Rocking The House

I rolled over and looked at my clock. It was 8:15 and Jack still wasn't back yet. Good thing Thunder Bay was only a seven hour drive. Even if we didn't leave until this afternoon it should be fine. I had asked Staalsy earlier if his parents were going to be home. I thought it would be fun to stop in at the farm and say hi. Hopefully they wouldn't put us to work, I know every summer the guys all go back and help harvest. I unfortunately was no farmer. Ma and Pa Staal were like family, always at our games and coordinating their schedules so they could see each other their boys play.

I picked up my phone to see if Taylor wanted to get some breakfast before we left. As always, she let it ring a million times before she decided to pick up. I could tell I had woken her up.
"Good morning douche bag, thanks for waking me up on my one day to sleep in."
"Sorry Tay. Go back to sleep I'll call you back later."
"No no, I'm awake now. What's going on?"
"Breakfast? Bernie's?" I asked. Bernie's is popular with all the students for it's all day breakfasts and cheap prices. Plus the food was actually pretty good.
"Sure, give me half an hour to get ready."
"See you soon. I'll pick you up outside." I hung up the phone and hopped in the shower. When I got out I stood and looked at myself. I looked tired, defeated. As much as I was trying to distract myself with things other than hockey, my heart ached for it. It ached for the smell of the rink and way my skates glided on the fresh ice. I missed the roar of the crowd and the thrill of scoring a goal. This time last year I was playing in the Olympics, now, I'm sitting here feeling sorry for myself because I can't do what I love. I will play again. I know it.

I was almost out the door when Another One Bites the Dust starting going off, I pulled my phone from my pocket to see a message from Jack.
Jack: Boy do I have stories to tell you, once my head stops pounding.
Sid: Well meet me and Taylor at Bernie's some grease will do you good. Don't bring Mrs. Carlton. Won't look with Tay :)
Jack: She won't come, her husband comes home today.
Sid: You are so fucked up. Do I need to pick you up?
Jack: No, I'll cab it. See ya soon.

Oh my god, she was still married. What had jack gotten himself into this time? Good thing we were leaving town today.

I was happy to see that our old table was un occupied when we got to the restaurant and Taylor was happy that it was still way too early for her friends to be up so she wouldn't have to deal with being seen in public with tweedle dee and tweedle dum.

"Good morning guys, can I get you something to drink?" The server asked.
"Two orange juices and two waters, actually make that three waters, we have someone else coming to join us."
"Sounds great, I'll be back in a minute with those."
"Where is Jack anyways?" Taylor asked. "You guys are usually stitched at the hip when you're together."
"Yes well, seems like Mr. Johnson found himself a party last night. He is not feeling so great this morning."
"No party for you? Come on Sid, you gotta get out more." Taylor sounded concerned as she played with her napkin.
"I can't Tay, partying is strangers just isn't my thing."
"You mean partying isn't hockey. Sorry to break it to you bro but there is a lot more to life than hockey. Don't get me wrong, I love it and everything about it but there's more to it than that."
"Yeah, but you've never had it taken away from you!" I could myself getting upset and it was for no reason. Taylor was just concerned for me, hell I was concerned for myself.
"Chill Sid, I was only trying to help." She had successfully ripped her napkin to shreds and our conversation was cut short when we saw Jack walk in the door. I could tell just by seeing him at a distance that he was in rough shape. I waved my hand to get his attention and he nodded in aknowledgment as he walked over.
"Hey Taylor! Long time no see." He said brightly as he reached the table. I could tell he had gotten laid. Jack was never this happy in the morning, especially when he was hungover. "I'm starved, did you guys order yet?"
"Nah, still waiting for our drinks." I said as he sat down.
"Good, I'm going to have the Bernie's Special. God my stomach is growling just thinking about it."
A minute later the server returned with our drinks.
"Are you guys ready to order?"
"Yeah, we'll take One Bernie's Special, for the cripple over there, One order of Strawberry Waffles with Maple Syrup for the lovely lady, and I'll have the Western Omelette with hashbrowns please. Oh, and you can put it on his bill." I pointed towards Jack who laughed and then nodded that it was okay.
"So where did you find this party?" Taylor asked.
"I don't know to be totally honest. I went for a couple drinks after your dance and I guess it got a bit crazy."
"We'll I'm glad your okay." She smiled at jack.
"Yeah I'm glad too and I don't want to ever hear about you doing such a thing." He shook his finger at her and Taylor rolled her eyes.
"Yes sir. I promise to never get into trouble and have a little fun."
I was humbled at his genuine concern for my sister. "You better not Tay. Or you'll have to answer to two brothers beating your ass, not just one." I winked at her and she thew her rolled up napkin at me.
"He started it, why are you throwing things at me?" I asked defenceless from the onslaught of paper napkins being thrown at me.
"Because I like him better." She giggled. "Hey jack did you see me and Sid doing our dance off? It was epic and everyone stopped to watch?"
"Seriously? You got him to dance? And he wasn't drunk? How the hell did you manage that one?"
"Hey, I would do just about anything for my baby sister. Plus I totally kicked her ass. Those kids loved the sprinkler."
Jack pounded the table with his fork he was laughing so hard.
"The sprinkler Sid? Do you know how lame that is? You're killing me. I'm far too cool to be your friend." Jack was laughing so hard he was crying.
"Hey, those kids loved my moves! I started to do the sprinkler at the table. Besides it too late to unfriend me. I've seen you naked."
"True that." Jack laughed. Our laughter was interrupted when our food arrived.
"Now this. This is what I call a hangover breakfast. Hold on Sid, you need to take a pic of me with this. You know, for twitter. I've been lacking on the tweets." He handed me his phone and I snapped a photo of him hovering over his plate. "Sweet, now one of you and Taylor. Not for Twitter, unless you say so."
"We'll you would have to ask Taylor if she wants a photo of us together on the Internet. If she says its ok you'll finally get to show your tweeters or whatever you are called that we are actually friends and that you didn't make it all up to just be cool."
"Funny crosby, I'm way cooler with or without you. Now say cheese!" Jack snapped our pic as I put my arm around Taylor.
"Let me see, I gotta make sure my hair is half decent." Taylor reached over the table and grabbed his phone.

We don't know where the time went but before we knew it it was early afternoon. We dropped Taylor off and headed back to
The hotel so jack could pack and shower. I was not going to spend the next six hours locked in a car with his stinky hungover ass.

"Dude, why do you insist on taking freakin long showers web you know we are kinda in a hurry?" I asked when he emerged twenty five minutes later.
"Why do you have to be an ass? I'm recovering and injured. Be nice to me."
"Whatever. Lets go."
We left behind fairbault and headed north towards the border. I didn't notice what speed I was going. The range rover had a tendency for making me feel like I was going slower than I actually was. Jack was no help either, he was passed out trying to sleep way his hangover. I was lost in my thoughts, tryin to figure out what I would do if I never got to play again. Coach maybe? Operations? There would always be opportunities. I wa jarred from my depressing thought when I saw the red and blue lights in my rearview. "Fuck." I said as I pulled over. I reached over jacks leg to grab my registration from
The glove box when there was a knock on my window. I wound it down to see an officer standing beside me. I looked at his name tag and my face went white when I read Constable Carlton. Shit, all I hoped was that jack wouldn't wake up