Here I Am

“So who is she?”

I looked up from my stall two days later to find myself surrounded by Tazer, Kaner, Sharpie, Stalberg, and Scott.

“Did you just bring him along in an attempt to scare me?” I asked, referencing John Scott.

“Technically,” Scott answered. “But I mean if Crow’s got a girl, I definitely want to hear about her.”

“I do not have a girl,” I stated slowly. “Maybe I’m just eager to escape the clutches of you sweaty hockey players.”

“Ha!” Seabs laughed as he passed by. “Sweaty my ass. I smell like a field of flowers on a warm summer day.”

“After you take three showers,” Keith rolled his eyes. “What is the big deal? So what if Crow is getting laid? He’s happy. Which means he stops more pucks, which means the other team loses, which makes them sad, which makes us happy and on our way to win another year. I don’t see the big deal in him getting a little action if it helps us win the Cup.”

I just stared at the defense man. “Why are you all so desperate for me to get laid!” I exclaimed. “Look, I got to go. Enjoy your sex talk,” I said, grabbing my jacket and hurrying out of there.

I reached the park and found Delia quite easily this time around. She was standing on top of a bench, standing perfectly still.

I stopped right in front of her and she didn’t even so much as blink. Was I hallucinating?

“Corey,” she said my name and I jumped a little. Obviously I was not hallucinating, she was just a little left from center.

“Hi Delia,” I smiled. “Uh, what were you doing up there?” I asked.

“You know those guys that stand perfectly still even when people piss them off?” she asked.

I nodded slowly, unsure of where this was going.

“I just wanted to try it out and see how I’d do. I blink too many times it seems so that’s a no go for me.”

She was such a strange young woman.

“No Riley today?”

“He comes back tomorrow actually. Shouldn’t you be getting ready to play a game tonight? It’s all over the radio. You guys against the Re Wings. Scary shit right there with the whole rivalry,” she said skipping ahead of me and spinning around to face me, like she did before.

“Do you want to come?” I blurted out and immediately regretted it when I saw her face. The smile dropped and her eyes instantly dulled. “Oh I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it! Well I did. . .but I was kidding. . .no that’s rude. . . um. . .” I just sort of trailed off, not quite sure what to say to her.

She shook her head and she smiled again, though this time it was much more forced. “No, I’m sorry Corey. It’s not you, really. I just haven’t seen a hockey game in quite some time and. . . . I’m sorry. It’s just really hard to explain without getting into my whole life story,” she said and she looked and sounded so apologetic that I couldn’t be mad or even think to ask her why.

“That’s fine. I’m sure you have your reasons,” I told her and her eyes sparkled again when she saw that I respected her space.

“Thank you. So um. . .” it was her who trailed off this time.

“What? What’s wrong?”

She glanced towards some bare trees. “I don’t enjoy being stalked and if they’re not yours, we do need to devise a plan of either beating them up or running like hell.”

“What?!” I exclaimed and looked over at trees and I saw just the slightest movement and I sighed.

“Dammit. I wasn’t quick enough this time.”

“What?” she looked confused.

“Look, just ignore whatever they need to say. They’re horny hockey players and they suck.”

An amused smile spread across her lips and I realized how my last sentence must have sounded. “Wow,” I said. “That did not come out right at all. I feel like I could just walk away right now.”

She came closer and she started to circle me, but at a very, very close proximity. “So, who are they?” her lips almost touched my ear.

I glanced over at the trees again. “Looks like Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Brent Seabrook, Viktor Stalberg, Marian Hossa, Dan Carcillo, and Niklas Hjalmarsson.”

“You have quite the fan club going on, don’t you?” she asked.

“One could say that. . .”

“Well we could either fight them off or run or you could be embarrassed when I call out to them. Your choice,” she shrugged like she didn’t have a choice in the matter.

My mind only took a second to process the correct answer. “Run like hell.”

She jumped up with excitement. “Go!” she shouted and we sprinted off towards the street and I knew I’d get hell tonight for this, but it was worth it.