The Ice Life

Tyler sat in the locker room lacing up her skates and wondering whether she had made the right choice. When she had been making her schedule for there had been a few teams that leapt out at her, the Chicago Blackhawks had been one of those teams.

"Hey," said a voice coming from the door.

Tyler whipped around to see Jonathan Toews leaning against the doorframe, but then looked away as soon as her eyes met his.

"Mr. Toews," she acknowledged him, turning her attention back to tying her skates, as if she uninterested.

"Mr. Toews? Come on, Ty, don't try and act like I'm just another one of your trainees."

"Jonathan," her voice became harsh, "this is my job. You will not refer to me as Ty, you will call me Tyler. Under this roof our relationship remains strictly professional."

He didn't respond for awhile. "I was surprised when I found out you had chosen me. I didn't think you would."

"Well, you have a lot to work on, and as much as I hate to say it, your success is crucial to your team's success in turn."

Jonathan's face broke out into a large grin. "So you've been watching me? All this time? Did you see me win the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe?"

"Oh get over yourself!" she exclaimed, and then she softened, "I may have watched your playoff run."

"That means so much to me babe." Jonathan went to pull Tyler into his arms. Tyler ducked out of the way.

"What the fuck? What are you doing? We're over, Jonathan!"

“I think about you all the time.”

“Oh shut the fuck up! WE decided to go separate ways, not just me, both of us. You didn’t want me anymore.”

He came over and sat next to her, “Don’t think that just because you don’t belong to me anymore that you don’t still drive me crazier than any girl ever has or will.”

She didn’t respond, staring blankly at the wall in front of her. Eventually he sighed and got up to leave the room.

“Hey Johnny?” she called when he was almost completely out of the door.

“Yeah?”

“It’s good to have you back.”



Patrick Kane made his way lazily towards the ice behind his teammates.

“I have never been more excited to be up at 6:00 AM in my life!” Corey Crawford whooped.

“Dude, chill. It’s just another trainer.” Patrick rolled his eyes.

Before Corey could respond, Jonathan cut in. “Kaner,” he started, giving Patrick his famous serious look, “don’t try anything, okay?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Patrick looked out onto the ice, “JACKPOT!”

Tyler was skating aimlessly in circles, not noticing the guys’ presence.

“Hey baby, I’m Patrick. I hate to end your figure skating practice so I’ll cut you a deal, if you give me your number, I’ll let you watch us work with our trainer.”

Jonathan groaned. Tyler didn’t say a word.

“Dude,” Brent Seabrook laughed, “didn’t you go to that meeting three days ago?”

Patrick’s brow furrowed, “Um yeah of course…”

Jonathan rolled his brown eyes, “No he didn’t he was sleeping.”

“THAT’S OUR TRAINER DUMBFUCK!” Corey finally yelled, throwing his hands in Tyler’s direction with violent frustration.

Patrick’s face took on an embarrassed red color, yet he could not tear his gaze away from the blonde skater. Tyler had still yet to say anything, almost as though she was waiting. Soon an awkward silence filled the rink, three of the boys standing aimlessly, waiting for some type of direction. But Jonathan’s intense gazed fixed itself on hers and suddenly he knew what to do.

“Goal line, now!” Jonathan called trying to sound as manly and in charge as he possibly could.

Tyler watched as Jonathan led the guys in warm ups she had taught him years back. Every once in awhile she could see him turn his head to glance at her quickly, but still he did each task flawlessly. He had always been able to do anything ask asked him to, sometimes without even asking.

Her attention was quickly pulled away by a pair of large hands clamp over her shoulders and begin to squeeze too hard in an attempt at a massage.

“Damn girl, you’re really tense. Don’t worry though, I can help with that.”

“Mr. Kane get your cabbie beating, puck slut dirty hands off of my shoulders, THIS INSTANT!”

“Holy shit, she got you Kaner!” Brent Seabrook skated teasingly around Patrick who was now reddening in the face.

“CENTER ICE NOW!” Tyler yelled.



“CLEAN PASS FROM LINEMATE JONATHAN TOEWS, THE WONDER BOY PATRICK KANE CARRIES THE PUCK UP THE BOARDS. DEFENSEMEN BRENT SEABROOK APPROACHES, KANE FAKES RIGHT AND PASSES THE D-MAN. HE APPROACHES THE GOALIE, HE SHOOTS. HE…HE…HE SCORES! GOOOOOOALLL!” Patrick gave commentary of his own play and ran around the ice in celebration when he scored. After his victory lap he scooped Tyler up into his arms.

