Blackhawks & Ballerinas

I dashed down to the locker room and threw open the door. I saw a doctor and practically attacked him.

“Where’s Dustin?” I was out of breath and half shouting.

“They’re loading him into the ambulance now. We aren’t allowing anyone to see him at the moment.”

“No, you don’t understand. I have to see him. I have to make sure he’s okay.”

“Are you his girlfriend?”

I pictured Genna upstairs, lost in conversation about the best smelling perfumes, maybe still not even aware of the fact that her boyfriend was hurt. He was going to be all alone in a hospital in a foreign country…

“Yeah, that’s me,” I lied.

“Alright, follow me.”

The doctor took me outside the arena to where a few ambulances were ready to take Dustin to the hospital. The doctor took me to another man who looked like he was in charge. He raised an eyebrow at the doctor as if to ask who I was.

“This is his girlfriend,” the doctor said.

“Dr. Brown,” he said to me, extending his hand so I could shake it. He motioned for me to walk towards one of the vehicles. “Because Mr. Parker’s family is not here, I will permit you to ride in the ambulance with him. I think he’s really freaked out right now, maybe you can calm him down?”

“He’s conscious!?” I spit out, not wanting Dustin to know I had pretended to be his girlfriend.

“Yeah of course,” Dr. Brown said, giving me a weird look for acting so unusual, “the hit wasn’t that hard, thankfully.” He opened the back of the ambulance and got in. “Mr. Parker, your girlfriend is here to see you.”

I stepped sheepishly into the vehicle. Dustin almost had to stuff his fist down his throat to keep himself from laughing. The ambulance sped to the hospital and they gave Dustin some quick head scans and blood tests before leaving the two of us alone in a small hospital room.

As soon as the last doctor had left the room, Dustin cracked a huge grin. “So girlfriend huh? Either that hit was worse than I thought or you lied to the paramedics.” His smile only grew larger.

I rolled my eyes, “I was just making sure you were okay. They wouldn’t let anyone see you unless that person was your girlfriend.”

“No, no. I get it. You can totally pretend to be my girlfriend if you want.”

“At least then there would be one person acting like your girlfriend!” I shot back.

I watched the large grin drop off his face. “Genna,” he said out loud, “does she even know what happened to me?”

I looked into the distance, avoiding his eyes, which were filled with hurt and disappointment. “I’m not sure,” I said after awhile, “I ran out of the room as soon as it happened.”

“She wasn’t watching,” he said, covering his hands with his eyes. I mentally kicked myself for not being more careful with my words.

“Dustin, I’m sure she knows.”

“Can you see if she called me?” he asked pointing at the cellphone sitting on a table across the room, “I’m not allowed to be looking at bright LCD screens.”

I nodded and crossed the room. The blackberry illuminated in my hands and I noticed he had 17 text messages from his teammates and anyone else who had seen the incident. I noticed there was one from Genna. “She texted you,” I told him.

“What does it say?”

“It says: Hey, I saw what happened. I’ll be back in the hotel waiting for you. Feel better.” I placed the phone down. He looked so defeated knowing she wouldn’t even come to make sure he was okay and I could tell he knew she was lying about having seen his accident.

“You probably think I’m an idiot for being with someone like her,” he sighed.

“Kinda,” I said honestly.

“I was four years old when the Mastersons moved in next door. My mom was divorced and I was all she really had, I knew she got lonely. But when my mom discovered Mrs. Masterson was also divorced they became best friends and did everything together. Mrs. Masterson had twins my age, Burton and Genna. Burton and I hit it off immediately and became inseparable. Because our moms were so close we did everything together, and it always felt like Burton was more of a brother than a best friend. Sometimes hockey got so intense that Burton was the only friend I had. But everybody loved Burt, he was always invited to all kinds of parties. He always made sure to try and include me, but I was trying to get noticed by hockey scouts, one fuck up could ruin it all, so I never went. One night, two years ago, I had a huge hockey game against our rival team. Burton was the only one that could make it. When we ended up winning a man came up to me to talk about my future in the NHL. Burton insisted on celebrating, he told me to go home, shower and change and he would text me the details. As we walked away from each other in the parking lot he screamed, ‘MY BROTHER IS GOING TO BE THE BEST PLAYER THE NHL HAS EVER SEEN!’ It was probably the greatest moment of my life. An hour later Burton’s mom called. She needed me to go to the hospital to make sure the body they had was indeed Burton’s. It was. Burton had gotten in a car accident on his way to a party he had set up just for me. The bastard in the other car was drunk. I wished so badly it had been me and not him. It wasn’t fair, I had lost my best friend and my brother. I knew I had to stay strong and take care of the Mastersons. The six months right after Burton’s death were kind of a blur, but Genna and I ended up together. Sometimes she’s a pain in the ass, but sometimes she’s the only reminder of my best friend. Half of me has moved on, becoming interested in different people,” he looked at me shyly, “but the other half knows I would be letting Burton down if I ever hurt her.”

When he had finished his story, I said nothing. I just went up to him and pulled him into a hug. His arms desperately hugged me back, holding me there for the rest of the night.