I'll Be Right Beside You

“This feels so wrong,” I admitted to my three friends as we made our way to the box. Becka and Vero were chatting away, used to watching the games from here with the WAG’s, while Rosalia and I were feeling ridiculously out of place. We’d become good friends in the past few weeks, talking a lot and hanging out outside of her office. At first it was a little weird, because she’s technically my therapist and all, but we got along so well it didn’t matter. And we never talked about that stuff outside of her office, which made it a lot easier.

“It’s okay sweet’eart,” Vero immediately comforted me, pulling me into a quick hug. Jordan had begged me to come and watch the game, and I wanted to see him play, but I felt out of place not being down on the ice beside him.

“It’ll be all right Cam, you’ve got all of us,” Becka added, and Rosalia smiled, probably feeling a little out of place too. All of the WAG’s knew each other and were used to sitting here, while we’d never even set foot in their box before.

“Hi Vero! Hi Becka!” as soon as we walked in they were met with greetings, before they realized Rosalia and I were there. A few of them gave me odd looks, others sympathetic ones, but Shelley, Michelle and Anne were the only ones to come over and say hello to us.

“Hi Cam! Who’s this?” Shelley asked, and Rosalia turned a little pink.

“This is Rosalia – she’s a good friend of mine,” I answered, and all three women greeted her enthusiastically, which put her a little more at ease. We talked until the announcer started to speak, and stood to sing the American national anthem, before the seven of us sat down in a group to watch the game.

Anne’s two kids were here to watch, while Shelley and Michelle’s were all busy and with friends’ parents to go to hockey games, practice, or dance. Rhys and Francesca were adorable, and incredibly well behaved for a three and five year old. Rhys gave me a slightly confused look, before tugging on his mom’s sleeve.

“Mommy, why isn’t Cam playing hockey with dad?”

“It’s because I have to get better first,” I answered for her, not wanting to put Anne through the awkwardness of trying to explain it to him. He raised an eyebrow at me, before crossing his arms.

“You don’t look hurt,” he announced, making me and Shelley laugh, while Anne was horrified at his frankness.

“It’s up here, that’s why,” I answered, tapping my temple. His eyes widened and he nodded then, and while he probably assumed I had a concussion I would leave it at that.

“Oh,” he gave me a quick hug then, before returning to watching the game.

“I’m sorry Cam – I had no idea he’d ask,” Anne apologized, but I shrugged her off. Kids would be kids, and I hadn’t been one bit surprised that he’d asked me about it.

“It’s fine – seriously Anne. It’s not a problem,” I assured her. I found that watching the game was harder than I thought, and I was glad that Rosalia was more than happy to keep up a steady conversation with me to help ease my anxiety about not playing. She knew it was going to be hard on me, as did Becka and Shelley, but none of us knew it would be this hard.

“Easy, just take a deep breath, you’ll be fine,” Rosalia insisted, and Becka gave me a quick hug.

“It’ll be all right,” she agreed, and I took a deep breath, before standing up.

“I need something to eat – anybody else want something?” I asked, and Becka and Rosalia decided they wanted something and stood to accompany me.

What seemed like a good idea quickly turned into a bad one, as people recognized me and I was all but swarmed before we got anywhere near the concession booth. There were flashes of cameras in my face, people asking me questions at a million miles a minute and I froze, unsure of what to do. I felt self conscious in my long black tank top, one of Jordan’s hoodies, and jeggings, my sneakers dirty and scuffed up. I wanted to shrink into the floor and disappear, and I don’t know what I would have done without Becka and Rosalia there.

“Excuse me – can you guys give her some space?” Rosalia asked, catching Becka off guard.
She’s used to being the loud and expressive one, but I think Rosalia might give her a run for her money.

“She’s going through a tough time all right? Hockey means the world to her, and so does her team, so of course she’s going to be here to watch the game. So give her a break,” she finished, and with that hooked her arm through mine and continued on our way to the concession. I was still speechless, and Becka gave her a huge grin and a high five when she caught up to us.

“Damn! You were awesome!” Rosalia just gave her a shy smile and shrugged, obviously not finding it a big deal.

“I just think it’s stupid how they freaking swarmed you,” she rolled her eyes as we waited in line, and I giggled as I nodded.

“It’s crazy,” I agreed, and we got back to our seats just after the second period started. I was happily munching away on my fries, my eyes glued to Jordan out on the ice. He moved so gracefully for such a big guy, and I nearly choked on a fry when he scored.

“Yeah! Way to go Jord!” I hollered, making Very, Becka and Rosalia roll their eyes at me. I sheepishly sat back down, stuffing my face with fries in an attempt to hide my embarrassment.

“You two are dating, aren’t you?” Anne asked, and my face turned a deeper shade of red, answering for me.

