Better Than That

“Come on Jon, we have to get going.” I knocked on Jon’s hotel door. Tonight we were meeting Jon’s family and my family for dinner while we were in Buffalo. Tomorrow was game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals and the Blackhawks could sweep the Sabres with a win.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Jon opened up the door looking amazing as always.

“You’re 5 minutes late.” I angrily joked.

“Sorry but Kaner took forever primping for his family dinner.” Jon said completely serious and Pat appeared behind him.

“Hey you can’t mess with perfection.” Kaner said as we started walking towards the elevator.

“Exactly that’s why it only took me five minutes to get ready.” Jon chirped, which caused Kaner to shove him.

“Hey it’s cute that you want to impress your mom.” I told Kaner who blushed.

“Oh my god that’s it. You spent so much time getting ready just because you want your mothers approval.” Jon said shoving Kane.

“You know what, nothing is wrong with getting your mothers approval.” Pat defended himself.

“Mama’s boy” Jon coughed.

“That’s a good one, coming from a fully grown man, who calls his mom while shopping for clothes to get his mother’s approval.” I chipped in for Kane.

“Hey whose side are you on?” Jon said as we reached the lobby where our parents were.

“Didn’t you know Jayden doesn’t stay loyal?” Brayden asked still not over me rooting for Blackhawks over the Sabres.

“What do you mean not loyal?” came my cousins voice.

“Kerry what are you doing here?” I asked running over to my cousin and giving her the biggest hug.

“Brad and I took the next week off so we could be here and Chicago.” Kerry explained.

“You’re the best you know that right?” I asked her giving her another hug.

“So I have been told.” Kerry said just as Mrs. Toews walked over to us.

“Hi, Mrs. –“ she cleared her throat. “I mean hi, Andree.”

“Hi, Jayden dear.” She smiled at me.

“Andree, Bryan, and David, I would like you to meet my family.” I said before introducing her to everyone.

“Well let’s get to the restaurant now.” Grayson said.

“I like this guy.” David replied.

“Of course you do all you two ever think about is food.” I said as we made our way to the restaurant which was a short walk away.

“Hey we are growing boys.”

“You got that right, babe.” Kyle said.

“What do you mean by that?” Grayson asked seeing the insult in her statement.

“I mean you have packed on a few pounds and it’s not muscle.” Kyle said patting his stomach.

“But yet you still love me.” Grayson joked.

“I don’t know why.” She joked.

“Enough with this lovey dovey stuff, it’s time to eat.” Zander said.

~19~19~19~19~19~19~19~19

Dinner went really well. Especially since Jayden’s brothers aren’t exactly thrilled with me. Throughout the whole series they have kept giving me death glares every time I have been in the same room as them, however they have kept the glares to a minimal during dinner, while embarrassing stories of when Jayden and I were young.

Come to think about it her brothers were really quiet, and they are never quiet.

“Babe what’s wrong with you?” Jayden asked me as we strolled the streets of Buffalo.

“Have your brothers ever been that quiet before?” Jayden’s face wen t through multiple different expressions in just seconds before her face stayed in the worried expression.

“That’s not a look I like to see on your face hun. Tell me what you are thinking about.”

“Just the last time I saw my brothers this quiet was the night before my prom.” She said as we walked into my hotel room.

“Oo, I know that look, what’s wrong?” Kaner asked as soon as he saw us.

“It’s nothing.” I said quickly.

“That look doesn’t look like nothing.” Kaner pointed out giving me a very worried look.

“My brothers were just really quiet tonight.” Jayden told him.

“Your brothers were quiet? Has hell frozen over? Oh wait I think I just saw a pig fly past our window.” Kaner joked.

“That’s what worries me, the last time they were this quiet was the night before my prom.” Jayden told Pat what she just told me.

“And did anything happen on prom night?” I asked Jayden just nodded.

“Story time” Kaner sat up excitedly sitting up and crossing his legs.

“Well the only time I went to prom was my freshmen year with a senior, who happened to be my brothers best friend.” Jayden said.

“Ooo scandalous” Kaner said causing Jayden to throw a pillow at him.

“Any way, my brothers didn’t like the idea of me dating an older guy let alone go to prom with him so they came up with a plan the night before to make Jordan my date to get sick mid-way through, leaving me dateless. However their plan backfired when I took a sip out of Jordan’s fruit punch and got sick as well. My parents figured out what my brothers did and they were severely punished.”

“Why did this story make me more nervous? I questioned and Jayden just shrugged.

“Great I am going to have nightmares tonight.” Pat said.

“It wasn’t that bad.” Jayden defended her brothers.

“Says the girl who won’t be intentionally in the middle of the plans of trying to ruin our chances at winning the cup over their precious Sabres.” I responded.

“Oh babe quit your worrying they can be dumb but they are not idiots.”

