She thought to herself sarcastically.

“Kris is an old friend of mine. I was supposed to meet up with him while he was in town but something came up and we never met. That’s why he’s apologizing.” Isabelle explained, wondering when she became so good at lying. Allison looked at her for a second before believing the story.

“He’s got good taste. A man can never go wrong with roses.” She said before leaving the office. Isabelle looked at the flowers somewhat adoringly. He remembered that she loved bright pink roses, not red. She fingered the petals lightly as she picked up her cell phone again and dialed up his number.

“Why are you apologizing?” She asked as soon as he answered.

“You got my flowers?”

“Yes, they’re beautiful. Why are you apologizing?” She repeated.

“Because I’m an ass.” He replied simply.

“You were an ass ten years ago when I met you. So why are you just now apologizing for it?” He chuckled and the sound made her smile.

“I was referring to my more current actions. I shouldn’t have put you in that situation last night. I know that you’re happy with Shane.” Kris purposely stopped and waited for her to make some kind of confirming statement. None came. “You know, if you’re interested tonight I could get you tickets to the game.” He offered.

“I don’t know.” She said, sounding unsure.

“It’s up to you. I’ll put a couple tickets on hold for you at will call if you want.” He said, not trying to pressure her.

“Thank you.” A moment hung between both of them where it seemed like there was something that needed to be said but neither was willing to. “I’ve got to get back to work…..It was good to see you again, Kris.”She finally said.

“You too, Isa. Let’s not wait eight years before we see each other again.” He added and they both hung up, feeling like things were unresolved now more than ever.
_______________________________________________________________________
“Shane? Honey, are you home?” Isabelle called out as she took her coat off at the door.

“In the bedroom.” She followed his voice into their bedroom where he was laid out in his sweats on the bed. “How was work?” he mumbled, his eyes glued to the TV.

“Tedious and long.” She said, flopping down next to him. “But….. I have a surprise. Somebody at work gave me tickets to the Maple Leafs game tonight.” Shane looked over at her.

“A hockey game? Since when do you like hockey?”

“What does it matter if I like hockey or not? I thought this was a fun thing we could do as a couple since you told me I was being a shitty girlfriend.”

“Does it have to be tonight? I was at the hospital all day.” He whined. She gave him a look.

“Now who’s being the shitty partner? I worked hard all day too but I don’t have tomorrow off like you do. Come on, old man. Let’s go.” She harassed. Shane sighed and sat up.

“Alright, your wish is my command. We’ll go.” He rolled off the bed and went to go get redressed. Isabelle headed to go change out of her work clothes and into something more hockey appropriate.

The Air Canada Centre was about a fifteen minute ride on the TTC but Shane had insisted upon driving. Isabelle had told him that it was a bad idea to drive because parking would be atrocious and it would be impossible to get out when they were trying to leave but he still insisted. She was pretty sure it was because he was still in love with his new luxury car that he had bought when the merger went through with his new partners. Shane whistled as they headed to their seats.

“15 rows up from the ice in the corner. How did you get these seats?” He said, clearly impressed.

**my ex who plays for the other team got them for me** She thought to herself.

"the university is a sponor." she said instead.

As the teams skated warm ups, she noticed that they were on the visiting team’s side. She kept an eye out and noticed Kris skating by multiple teams. She could see that he was looking for her so the next time he skated by, she made a point to try to make eye contact. He noticed and gave her a slight nod to acknowledge.

The game came back to her quickly as she watched. It had been close to eight years since the last time she’d gone to a hockey game. Back then Kris had been playing for the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the university’s ice arena. Seeing him play now in the NHL almost made her emotional.

Half way through the first period, Chicago had a breakaway with Kris up on the rush. Isabelle was on the edge of her seat, holding her breath until the shot was fired and buried in the back of the net.

“Yes!!!!!” She shouted, pouncing out of her seat.

“Isabelle, that’s the wrong team. You want the guys in blue not white.” Shane explained. Isabelle sat back down and pretended to be embarrassed but she was secretly thrilled.
*************************************************
"Yes!!!!!!!!" She shouted as Kris scored. She had danced around the bleachers a little with uncontained excitement. Kris had really been on a roll lately and was quickly becoming one of the best players on the team.

“The scouts are gonna love that one.” Mitchell commented.

“That’s if they even notice him. Tyler’s who they really came to see.” David reminded. Isabelle looked over at her boyfriend’s two brothers as she sat back down.

“What are you guys talking about?”

