Here I Am

“I am an idiot,” I said to myself, staring up at my ceiling the next morning. “A total and complete jerky idiot.”

I heard my front door open and my ears perked up like I was a dog waiting for its master to come home.

I was completely whipped and I wouldn’t even sleep with her last night. I was absolutely pathetic.

“Crow!” the familiar voice of Krugs and Tazer echoed in my loud and noticeably empty house. “You up man?”

I rolled out of bed and slid into a pair of jeans and was putting a black long sleeve shirt on when I padded out to meet them in the kitchen.

“Had a visitor last night?” Krugs asked, reading something on my counter.

I snatched up the note and quickly scanned it. It was from Delia, saying that she would see me soon and good luck on our road trip we had that week.

“She didn’t stay overnight, obviously,” I said, slipping the note into a notebook discretely.

“Well come on,” Tazer spun his keys around. “Breakfast before we jump on the plane.”

~~~~~

We played our first game against the L.A. Kings and the second against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

I watched as Krugs got slammed into the boards by one of the Pens players and John Scott was like a tidal wave of just total ass kicking as he pounded on the guy for that hit.

A legal fight for an illegal hit. I mentally cheered him on from my place between the pipes.

Krugs seemed to be fine but during that first intermission, he seemed to not be in the game. “Man, you okay?” I asked him as we were getting ready to go out for the second period.

He nodded, but he didn’t look sure himself. “Yeah, let’s go kick butt.”

As far as I knew, he never got off the bench to even play a shift and that in all honesty, sucked.

After the game, as I was looking for my phone, someone tapped my shoulder and I turned around in hopes that it was someone with my phone.

“Jordan Staal?” I questioned, trying not to sound surprised. “Good game man,” I said.

He grinned. “Thanks! You guys played well too.”

“Yup,” I said awkwardly. Why was he here?

“So um,” he started, rocking back on his heels. “Yeah I got nothing. Sorry about the hit to you man over there,” he nodded over at Krugs, who was on my phone, probably talking to Delia.

Delia.

“Why are you here Staal?” I asked.

He sighed. “There really is no easy way to bring this up. Delia? Delia Staal? She’s in Chicago?”

“What’s it to you?” I asked, sitting back down to take a long drink of water.

“We used to be friends. Like years and years ago. Then her mom packed up their house one day and I never heard from her again. I don’t know,” he sighed again. “I mean Delia Staal? She was one heck of a goaltender at five years old.”

“So she does know you guys,” I pondered.

“Yeah,” Tazer and Krugs wandered over.

“She was saying how she’s going to beat up the player who broke me. . . am I really that broken?” Krugs looked concerned.

Tazer laughed and patted him on the back. “As much as the rest of us. What’s up Staal? Here about Delia?”

“Yeah actually. Eric and I were talking about it yesterday.”

“How did you know where she is? Or that she knows Crow?” Krugs asked.

“Pictures online and I was watching your game against the Canucks. They showed her cheering and I just knew it was her. She looks quite the same actually. Same light brown hair. We have the same eyes you know.”

“So how is she related to you?” I asked.

“We’re cousins,” he said, crossing his arms getting impatient. “She never mentioned me? Any of us?”

“Yeah, there’s something weird about all of this,” Tazer said. “She would have mentioned you, because I know Scott and Seabsy were asking about if she knew you guys the other day. She said she looked you guys up but she’s never met someone as famous as you.”

“She said what?” Jordan Staal looked baffled.

“She said her mom took her away at an early age,” I said. “Her mom took hockey away from her. She hasn’t even seen a hockey game until that Canucks game.”

His blue eyes widened. “What?! Jesus, she breathed hockey. She loved it more than I did!”

Tazer shrugged. “Kid’s minds are impressionable. She was young.”

Delia was related to the Staal brothers. I didn’t even think she realized it.

“I’ll talk to her about it,” I said and stood up, pulling on my jacket. It seemed that my life and my relationship with Delia got just a little more complicated.