The Middle

I woke up the next day still frazzled over Pat’s words the night before.

Go have fun with your boyfriend…

I was wondering if Ryan said anything more about Jordan to him. I was hoping on the negative, but I couldn’t be sure until I asked Ryan about it. After seeing Ryan interact with Pat, I felt so guilty for bringing another man into Ryan’s life. I was really happy whenever I was with Jordan, but I knew that it would come down to me making a choice. I would have to choose between the man who makes me happy or the man who makes my little brother, my whole world, happy. It was an inner battle I would be having myself for quite some time.

I wanted to confront Ryan about his time with Pat in the locker room after the game, but I didn’t want to make him upset. So when he woke up, I tried a slow approach, hoping he wouldn’t catch on to how much this is irritating me.

“Hey buddy, how’d you sleep?”

He rubbed his eyes and gave me a sleepy smile.

“Good, I hope Pat comes today. I miss him coming to visit me.”

I gave him a small smile, all the while thinking to myself this might be easier than I thought, then Ryan spoke again.

“Claire, I’m sorry for what I said last night. I just missed Pat.”

I begun to feel a little guilty for not letting him go have ice cream with Pat, but I stood my ground.

“Ryan, I understand you miss Pat, and I told you he’d still be your friend. You can’t put me in the middle like that, though. Also, you didn’t have to mention that I have a boyfriend, which I don’t. I went on one date with Jordan, that doesn’t mean that he’s my boyfriend. Do we like each other? Yeah, but we’re not rushing anything, especially with the fact that we’ll only be in Pittsburgh for the next 2 weeks.”

Ryan slowly nodded his head.

“But can Pat come visit me today?”

I hesitated before answering.

“I’m not sure, buddy. I think Jordan said he wants to take us to the zoo. He also has some surprises for you.”

Ryan gave me a small smile.

“Oh. Okay. Well can I at least call Pat?”

I smiled and nodded.

“Of course you can.”

Ryan’s face broke out with a huge grin as he hopped off his bed.

“Awesome. You call him now, I’m just going to quickly go into the bathroom.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but Ryan was already in the bathroom with the door closed. I knew if I didn’t have Pat on the phone by the time he came out, he would not be a happy camper. I pulled out my phone and dialed the number. After two rings, Pat answered.

“Hello?” He sounded like he was still half-asleep.

“Sorry, did I wake you?”

“Claire? Uh.. um…no. I’m awake. Uhh.. what’s up? Is Ryan alright?”

“Ryan’s okay. He’s great actually. He asked me to phone you.”

“Oh, what did he want me to talk to you about?”

“Oh, no. He wants to talk to you, he just asked me to dial the number. He’s just coming out of the bathroom now.”

I heard him chuckle lightly. “Oh, okay. Well, do you want me to patiently wait in silence or….?”

I still wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to say to him. Thankfully, he spoke again, allowing me to keep my thoughts to myself.

“So, I was thinking. I wanted to come by and play some video games with Ryan for a little bit today before I went back to Chicago. Is that okay or does he have treatment?”

“No, he doesn’t have treatment today---“

I couldn’t finish telling Pat that Jordan was coming to take Ryan and I to the zoo, before Ryan grabbed the phone from my hand. I watched how Ryan spoke happily with Pat through the phone.

“You’re coming over today? That’s awesome!!”

Ryan looked over at me with a huge smile on his face. Well, I couldn’t say no now, could l?

Once Ryan hung up the phone, he tackled me with a huge hug.

“Oh, Claire thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!”

I couldn’t help but giggle at his excitement. After all the dust settled, and all the smoke cleared, all I wanted was Ryan to be happy. If Pat coming to visit, regardless of how awkward things were now between us, made him happy, then so be it.

“You’re welcome, buddy. I hope you and Pat have fun today.”

Ryan smiled, in which I gladly gave him one of my own in return.

“I think we will, you’re gonna stay with us, right?”

I was just about to answer him as my phone went off. I saw that it was Jordan. A smile appeared on my face. I put a finger up to Ryan and stood up. He knew what that meant, smirked and pointed to the door. I left the room with a chuckle and picked up my phone.

“Hey.”

“Hey, did you get a good sleep?”

I smiled. “Yea, I did actually. What’s up?”

“Well, I was still hoping to take you and Ryan to the zoo. Is he awake yet?”

