Run Right Back

Seeing her face nearly broke his heart. Hearing her voice did. Jonathan could feel himself starting to lose control of his emotions. It was like when he last saw her three years ago. It was like losing her all over again even though now he was finding her. Seeing her for the first time in three years was nothing like he thought it would be. It made him feel edgy. He cautiously looked behind to Kaner. “What the fuck?”

--
The groggy look on Jon’s face faded when a cup of coffee was placed in front of his face. He took in a deep breath of the caffeine. “Thanks.” He took the coffee from his PR lady’s hand and sipped on it. “Is Kaner asleep in the back sleep?” The PR lady, Justine, picked up Patrick before picking coffee and Jon.

Her fingers were cold when Jon took the coffee from her. She was always cold, except only exteriorly. She was a sensitive woman. Justine made sure that her clients always got what they wanted. Sensitive and giving. “Yeah. I gave him coffee but that kid is still out. He’ll wake up on the ride. Get in the car.”

The two got inside Justine’s sleek black Jetta. They drove the 25 minutes to the community center and walked inside. The staff was kind to them. The girl that worked in the skate rental shack with the skate sharpener almost fainted. The boys’ arrival wasn’t supposed to be a surprise to the workers. She wasn’t in on it.

The guys changed and then hit the ice once they heard the girls out there practicing. They were greeted with shrieks and screams. The girls from the Chicago Bandits were about to explode from the sight of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews in their ice rink.

After the introductions the guys did what they had scheduled for the day: practice with the girls, skate, sign stuff things and then change out to head home. Jonathan was glad to head home. He had a dismal time with Virginia the prior night and just wanted to mope in his bed watching Saturday Night Live DVDs. The two didn’t get into a fight, but they didn’t enjoy themselves either. She was cold to him for a reason that had flown over his head. Instead of asking her what he had or hadn’t done, he ignored it. He didn’t want to get bitched at again. After dinner she left his apartment. The two have been having problems lately. They hadn’t had sex in almost three weeks. Normally he didn’t worry about things like that. Patrick would worry if he didn’t have sex with Nell every day. He would fear their relationship was getting stale. Jonathan didn’t worry too much about the sexual side of the relationship. Except lately it had become a problem when he would try to persuade Virginia into it and she would just coldly turn him off, shut him down.

Patrick grabbed a towel off the bench and tried to wipe off the sweat from his hair. “I am going straight home and taking the hottest shower possible.” He then striped off his gear and changed into his street clothes. Jon, who was already dressed, sat idly on the bench.

“I am going to the ice and watch someone skate or something. I’ll wait for you out there.” He scooped his gear bag off the ground and headed back to rink.

There were two people on the ice, the goaltender and the head coach. The goaltender, Liz, had her mask off and was out of the net. “Where the hell is she? She said she would show up to help me practice before our road games since she doesn’t go.”

The coach looked down at Liz, casting a shameful look. “Don’t say hell, Liz. Your Christian fanatic mother would have a heart attack.”

There was shuffling noises; someone was jostling towards the ice. “There she is! And no gear again. Jesus fucking Christ.”

“ELIZABETH!” The coach was tempted to smack the child, but that would go against everything for which she stood.

Jonathan lazily looked over to the figure approaching the ice. The woman had her back to Jon since she entered from the East entrance of the building. She had medium length straight black hair. The woman looked short compared to the coach. She had hot pink ice skates with the Barbie ‘B’ on them. The woman was wearing gray sweatpants and a loose green blouse on over a black waffled long sleeve shirt. She went straight to Liz and hugged her.

“Get off of me, slacker.” Liz pushed the woman off of her, yet grinned. “You missed it. Two Blackhawks were here. Oh look, Toews is still here.”

The woman mumbled something and looked over to Jon. Her brown eyes faltered on him. That was when he felt like he was paralyzed, when she looked at him. Then she opened her mouth and words came out. “Oh my God, Jon. I didn’t know you guys were visiting. Fuck. No one tells me anything. Fuck.” Kimberly nervously tucked her hair behind her ear. Her body twisted and fidgeted as she skated forward and then backwards, contemplating skating over to him.

