Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me

“Cam? Cam?” I woke up slowly, not totally recognizing the voice that was hesitantly whispering my name from the doorway.
“Jordan?”
“Yeah, I uh… well it’s like one o’clock, and um…” both of our stomach’s growled, and I managed a chuckle as I sat up and stretched my arms.
“You’re starving?”
“Pretty much,” he admitted, and I knew his face would be bright red.
“So I guess the question is, do you wanna go somewhere and grab something to eat or stay here and I’ll make something?” I asked, trying to conceal a yawn as I did so.
“Doesn’t matter to me; whatever works for you,” he shrugged, and I tried to remember what was in the fridge right now, not coming up with a whole lot.
“Well, why don’t you shower, I’ll see what we’ve got to eat, and decide from there?” I suggested. Jordan nodded, opening the door a little wider but not stepping in.
“I’ll grab you a towel and stuff,” I said, walking past him and out into the hallway, opening the hall closet and grabbing him a large towel and a face cloth.
“Thanks so much Cam,” he repeated.
“Like I said Jordan, it’s not a problem,” I said, giving him a small smile as I continued to make my way to the kitchen. I heard the water turn on, and inspected the fridge and the cupboards, finding a whole lot of nothing. So I started to make a grocery list while I went through the kitchen. It’s easy to say that neither Becka nor I are good at keeping on top of the whole grocery thing.
“So… do we have a plan?” I jumped as Jordan walked into the kitchen, having been nearly silent in his bare feet as he made his way over to me.
“Well there’s shit all in the fridge, so I believe we’re gonna go somewhere to get something to eat,” I informed him, and again he laughed, running a hand through his still-wet hair.
“Sounds good to me; my treat,” he said, but cut me off as I went to argue with him.
“Hey, you fed me the other day, and looked after me last night. I more than owe you one,” he insisted, and after a minute quit arguing with him; he was the most stubborn person I knew.
“Okay, okay, fine. But I’m gonna grab a shower first before we go; make yourself at home,” I said, and he nodded, turning on the TV as I walked towards my room to grab my towel and a change of clothes so I wouldn’t have to run from the bathroom to my room in just a towel. I didn’t need any awkward moments like that.
I kept the shower as short as was humanely possible, and dried my hair as good as I could manage before throwing on a pair of jeans and a Penguins T-shirt and exiting the bathroom. As I’d suspected Jordan was watching Sportscentre, and was completely engrossed in the highlights of all of last nights’ games.
“Marc got completely destroyed! Look at this,” he said, as they began to show the slow-motion replay of Pronger laying out Jordan’s older brother.
“Shit that looks like it hurt,” I grimaced, and he nodded.
“Yeah, but they did win the game. I’ll have to call him today and check up on him,”
The highlights from our game were on next, and I winced every time they showed a big mistake we’d made or any of Washington’s goals.
“And look at this move by Ovechkin; Bates was clearly out in front and going to put in the shot, he just shoves his stick under Bates’ feet and sends him crashing into the boards,” Bob McKenzie said, and immediately the analysts start arguing about it. Although for once they all seemed to be on the same side.
“I agree; this is just a lazy play. Ovechkin is the bigger, stronger player. I mean, he could’ve tried to overtake him and poke-check the puck or something, but to trip the kid?” James Duthie agreed, and they all nodded.
“I agree one hundred percent; it was a completely lazy, and awful play for Washington. And speaking of the kid, what do you guys think of Cam Bates? This kid comes out of nowhere after being cut from Brown University’s men’s team, somehow finds his way to the Wilkes Barre/Scranton tryouts and then Ray Shero and Dan Bylsma shuffle him over to Pittsburgh, sign him, and now he plays wing for Jordan Staal. Incredible really, and he doesn’t have any catching up to do,” Pierre LeBrun said, and Jordan gave my arm a tug so I would sit down rather than standing and watching slack-jawed as they talked about me.
“I know right? Amazing talent, and to think he’d been playing Junior A last year, now he’s one of the leading point-scorers on the Penguins squad. I think he’s here to stay; there’s no way that the Penguins staff are going to send him down to the AHL with the way he’s been playing,” Bob decided, and I was amazed to see the other two agree with him.
“I agree, this kid’s got talent, and look at the way he and Staal play; if I can show a replay here of Staal’s goal,” he paused for a moment as they brought it up. “Look at this, they don’t even have to look at each other, but they always know where the other is. It’s like the Sedin’s out there.”
“Except they don’t look alike and are Canadian instead of Swedish,” James said with a laugh, and they joined in for a moment.
“He’s definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with; as he’s sitting at two goals and four assists, and he’s only played two games so far. Look out Crosby, somebody might gibe you a run for your money when it comes to point production.”
And moments later it was on to the Nashville vs. Dallas highlights, and I was still awestruck. Jordan noticed this and elbowed me, an impish grin on his face as he did so.
“Whoa,”
“Awe yeah, what’d I tell you? We’re Dy-na-mite!” he said, stretching out the syllables before laughing, obviously pleased with himself.