Patrick had been hitting on Tyler non-stop all day, and as stubborn and uninterested as Tyler had been towards his attempts at first, she now found them almost endearing. Her cold rejections had only made Patrick try that much harder. But Tyler wasn’t the only one whose mood had changed towards Patrick during the day. Jonathan could see the change in Tyler’s attitude as well, and he couldn’t believe she was even paying attention to him.

“TONIGHT, YOU PARTY WITH US!” Patrick told the girl in his arms, and tightened his grip to let her know that she didn’t have a choice. “Don’t try and fight with me, because I will bring you to a club in your hockey gear.”

“Fine, Kaner,” Tyler said and stuck out her tongue at him defiantly.

When she had skated off the rink towards the locker room, Patrick let himself slump down the side of the boards so he was sitting on the ice and sighed, “Man that girl is something else.”

“What do you mean?” Jonathan asked, speaking for the first time in awhile.

Patrick grinned, “Get ready, cause I’m giving you what you’ve always wanted. There’s something about Tyler, something special that makes her different than any other girl I’ve ever met. I think I might like her…like really like her.”

Jonathan was dumbfounded. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “She’s not interested,” he spat.

Patrick’s cheerful expression turned sour. “What are you trying to say?”

“Don’t waste your time, Kaner. She wouldn’t ever go for someone like you.”

“What do you know about girls Tazer! Tyler would choose me over you any day!”

At that moment, Jonathan lost his cool and skated towards Patrick, arms out, ready for a fight. The two began throwing punches and rolling around on the ice until Brent and Corey came over to pull them off each other.

“We’ll see tonight then,” Jonathan said, never taking his eyes off Patrick, while skating towards the door.



“Are you having a good time?” Jonathan came up behind Tyler in the VIP room of the club, giving her a slight scare.

“I’ll admit, it’s a bit out of my comfort zone,” she said with a slight laugh.

“Yeah, mine too. That’s why we work so well, we both are so focused on our work. Unlike Patrick, there’s never a serious moment with him.”

Tyler took a step away from Jonathan, “What are you trying to do? Besides, I remember that being one of the reasons we didn’t work.”

Jonathan waved her comment away, “Come with me Ty, I have something to show you.” He grabbed for her hand, but she ripped it away. “Cmon, don’t you trust me?”

She hesitantly let him take her hand and followed him through the dark club and up a staircase in the back. The door at the top led them to the roof of the building where the Montreal skyline boasted a breathtaking view.

“I’ve missed you more than anything, Tyler.” He leaned against the railing and pulled her into his chest so she could see the view, wrapping his arms around her shivering frame.

“I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss you too Johnny, but…”

He didn’t give her time to finish her sentence, flipping her around and smashing his mouth into hers.

She shoved him away. “But… this can’t happen.”

“YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME TYLER!” his voice went from yelling to a whisper, “I love you.”

“I’m sorry Johnny…I’m so, so sorry.”

She turned on her heels and ran back down the stairs and into the club. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes when a pair of strong arms caught her from moving any further.

“There you are! I was just looking for you,” a familiar boyish face said through the tears. She noticed his expression turn serious. “Hey now, what’s wrong? Are you crying? What happened?”

“Nothing Patrick,” Tyler tried to push past him.

“Not so fast, here, let me take you back to the hotel.”

“Fine.”

Tyler fell asleep in Patrick’s rental car on the way back and, not knowing what else to do, he carried her back into his room, placing her gently on the hotel bed. Patrick made himself comfortable on the couch, something, he noted, that he never would have done for just any girl. His phone rang, Tazer was calling.

“Shit!” he swore at the ringer as he saw it had woken Tyler up.

“Patrick?” she called, “where am I?”

“Back at the hotel… sorry I just didn’t want to wake yo…” he stopped short noticing that she had begun to cry again. “Tyler, you’re breaking my heart. What’s wrong?” He walked over and sat on the corner of the bed and she crawled up into his arms, pushing her tear stained face into his chest. “Listen, I know you and I may be completely different. I mean, let’s face it, you’re pretty much perfect and I’m, well, me. And you might think I have no idea what you’re going through, which might be true, but I’m a really good listener and I’m here for as long as you need.”

“Patrick?”

“Mhm?”

“You’re something else, you know that?”

The boyish grin spread back across his face and he leaned in to kiss her but stopped himself. He gave her a look as if to ask if it was okay and she nodded. The first kiss was soft and barely there at all, but slowly he kissed harder and harder. He moved down to her neck, sucking the bare skin making her gasp. She ran her hands up and down his arms and went under his shirt to explore his chest and then removed his shirt. He quickly pulled off her dress and pulled away from the kiss to gaze at her body.

“Wow,” he gasped.

She grinned, giving him the okay to finish her.