Uncharted

October.

It seemed like it had taken forever for this particular month to roll around. Once we returned from the Bahamas, life just seemed to take over. I had been slammed with wedding after wedding, planning and attending three to five almost every week. Every time I turned around, there was something going wrong. The colors didn't match the bride's vision, the flowers were the wrong type, anything you could possibly think of to go wrong, did.

By the time October rolled around, I was spent. I felt as though I could use yet another vacation. However, I wasn't going to get one in the form of a trip to some far off land. Instead, my vacation was hockey season, and it began tonight.

Scoring tickets to the season opener was an impossible mission. It seemed like everyone in the city of Chicago was doing their best to get their hands on a set of those elusive tickets. Luckily for me, I was best friends with the wife of Patrick Kane.

"You got them. Please, please, pleeeease say you got them."

I sounded like a child begging for a new toy. Did I care? Not at this point. There was a mere twenty-four hours until the doors open for that first home game of the season, and I wanted to guarantee that I would be there.

"God, you are so needy. Yes, you little brat, I have the tickets," Sara sounded annoyed on the other end of the phone. Then again, the woman was seven months pregnant and everything seemed to get under her skin lately. I knew that I wasn't exactly helping the matter, but I was to the point of desperation..

Hockey was my escape from the real world. Anytime I felt myself drowning, I would pray for it to freeze around me. The chill of the ice, the smell of the arena, the sight of jerseys from all different players. It took me to a place that I could never seem to find anywhere else, and that was the happiness I had been so desperately craving.

"...on one condition."

I stopped dead in my tracks. I had been walking back to my apartment after a bit of dinner when I decided to call Sara and find out the status of our game day plans. Not once had she ever mentioned that a stipulation came with the tickets. Not once had she said she wanted something out of me. It's not like I wouldn't pay for the ticket if that's what she wanted, but they were free thanks to Patrick's place on the team. But I knew Sara. It wasn't money that she wanted. Hell, it wasn't a material object at all. She was after something else, and I wished more than anything that I could read her mind and find out what. Then again, I didn't have to wait long for her to tell me.

"Sara...Wh..."
"We're having a party, or well a get together after the game. More than likely this will only happen in the boys win, but you get the idea. You have to be here."

"Sara, you know I can't. I have a huge wedding to help arrange the day after the game and..."

"And your skank ass has been avoiding Jonny since he got back from the Bahamas. I know that's the real reason you don't have to come, but I know you. You don't want to just leave things the way they are," Sara sounded like her typical know-it-all self, and I couldn't deny her that. She was right, and I hated to admit that.

"It's not that I haven't wanted to talk to him, Sara," I began as my feet carried me a bit faster towards my apartment. "We both know that I haven't had enough time to even breathe these past few months, let alone see anybody. I've barely even talked to you! Wedding season is the absolute worst time of year for me."

"And it's just about to end. You know by mid October your work load gets cut in half," Sara sighed. "Plus, if you really wanted to call him back, you would have."

I sighed into the phone. She was right. If I had wanted to talk to Jonny, I would have. Yes, work had completely taken over my life, and when I wasn't working, I was sleeping, but that was no excuse. Jonny had tried to call. His number had popped up on my phone several times over the first few weeks after he had gotten back, but every time I had been busy. He called during meetings or during venue visits. He called when I was with a client, or just as my eyes had fallen shut. And even if I told myself I was going to call him back, it never once happened. Soon, the calls stopped and he was nothing more than a distant memory. The space between us had grown, and I was now viewing him as one of those untouchable hockey players that he had always been.

"Fine. Fine! I'll agree to your little get together as long as I get my tickets. And your pregnant ass owes me a beer," I practically shouted into the phone before clicking it off.

I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I had to keep telling myself that it was worth a ticket to the Chicago Blackhawks season opener.

-x-

They were playing like they'd never seen the puck before. I spent half of the game shouting at the players to pick it up, and the other half was spent drowning my sorrows in the closest beer to me. They were acting as though they hadn't seen a puck before, and that just wasn't going to fly with me.

"Oh come ON!"

"Will you shut your mouth? All of your yelling isn't going to help them."

"Sure about that?" I snapped back at Sara.

By the end of the game, I had a pretty healthy buzz going, and the Hawks had pulled a win out of their ass. A wonky goal in the third period lead the boys to a 1-0 win over the Coyotes. In a way, I was hoping they had just lost. I never liked seeing my favorite team lose, but I also didn't like seeing them win on a technicality. I also didn't want to have to face the parade of people that would ultimately appear at the Kane household later on that night.

As the crowds started to thin, Sara and I made our way to her car. Once inside, she drove us to her new home. It was a gorgeous house in one of the Chicago suburbs. It was big enough for the two of them, and their newest addition, who they had found out would end up being a little baby boy. I had yet to get any sort of name out of Sara, but knowing her, it would be something classic and strong. The drive took a mere twenty minutes. Before I knew it , we were pulling into the driveway.

"You're going to be fine," Sara reassured me with a small pat on the back as we walked through the garage into the house. "Plus, drunk people are usually a little less hostile in my experience."

"I'm not drunk," I tried to defend myself. To be completely honest, my buzz had worn off on the drive over, and now all I felt were butterflies taking over my stomach.

Sara lead me further into the house, and finally we stopped in the living room. To my surprise, Erin and Christine were already there. We exchanged our hugs and hellos before all of us sat around the living room gossiping about the latest news. Since we had all gotten home, we had all gone back to our lives. Erin and Corey were going stronger than ever. Rumor had it that he was planning on proposing sometime soon. As for Christine and Sharpy, they were on a bit of a break. At least, that's what she claimed. Every time I called her, she seemed to be hanging out with him.

Just as we began to get comfortable, more people seemed to be pouring in through the garage. First came Sharpy and Crawford, who walked in as though this was their home as well. I could see the eyes of two of my friends light up, and I couldn't help but smile as I noticed the happiness on their faces. Next came a knock at the door which held Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, and their wives on the other side. Every time someone new walked into the house, my heart skipped a beat.

And then, there he was, walking in with Kaner like I expected him to do. A shock was sent through me as he sailed through the door. My shock was quickly relieved when I realized he had come alone, but the moment he looked at me, I knew I was in for a long night, one way or another.