Rocking The House

"Sid, I look fucking ridiculous. Why are you making me wear this?" Jack looked into the mirror and pouted.

"Because I need to show Myah that I'm not like every other guy. That's why. She'll love it. We are showing a little Rider Pride." I replied, tying my Saskatchewan Roughriders flag around my neck to make it a cape. "Now stop your bitching. We are gonna be late."

*******

"People are staring at us Sid." Jack eyed me wearily. "I think the watermelon helmut was a little overkill. And how come I have to wear it and you dont?"

"Because I don't want to mess up my hair." I slapped his back and guided him towards our seats. As soon as we sat down Myah looked over at us and started laughing uncontrollably.

"Wow, can't say I've ever seen someone dresed up in Rider gear at a curling event. You must be on a mission or something." She managed to get out in between her fits of laughter. When I looked at her she actually had tears running down her face.

"I told you this was stupid!" Jack sat up and threw off his watermelon helmut. "I'm going to get us some drinks, do you want anything?" He looked at Myah and me.

"The usual, make it two. I said, turning my attention back to Myah. "Too much then?" I asked as she nodded her head, she still wasn't able to talk. I took my cape off and folded it up, stuffing it in my backpack. I left the green jersey on and smiled at her. "Better?" I asked.

"Yeah, you're getting there. Hold on though." She reached into her bag and pulled out a package of baby wipes. "Never go anywhere without them." She chuckled as she started to dab my face to get the facepaint off. As soon as her hand touched me my insides started doing a dance I realized I was in a lot more trouble with this girl than I could ever imagine. "There." she said as she wiped the last of the green paint from my face. "Good as new."

Before she could take her hand away from my face I grabbed it. "Thanks." I whispered. She gave me a shy smile and turned her attention back to the game.

Jack came back with our drinks and I threw the package of babywipes at him, telling him he could take the paint off his face. "Thank god!" He replied as he ripped a few wipes from the package and got to work on his face.

"Here" Myah passed him her compact so he would have a mirror.

He smiled at her and continued to work on his face.

"So um, the girls and I are going out after the evening game tonight, maybe you and Jack want to join us?"

"I think we'd both really like that."

"I'm sorry about yesterday, it was all Becca's idea. I gotta say that you guys did look rather dashing in your costumes though."

"Thanks, can't say I'll ever do that again. Consider yourself privileged. My agent called me afterwards, he wasn' very happy. Seems like I've been all over Social Media in a the past few weeks and he can't really figure out why. Normally I'm very guarded about my personal life."

'Oh, I think you can probably blame it on Captain America. He seems like the type to get you out of your shell and doing things you normally wouldn't do."

"That's an understatement." I chuckled and turned to watch Saskatchewan take on team B.C.

********

We walked into the pub and quickly found Myah and Becca sitting at a large table with other players.

"Hi" I whispered as she got up to give me a hug. Fuck, make these feelings stop I told myself. Becca got up and practically threw her arms around Jack who couldn't wipe the grin off of his face if he tried.

"I saw you cheering for us today! Kind of hard to to miss!" She laughed as she pulled away from Jack. "Come and sit." She patted the chair behind her. I pulled out the chair beside Myah and sat down, trying to control my breathing. Becca introduced us and we got the usual round of girl giggles and oohs and aaahs from the ladies, but no one acted any different or treated us like we were anything other than curling fans. It was a nice change.

Reaching for the menu I asked, "Did you guys order any food yet?" They all shook their heads. I scanned the choices and decided on fish and chips and then ordered the table a couple pitchers of beer. When I noticed that everyone else was emmersed in conversation I turned towards Myah.

"Why do you hate hockey players so much?" I asked

She took a sip of her beer, as if contemplating giving me an honest answer or not. "I just don't" She wasn't giving me the whole answer but I decided not to press the issue. Instead, I changed the subject.

"So what do you do for work?" I asked.

"I'm a student. I'm in pre-med to become a vet. My parents own a cattle farm and right now I'm helping them out with it."

"That sounds great. My friend Jordan, his parents own a farm. We always find trouble when we go there. Last time we went we got into so much trouble that we actually got punished."

"I'd love to know that story." She giggled.

"I'd love to tell you." I replied. I went into our adventures and how Jordan stole the backhoe and Jack shot me in the ass. By the end of the story she was laughing so hard that she nearly snorted beer out of her nose.

"Okay, I gotta go to the washroom before this gets out of hand." She laughed, getting up and heading towards the bathrooms. I took this as my chance to ask Becca about why she was so guarded. I leaned over and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey, why does she hate hockey players so much?"

She looked at me and blinked. "Did you ask her?"

"Yes."

"Did she tell you?"

"No"

Becca took a sip of her beer, trying to choose the right words, "Myah has had a rough couple years. She'll tell you when she's ready. Just don't push her okay?" I nodded my head and waited for her to come back.

By the end of the night I knew that I was in love with her. Her smile, her laugh, and her eyes, I was hooked. Jack and Becca had already left, to go where.....I'm not so sure I want to know. I offered to get Myah a ride home since I was in no state to drive and she had come with Becca. I hailed us a cab and as we drove back to her hotel she rested her head on my shoulder. I took in her scent and smiled to myself as she broke the silence. "My highschool sweetheart, he broke up with me right before he left to go and play in the NHL. We dated for five years, for four of those five years he cheated on me. I think I had always kind of known that stuff was going on behind my back when he was on the road, but I thought I was in love and I didn't want to admit it." She took a deep breath before continuing. "He promised me the world, told me that once he got drafted and made it big time he would bring me with him and provide for me. I put off going to school for him, I gave up everything for the dreams he promised me. So when he finally told me the truth and broke it off, I spent the next three months locked in my room. He hurt me beyond repair and he doesn't want anything to do with us anymore." She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

"I'm sorry you went through that. You deserve someone who will move the stars for you, not someone who will make them come crashing down on you. Who is he?" I asked. "Scouts honour that I won't hurt him unless you ask me to." I chuckled and I saw her breathing start to return to normal.

"Jordan Eberle."