A Ship in Harbor is Safe

Athena rubs her neck, staring at the piece of paper and cell phone that rest on the dining room table. Pulling her damp hair into a bun, she slides into her chair and picks the phone up, quickly punching the numbers in and pressing the green phone on her screen.

“Hello?”

Taking a deep breath, Athena fumbles with the piece of paper in her right hand. “Hi, Heather. This is Athena Fischer. I’m Jordan’s friend, we’ve met once.”

“Yeah, I remember you,” Heather says.

“This isn’t a bad time is it?”

“No,” Heather says quietly.

“I hope you don’t mind that I’m calling you,” Athena says, biting her lip.

“No, I don’t mind,” Heather sounds like she’s smiling, “I’m just wondering how you got my number.”

Athena smiles, “I actually got it from Jordan’s phone. He gave me his things to hold last night.”

“Okay,” Heather says.

“Jordan is in the hospital right now,” Athena says quietly.

“W-what happened?” Heather asks quickly.

Athena swallows the lump in her throat, “he got hit in the right hand, with a puck… at practice yesterday. He’s having surgery tomorrow.”

“Holy shit, is he okay?”

“I guess his hand is fractured. After he heals from the surgery, he should be back to normal.”

Heather’s side of the call goes quiet.

“You still there?”

“Yeah, I’m here… I’m just… Jesus, he was supposed to be back this week.”

Athena nods, “I know.”

“I’m gonna come down there,” Heather says, “I need to see him and make sure he’s okay.”

Athena nods quickly, “that’s a good idea.”

“I probably won’t be able to get a flight for a few days,” Heather says. “You’re sure he’s okay?”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Athena smiles.

Heather hesitates before speaking, “he can’t drive, can he?”

“No. If you need a ride from the airport, I can give you a lift.”

“I’d really appreciate that. Can I ask you something?”

Athena nods, “yeah, sure.”

“Why’d you call me?”

“Um,” Athena laughs lightly, “I just thought that you’d wanna know, honestly.”

“Thank you,” Heather speaks quietly, “for doing that. Jordan would’ve never called me to tell me.”

Athena shrugs, “I don’t know why.”

“He’s just really stubborn,” Heather says, “but you know that just as well as I do, I’m sure.”

“Yeah,” Athena smiles. “Just, um, call me or text me when you know your flight information.”

“Definitely. So, I’m guessing that we’re not telling Jordan?”

Athena shrugs again, “I honestly don’t know.”

“Let’s not. It’ll be a surprise for him.”

“Alright,” she smiles.

“And can you just… make sure he’s okay, until I get there?”

She smiles, “yeah, of course.”

“Thanks, Athena.”

“Anytime.”

“I’ll talk to you later.”

“Alright, bye,” Athena slowly hangs up the phone, letting out a deep sigh and covering her face.



Sidney sits down on the edge of his hotel bed, “what do you mean?”

“I mean, I think I fucked up…”

“What happened?”

Athena lets out a shaky breath, “I called Heather.”

Sidney laughs, “what? Did she bite your head off?”

“No. She was actually really nice and she’s really worried about Jordan.”

“Wow. So, is she coming back to Pittsburgh?”

“She texted me earlier, shortly after we got off the phone. She’s gonna have to stay in Thunder Bay for another two weeks. She sent me a text a few minutes ago, she has no vacation time and put in her two weeks’ notice today.”

“Or maybe she doesn’t feel like dealing the fit that Jordan’s gonna throw.”

Athena scoffs, “why would he throw a fit?”

“He’s not gonna want to see her, trust me.”

“Well, she’s got a plane ticket. And I’m hoping maybe they’ll kiss and make up and we can all move on with our lives.”

“That sounds good to me,” Sidney smiles, lying back on the bed.

“Yeah, you and me both.”

“But how are you so sure that Heather is gonna fix Jordan’s problem?” Sidney asks after a minute.

“I’m not as oblivious as you may think, Sid.”

He smiles, “okay.”

“I miss you.”

“I miss you, too,” he nods.

Athena’s voice is quiet, “I’ll talk to you later.”

Sidney picks his head up slightly at the loud knock on his door, “Alright. I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Hanging up, Sidney slowly walks to the door and looks through the peephole.

“Aye, we’re leaving,” Pascal Dupuis smiles as Sidney pulls the door open. “Let’s go.”

Sidney laughs, “alright.”

“Too busy talking on the phone with your girlfriend; she’s already got you whipped.”

“He’s been whipped,” Max chimes in as Sidney closes the door to his hotel room as he walks into the hallway.

“Okay, you,” Sidney points at Pascal as he smiles, “have absolutely no room to be saying anything of that nature.”

Pascal drops his phone as his fingers graze the keypad.

Max laughs, continuing toward the elevator with Sidney.

“That’s different, Sid!”

“No, not really,” Sidney laughs as he presses the elevator’s button. “You’ve got no room, buddy. Whatsoever.”

Pascal walks as he tries to place the back cover back on his Blackberry.

Max quickly presses the button to close the elevator doors.

“Hey, hold that!” Pascal says.

“Whatsoever!” Sidney laughs as the doors close.