“Aw that’s so cute!” she announced, pulling me into a tight hug. I was surprised she hadn’t been even just a tiny bit judgmental or skeptical about my relationship with the forward.

“Thanks,”

“So, how long?” I looked over her shoulder to the other women in the box, and while none of them really seemed to be paying attention I knew at least a few of them would be listening.

“A year,” I answered, feeling my face heat up some more as I admitted this to her. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped, before she let out an excited squeal and hugged me again.

“That’s so wonderful! And it explains Jordan’s total 180. That must be so exciting for you! Are you doing anything for the anniversary?”

“Um, I think he’s taking me out to dinner after the game,” I answered, again feeling awkward. I’d spent so long basically hiding my relationship with him it was almost weird being able to talk with someone about it.

“That’s wonderful! I’m so happy for you,” she gushed, making me laugh and relax a little. Anne was a really sweet girl.

When the game was finished we were all in a damper mood – while the guys had played incredibly well, we lost 2-1. Becka and I made our way down to the locker room as quickly as possible, stopping and waiting a few times for Vero and Rosalia to catch up.

“Safe to go in coach?” I asked Dan. He gave me a weary smile and a one-armed hug before sticking his head in the door. The conversation was quick and he nodded, holding open the door for the group of us. The locker room had the dense silence I’d expected – I felt the loss just as much as they had.

“Hey guys – you played really well. We’ll kick their goddamn asses next time,” I assured them, getting some laughs out of the disappointed group.

“Next time you better be here to help,” James added, making me smile.

“I’m hoping to,” I agreed, and went to talk to Jordan. He caught me completely off guard by pulling me into a hug and pressing a chaste kiss to my lips. I couldn’t even enjoy it – I was completely panicking about the fact he was doing this in front of our entire team.

“Relax short-stuff – we all know,” TK rolled his eyes, and I looked around the room, seeing everybody nod, smile, or smirk. I looked to Jordan then, whose cheeks were tinged pink and he looked sheepish.

“It might have slipped out… and then I got grilled,” he admitted, and I had to let out a laugh then.

“You would,” I pressed a quick kiss to his lips, ignoring the guy’s cat calls and teasing remarks, knowing that all of the guys got the same treatment with their wives or girlfriends.

“Sorry – I know we should’ve talked about this first, but I was talking to Sid and Craig overheard me… you get the picture,” he sighed, and I nodded. There weren’t many things that didn’t get overheard in the locker room.

“It’s fine Jordy,” I insisted, and got that cute little lopsided grin out of him. We continued chatting with everybody, and I couldn’t help but notice one particular blue-eyed brunette had his eyes on my new friend. I grinned at him and raised an eyebrow, which made him blush and quickly turn his attention to taping a new stick. I bit back a laugh, which made my friends confused, but I merely shook my head, not wanting to divulge the information until I could talk to Rosalia alone. Or maybe I would leave it for a while, and see where things went.

“Short stop!” Sidney burst, and we all looked at him like he’d just lost it. Which was very possible, I guess; it was Sidney after all.

“Huh?”

“That’s your nickname! Short stop!” he grinned, and soon everybody on the team had joined in. I rolled my eyes at them, but inside I was glad – you really had to be part of the team to be given a nickname, and it meant a lot to me.

“Suits you,” Jordan nodded, giving me another smile as he wrapped his arm around me, keeping me tucked into his side as we continued to visit with our friends. Rosalia just grinned and sent me a wink, and moments later Sidney and Becka properly introduced her to Marc, Matty, TK and James, who immediately took her attention. I continued to grin to myself, seeing the looks they gave each other, while they were both oblivious.

“Welcome back to the team Cam,” Jordan whispered in my ear, making me grin and hug him even tighter.

“I’ve missed it,” I replied, and he kissed my cheek as we continued to spend time with our friends.

~*~

“So, um, can we go back and change?” Jordan asked as we headed to the player’s lot. Becka was going to drop Rosalia off at home, because Jordan had asked if he could “steal” me right from the rink.

“Sure, what’re you thinking?”

“Well, I’m dressed about right, you on the other hand…” he teased, making me roll my eyes while I wondered just what the hell he’d planned and hid up his sleeve about tonight. I’d insisted we didn’t have to go and do anything big – I mean, neither of us were really like that so it didn’t seem like we should make a big thing of it, even if it was our one year anniversary.

“So what are you wanting me to wear?” I asked, and he just bit his lip.

“Well, we’ll go back to my place and you can see,” he finally told me, piquing my interest.
While Jordan could plan, I really hadn’t thought to expect anything like this out of him. I sat quietly in the front seat and watched Pittsburgh go by; lit up and almost glowing against the dark night sky. It was beautiful, and when we pulled up to Jordan’s building I was almost sad that our drive came to an end.