The Middle

I didn’t know what to say. My jaw dropped and I stood still in place for a few seconds. I couldn’t believe the words that just came out of Pat’s mouth. He’s in love with me. I didn’t know what else to do, so I ran. I had to get away from Pat before I gave him an answer that I could possibly regret.

Pat’s POV

I stood in my place and watched her run. I felt so defeated. I turned on my heel and walked towards the door of Ryan’s room. I slowed down as I got closer to Jordan. I looked up at him, still feeling defeated.

“Go after her. I may not be able to do much about it right now, but she may listen to you. Please, just make sure she’s okay.”

I saw him raise his eyebrow at me, and he was a bit shocked, I could tell. He didn’t say anything to me, thankfully, as I didn’t know what more I could say. He just nodded and walked away. I sighed and turned the doorknob. I had hoped that Ryan hadn’t heard any of what went on.

Jordan’s POV

I walked away from Kane, still shocked that he sent me to go after Claire. I was sure that he was going to tell me to leave her alone, not go after her. Nevertheless, I listened to his suggestion. It was more for the sake that I, myself wanted to know how Claire was doing, rather than doing it for Kane’s sake.

Getting into the elevator, I tried to think of places that Claire would go to. I tried the cafeteria, but she wasn’t there. So getting back into the elevator, I decided to venture outside of the hotel.

Claire’s POV

I ran to the hospital lobby. I didn’t know where to go, I just knew I didn’t want to be around Pat. I found a little love seat and sat down. I was pondering where I would go, what I would do, thinking of anything that would get my mind off of Pat’s words. I felt a tear run down my cheek, and as I reached up to wipe it off, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Turning around, I saw Jordan. I gave him a small smile.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to leave you up there.”

He shook his head.

“It’s okay. It’s understandable.”

I raised my eyebrow at him.

“So, did he say anything to you?”

Jordan nodded.

“He asked me to come after you. He went into visit with Ryan.”

I nodded and turned my whole body to Jordan.

“Look, Jordan I don’t know if I can do this anymore.”

He raised his eyebrow at me and shook his head.

“You’re not going to go running to him, are you? Cause I don’t know if I could handle that.”

I shook my head.

“No, I’m not going to run to anyone. I need to take some time to myself. I need time to think about everything.”

He sighed, and nodded his head.

“I understand that.”

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Pat’s POV

I was sitting with Ryan in his hospital room playing video games. It was nice to be able to do this again. I missed the time I spent with Ryan. We were in the middle of a game when his nurse came in. I got a little panicky, but I didn’t show it. She walked up to Ryan.

“Hey buddy, how you feeling today?”

Ryan smiled.

“I’m good. This is my friend Pat. He’s just here to get his butt kicked.”

I laughed and shrugged my shoulders. The nurse smiled at me.

“I thought I saw your friend in the hall. You’re Patrick Kane, right?”

I nodded.

“Yes, I am.”

She smiled.

“I actually came in to ask for your autograph. Sorry to interrupt your game.”

I shook my head.

“No, that’s fine. I was losing pretty bad anyways.”

She walked over to me and pulled out a card. I went to sign it when she pulled it away.

“No, no. This isn’t the one I want you to sign. This is a card with my number on it.”

I sighed.

“Oh. I don’t mean to be rude, but---“

“He’s got a girlfriend. She’s amazing and would be a little mad if Pat took your number.”

Ryan’s words startled me and the nurse. She turned to Ryan and gave him a quizzical look before turning back to me.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I saw you outside arguing with Jordan Staal and I knew that he was Ryan’s sister’s boyfriend, so I just assumed. I’m really sorry.”

Hearing her say that Jordan was Claire’s boyfriend hurt me a little bit, but I shrugged it off. I just gave the nurse a small smile and she walked out of the room. Ryan turned to me and started to giggle.

“What’s so funny?”

Ryan looked at me with a grin.

