Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me

When the week of the All-Star game break came, I was relieved. The past few games had been hard on me, and I knew it was about time to get a rest. Dan had been reluctant to give me a ‘maintenance day’, knowing the media and Pittsburgh fans would go crazy over it and the speculations would get ridiculous.

And I’d had enough of the media going crazy over me. When I’d somehow passed Sid for about a week for having the second most points in the league it was weird how I got congratulated and hugged and asked for pictures and autographs and had people yelling at me from across the street wherever I went. I hardly left my apartment, and had maybe purposefully had a few pointless games to let Sid reclaim his lead before going back to work on the scoring. I’d told Dan I wanted to make sure I was holding my own on the defensive end of my game, and while he’d accepted my excuse the look on his face told me he knew exactly why I’d done what I did. And he hadn’t given me shit for not being able to handle the reaction to it. For a rookie to come out of nowhere, not even having been drafted, and do this well was basically unheard of.

“Ready to go?” Jordan asked, knocking on my door. The three of us had the same flight to Ottawa, so Jordan had offered to drive us to the airport.

“Yeah, thanks,” I nodded, pressing a quick kiss to his lips on my way through the door past him.

“No problem,” was all he said. I knew he was upset because I still hadn’t agreed to meet his family, but I also knew my resolve was waning faster than I could keep myself in check.

“Thanks Staal,” Becka repeated as we walked out to his car.

“No problem Becka; it’s not like I’m going out of my way,” he rolled his eyes at her. Why she’d decided to call him Staal instead of Jordan I didn’t know, but it got pretty funny sometimes.

When we got to the airport we met up with Sid, Neal and Tanger, who were also playing this weekend. We somehow all managed to book seats on the same flight and in the same section, so this would make the flight short and fun. We’d hardly settled into our seats when the guys pulled out their PSP’s, and while they couldn’t play online against each other like they did on team flights, they were all engrossed in their games. I, on the other hand, was struggling to stay awake.

“Cam, buddy, you okay over there?” Neal asked, and I shook myself.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good,” I rubbed my eyes and yawned, making the guys chuckle.

“Damn, do you sleep anymore?” Sid asked, and I nodded.

“Yeah, it’s just that I’ve kind of needed a bit of a break, but Dan and I had talked about a maintenance day and both agreed too much shit would hit the fan if I wasn’t there,” I sighed. Especially after the list of injuries I already had after playing part of one season.

“Shit, they should’ve just said that there was a family emergency or something and let you have a few days off,” Sid told me, and I shrugged. It was too late for that now, but if I got burnt out later in the season I would try that.

“You should get some sleep Cam, I’ll let you know when we get there,” Jordan told me, and I nodded, leaning my head against Becka’s, who was already sleeping with her head on my shoulder. She’d claimed the window seat, even though I knew she’d fall asleep before I would. So I put one headphone in and turned on my iPod before drifting off.