Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me

Jordan's P.O.V.

The week I spent in Manitoba with Cam was incredible – her mom was so cool, and when we got there she had Cam’s room all made up for us to share. Mom probably would have flipped, but it was nice to be able to curl up with her every night.

Her mom even liked me, which I'd worried about initially, even after the way she'd been when I'd helped get her out to Pittsburgh. The first night we were there Cam had fallen asleep really early, and after I'd tucked her into bed had a wonderful conversation with her. I'd gotten to know a lot more about her family and stories from when Cam was little. The conversation had slowly turned to our relationship, and her mother had out-and-out asked me if I planned to marry her. That had caught me off guard momentarily, but after my mini panic attack I managed to admit that I hoped to. Never in my life have I been hugged so hard, and found Anna in tears when she pulled away - apparently she'd hoped that that's where our relationship stood, and when I crawled into bed later that night pressed a long kiss to Cam's cheek, knowing that I more than had her mother's blessing whenever I asked her.

They showed me around her hometown, and we went out to the lake, rented movies, worked out together every morning, and had a lot of fun. Her mom had gushed over the ring I’d given her, and showed us the Claddagh ring that Cam’s dad had given to her, which had both of them nearly in tears. Getting to be part of her family and see pictures of her and her dad, and some of the home videos and everything, was amazing. It was so cool to be able to feel like part of her family the way she was part of mine.

But all too soon I came back to Thunder Bay, and to be honest I was feeling a little lost. We texted, called, Skyped and emailed all of the time, but it just wasn’t the same. I hated being apart from her, and nothing seemed to fill the space inside of me that she’d left.

“Come on lazy ass – time to get to the gym,” Marc said, grabbing me by the ankles to pull me out of my bed. I shot my hands out and grabbed the posts of the headboard, feeling my body lift up off of the mattress.

“Noo…” I groaned, and Marc dropped me, which hurt the stomach more than I would admit.

“Yes. Come on, just because Cam isn’t here doesn’t mean you have to act like somebody died,” he argued, and still I refused to move.

“Yes it does,”

“Jesus… if you keep acting like this maybe you won’t make the team and they’ll send you to the farm league. Then think of how often you’ll get to see her,” Marc said, and I huffed. They wouldn’t send me down… at least I didn’t think they would.

“You’re bluffing. I’m staying right here,” I mumbled into my pillow.

“No I’m not, now get your ass out of bed or I will call your girlfriend and let her ream you out,” he said, and with a groan I sat up.

“Happy?” I asked, and he raised an eyebrow.

“No. Up and into your workout clothes,” he replied, crossing his arms. With a huff I stood up and stretched before throwing on a pair of gym shorts and a T-shirt before grabbing a pair of socks and heading out of my door, my brother on my heels.

“Look what the cat drug in,” Jared teased as I walked into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. I shot him a glare, continuing to get my drink.

“He’s not in a good mood – I had to haul him out of bed,” Marc informed our brothers. They all nodded before continuing to go about their morning routines, trying to avoid getting on my nerves. I wasn’t a morning person on a good day, let alone being hauled out of my bed by my brother.

“One more… there. Good push Jord,” Eric complimented me as he helped me guide the barbell back onto its stand. The two hundred pounds were making my arms burn; I’d pushed an extra set out of myself even though I knew I’d pay for it tomorrow.

“Don’t push yourself too hard Jordy – you don’t want to tear anything,” Marc cautioned from across the room where he was spotting Jared. I nodded, gently stretching my arms and shaking my muscles out before trading places with Eric. By the time we had all went through our regimes and stretched out it was eleven thirty and we’d been in the gym for two and a half hours. We made our way from the old garage back to the house to find mom starting to make lunch.

“Good workout this morning?” she asked, and got a cacophony of replies back from the four of us as we all hustled hoping to get into the shower first. I was just grabbing my towel from my room when my cell phone rang, and after hearing the ringtone nearly dove trying to find it before the caller hung up.

“Hey babe; how are you?” I asked, as if I wasn’t sprawled across my floor because my cell had fallen under my bed.

“Hey Jordy – you all right? You sound out of breath,” she replied, a chuckle in her voice.

“We just got back inside from working out,” I answered, and heard Marc declare he had the shower first.

“I’m just getting ready to head to the gym actually, but I wanted to call first,” Cam admitted, and I felt my grin grow.

“I’m glad you did - I miss you,”

“I miss you too Jordy, I can’t wait for the season to start so we’re in the same city again,” she sighed. I knew exactly what she meant. Usually by August I was getting antsy and tired of playing road hockey with my brothers – craving the real thing – and wanting to get back to the Steel City with my friends. It was only July and not being in Pittsburgh was killing me.

“I know what you mean sweetheart,” I agreed, and heard her sigh.

“I’m starting to worry though – I want to tell the team before the whole hockey world knows,” she finally said, and I swallowed hard. It wasn’t like this was news to me; we’d talked about it with her mom when I was staying with her, but the unease hadn’t left me. I was scared for her – how people would react, what it would do to her if everything went sour… I didn’t like the idea at all.

“I don’t know what to tell you Cam,”

“I know, and I don’t want you to worry about it, I just wanted to talk to you,” she insisted.

“It’s okay sweetheart; you know I’m here, no matter what,” I assured her, and she quickly changed the topic and we continued to talk.

“Jord! Shower’s open!” Jared bellered as he burst into my room before laughing when he saw me sprawled on the floor talking on my cell.

“If he’s not taking it I am!” Eric hollered.

“He’s on the phone with his girlfriend!” Jared called up the stairs, and I heard Eric go into the bathroom and heard the water start.

“HI CAM!” he yelled, and nearly escaped the kick I aimed at him.

“Ouch!” he whined, before taking my hint and heading back upstairs.

“Sorry about that sweetheart,” I said into the phone, and heard her laughing on the other end.

“It’s okay hon. Well, I better let you go – Linda’s probably got lunch just about ready hey?”

“Yeah, probably. I’ll talk to you later then sweetheart; love you,”

“Love you too Jordy,” she softly replied before hanging up. Hockey season couldn’t come soon enough.