“She thinks that Jordan is Claire’s boyfriend. So silly.”

I chuckled along with him.

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

Claire’s POV

Jordan and I were still sitting in the lobby. We sat in silence, but it was comfortable. Just knowing that Jordan was there for me, even though I just technically “broke up” with him, was comforting. Jordan broke the silence.

“Hey, why don’t we get outta here?”

I raised my eyebrow at him.

“And go where, exactly?”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, we did plan to go to the zoo today. We can still do that, if you want.”

I thought for a moment. At that moment, going to the zoo seemed a good option. It would help me get my mind off of the hospital and still allow me to have a little bit of fun. I turned a Jordan with a smile.

“You know what? Going to the zoo sounds great.”

Jordan smiled, stood up from the couch and held out his hand. I raised an eyebrow at him, but took it all the same. I got to my feet and we walked out of the hospital.

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

Pat’s POV

I kept wondering if Jordan found Claire. A part of me wished I had his number so I could text him to find out. Another part of me, however, knew that even if I texted him, he probably wouldn’t answer me. He may have walked away when I told him to, but I knew he had feelings for Claire. Like an idiot, I pretty much gave Claire to him, instead of fighting for her myself.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Ryan calling my name. I wasn’t sure how many times he said it, but I finally looked over at him. He was holding out a Wii wheel to me, signaling he wanted to play Mario Kart. We had played NHL12 earlier, and I knew it was only a matter of time before this game came up. Ryan and I always played this game. I rarely lost, and when I did, Ryan would have one of two reactions. He would rather yell at me for letting him win or cheer loudly for a few minutes gloating that he finally beat me. I had fun regardless of the outcome.

I put Mario Kart into the Wii and sat back down in my chair. I looked at Ryan and smirked. We had a thing we did before we started the game. Ryan’s grin grew on his face. I counted to three and then…

“MARIO!!”

Damn I thought. He got it again. I tried to yell first, but he beat me to it. Truth be told, I didn’t win the “Mario” contest a whole lot, but I was okay with it. I thought Bowser was better, anyways.

Ryan stuck his tongue out at me and we started the game.

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

Claire’s POV

Jordan and I were having a blast at the zoo. We would laugh when the animals were looking at us funny and smile when they were looking adorable. I stood by a cage of monkeys, just staring. Jordan walked up and stood beside me.

“You can’t fool me, you know.”

I didn’t turn my head to face him, but I still inquired.

“What do you mean?”

He sighed.

“With Pat, I saw your face after he was done talking to you.”

I swallowed hard.

“Jordan, I don’t want to talk about this.”

I walked away from the cage and continued down the path. I looked at the gorillas and apes while Jordan was still following me. I could feel tears well up in my eyes as he spoke.

“Claire, please. Just hear me out.”

I turned around and looked at him, tears now running down my face.

“What, Jordan?”

He walked up to me and put his hands on my shoulders.

“Look, I know this isn’t what you want to hear right now. It’s definitely not what you would expect to hear from me. You need to talk to Pat. I could see it in your face after he admitted he loved you. Hell, I saw it in his face when he asked me to make sure you’re alright. You need to talk about this. I know you don’t feel this way about me, but I’m pretty sure you could feel this way about Pat.”

I pondered on what Jordan had said. It still wasn’t clear to me just as to why Pat would pick today to tell me he loved me. I looked at Jordan and shook my head. I didn’t know if I was ready right away to talk to Pat. I knew I would have to get it done and over with sooner or later. I also knew that after today, I wouldn’t see him again until I went back to Chicago, which was still almost 2 weeks away.

Jordan spoke, breaking the silence once again.

“Look, I’m not going to force you to do anything, but you should talk to him.”

I ran my hand through my hair and sighed. I looked over to Jordan and nodded.

“Yea, I will talk to him but I need some time. Right now, I just want to have fun.”

Jordan gave me a small smile.

“Well, I’m going to go grab something to drink from the canteen over there. Would you like something?”