“There’s a couple of NHL scouts here tonight. They came to look at Tyler but how could they ignore Kris? He’s been amazing tonight.”Mitchell, the youngest brother, explained.

“So what, are they wanting to sign him to an NHL team?” Isabelle was confused.

“Not right away. They’re looking for draft picks for the teams. Tyler’s the only one with a real shot at getting drafted. The rest will probably never make it past juniors.” David informed her. She frowned. While Tyler Wilson was an impressive hockey player, she didn’t think he was that much more talented than Kris was.

“What makes you think they won’t look at Kris too?” She asked.

“Kid doesn’t stand a chance. They only take so many and from a place like this? Even Tyler getting drafted is against the odds.”

For the rest of the game, Isabelle watched Kris and Tyler intensely. She knew being a hockey player and making it to the NHL were Kris’s dreams and he was working hard to achieve them. But what if David was right? What if Kris never made it past juniors? Would he be content to be a minor league player his whole life? Would she be able to deal with what emotional damage may come by never making it big? It worried her. The life of a minor league player was hardly glamorous, was she ready to endure that with him? Or did she need to start encouraging a backup plan?
**************************************
The buzzer sounded to announce the start of the 2nd period and Isabelle had to clear the memory from her head as she watched Kris skate. That game had been the first (and unfortunately not the only) time she had ever doubted his ability to make it to the NHL. Watching him play now for the Blackhawks, that game seemed like a life time ago. She looked over at Shane who was messing around on his phone and not paying attention to the game and thought about how completely different the two men were.

Kris could be stubborn to a fault when he truly believed in something and it was his unwavering faith in dreams and fate that was so attractive in him. He was encouraging and worked hard for everything he got. When his parents separated, Kris did everything he could to keep a positive attitude for Mitch and knew he couldn’t waste his time and his parent’s money if it was never going to happen. But his stubbornness sometimes also led to him making life more difficult than it had to be.

Whereas Shane was a bit of a silver spoon baby. He came from a upper middle class family with parents who had given him what he wanted when he wanted it whether he worked for it or not. Things came easy to him and he had to put in little effort to gain success. If she had to guess, it was probably what had first attracted her to him. Things weren’t hard for him. He had a good job that made good money and could provide for them easily. She thought that was what she wanted but as she looked back out onto the ice at her past, she began to wonder if she still felt the same.
********************************************
Kris was glad that Isabelle’s favorite color was blue and not pink or purple like most girls. It meant that he didn’t have to wear some ridiculous tie and vest to match her dress for winter formal. She had refused to show him her dress, telling him only that it was sapphire blue so that he could coordinate appropriately. He had just simply passed the information onto his mother who had gotten his tux and her flowers which were in the box that he was currently playing with while waiting for her to come down.

Her father sat across the room from him, analyzing him like one of his student’s papers. Even after being together almost a year and a half her parents still weren’t real fond of their relationship. Hearing muffled voices coming towards them, he looked up and saw his princess walking towards him. Isabelle’s dress was strapless with a sweetheart neck and a full ball gown skirt of tulle and satin. Crystals shimmered all over the bodice of the gown and her hair was curled and swept away from her face with a matching crystal barrette. The sight of her took his breath away slightly. As she stood in front of him, he bowed to her.

“Milady.” He said. She laughed.

“Are you my prince charming?” She asked, playing along.

“Your prince, yes. The charming part you’ll have to decide for yourself.” He declared and his modesty made her fall for him just a little more. He reached in to the box he had been holding and pulled out a corsage of white roses tipped with blue and silver. “I couldn’t find any blue roses.” He admitted sheepishly. She leaned over and kissed his cheek.

“This is just what I wanted.” She said smiling. Her mother then handed her his boutonniere which was also a white rose. With plenty of photos taken, the couple was finally able to escape off to the dance.

It was their senior winter formal and Kris and Isabelle were one of the ‘it couples’ in the school. Neither of them really cared for the attention but it was hard to avoid with Kris being one of the star hockey player. There were those who thought though that Kris was taking attention away from one of the other stars on the team, Tyler Wilson.

“Versteeg!” Kris turned around and saw Tanner Boyle calling out to him. He sighed. Boyle was the leader of the group who thought that he was ruining Tyler’s chances and continually harassed him about it.

“What do you want Boyle?”Kris asked, annoyed.

“I heard about the game the other night. Why the hell did you have to score 3 points?” He accused.

“I’m sorry, was I supposed to suck just because the scouts were there?”

“They weren’t there to see your sorry ass. They were there for Tyler, but now there’s a rumor that they’re looking at both of you.”

