Secret

A month had passed with Natalie out in Florida. Kris had called me a few times to talk about how she was doing, and for a minute he felt as if she was truly recovering, but then all too quickly he’d find her crying alone desperately calling out for him. It made me sad to think my brother had such an awful effect on her, it wasn’t fair that she had given him everything she had to offer and he couldn’t even resist the urge to sleep with another girl.

My head was constantly aching full of worry and stress, I was attending summer classes at Loyola University to acquire my doctorates in Sports Journalism. That meant I was constantly in classes for literature, and sports history. When I had first gone to college at Penn State in Philadelphia, that was where I was introduced to Natalie Carcillo, at that time, Versteeg. She had managed to take a couple years off before going to school and we had ended up becoming roommates.

At first we knew nothing about each other, we would barely ever socialize; too shy to actually become friends. It wasn’t until one night when were forced to stay in our bedroom with the power out that we truly became friends. That night we became as close as ever, retelling each other every part of our lives. We had bonded over the facts that we were both born in Canada, and how homesick we were for our friendly country. We had realized that we both had professional hockey player brothers, which we found to be absolutely unbelievable and we had both shared a common love for our home country and for hockey itself. The bond that Natalie and I had had been unbreakable, she had been there for me through everything and I had always been there for her. When I broke off my engagement to my very first love, it was Natalie who picked up the pieces. When I was denied my dream job to write a hockey column for ESPN magazine, it was Natalie who bought me a carton of chunky monkey and stayed up all night watching the entire Mighty Ducks trilogy. When Natalie fought with her brother and they went a year without talking, it was me who had finally gotten them to get over their pettiness. When Natalie and Dan fought, it was always me who let her cry on my shoulder. We were always there for each other, so it makes it so painful for me to be so far away from her and not be able to help at all.

I gave out a loud sigh as I felt my phone ring beside me,

“Hello?” I asked, too bothered to check the ID.

“Victoria…” I heard the only voice that made me growl.

“Steeger?” I asked, hoping he’d get straight to the point.

“I just love these conversations we’ve been having. They put me at ease with myself, they truly make me feel like a better person.” Kris chuckled causing me to smile a bit.

“Well isn’t that wonderful, Steegs? To be honest, that was my goal with these weekly phone calls. I was trying to help you with your community service.” I replied to him sarcastically.

“Did I mention these calls are the highlights of my day?” He asked as I gave out a small chuckle.

“What do you want Steeger, our usual phone calls are on Monday; it’s Thursday.” I reminded him.

“I’m worried about Nat, Tor. She’s been acting too wild lately, she keeps going out, trying to go home with random guys but I have to keep pulling her away. She called Dan last weekend, drove him completely mad. I need your help.” He admitted.

“I know about the phone call to Dan, he called me a few days ago to let me know. I honestly had no idea she was getting this out of hand. What do you think I can do?” I asked him, worried about my friend.

“You need to get her out of here, I love my sister to death but her being in Florida isn't good for her. She needs you, she needs home. Chicago for her was the only place beside Alberta where she felt at home. Without it she’s on vacation mode, she’s constantly partying out here.” He told me.

“Ugh, I know exactly what I have to do. You think you have enough room in that large Florida mansion for one extra person?” I asked him, a hint of humor in my laugh.

“I’m saving the bed for you baby, see you soon.” Kris responded and I could already imagine the wink he was giving me on the other end.

I hung up the phone, laughing too hard to even respond. Once I set my phone down, I walked over to my closet and packed a small duffel bag for a weekend in Sunrise. After I finally had everything packed I called the one person I knew who was just dying to go on vacation.

“Patrick.” I sang through the phone once he finally picked up.

“Victoria.” He sang right back, causing me to smile.

“How would you like to go see an old friend and spend a weekend in the sun?” I asked him, searching the web for quick and easy tickets.

“Where are you planning on taking me, crazy girl?” He asked chuckling.

“Sunrise, Florida?” I suggested, hoping he’d forget about my past with his friend.

“You want me to go on a vacation with you to see your ex-fiance?” Patrick asked disbelief in his voice.

I groaned. I should’ve known you couldn’t put anything past Patrick. He would try and find an ulterior motive for everything I do.

“No actually, I was hoping you’d accompany me to visit our best friend in Florida and try and convince her to come back.” I responded, defensively.

“Have fun in Florida, Tor. Call me and let me know when the wedding is, eh?” Patrick responded hanging up childishly.

Groaning even louder, I slammed my phone on the table.

My history with Kris Versteeg was extremely strange; yes, everyone found the fact that Natalie and I were dating each other’s brother to be a bit odd, but we didn’t. I had met Kris while vacationing with Natalie and Dan in Chicago, we hit it off great and I had never met someone who was so similar to me. I had fallen hard for the golden haired right-winger; he was confident, cool and sexy. He knew all the right words to make me blush and smile, he taught me everything I knew today. Kris was the reason I played hard to get because when he had me he knew exactly what to do to break me. Kris and I were good at many things, we were good at being the perfect couple, good at going out and having a wild night and good at breaking each other’s hearts. The one thing Kris and I were never good at though was love. We were both completely and madly in love with each other. In a way we were infatuated with everything we did. We were hardly ever apart, and when we were, we assumed the other was cheating. There was no trust in our relationship, we both thought of ourselves as excellent specimens of the human race so we figured the other had to be cheating. Kris and I loved to argue, we used to joke that our arguments would be the downfall of us, how true we were. Kris and I could argue over everything and anything, from who was the worst parker to who was trying to hurt the other worse. Being with Kris was the most exhausting three years of my life and he drove me wild. Yet I wouldn’t have changed it for the world, and when I was 20 years old and Kris had begged me to marry him I said yes. It wasn’t until about four months into the engagement that I realized marriage at the age of 20 was not one of my brightest ideas and I broke it off with Kris. He was completely heartbroken, and so was I, but I was doing what was best for the both of us and I was saving us from the heartbreak that was soon to come.

Smiling, I found a ticket relatively cheap for tonight. I would be in Sunrise by 10 o’clock at night and I’d be staying for the weekend.

I was sure in for an interesting weekend.