“So you mean to say that they won’t do anything?” Kane asked the same question that I was thinking.

“No they will do something but it won’t be until after the series is over.” With Jayden saying that I visibly relaxed. “Well gentlemen it’s been fun but I have a job I must attend to so your equipment is perfect for tomorrow.”

“Alright babe, I love you.” I said kissing her goodbye as Kaner made gagging noises from his bed. A few minutes after Jayden left Kaner looked at me seriously.

“Yes Kaner?” I asked.

“Do you have everything ready for tomorrow?” he questioned.

“Yes, I confirmed everything earlier today.”

“Is that the real reason why her brothers were quiet today?” I looked at him unsure.

“I hope so but I am going to be extra cautious over the next few weeks.”

“Smart move.”

~19~19~19~19~19~19~19~19~19~19

I haven’t got to see Jayden all day. She has been really busy going through the equipment and making sure everything was perfect. The pressure that the players feel the equipment team is feeling it.

When I got to my locker I saw a note in it from Jayden.

Jonny,

Game 4. I know you are super nervous about tonight, I could tell all day yesterday you were really fidgety. However you have nothing to worry about. You will beast out there, just like you always do. All you have to do is relax and have fun playing your favorite game. No matter what happens in life I will love you forever.

Love,

Jayje

I looked up from the note and smiled. Warm ups were about to start and I gave Clinton the signal.

~19~19~19~19~19~19~19~19

“Jayden, Jon’s skate blade has fallen off and he won’t leave the bench to get it fixed. Do you think you can go out and fix it?” Clinton said running into the locker room with what looked like Sharpies helmet.

“Yeah sure.” I said grabbing the necessary tools to fix skates but when I got out of the tunnel Jon wasn’t sitting on the bench like Clinton said he was. Instead Jon was standing on the ice both skates perfectly fine. Behind him stood my five brothers all wearing Blackhawks jerseys.

“Who gave Jon a microphone?” I joked nervously at the team who were all sitting on the bench.

“Just get out there.” Seabs pushed me on to the ice.

“Jon what is this?” I asked him as soon as I got to him.

“Jayden, I know we haven’t known each other that long and for a while there I strongly disliked you. However I realized why I disliked you, it was because you were changing my life by just being in it. You were making it better without me realizing what you were actually doing. Then I fell in love with you, and I even fell in love with your family even though they are Sabres fans.” This caused the First Niagara center to burst into applause and the Sabre players to bang their sticks against the boards. “and they don’t like me because I am the enemy. But Jayden I can’t picture a day without you by my side. I vision my future and all I see is you.” Jon got down on one knee and pulled out a square box while my brothers turned around showing the words that were written on their backs.

Put all of the words together and it said ‘Jayden will you marry me Jayden?’

“Are you serious?” I asked.

“Do you know me? I am Captain Serious.” He joked back. “So will you Jayden Harris make me the happiest guy in the world and become my wife?”

“Of course I will” I smiled as he took the [url=http://www.polyvore.com/jayden_ring/set?id=48727785]ring out of the box and put it on my finger before he got up and wrapped me in a hug and kissed me passionately.

“I love you.”

“I love you too Jayje, forever and always.”

~19~19~19~19~19~19~19~19~19~19

When Jayden said yes my heart skipped a beat everything was perfect. There was only one thing that could make this night even more perfect and that was to win the Stanley Cup.

“Gentlemen, there isn’t much to say tonight. You all know what a win tonight would entail and if we lose you all know the importance of the next game. But why don’t we make the Captain’s day even better by winning the Cup tonight for him and Jayden.” Coach Q made his speech right before we were to take the ice.

I took the ice for what could be the last time this season I looked over at the bench and saw Jayden smiling brightly at me.

“You did good Jon.” Roy said as we got ready to take the face off.

“Thanks Roysie.” I smiled at my friend before the ref dropped the puck. Game on.

The entire game was very close. Kane scored a goal in the second to break the zero, zero tie. However a few minutes later Nathan Gerbe tied the game up again on a break a way going high glove side on Crawford.

The third period was a scoreless one however that doesn’t mean there weren’t any great scoring chances but both Ryan Miller and Cory Crawford came up big every time.

Now we were in the middle of the third overtime and every single player felt as if they were dead on their feet. However we would find some form of energy every time they set foot on the ice. With just five minutes left in the third overtime I got a pass from Kane and I headed on a break a way. I skated as fast as I my feet would take me toward the Miller, with Ville Leino right behind me. I knew this was the time, all I had to do was score. I shot the puck and watched it fly into the back of the net before I was smashed head first into the boards by Leino.

“That was an illegal hit man, what did you do that for?” I heard Miller yell at his teammate before speaking to me "Jon, Jon are you okay?" Then I went into darkness.