I hesitated for a few seconds. “Uhh… yea he’s awake, but he has company coming over today.”

I could’ve sworn I heard him growl before speaking again.

“Patrick Kane?”

Now, I was sure he growled before he said that. He snarled Pat’s name through the phone.

“Yes, it’s Pat. But hey, that doesn’t mean that I have to stay here. You and I can still do something.”

I was hoping that would change his mood a bit.

“Yea, I guess. I was hoping to get to spend some time with Ryan today, but I’ll take alone time with you. I mean, I guess that’s okay.”

Hearing him laugh brought a smile to my face. I was afraid that he was going to be so jealous that Pat was coming to see Ryan that he was going to give up on me.

“Gee, so glad to know that my company is so well appreciated. So what shall we do today?”

“Well, there’s always the zoo.”

I smiled. As much as I was looking forward to taking Ryan there, it would be nice to go with just Jordan. I have always heard great things about the Pittsburgh Zoo, and was hoping to get a chance to see it.

“The zoo sounds great.”

“Great. I’ll pick you up around 3.”

Jordan and I shared goodbyes, I hung up the phone, then walked back into Ryan’s room. I skipped over to Ryan’s bed and jumped down beside him.

“So, what time is Pat coming over?”

Ryan looked up to me with his eyebrow raised.

“You’re going out with Jordan, aren’t you?”

I couldn’t hide my smile. Ryan laughed out loud at me.

“It’s cool, Pat and I can have fun without you. He’ll be here around 3.”

I may have stuck my tongue out at him, but inside, I was freaking out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Around 2:50… Pat’s POV

I walked into the hospital with a smile on my face. I thought of just the right words to say to Claire when I saw her. I wanted her to know that I did care for her, and that I wanted her to be with me. Seeing her with Jordan after the game made me sick to my stomach. I knew I may have come across as pissy to Claire. I wasn’t mad at her. At all. I was mad at myself, for giving up the chance to ask her out.

Walking towards the elevator, I noticed I wasn’t the only person waiting. I took a second glance at the person and saw that it was the last person I wanted to see.

“Staal.”

He nodded at me, but responded in the same manner.

“Kane. I know that you’re here to visit Ryan. I’m just here to pick up Claire.”

I shook my head and scoffed.

“Wow, couldn’t leave her alone with me for more than two seconds, can you?”

We walked into the elevator and he towered over me.

“Listen Kane, I don’t want to argue with you in front of Claire, but know this one thing. If I see you looking at her the way with your usual play toys, I will have your head. Understand?”

I scoffed. “Really? Are you serious right now? Did Claire not tell you that we have, like the two of you, been on one date?”

His eyes grew wide.

“You’re lying.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Wow, she didn’t tell you anything about me, did she?”

I didn’t know whether to be hurt, or use this against Staal in our heated conversation.

“No, but she doesn’t have to tell me anything. I’m not interested in whatever fling she had with you. I’m interested in her relationship with me.”

After Jordan spoke, I felt my blood boil and put the last nail in the coffin that I could muster.

“Well, I’ll be sure to have her tell me all about when she comes home to Chicago. You know, to the apartment that we share.”

The elevator dinged and I walked out, leaving Jordan stunned with his mouth agape. I held the smirk on my face until I reached the door of Ryan’s room. Just before I opened the door, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around only to have a fist meet my face. I stumbled a bit. After blinking my vision back into focus and standing up straight again, I saw Jordan towering over me, much like he did in the elevator.

“Listen Kane, I don’t know what you’re trying to pull. But telling lies about you and Claire isn’t going to get you anywhere. She and I are dating, and there’s nothing you can do to stop that. You try to come in between us, and I swear to God, it’ll be your last move.”

I didn’t know what retort to come back with so I just went with the truth.

“Answer me this, Staal. What’s the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning?”

He looked at me like I had three heads.

“What are you going on about, Kane?”

“Just answer the damn question.”

He scoffed. “Winning the Stanley Cup again. There, you happy?”

I nodded my head shortly. He turned to face the door. He held his hand out ready to knock when I spoke up.

“Mine’s Claire.”

He turned back towards me, his face full of fury.

“What did you say?”

I heard the door open and I saw Claire standing in the doorway. I looked past Jordan and met Claire’s gaze as I spoke.