“So?”

“So they can only choose one! You can’t go fucking up his chances when everybody knows he’s the better player.” Tanner shouted.

“Everybody? I don’t think so. I’m not backing down, this is my dream too Boyle and just because I’ve got more talent in my pinky than you do in your entire body doesn’t mean you have to bully me into submission.”Kris said, standing up for himself.

“Oh really? You think you’re better? Prove it. Pick up game, after the dance on the pond downtown. We’ll see who’s really the best around here.” Tanner threatened before stalking off. Isabelle looked at Kris.

“You’re not seriously considering this are you?” She asked as she saw the look on his face. “Kris, this is stupid! You have nothing to prove to them, this can only lead to something bad happening.” She warned but it was to no avail. “God, you are so obsessed about this game sometimes. Our senior formal and you would rather spend the night with a bunch of idiots on the ice than with your girlfriend.”

Isabelle had acted annoyed but in reality, it was just to mask her fear. The pond had not frozen right this year and they had been warned not to skate on it because of the uneven freeze. Of course, few listened to this and there were always people on it but Isabelle had a bad feeling about this. Kris was being too pigheaded to listen to her and when the dance was over, they had gone back to his place to change. The school had set up all kinds of activities for the students to do after the dance to keep them out of trouble which was where Kris was dropping her off.

“I’ll come find you later.” He promised. She looked at him.

“Kris, please don’t do this.” She begged.

“You better get inside, it’s cold out here.” He urged. She leaned in for a kiss.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” He said as she closed the passenger door and he drove off.

Isabelle couldn’t settle though. She had this feeling in the pit of her stomach that was making her restless. She was trying to have fun with her friends and enjoy the evening but she couldn’t shake the feeling. When she checked her phone a couple hours later, she saw that Kris hadn’t contacted her and hadn’t made it there yet. ‘it shouldn’t have taken this long’ she thought to herself. She was just about to call him when the news made it to her.
“Someone fell through the ice at the pond and died.” She heard someone say as they walked by. Her legs went weak and she reached out to them, asking for details. They had none other than some boy had fallen through some thin ice at the pond and it had taken over an hour to get him out of the water and he died.

Isabelle felt sick. Adrenaline began to course through her body as she rushed out the door and started towards the pond. It was a good 15 minute walk from where she was and her coat was not strong enough for the rough February winds that whipped at her as she ran. She felt nothing. Her body burned by the time she reached the pond, tears beginning to freeze to her face as she saw all the flashing lights and the crowd of people. Rushing towards them, she began to call out his name, desperate for a sign that it wasn’t him.

“Kris!!!! Kris!!!! KRIS!!!!!” She cried, her voice strained. One of the paramedics grabbed her and was trying to calm her down but she paid no attention to him as she continued to look. “Kris!!!!!!” She cried out, more desperate as time went by without him.

“Isa!!!” Kris appeared from the back of one of the ambulances and her whole body went weak with relief. Her legs gave way as he approached and it was the paramedic who caught her as Kris rushed to her. She threw herself into his arms and clung to him for dear life.

“I thought you were dead.”She sobbed into his shoulder, emotions overtaking her. “I thought I lost you. I thought I lost you forever.” Kris held on to her tightly, kissing her head and rubbing her back.

“I’m right here. I’m alive, I’m breathing, I’m talking to you. Do you feel me? I’m real. I’m really here.” He assured her as she continued to cry.

“I heard someone say that a boy had fallen into the pond and died and I……”

“And you thought it was me.” He pulled her off to the side, away from the crowd.

“Yeah,” she sniffled and looked up at him with watery eyes. “Who was it?” Kris’s face went blank and he looked away from her. “Kris?”

“It was Tyler. His skate hit a divot in the ice. They don’t zamboni it like they do at the ice arena, you have to be careful. He caught his skate and he……..he hit the ice really hard. It cracked underneath him so fast, he didn’t even have time to stand up. We tried…….we tried to pull him out but……….”His voice wavered and she held onto him tighter. “The ice was too thin, we would have fallen in too.” Isabelle could tell he was trying not to cry and she put a hand on his face.

“It wasn’t your fault. It was an accident.”

“Ya but if I hadn’t come out here to show up Boyle-“

“They were coming out here to skate anyways. Do not blame yourself for this, Kris.” She insisted, but from the look in her boyfriend’s blue eyes she could tell her words held little meaning. As she held him that night, Isabelle had no way of knowing that that night was the beginning of the end for them.