Little Baby Pines

Something was thrown at Jonathan. He was too busy thinking about what he did wrong in practice to care about what it was. Another object was thrown at him with the words, “space cadet,” lingering in the stale air. Finally putting away his nagging thoughts, he turned around. A bothered look was on his face. Those telling eyebrows were cinched in the middle. His lower lip was pushed out in a pout.

“What? What is going on? What do you want, Kaner?” The slight irritation in Jon’s voice made Patrick grin.

Patrick Kane was leaning against Patrick Sharp’s empty locker. There were a couple of balled up socks in his hands. Two that he had thrown at Jon’s back were lying on the ground. Since he had grabbed the captain’s attention, he abandoned the other socks into the bottom of Sharp’s locker. “You need to chill the fuck out, Tazer.”

The older man just shook his head and went back to overanalyzing every move he made on the ice earlier. He tossed his dirty clothes into his sports bag and grabbed his deodorant. The smell of chocolate Axe mists underneath his white shirt. There were some odd tapping noises behind him. He didn’t bother throwing back his head to see Patrick standing there drumming his fingers on the edge of the wood locker, patiently waiting for Tazer to crack.

Most of the other players had left. Jon was one of the last to get off the ice and then shower. Patrick was still around because he wanted to talk to Toews, to try to lighten up the captain of their team. Breaking down Toews’ walls was an incredibly difficult task, but Patrick loved challenges. He was one of those guys who is told not to do something and has to do it. Immediately.

The incessant drumming caused Jon’s left eye to twitch. “Dude, knock it off.” It only got louder. “Okay! Fine! What the hell did you have in mind? Some stupid party?”

“Yes.”

“Fine. I will meet you at your place at 10.” He angrily snatched his duffle bag off the bench. It roughly hit his back, the strap settling across his chest. Each foot smacked the ground as he stomped out of the locker room. Patrick yelled something to him but he ignored it. He didn’t care what Kaner had to say. He just wanted to go back to the comfort of his thoughts and drown himself with the team’s imperfections. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

The list of contacts in Patrick’s phone would not make sense to anyone but him. There were probably only ten recognizable contacts. Those were of family members like Mom, Dad, Jac, Erika, Jess, and some of the boys from the team listed under their first name. Otherwise the rest were nicknames. He scrolled past ‘Waking Nightmare’ to ‘Walk her in the Park’. It was code for Patrick, code to stop people from snooping on his phone.

It rang a couple times until he heard a groggy “What’s up?” The girl’s voice was at a lower pitch than usual. She naturally has a slightly girly voice, but then it sounded subdued, if not scratchy. “Hold on a sec.” The girl took her time checking the caller ID of her phone. “Oh, PKane. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Hey Park, tell me you know of a party tonight with loose women, music, alcohol, and drugs.”

The desperation in his voice made the girl grin. She kicked her pale legs over the edge of her bed. A pack of American Spirit cigarette was sitting on her windowsill. She took one out and tucked it behind her ear. “Babe, it is a Friday night. Of course I know of a party filled with your favorite kind of debauchery.”

He let out a sigh. “Thank you. You have to be a gift sent from God, Park.” She made scoffing noises. “Oh stop it. Hey, text me the address. Make sure there are babes there. I want to unwind a friend.”

“For you, Pat, anything.”

“And Kim? Please bring a bag of my usual. We’ll do the trade when I see you.”

A faint smile spread on her face. She took the cigarette from her ear and held it in between her fingers. “Okay. No problem. See you there, Patty.” After the call ended she tossed the phone to the end of her bed. It landed in the middle of a giant purple polka dot on her comforter. Kim ruffed up her short jet black hair. Her eyes darted to the made up bed across from her. Her roommate, Mindy, was already gone. The girl was probably at class. That was something Kim hadn’t done in a few days.

Kimberly Parker took in a deep breath and stood up. Her bare feet felt the cold wood floors; her toes curled inward subconsciously. There used to be circular rugs but the girls had to throw them away after spilling too many things on them. As she walked to the door she swiped a lighter off the vanity desk. A few other girls walked past Kim as she trudged down the stairs in panties and an oversized Biggie Small shirt. Pink decorations caught her eye as she looked around. The sorority was stuck in 1950 idealistic ways of what women should be like. And women like the color pink. Kim was indifferent to the shade.

