Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me

"Hello? Earth to Bates?" I jumped slightly as I realized I'd been completely zoned out.

"Huh? What?" everybody at the table was laughing, adding to my embarrassment.

"We were just wondering what you wanted to eat," Becka said, pointing to the waitress who was also trying not to laugh at me.

"Oh, shit, I'm sorry, uh… do you remember what I wanted to order?" I asked her, not having a clue.

"He'll have the chicken fettuccini alfredo with an extra slice of garlic toast," she said, and after the waitress left I did remember having wanted that.

"Thank you," she shrugged it off, going back to talking with Torrie.

"Wow, are you always this spacey?" Jordan asked.

"No, I don't know what was wrong with me there," I shook my head, getting a few more laughs.

"Who knows, one of those days?" Sid suggested, and I nodded.

"I guess so, yeah," I grinned, and this time made a point of joining in the conversation until our food came. I'd never been one to talk around my food, so I stayed quiet, much to the surprise of Torrie and Marc's girlfriend Amy.

"Becka, where on earth did you find him?" Amy asked, and I raised an eyebrow at her, having just put more food in my mouth and not wanting to talk.

"Huh?"

"Look at him, and look at the rest of them," she said, and even I noticed the way the guys shoveled their food and talked while doing so. I wasn't eating as politely as Becka, Torrie and Amy were, but my eating style was a lot closer to theirs than my teammates.

"Just lucky I guess," she grinned, and I felt my cheeks turn red as I pushed some noodles around my plate with my fork.

"Damn, if you were single, I was younger and didn't have Marc," she shook her head, laughing with everybody else as I choked on a mouthful of water.

"Poor kid! Amy look what you did to him," Jordan complained, reaching over and thumping me on the back, which I'll admit did help.

"Sorry Cam," she apologized.

"No, no, it's fine," I coughed out, and then took a careful sip of my water.

"You do know I was just teasing you, right Cam?" Amy asked a moment later, sounding a little concerned.

"Of course Amy, don't worry about it. Just caught me off guard is all," I assured her, and she nodded, finally going back to eating her food. After we'd all finished eating everybody except Becka and I asked for a drink; the guys all having beer while Torrie and Amy opted for wine instead.

"Come on Cam; a beer isn't gonna hurt," Jordan pushed, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"It'll be fine Cam; these guys have all been drinking in here since they were drafted," Amy seconded, and finally I relented, letting Jordan order me a beer.

"Plus Cam, it's American beer; it's lighter than the stuff back home," Becka reminded me, and I chuckled. I've never been a beer drinker.

"Why? Worried about being a lightweight Bates?" Max asked jokingly, but his words had a slightly cutting undertone to them.

"Nah, more worried about my mom catching wind of something online and phoning me to give me shit," I sheepishly admitted, getting laughs out of everyone at the table.

"You're a good kid, but nobody will rat you out here, don't worry," Sid grinned, and if even Sid was okay with it I figured I wouldn't get in any trouble.

"So Max, gonna come to the rink with us tomorrow?" Sid asked a moment later, and Max just shrugged.

"C'est possible; who is gonna be there?" Max asked in reply.

"Uh, me, Staalsy, Tanger, Marc, Brent, Neal, Matt, Brooks, and Cam are you coming?" he asked.

"Uh sure; I'm not doing anything," I nodded, and Sid gave me a nod of approval.

"And Cam, so you in?"

"Maybe for a little while, yes," Max said, and somehow I got the feeling that he didn't like me very much; after the initial meeting where he'd seemed to approve he'd kind of avoided talking to me and now his playful and joking comments were getting a little harsh when they were directed at me.

"This will be fun," Sid seemed genuinely excited; Max had been one of his closest friends on the team last year, and according to what the guys said he'd taken Max's move to Philly pretty hard.

"I'll come pick you up on my way there; your place is on the way and then you can learn where it is," Jordan offered.

"Thanks," I was grateful; I couldn't imagine the fun I would have getting lost in Pittsburgh; it's too big.

"Becka, what are you doing tomorrow?" Amy asked, and she shrugged.

"I'll probably just finish moving everything in and getting settled, nothing too big," she answered.

"You should come over! We're gonna have everybody who's out at the rink over for dinner; you can come and spend the day and we can go shopping or just hang out or whatever, if you want to," Amy suggested, and Becka nodded enthusiastically.

"That sounds like a lot of fun; thank you!"

"I'll be right back," I said, excusing myself from the table. I had to go use the washroom, and while I still found it weird walking into the men's room I just made sure to watch the ground as I walked. As per usual there wasn't anybody in there, something I seemed to have a knack for, my timing was great for avoiding anything awkward in a bathroom.

"Seriously? They didn't wanna resign me for him?" I stopped in my tracks as I heard Max speak.