“The first thing I think of when I wake up every morning is Claire. The way she always runs her hand through her hair when she’s trying to push herself through an awkward moment. Or the way she always puts Ryan’s needs in front of her own. Or how whenever I came home, if she hadn’t been working all day, she’d listen to all of the problems I was having and without saying a word, said so much. But most of all, the way she carries herself. She is a beautiful woman, with a great head on her shoulders. She left her life and job behind in Chicago to bring her little brother out here, in hopes that new treatment would prolong his life. That right there says so much about the kind of sister, guardian and friend Claire is. I just hope that the next time you two go out, you keep all that in mind.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Claire’s POV

My mouth dropped. I didn’t know what to say. A part of me wanted to walk over to Pat and give him a hug. But then I remembered Jordan, who was standing with his back towards me, unaware of my presence. So I decided against just running up to Pat and made my presence known.

“What’s going on out here?”

I saw Jordan turn around with wide eyes. I could sense the anger in his face. Apparently, I only caught the tail-end of this conversation.

“Is it true? Did you go on a date with him?”

I moved my gaze from Jordan, to Pat, then finally to the floor before nodding slowly.

“Yes, I did.”

Jordan scoffed and began to pace. Pat was still standing in the hallway, about 5 feet away from Jordan.

“And what about living with him? Do you live with him in Chicago?”

I looked up and met Jordan’s gaze.

“Yes, I do. It’s only because the nurses didn’t let me stay in Ryan’s room with him anymore. I had nowhere else to go and couldn’t afford to rent out an apartment. I’m grateful that Pat gave me a place to stay.”

I looked over in Pat’s direction and smiled, but Jordan wasn’t quite finished.

“Claire, look, I know we’ve only gone out on one date, but I think I should’ve known about this.”

I scoffed. “Well, I’m sorry, Jordan. I didn’t think it’s really proper to tell someone on your first date about the other men they’ve dated and that they live with another man. I didn’t know how well the date was going to go.”

“Well what about last night after the game? You could’ve told me while Ryan was in the Hawks locker room talking to Pat and his teammates.”

I began to rub my temples as I felt a headache coming on.

“Look, I don’t understand why you’re making such a big deal about this. Pat and I are only friends and you and I are…..whatever we are. Yes, I live with Pat, but that doesn’t mean I’m not free to date whoever I want, right Pat?”

I looked over at him and he was a little apprehensive with answering.

“Uhhhh… yea. Yes, of course.”

I kept my gaze on him a couple seconds longer before looking back towards Jordan.

“See? There’s nothing you should be worried about. So, why don’t we just get outta here, and let Pat spend the day with Ryan?”

Jordan showed me the bag in his hand. I slowly nodded.

“Oh, right. The surprises. Okay, well Pat, can you wait out here for a couple minutes while Jordan and I go and give Ryan his surprises from Jordan’s teammates?”

Pat’s jaw almost dropped to the floor.

“You’re kidding, right? Why can’t I be in there with you guys? After all, I’m just a friend, right? It shouldn’t bother anyone else that I’m in there. Besides, Ryan’s been waiting for this.”

I glared daggers at Pat. I was hoping he would stop pushing Jordan’s buttons. I didn’t even know where this was coming from.

“Pat! Come on, stop this! I don’t want any more drama today. It’s bad enough I had to watch this whole thing unfold out here.”

Pat walked up to me and pulled me away from Jordan. I looked back to Jordan and he looked a little defeated. I had never been more confused than I was at that moment. I was hoping that whatever Pat had to say would clear everything up.

“Claire, look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to hear our argument. Hell, I didn’t even mean to argue with him. I walked into the hospital and I had so much that I wanted to say to you. Then I saw Jordan and a wall built up in me. I felt myself get angry, jealous and wanted to say and do anything to get under his skin. I was hoping that you would stick around and hang around with me and Ryan.”

I looked him dead in the eyes before I spoke.

“Well after the comment you threw at me last night, Pat, I didn’t really want to be around you today.”

He looked at the floor and shifted his feet before speaking again.

“I’m sorry for what I said last night, but you gotta see this from where I’m standing.”

I folded my arms across my chest.

“And what exactly would I have seen, from where you were standing?”

He mumbled something, but I couldn’t understand him.

“What was that? I can’t speak mumble.”

He lifted his head and locked eyes with me. I felt him step closer to me.

“You’d see that I’m in love with you.”