Northern Wind

Everyone was already situated in their seats on the plane by the time Jon and I arrived. Coach Q introduced me to the plane but didn't go through the paces of telling me who was who. But I knew I would get the hang of it with time, plus the roster had pictures if I ever needed to put a name to a players face.

Jonathan excused himself to talk to one of his teammates. I hadn't really expected him to sit with me but now I really didn't know where I was supposed to sit for this flight.

“You can sit with me if you want.”

Behind me was a man a few years older than myself with a Blackhawks baseball cap on and a friendly smile. “Duncan Keith,” He said sticking his hand out for me to shake. “Defence.”

I wasn't quite sure by what he meant by 'defence' but I decided I would probably find out so it would be stupid to ask. My hand reached the short distance to grasp his in a firm shake. “Stella Archambault and yeah, if you don't mind.”

“Well Stella, if you'll follow me please...”

Duncan stepped past me and I walked behind him towards the back of the plane. I received various greetings and welcomes by various players and staff. The number of men that filled this flight was overwhelming. I saw perhaps four or five women so at least I wasn't completely suffocating in testosterone. We passed Jon who was chatting with someone I recognized from the Starbucks that time I split my tea on Jon. He was the one that called me hot.

Duncan Keith moved into the window seat and I sat down gently beside him, the aisle and two other guys were on my left. I pulled off my parka and that left me with just a sweater. It was a bit chilly on the plane but we were only going to be in the air for a couple hours and I had an extra layer in my carry on. My cell phone started playing some stupid Usher song that Travis was obsessed with. I quickly picked up my phone to avoid any weird glances as to why my phone was suddenly blasting my need to make love in this club.

“Remind me again why I let you touch my phone?” I asked him because it was him that changed the ring tone in the first place and I didn't know how to change it back.

“Because I have impeccable music tastes and Usher is a God.”

“No that's not it at all Trav.”

“Whatever. I'm guessing you're about to take off?” He asked me.

“Yeah I'm sitting on the plane now.” I told him, crossing my legs in the limited room I had in front of me. “We get back on the 28th by the way. There's some microwaves dinners in the freezer and left over soup in there as well so you don't starve while I'm gone.”

“Oh thank you. I was beginning to worry. Anyways, I just wanted to wish you luck and if you ever get into trouble I'm just a phone call and a flight away.”

There he went again, being a perfect friend.

“Thank you Travis. Honestly, I don't know what I'd do without you.”

“I love you Stellar.”

“I love you too Trav.”

We hung up and I turned my phone off to prepare for take off. On the other side of the aisle there was a handsome man with slightly tanned skin and nicely trimmed scruff. He had on a pair of large headphones but the ear closest to me was uncovered and there was a crooked smile on his face.

“Boyfriend?” He questioned, leaning on his arm rest and moving closer to me.

I shook my head a little but too aggressively. Travis and I dating wasn't even something that was considered to the people that knew us, or knew that he was a bisexual who has been with more guys than I have.

“Best friend.”

“Ahh.” He nodded his head mindlessly, perhaps going along to the beat of the music he was listening to. “Well I'm—”

“Hey! Stella ella ola!”

The one that Jonathan had been talking to was now standing up and yelling to me. I could see Jon sitting beside him, his head ducked and his hand over his eyes in embarrassment for loud friend.

“Five minutes and you already have a nickname for her?” Duncan Keith yelled back from beside me.
“Give her a break Kaner.”

“Five minutes? We've met before, haven't we Stella?” The one called Kaner winked at me and I blushed. The blush probably didn't give reassuring thoughts to the rest of the team about how we'd met.

“She looks to smart to deal with your shit.” Called the man who was sitting on the other side of the one who was about to tell me his name.

Kaner or Pat just shrugged and sat down in his seat beside Jon. The captain looked back to me and mouthed something that looked like 'sorry'. He shouldn't be sorry. The attention made me a little uncomfortable. Carine got everyone's attention by just walking into a room. The only reason that I was getting any was because I was new. Sure we both looked the same, but she had the flair and the confidence to do whatever she pleased, talk to whoever she wanted. She was basically my backbone and the only way I made friends over the years excluding Travis of course. Travis was older than me by four years but we have been close since I started to talk.

“Well as I was saying,” The man across the aisle continued. “My name is Viktor Stalberg.”

“And I'm Patrick Sharp.”

“Troy Brouwer.”

“Nick Leddy.”

“Brent Seabrook!”

I just sat there awkwardly as a few of the guys seated around me and Duncan started firing off their names in rapid succession. My mouth was probably open a little too because I didn't know how to respond.

“Umm... Nice to meet you all.”

There were a variety of responses but none of which I heard clearly. I felt the plane start up and I gripped the arm rest of my seat tightly. Flying wasn't my forte. I didn't like the thought nor the feeling of being in a plane. I preferred my feet firmly planted on solid ground. But flying was something I'd have to get used to by taking this job. Our first stop was Edmonton. I'd never been to Alberta before and I wanted to take a look around and perhaps go around and check out some places but I wasn't payed to be a tourist, I was travelling there to do my job.

I fell asleep for an hour or so right after the plane got into the sky. The loss of feeling in the arm I was resting my head on was what woke me up.

“He met her in some Starbucks awhile ago I guess. Kaner saw her once too. Remember him chirping Toews for getting shut down by some smoking hot purple haired chick? Kind of weird that she ended up working here.”

Viktor and the person directly in front of me were engaged in a conversation and didn't seem to notice that I was awake.

“Seabrook, I don't think his little crush is the reason she got hired.” Viktor laughed.

“No no. That's not what I meant by it.” Seabrook quickly corrected himself. There was a brief pause.
“He totally just looked back here again.”

“Probably keeping an eye on the likes of you.”

“Me? What about you?”

Their little comment about Jon having a crush on me made me blush, but I believed it was an exaggeration, or an assumption. Sure we had met before, and I had arrived tot he airport with him but it wasn't a crush. He was just courteous. Before I felt even worse about eavesdropping I decided to let them know that I was still sitting right beside them by yawning dramatically, arms up and all. Both of them quickly glanced towards me and shifted in their seats.

“So Stella...” Duncan said from my right. “Where are you from?”

“Toronto.”

“Not a Leaf's fan I hope.” He winked.

I was ridiculously thankful about the fact that the Maple Leafs were one of the only hockey teams I actually knew existed.

“No, my family isn't big on sports in general.” I said letting my embarrassment of not knowing much about sports so through a little in my voice.

“Well you'll be a hardcore Blackhawks fan soon, I promise.”

I knew he was right. It was hard not to like the sense of family that came with being around all these people on the plane. Everyone was interacting in some way or form. As a new comer of just this morning I already felt welcome.

Two more hours passed and we were set to land in twenty minutes. Duncan had passed out with his headphones in so I kept busy with idle chatter with Viktor and his seatmate Patrick Sharp, or Sharpy he's asked me to call him to avoid confusion with Patrick 'Kaner' Kane. I was glad that they could talk more than I could, but still managed to include me in the conversation. I had my body turned towards Viktor and Sharpy but I got a whole view of anyone sitting in the aisle seats so I couldn't help but notice like Seabrook had that someone kept looking back towards me.

That someone was Jonathan Toews.