"You should see this kid play Max! He's amazing," Jordan insisted.

"Still, I've been here six fucking years and they don't want to re-sign me so they can sign some pipsqueak who's gonna get crushed in his first game? I'm sure he's a nice kid but fuck," he continued, sounding angry. Had they opted against resigning Max to look for a new younger player? But they hadn't known I was even going to try out until a few weeks ago; he'd signed with Philly long before that.

"Max, seriously; no one even knew this kid was trying out until a week or so before Wilkes-Barre's tryouts; they didn't choose him over you," Sid quietly argued, not wanting to stir things up but trying to defend me.

"Whatever. Where's he playing?"

"He's playing wing for me," Jordan answered, and I gulped.

"So what, is he like that Jeff Skinner kid? First year in and playing with the big shots? Kid can't afford a big ego," he sneered.

"Can you just drop it Max? It's not his fault you're playing for Philly now, so why be mean to him? Jordan asked, and I figured it was time to walk back to the table before they really started to argue.

"Hey, sorry about that," I said as I approached the table. As I expected all conversation died immediately, and then I realized Torrie and Becka weren't there, and Amy was looking like she wished she wasn't.

"They ran to the bathroom," Sid explained. I nodded, sitting down and taking a sip of my beer. There was awkward silence for a while, until Becka and Torrie returned.

"Well, I think we're gonna head home," Jordan announced a few minutes later, even though Torrie looked less than pleased with his decision.

"Well then we're heading out too; Jordan and Torrie gave us a ride here. Nice to meet you Amy, Max," I said, shaking both of their hands and making a point to smile at Max as nicely as I could.

"You too. See you tomorrow," he nodded, and after saying goodbye to Sidney and Marc we left.

"Jordy, are you okay?" Torrie asked a minute later, when we were walking over to his Cadillac.

"Yeah. I'm fine," was his gruff response, taking Torrie by surprise and letting me know he was seriously not okay. I figured I'd try to ease it out of him; he'd probably feel better after getting it off his chest.

"Max doesn't like me, does he?" I asked, and Jordan stopped short, waiting a moment to turn around and face me, obviously trying to form an answer.

"No, that's not true,"

"Come on, every time I turned around he was taking a little jab at me. What'd I ever do to him?" I pushed, and he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"He thinks he didn't get re-signed with the Pens because of you," he said, and I tried to look surprised even though I knew this. "Even though he signed with Philly long before you were in the picture. It's really stupid, and he shouldn't be taking his disappointment out on you."

"Oh, o-okay," I said, acting just as I had when I'd taken Neal's spot on Jordan's line. When that had happened I had felt guilty and sad, but I had no sympathy for Max; I mean, yeah it sucked, a lot, but the Pittsburgh Penguins had never heard of me, so how could I have taken his place? I'm playing wing for god's sake!

"Don't let it bother you Cam; he's just spouting off because he's upset, you didn't do anything wrong," Jordan quickly cut in, and I nodded after a moment.

"Okay, if you say so,"

"No, I know so. He'll get over it, maybe not for a while but he will get over it. Don't worry; I'll watch your back when we play Philly just in case he tries to be tough or something equally as stupid and take it out on you,"

"Thanks Jordan," I forced a small grin for him, and he gave me a pat on the back before moving to get in the car.

"What took you guys so long?" Torrie asked from the backseat, although it was evident that her and Becka had been preoccupied talking and it hadn't really mattered.

"Just had to talk about something; no biggie," Jordan told her, and she nodded. Becka gave me a questioning look, and I nodded.

"No biggie; I promise," I said, and after a few more moments of her intense stare she seemed to believe me.

"Did you guys wanna come in for a bit?" I offered when Jordan pulled into the parking space beside my Alero.

"No, I think we better head home. Some other time we'll take you up on it," he said with a grin.

"All right; have a good night guys, see you tomorrow," I waved, heading upstairs with Becka and into our apartment.

"So what's up?"

"Max doesn't like me because he thinks I'm the reason he didn't get to re-sign with Pittsburgh," I sighed, and she laughed.

"Wow, that's shallow of him! He signed with Philly long before the Penguins even knew you existed. He can go shove it up his ass," she snorted, pulling off her high heels.

"Yeah, which is great until we have to play them and he has a vendetta out against me," I acknowledged, and she raised an eyebrow.

"Jordan will have your back though, right?"

"Of course; it's Jordan," I grinned.

"Well then Max would be an idiot to make you a marked man; Jordan could kick his ass any day of the week," she decided and I couldn't help but laugh.

"True, true. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm wiped,"

"Yeah, same here. See you in the morning!" she said, heading into her room and shutting the door. Once I was in my bedroom and had changed I all but collapsed onto the bed; asleep before my head even hit the pillow.