Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me

“Eric always gets like this before a game too. Just loosen up, it’s all for fun remember,” she said and I nodded, offering her a smile.

“Yeah, I can’t help it sometimes, you know? It’s still like I’m a kid, and I’m just pumped to get on the ice,” I explained, and Lindsay grinned.

“God you and Marc really should play on the same team, he gets like that EVERY game. He’s always so excited to just get out there, it’s amazing. You think a person would get bored eventually, like with any other job,” she said, but I shook my head.

“No, I don’t think I could ever get bored or lose that. It’s the one thing I love to do, it’s been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember, and nothing equals it.”

“It must be what people who sing or play music for a living feel like too,” Tanya decided before eating some more of her supper.

“It’s just part of you, it’s something that grows and changes with you and it’s something you can’t give up,” I told them, and they both nodded.

“That’s so cool, so many people don’t get to do something like that for a career,” Lindsay sighed, and both of us girls nodded. We soon finished our meals and headed back to the hotel. This time the conversation flowed easily and readily, and we were still talking when we walked into their hotel rooms to drop off the dresses before going to their in-laws room.

“About time you three got back!” Jordan said when we were in Henry and Linda’s room.

“Sorry, we had trouble finding dresses,” Lindsay rolled her eyes at him, and I just shrugged.

“So you two took Cam with you to find new dresses?” Marc asked, and I couldn’t tell if he was a little miffed or worried, his expression was stone-solid.

“Yeah, the boy has good tastes; we saw the dress he picked out for Becka,” she rolled her eyes again before planting a kiss on her husband.

“Don’t worry, you’ll love it Marc,” Tanya assured him, and Eric smirked a little bit as Marc’s ears turned a little pink and he lost his stony demeanor to press a kiss to his wife’s temple as his hand caressed her baby bump.

“Cam?”

“Picked it with you in mind,” I told him, and Jared chuckled to himself while Jordan elbowed him to keep him quiet. Marc perked up slightly though, a slight glint in his eyes as he raised an eyebrow.

“Really?”

“Yup,” I replied, sitting down next to Jordan. Moments later Parker had crawled into my lap, which made me grin.

“Hey bud,” I said as he gave me a hug.

“Unca Cam!” he crowed, before kissing my cheek. I couldn’t help but laugh, the little guy was so adorable.

“Ready for the game?” I asked, and he nodded. I ruffled his hair, which made him giggle and playfully swat at me before he looked up at me again.

“You weady?” he asked in return.

“You bet; by the way, I think I need to go put my suit on,” I said, noticing I was the only one of us four playing that wasn’t already in a suit.

“Yes! Goodness Cam you better hurry,” Linda ushered me out of the room. For once I was glad I didn’t have long hair to worry about; I changed into my suit – my Under Armor underneath my dress shirt, and only had to put a little of Jordan’s gel in my hair to spike it up slightly before brushing my teeth and returning to where the Staals were, tying my tie as I walked back in the door.

“You can tie your own tie?” Tanya asked, and I nodded.

“Yeah,”

“You must be the first guy I’ve seen who knows how to do that,” she laughed, while the four Staals looked a little put out.

“Tan,” Eric whined, and Parker looked confused.

“What wong?”

“Mom’s making fun of me,” he said, and all Parker did was giggle. Eric playfully pouted, sticking his lip out, which nearly made his son go into hysterics, before nuzzling his face against his dad’s neck. Levi was awake and content, taking everything in while his grandmother held him.

“Well, we better get going,” Henry decided, and we all filed out. I texted Becka to see what was going on, and she replied that she was going to go to the game with Sidney and Neal, and we would all meet outside and go in together – that way Becka didn’t have to deal with any media about showing up with Sid.

Jared hopped in with Jordan and I, and immediately started chattering away at me. I relaxed completely, and Jordan reached over and held my hand.

“Come on, do you two have to be couple-y around me?” Jared whined, and I laughed.

“Consider yourself privileged; you’re one of the extreme few who we can be a couple around,” Jordan informed him, and Jared snorted, although it was obvious he was a little proud that he was one of the few who knew about my secret.

“So how was dress shopping?” Jared asked a few seconds later, hoping to make more conversation in case we got even more ‘couple-y’ on him.

“Painful; I hate shopping,” I told him, and he laughed at me. “But it was really good, although I was in for a surprise.”

“What’s that?” he asked, and I felt Jordan stiffen beside me. He’d said he’d had a funny feeling about the girls asking me to go shopping, but he hadn’t known why.

“Well, in the car they asked whether I was a girl or we were gay,” I said, and Jordan nearly hit the brakes while Jared’s mouth hung open in shock.

“WHAT?” was their collective response.

“You heard me; they knew something was up, Tanya had kind of guessed it, but she wasn’t sure,” I said, and Jordan relaxed moments later.

“So they know?”

“Yeah, I couldn’t lie to them,” I whispered, and felt him squeeze my hand reassuringly. He knew how awful I felt about not telling the rest of his family the truth.

“Well, that…” he started, wanting to make conversation but not sure what to say. I nodded, knowing what he was feeling and not needing words.

“Changes things,” Jared finished, surprising me. Jared had seemed to immediately take to the idea – after he’d got over the original shock – but now it seemed as if he was taking it upon himself to be my ‘big brother’, where he was deeming it necessary. That had included giving Jordan the whole ‘break her heart I break you’ speech, which to be honest had only made his older brother laugh. Until Jared punched him in the stomach for good measure so Jordy knew he was being serious. I’d laughed when he told me about it yesterday, but I was glad for Jared’s friendship.

“A little, but they said they understand about not telling anybody,” I pointed out, to which both boys nodded. They had both fallen quiet and then shared a look through the rearview mirror.

“Yeah, I will,” Jared said moments later, and Jordan relaxed completely again. I looked between the two Staal’s, waiting for an explanation, and then finally Jared noticed I was a little lost.