The door was shoved open with her hip and she sat on the tire swing in front of the house. Hardly anyone used it these days. The only person to sit on it at least once a day was Kim. She loved the tire swing and usually kept something hidden in it. Hidden in its crevasse today was a pair of oversized bug sunglasses. She put them on and lit her cigarette.

Smoke filtered out her open mouth. What was she doing with herself? Why had she ended up where she is today? Kim shook out her hair, frowning to herself. She is a twenty-one year old girl with no obvious direction. Her school life bored her. The night life made her body shake with excitement. Her love life made her yawn at its complications. The girl was a mess.

A push sent Kim rocking side to side. She opened her eyes to see her best friend Mindy standing in front of the sun. Kim raised a hand to block out the light. “Oh hey there, sexy. How was Statistics 251?”

“It makes me want to sacrifice a goat to some pagan god and do some crazy voodoo dance.” The girl self consciously danced around then shyly stopped. She tucked a piece of her long wheat blonde hair behind her ear. The leggy girl took a seat on the grass. Her toned body was bent over slightly. She reached up and brushed the top of her crooked nose. That was Mindy’s one physical imperfection. Her nose. It was broken twice when she was a kid from soccer and caused a lot of mean ridicule. If she didn’t have the broken nose, she would have been that popular bitch that made other girls cry. Instead she was the self conscious semi-pretty girl who hid behind books.

Kim kicked her tiny legs in the air. She was tall for being half Korean and half Irish, yet still short at 5’5”. Kim was pretty with a symmetrical face and quirky smile, but was usually overlooked because there is something off about her. Most people look at her and can tell she isn’t normal; her mind doesn’t work like a normal person’s. Then she proves them right by acting strange and sayings what is on her mind. The girl is weird and peculiar. Most guys write her off as a psychotic, might kill if I fuckup, nutter bitch. They wouldn’t be completely wrong with that judgment.

One hand held the rope as the other put the cigarette back to her lips. “Bummer. I will lend you my book of pagan rituals. Dude, I am DJing tonight at the warehouse. Sully is rapping. And that hockey guy I sell to will be there.” Mindy’s blue eyes sparkle with excitement. “You know what that means. You need to dress up and come out with me.”

“Of fucking course I will! But bro, you need to put on some pants before Heather comes out here and yells at you. Again.” Heather being the president of Theta Phi Pi. The woman had a vendetta against Kim and everything Kim stood for, which was everything Heather wasn’t. Nice, care free, calm, and grounded.

The cigarette was stamped out on the rubber tire swing and tucked behind Kim’s ear. She couldn’t throw the butt in the yard. It would ‘degrade’ the house’s appearance. “Oh god. Someone needs to throw that bitch a bone. She needs to get the fuck off my back. You are her VP, Mindles. Get her laid for me.” Kim bats her long eyelashes at her friend.

A lone solider finger is held in the air. “Fuck you. You do it. Tell her to stop dating a Christian boy who doesn’t believe in sex before marriage. You know, she hates me too.”

Kim launched herself from the tire and rolled on the grass with Mindy. The girls wrestled until Kim had Mindy pinned down. It didn’t surprise the girls that Kim had won the wrestle match. Even though she was a petite half Asian girl, she was quite physical. Despite her size, she had been part of a girl’s ice hockey team in high school. She was the goalie, but would still manage to get into scuffles. The way she played is one of the reason she adored Tim Thomas.

Her pale hands had Mindy’s shoulders square with the Earth. A few passer byers whistled at the girls. “Okay fine! I get it. I will deal with Heather.” She traced her finger over the bridge of Kim’s nose and over her cheek. She was drawing a picture with the freckles on Kim’s face. An Asian girl with freckles. “Will you get off of me? You smell like smoke.”

A sloppy kiss was placed on Mindy’s cheek and the pint sized girl hopped off. She bounced up the stairs of the front porch, hip checking a fellow sorority girl into the door. “KIM!” Feet slammed against the floors as Kim was chased around the lower floor of the house and then up the stairs where she ducked into the bathroom and locked the door behind her.