Greyhound Bound for Nowhere

The next morning, I was jolted awake by my phone ringing.

Brian.

I rolled my eyes as I hit the ignore button. I straightened out my purple night gown and tried to get the sleep out of my eyes before leaving my room.

I didn’t even notice the room full of guys as I made my way into the kitchen. All I wanted was food.

“Good grief sis, think you should put on some pants?” Leah laughed.

“Why?”

“Uh, living room full of guys. Did you not notice?”

“Nope, I’m hungry. Brian called me and woke me up. I ignored his phone call. I guess the asshole thinks it’s okay to talk to me.”

She just laughed at me, and I decided to go put some other clothes on before anyone noticed what I was wearing. I mean, it honestly doesn’t bother me, but I could tell it bothered my sister. I went through my suitcase and found some jeans and an Animosity t-shirt the guys had made especially for me. It’s got my last name on the back and a number six. Every guy has one with their last name and a number on the back. The front has a picture of the band, and the band name at the top. Also on the sleeves of mine, it says merch bitch. Lovely? Yes, I know.

“Sleeping beauty is finally awake!” Sidney exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes, and plopped down in the empty space next to him on the couch.

“Mhmm, I am, but I’d still be asleep if a certain guitar player wouldn’t have called me.”

“That Brian guy?” he asked.

I nodded, “You’d think he would get the hint that I don’t wanna hear his bullshit anymore, but he’s stubborn.”

“Oh, Avery, these are some of the other guys on the team, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal, Tyler Kennedy and Marc, but you can call him Flower. The girl sitting next to him is Vero.”

“Hi, you guys can call me A.J or Avery, which ever,” I replied, smiling at them.

I got some “nice to meet you” replies before the attention turned back to whatever they were doing.

“So, Avery, why hasn’t Kalen made me one of those shirts? I’m his sister too.” Leah whined, as she came into the living room and saw my shirt.

I laughed, “Because you weren’t their merch bitch. See, they even put it on the sleeve?”

She giggled, “Sounds like something they would do. Did you go to Warped with them?”

“Yes,” I rolled my eyes, “Fucking rock star boot camp is all that shit is.”

“I want to go one year.”

“You’d die. Plus I got into the pit last summer when I Set My Friends on Fire played, and my septum ring got yanked out. That’s why I don’t have it anymore.”

“It got yanked out?” Sidney asked.

I nodded, “yeah, it was interesting trying to explain that to my parents. They don’t think mosh pits are the place for girls, but I’m right up there with the crazy guys in those things. I’ve crowd surfed I don’t know how many times.”

“Sounds fun.”

“It is. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love doing floral arrangements, but being at concerts, especially my brother’s, it’s just such an adrenaline rush.”

“Okay, come on, and I’m gonna teach you about hockey. Those boys are too involved in their video games to worry about it,” Leah said, pulling me up from the couch.

“They seem to be in better spirits,” I commented as we went to her room.

“Psh, yeah, except for Jordan.”

“Where is he?”

“At the rink, working out his frustrations, I guess.”

I just shrugged, “Okay teacher.”

“Okay, the official NHL rink is 200 feet long and 85 feet wide. It’s divided by the red line. There are two blue lines, five face-off circles, the goals and the creases.”

Leah even pulled up a picture of it on her phone to show me.

“I’ll explain some of the penalties to you. They have a minor, major and misconduct penalties. You will probably see a lot of cross-checking or fighting in general. Cross checking is when the player makes a check with both hands on the stick. If the players fight, the gloves usually come off and they throw punches. It’s entertaining to say the least.”

I laughed at her, and then she explained some of the other penalties before getting into what position is what on the ice.

“Jordan and Sidney are both forwards and they’re both centers. It basically means they have to be good at face-offs and passing. The right and left wing are forwards too, and that’s kind of self-explanatory.

“Okay, and the right and left basically stay at their needed spot and all that right?”

“Yeah, pretty much. They’re responsible for their defensemen in the defensive zone. Speaking of defensemen, Kris Letang is one of them. There are actually six other defensemen.”

“I think I get most of this now. It will for sure make the game easier to watch since I now know what and what to look for.”

“You will get it after you watch the game a bit closer and it will help that you will actually be there. You’re coming to the game on Wednesday, and we have got to get you a jersey. It’s in Philadelphia again, so we will probably drive down early and just roam around. I usually do that by myself or with Vero.”

“Okay, sounds good to me.”

Leah smirked, “I have the perfect jersey for you. Sidney left one of his game worn jerseys here, and never took it back. You can wear it.”

“What’s that smirk for?”

“Uh, he has it bad for you, hun. Have you not noticed the glances he’s been stealing since he met you the other day?”

“Psh, I’m not the type of girl he’d be into at all.”

She raised an eyebrow, “And what do you think his type is?”

“Uh, hello, a girl that looks like you. He can’t be attracted to me, someone that has metal all in my face and a mouth that rivals his.

“Whatever Avery, you’re gorgeous.”

I shrugged, “I guess, and besides, I’m not getting involved with anyone after what went down with Brian, plus Sidney has that crazy ex-girlfriend.”

“Oh, you could take that puck bunny.”

“Puck bunny?”

She laughed, “Yes, a puck bunny. They are basically hockey groupies.

“Oh, I understand. How long did he date her?”

“Like six months, I think. She’s insane, and she use to hit on Jordan all the time. I almost kicked her ass one day.”

“You should have.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“So, I’m hungry again. We’ve been at this for awhile, and I don’t hear the guys anymore.”

“Yeah, I am too. Come on.”

We walked out of her room, and Sidney was on the couch, asleep. The rest of the guys were gone, and then Jordan walked through the door. Leah grabbed his hand and they walked off to her room.

“Gross,” I muttered. I knew what they were going to get up to right then.

“Siddddnnneey,” I shook him to make him wake up.

“Hm?” he muttered.

“Please wake up. Jordan and Leah are probably getting it on and I don’t wanna hear them.”

“Ugh, fine I’m up.”

“Good.”

It was quiet for a minute.

“Sooooooo….” I droned out.

Sidney raised an eyebrow, “What?”

“Wanna play ten questions?”

“Sure.”

“Mkay, you start.”

“Okay, what’s the story behind your tattoos?”

“Well, fighter because I always push myself to do what I want, and try not to let things get in the way. Love because, well, everyone deserves to know love and to love themselves too. It reminds me that if I love myself, someone else is going to love me too.”

“That’s really nice.” Sidney smiled at me, and I felt my heart flip.

“What is like being a hockey superstar?” I wiggled my eyebrows.

He laughed, “I love it. There is nothing more I’d rather do than be on the ice, in a game. That’s why it was so rough when I had my concussion. It was really hard to be out that long, but I wanted to make sure I was healthy enough to play. What do you enjoy about making flower arrangements?”

“Well, it’s really interesting to see why people need arrangements, whether it’s for a wedding, prom or a funeral or just whatever. This lady had come in when I started working at that shop in HB, and she needed an arrangement for her husband’s funeral. They had been married for sixty years, and he had just lost his battle with cancer. She shared their story with me, while telling me what his favorite colors were, and I incorporated it into it. When she came to pick up, she hugged me. I love seeing things like that happen….now that I’ve rambled on.”

“No, that’s really sweet. I’m glad you do something that makes you feel like you’re making an impact on other people’s lives.”

“Thanks.”

We continued our game until we were all out of questions. I feel like we know each other a little bit better now.