Footsteps from behind Jonathan cued him to Kaner’s arrival. “What the fuck,” was all he could muster in a small voice loud enough for Patrick to hear, cautiously looking back to Patrick.

“KIM!” Patrick’s bag fell to the ground with a thud. He ran to the gate and stepped cautiously onto the ice. The girl skated to him with open arms. They embraced with jubilance. The two were once friends and seeing each other brought up the happiness they used to have together. Patrick poked her sides. “I had no fucking idea you worked here!”

“I wanted to help out with society, man. I used to be a goal tender so I am the goal tending coach here.”

“And she sucks,” Liz playfully added.

Kim puffed out her cheeks. “That kid is so cruel to me.” A wild fire of smiles spread from her face to his. “Dude, I can’t believe I am seeing your face again.” She hugged Patrick, burying her face into his neck. “I missed you two,” she mumbled into his skin.

“Kaner. We should go.” Jon’s voice was stern with icicles attached.

The blonde headed boy pulled away from Kim’s warm body. “Give me your number. We should hang out or something.”

“That won’t bother captain serious?” Her head tilted to the side.

The grin on his mouth shifted to his eyes. “Kimmy, it has been three years. Dude can control himself. Gimme dem digits.” The girl playfully shoved him and then put her number in his phone.

“Dude, there are less numbers in here.”

“It is a new phone and I stopped collecting random chicks’ numbers. Put your number under your name. I’ll call you later.” After she finished, she tucked the phone into the pocket of his track jacket. He grabbed her face and sloppily kissed her cheek. “I missed your stupid face, Kim.”

“Shut up and get out of here.”

A push sent him gliding on the ice. He shuffled back to the opened gate and then jogged to Jon. Patrick couldn’t tell if Jon was going to punch him in the face or vomit. He looked like he was going to do both. “I had no idea she was still in Chicago, Tazer.”

“Shut up,” he said through gritted teeth. “Let’s get the fuck out of here. Please.”

“KIMBERLY! STOP HIM! I AM SORRY! HE IS FREAKING FAST!” It was the skate shack girl screaming. The group in the rink watched the girl run, chasing something invisible. A little boy opened the gate on the other side of rink and ran behind the goalie net.

The little boy fell onto his bottom. “Mimi!” He cried out to Kim and then mewed like a cat. He was sitting and reaching up to the sky, grasping at the air. He was wearing black sweatpants and a fuzzy white hoodie. The child looked like Kim mixed with someone else. Someone with lighter brown hair and Anglo bone structure.

“My baby! What are you doing? You are supposed to be napping in the shack, sir.” Kim skated over to him, scooping him off the ground.

“My baby?. Holy shit,” Patrick muttered. “Tazer. That kid. How old do you think that kid is?”

“No. Way. Shut the fuck.” Jon’s face was white. “Walk.” He grabbed his duffle bag, stomping towards the exit. That little boy’s face was burned into Jon’s skull. Pale white skin, warm brown hair, large brown eyes, and puffy cheeks. Even though he was a child, and most children look ambiguously like anyone, he looked more white than Asian. The kid did resemble Kim, but he also looked a little like Jonathan and that freaked him out. It was like seeing Joey the Junior Reporter mixed with Korean descent.

Jon quickly walked to the car where Justine was waiting with the trunk popped open. He discarded his duffle bag, throwing it off his shoulder. Tremors radiated from his shoulders to his fingertips.

A minute later Kaner appeared. “Jonny, when was the last time you were with Kim? Three years ago?”

“Stop talking.”

“That kid looked about that old, Jonny.”

“Shut. The. Fuck. Up.” Jonathan’s eye twitched. His shoulders and jaw were tense. “Get in the fucking car. We are leaving. No one says a goddamn word on the ride home. Got it?”

Jon got in the car. Justine pulled Patrick to the side and whispered to him, “What is going on?”

Patrick turned his back to the car. “Tazer’s ex girlfriend is in there with a kid that looks like them.”

“Scandalous.”