“So, where do you wanna go to eat?”
“What about Perkins? I can get breakfast all day there,” I said, sliding a bunny-hug over my head and shoving my feet into my shoes while I stuffed my wallet and phone into my pocket.
“Sure, that sounds good! My car or yours?”
“We can take mine if you want,” I shrugged, and he nodded. I grabbed my keys off of the little table by the door and we headed out, Jordan instructing me where to turn and what lanes I needed to be in.
“How the hell do you get around by yourself?” he asked when we’d parked at Perkins. I was breathing heavy and frustrated as hell; city driving was really not my thing, and it only took a few idiot drivers on the road to give me road rage.
“Becka tells me where to go, and I try to avoid driving when it’s gonna be busy,” I admitted, and he chuckled, shaking his head.
“I’ve never seen somebody get so worked up about driving in the city, except Jared,” he laughed, and I shot him a glare as I unbuckled my seatbelt.
“Sure, let’s just laugh at me. I come from like the smallest small town ever, okay? Give me a break. I like my gravel roads,” I said, and he raised his hands.
“I feel you man, but you have to get used to it eventually,” he reminded me, and I grumbled, although I didn’t disagree with him. I followed him into the restaurant and we sat down, both of us ordering breakfast food. As we were chatting Jordan’s phone rang, and he looked at the display before flipping it open.
“Hey J, what’s up?” it must’ve been Jared who’d phoned, and immediately he was chuckling, and after giving me a funny look he proceeded to tell his little brother about my fun driving in Pittsburgh. I could hear his brothers’ laughter from across the table, and after a minute or so of normal conversation Jordan got serious.
“So J, what’s going on?” he listened intently to what his brother told him, and something about the look on his face meant Jared was worried about something and looking for some advice.
“Just relax bud; you’ll do great. Don’t be nervous, you’re a Staal, go out there and prove it to all of them,”
“Go kick some ass Jared; you’ll do great,” I spoke loudly, loud enough that I had no doubts that the youngest Staal had heard me. I knew that to be true when Jordan grinned.
“Yes J, that’s Cam… hey! I thought you phoned to talk to me! Well maybe he doesn’t want to talk to you,” I rolled my eyes at Jordan’s playful teasing before having the phone held out to me.
“Hello?” I felt awkward, but Jordan just sat back and took another drink of his orange juice.
“Hi! Wow, it’s so cool to actually get to talk to you! I watch both of yours and Jordan’s games; you seriously kicked ass last night!” I chuckled to myself; even though Jared was probably a year or two older than me when he got excited he rambled like a ten year old.
“Haha, thanks man! So what’s up? Big game coming up?” I asked.
“Yeah, we’re playing our division rivals, and last game against them I sucked,”
“I’m sure you weren’t that bad,” I insisted.
“No, I was. I was minus three, had eight penalty minutes and all of them were stupid penalties, and didn’t even get a shot on net,” he sighed, sounding defeated already.
“Well it’s a lesson learned then; go out there and show them what you’ve got,”
“But what if—”
“No what if’s; you go out there and show them why you’re there Jared. Dwelling on what happened last time is only gonna hurt you, and you know it. It’s kind of like that whole visualization thing. So go do something fun that you like to do, then do your game-day stuff, and then go out there tonight and kick their asses,” I told him, and heard Jordan laugh at me.
“Thanks Cam, that helped a lot,” he said, and I could hear the grin on the youngest Staal’s face.
“You’re welcome, now I’m gonna give the phone back to your brother; it was nice talking to you,”
“You too! We’ll have to hang out next time I’m up to see Jordy,”
“Sure, sounds good! Bye Jared,” I said, and handed the phone back to Jordan. They talked for a couple of minutes and hung up as the waitress brought us our food.
“He gets a little down sometimes; it was hard on him to not make the team again this year, he’s spent the most time in the minors out of all of us,” Jordan explained, and I nodded.
“Yeah, well that’s not saying much seeing as Marc was the only one who spent any time in the minors,” I rolled my eyes. Jordan laughed again, and I was glad he was in a much better mood this afternoon than he was last night.
“Damn these waffles are good,” he said a minute later, and I nodded, my mouth full.
“I know, way better than what I make,” I agreed, and Jordan coughed on his food for a second.
“What the hell? You can make waffles?” I nodded, my guard up now, “Is there anything you can’t make?”
“I dunno, haven’t found out yet,” I shrugged, not wanting to say much more on this topic for fear of making Jordan ask too many questions.
“Wow, you are gonna have to teach me how to cook now! Damn I wish I could make waffles, my mommy would be so proud,” he rolled his eyes and grinned at his last statement, making me crack a grin and join in.
“Careful, she’ll make an example of you to your brothers,” I warned him, and he shrugged.
“So what? I’ll be the most well-fed and the biggest hit with the ladies if I can cook,” he smirked, and I laughed out loud, causing a few people to look in our direction.
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh nothing, now shut up and eat the waffles you didn’t make,” I said, digging back into mine.