Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me

Fifteen minutes later Jared’s cell phone started ringing, and when he answered we soon found out it was Eric, because we could hear Parker excitedly babbling away in the background. Apparently Eric was going to come and pick up Jared, and since Jordan was there him as well.

“Well, at least now I know what’s going on,” Jared said, taking another drink of his coffee. He seemed pretty chill; one of those people where everything just rolls off of him and doesn’t affect him. I would have believed it too had I not known about what he’d put himself through because of hockey.

“Hey guys,” Eric called as he walked into the Tim Horton’s, an eager Parker on his heels.

“Unca Jordy! Unca Jay!” Parker crowed, bolting over towards us to be fawned over by his uncles.

“Hey little man! How are you?” Jordan asked, picking him up to give him a hug. Parker giggled, holding onto him tightly.

“Good Unca Jordy!” he replied, before reaching for Jared to receive a hug from him as well.

“Hey buddy!” Jared grinned, ruffling his hair as he gave the little boy a hug. Parker grinned before planting a kiss on his cheek, making Jared’s grin grow.

“Hey! Park where was my kiss?” Jordan asked, pretending to pout and making Parker crawl back over to him to do as he was asked. It was adorable how they acted around the little boy, both of them vying for every moment of his attention.

“Hey guys, how are you?” Eric asked when he finally made his way over to us, having got a coffee and doughnut for himself and some juice and a cookie for his son.

“Good,” was the general reply.

“Oh, Becka, this is Eric; Eric this is Becka Falls, Cam’s best friend,” Jordan quickly introduced them, and Eric shook her hand, making Becka blush, much to my amusement. Eric was good looking – as were the rest of the Staal brothers – but I didn’t know she’d found him that good looking.

“Nice to meet you,” she said, her voice soft and quiet, and from the corner of my eye I saw Sid’s jaw clench slightly. He still asked about Becka constantly, and he’d been extremely excited when I’d told him Becka was coming with me to the All Star Game. Now if only he’d get his head out of his ass and ask her out, because Becka got a lot of attention from other guys, and eventually she was going to say yes to one of them.

“Nice to meet you too; I’m glad you could come up and watch,” he told her, and then sat down on her other side where there was an empty chair.

“Hey little man, this is my friend Cam,” Jordan introduced us, and Parker didn’t even hide behind his uncle as I’d expected. I’d met Eric twice when we’d played them, but I’d never got to meet the notorious Parker Lucas Staal that all of the Staals talked so much about. I had yet to meet Tanya too, but Lindsay had assured me that we would get along amazingly; apparently Tanya couldn’t believe that I could cook and bake, and wondered how Jordy had found a friend like me. Lindsay had laughed as she told me this, saying that if she’d known there were men out there who could cook and bake like I could she would’ve held out before getting married. We’d killed ourselves laughing, while Marc had paled slightly. She’d insisted she was kidding, and it was obvious she was head over heels for Marc, but when she’d left to get us something to drink Marc had quietly asked if I could teach him how to cook something. Of course I’d told him yes, and Jordan had piped up that he wanted in on it too. So when the Rangers came down to play us next month I was apparently going to teach the two Staals how to cook.

I chuckled at the memory, and then at just how much Parker looked like his father and uncles as the little boy happily waved at me.

“Hey Parker, nice to meet you,” I said, and he held his hands out so I’d pick him up and sit him on my knee.

“You too. You pway hockey with Unca Jordy?” he asked, and I nodded.

“Sure do; we play on the same line,” I told him, and he giggled, clapping excitedly.

“Can I go skate wif you? Daddy teach me how to skate,” he said, and Eric just chuckled.

“He’s been on the ice a couple of times,” he explained, and I nodded.

“Sure, you could come skating with us,” I said, and he flung himself at me for a hug.

“Yay! I gon’ go skate!” he cheered, and we all laughed at how adorable he was. He eyed my muffin hungrily, so I broke off a piece and handed it to him.

“Yum, tank you,” he said, and Eric immediately pushed the cookie and juice over to our side of the table, as Parker seemed to have made himself comfortable on my lap.

“Thirsty?” I asked, and he nodded, carefully taking the juice and being mindful to not spill it. Eric, Jordan, Jared and Becka were all talking, Eric looking over every once in a while to make sure Parker was behaving himself. Sid sat there, broodingly quiet, and I suspected it was because Becka and Eric seemed to hit it off quite well. Not that he’d ever have to worry; Eric was happily married and Becka was head over heels for Sid, but it was amusing to see him this worked up about it.

“Well we better get going; mom and dad will be wondering what’s taking so long,” Eric said as he stood up about ten minutes later. We decided that we’d meet up with Jordy, Jared and possibly Marc and Eric later at the hotel, and as Eric went to pick up his son Parker let out a cry and buried his face against me.

“No daddy no!” he whined, and I was surprised. I mean he’d taken well to me but I didn’t think he’d liked me quite that much.

“Don’t you wanna go with daddy and your uncles?” I asked. Parker violently shook his head, not easing up on his grip on my t-shirt or moving his face away from me.

“No! Me wanna stay wif Unca Cam,” he objected, and while I could see it pained Eric to do so he picked his son up and began to carry him out of the airport, as Parker began to cry and nearly scream. That put a damper on the smile he’d had and the laugh he’d let out when his son referred to me as an uncle.

“Sorry Cam, I’ve never seen him like this,” Eric apologized, but I shrugged him off. Kids were kids, and things were a bigger deal when you were that young.

“See you guys later,” I waved to Jared and Eric, and I knew Jordan wanted to talk to me as he hung back but we knew it wasn’t the time. Instead moments after they were out the door my phone buzzed as I received a text.

‘You have no idea how amazing it is to watch you with Parker’ it said, nearly making me blush.

‘He’s a great kid’ I replied as we waited on a taxi to take us to the hotel.

‘He doesn’t take to new people all that well. He really likes you.’ Jordan insisted, making me smile.

‘Well that’s good then’

“Really good.’ he replied, making me grin to myself just a little bit as a taxi pulled up in front of us.