I nodded.

“Sure, I’ll have a Coke, thanks.”

Jordan nodded and walked away. I sat on the bench and pondered. I found myself pondering quite a bit on this day. Mostly, my thought ended with the focus on one person. I pulled out my phone and decided it was time. After a few rings, the person picked up.

“Claire?”

I sighed before answering. “Hi Nat.”

“Claire, what’s wrong? You sound so sad.”

“Oh Nat, I don’t know. I’m so confused.”

“Talk to me sweetie.”

I proceed to tell her everything that went down since I arrived in Pittsburgh. I made sure to inform her of the phone call with Pat and his proclamation that he made earlier. I heard her gasp after I told her that Pat said he loved me. I ended my speech with the confusion I felt after Jordan made his plea for me to talk to Pat.

“Oh Claire, that’s a lot to take in. I think you should listen to Jordan. You should talk to Pat. Honey, I know Jordan already told you this, but Pat makes you happy. I was hoping he would finally ask you out, without Ryan’s assistance, of course. You have to look at a number of things. One, he has been true to his word when it comes to Ryan and his visits. He is there for Ryan and you for whatever you need. Hell, the man let you sleep in one day just to come to the hospital to sit with Ryan after his treatment. Hon, when he said he loves you, he meant it. I’m not telling you to talk to him right now, but it would be better to do it in person. Look, sweetie, I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.”

I smiled as tears slowly streamed down my face.

“Bye Nat, thank you so much.”

I lifted my head up and saw Jordan coming towards me. I was thinking of what Nat had told me. She was right, Pat is a great guy and it was possible that I over reacted. Jordan came down and sat beside me. He gave me a sympathetic look.

“You wanna go back to the hospital, don’t you?”

I looked over at Jordan. I tried to smile, but it just wasn’t happening. I wasn’t going to fight it anymore. I wanted to get back to the hospital to see Ryan. I was hoping he didn’t hear the commotion that Pat and Jordan caused outside of his room. I was still a little apprehensive to see Pat, but I knew that I had to talk to him before he left Pittsburgh.

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Back at the hospital Pat’s POV

Ryan and I had just finished a heated game of Mario Kart, when Ryan made a comment that startled me.

“So, what was all the yelling about?”

I raised my eyebrow at him.

“What yelling? We’ve been playing video games all day.”

Ryan rolled his eyes and then stared at me.

“Pat, you know what I’m talking about. The nurse even talked about it. You and Jordan were yelling outside of my room. What were you yelling about?”

I shook my head, not wanting to talk about this with Ryan.

“It’s not important.”

Ryan crossed his arms over his chest and continued to stare at me.

“Pat, come on. Tell me.”

I sighed.

“Ryan, really it’s not important.”

Ryan sighed and laid back on his bed with a huff.

“Y’know, just because I’m young and dying doesn’t mean I can’t be told things. If this has to do with Claire, I need to know.”

I ran my hand through my short, blonde curls.

“Look buddy, I want to tell you, but I don’t have all the answers right now. There was a lot left unanswered.”

Ryan sat back up and looked at me.

“So, it was about Claire. Were you two fighting over her?”

I looked down at the floor, not wanting to make eye contact with him a slowly nodded.

“It wasn’t necessarily fighting over her. We didn’t make her make a choice or anything. It was just me and Jordan bickering is all.”

Ryan nodded his head.

“Well, just so you know, I’m on your side.”

I smirked a little and looked back up at him.

“Thanks buddy, but I think I lost my chance.”

Ryan shook his head.

“Don’t say that. Do you love her?”

My eyes widened a little bit, but only for a few seconds. I tried to look anywhere but at Ryan, but I knew that he would see right through me.

“Yea buddy, I think I do.”

A huge grin spread on Ryan’s face and a knock came at the door. Ryan rolled his eyes. I chuckled and walked up to the door. Opening it, I saw Claire.

“We need to talk.”