The Poet Sings

"Why are you so jumpy this morning?"

Brooke jumped again. "What?"

"That! Was it because of our calls last night?" Brendan smirked and took a bite of his pasta that his sister made for lunch.

She rolled her eyes as she remembered their crazy antics. Should she just go along with it? "Um.. no, it wasn't you guys." Brooke decided just to tell him the truth.

"Then what is it?" He asked his baby sister.

She sighed, caving in. "Matt called last night."

Brendan spit out the water that was in his mouth.

"That was uncalled for." The girl said referring to the water that was now all over the table.

"No it's not! Matt called you?! What did he say? I swear I will rip his head off if he said anything-"

Brooke sighed and rolled her eyes, "he just said he was coming up here, to Edmonton, with some of his friends for spring break. Trust me, I'm fine. I have a whole hockey team now behind my back."

Brendan got up from the table to give his sister a hug. "I'm just looking out for you. And you're right, those guys will give his ass if he gets near you."

Brooke just giggled and nodded her her head.

▲

That night, Brooke agreed that she would go see a movie with Ryan, and also Nail Yakupov. She was finishing up her make up when Brendan walked in. He just told her to call him if anything goes wrong -meaning any sightings of Matt- and to have fun. Since this morning, both were very cautious in the streets of Edmonton. Brendan wouldn't even let Brooke go to the store alone to get groceries.

A car honked outside, signaling that the boys were here. Brooke shouted a goodbye to her brother and walked outside. It was still light out.

"Where would you like to eat Brooker?" Nail asked as she hopped in the car. Brooke had become friends with the young star when she met him last night. They only talked for about five minutes, but Brooke thought he was easy to talk to.

"Umm.." she thought quickly. "I honestly don't care."

"Thanks for your help." Ryan replied sarcastically.

Nail chose this one restaurant. It was more of a fast food place, but none of them cared and dug into the food once it arrived. Ryan started the conversation first.

"Sorry about the guys calling you last night. A couple more guys were over than just us, and they thought it would be funny."

Brooke simply shook her head and waved her hand, dismissing it. She honestly forgot about it. "Well, you guys sure gave me a heart attack." She ate another onion ring, thankfully she had gum with her so her breath wouldn't be so bad. "Who else was there?"

"Me, Ryan, Ebs, Hall, Gags, and Hemsky." Nail answered first.

Brooke nodded, she really only said two words to Sam Gagner and Ales Hemsky. And that was 'good game'.

They continued their meal and made small talk here and there. The boys just really loved their food. After, they headed to the movie theater to watch something Nail really wanted to see.

Ryan sat in the middle of Nail and Brooke. During the movie, Brooke's phone brightened up and she quickly turned the screen towards her. Luckily, there was only about two other people there. She read the text from Brendan.

Red alert! I see Matt at the store.

Then get out of there.

Thanks. Didn't think that at first.

She rolled her eyes, turned of her phone, and tried to pay attention to the movie again. Once it was over they brought back Brooke. Apparently Nail was staying over at the boys' house. She never knew hockey players had so many sleepovers.

At the house, Brendan gave her a worried look. She quickly noticed. "What?"

He hesitated before answering, "I think one of Matt's friends," he paused to try to find the right words, "noticed me. He asked me if I was Brendan and I of course said no and he gave me this suspicious look. Then I noticed this car that was following me, and when I turned into the driveway they just kept going so.."

Her eyes were wide with fear. "Brendan, you idiot!" That took him slightly by surprise, but she's called him worse. "Now they know where we live! They could be stalking us this very moment! Oh my god, what are we going to do?" She paced back and forth, rubbing her head.

"We could have a sleepover at they guys' house." He shrugged and turned off the tv. "I mean.. well it might not even be him, you know? Maybe it was just someone who lived in the neighborhood."

Brooke thought about it, "okay. But I don't feel like going over there. And I'm not sleeping alone in my room."

"Then it's settled. Let's have a slumber party in the living room!" He laughed and got up to get blankets off of the beds.

▲

"So.. Brooke." Nail wiggled his eyebrows as he stared at Ryan. "It's so obvious you like her." Ryan threw a pillow at him. "You were always looking at her tonight. Why don't you just ask you out already?"

Ryan looked back at the tv screen. "She doesn't seem interested."

"So? You need to make her interested in you. Take her on a fancy date, and say that you like her. I'm sure she wouldn't turn you down, who would say no to the great Ryan Nugent-Hopkins?"

Ryan laughed and rolled his eyes. "I don't know. I mean she's cute.. but I still kind of have feelings for Melanie." He shrugged now. "She's coming here in a few weeks." Nail rose his eyebrows at this news. "I asked her to a couple days ago, to see if we could possibly work things out."

"Nuge, she cheated on you. That's something that's hard to forgive and forget. Are you sure that this is the right idea?"

Ryan sighed and ran a hand through his hair, he did not want to have this conversation right now. "I don't know to be honest. She's pretty and, well at once, nice."

Nail just shrugged, "well anyway, moving onto me, I'm going on a date with this one girl I met at the gym the other day."

▲

There was a loud bang that came from the door and Brooke jumped straight up. Another loud knock shook the house and she looked frantically for her brother that was suppose to be sleeping next to her.

"Brendan?" She whispered, but got no response. "Brendan?" She tried again and started to look around. The room was pitch black since they turned off the lights and tv, and also shut the curtains over the large window in the living room. She got up and went to the door, looking through the peephole, but it was to dark to see if anyone was out there.

The hallway bathroom door opened and light flooded in. Brendan stretched then saw that Brooke was standing there. He rushed over to her.

"What happened?" He put his hands on her shoulders.

"Did you hear that?" She whispered. The banging happened again and Brendan quickly moved his sister away from the door. He then rushed into a closet and came out with a baseball bat. She stood in front if him. "No don't, stop we'll just stay inside."

Brendan shook his head and moved Brooke again. "No it's fine, I'll see who it is."

His hand clutched the door handle and he slowly turned it. He flew the door open, and was in a stance, ready to hit someone. No one stood there and Brendan looked back, pointing outside. Then he disappeared from Brooke's sight as he circled the house. Brooke stood there and waited five minutes until her brother finally came back inside.

He shook his head, "nothing."