Our Heads May Hurt Tomorrow

“Something bothers me about what Allison said,” commented Niki. I rolled my eyes, having hoped that we would have made it through the day without mentions of the new girl in Patrick’s life. We had been stuck with her for a while now, and I didn’t want to think about her on a day that was supposed to be about my best friend and me. “I mean, she said she heard about you. A lot about you. What the fuck did he tell her?”

That wasn’t what I figured she was going to say. Perhaps it would have been about something she had said something about me to Niki while the two were forced to bond during a time when Patrick and Jonny hung out together. They had plans to see each other, and since I wasn’t really a part of Kane’s life anymore, I didn’t hear about it from him. Everything was second hand to me. It came from Niki.

“I don’t know. I don’t care,” I told her. Who knew if he was even honest with her? I doubted it that he was. He didn’t have to be up front with her. I figured he was going to be like he was with all the other girls in the past. He’d move on after he got bored. I knew he had done it with me. The evidence of that was all over the place. He was with her at almost every event he could be at. I was sick of it.

We sat there, watching the banner raising ceremony and eating the pizza my best friend had ordered since she had wanted it. Eric had offered to come over, but thanks to the group dinner, I wasn’t too sure that wanted to spend too much time with him after all. He didn’t seem to care. We were both so busy, and I didn’t know if he was still so interested in me. In the car on the way home, I was hounded with questions about everything that had happened with Patrick, and I still didn’t think that it was his business. Other than that he seemed pretty proud that he was Eskimo brothers with Patrick Kane.

We sat through the first period, and I cheered loudly as Kaner scored the first goal of the shortened season. I was proud of him for that like I was still watching my friends play in college or high school, but it hurt deep down. I wanted to squash those feelings, but I couldn’t. It would take time; time I didn’t really have. How could I have that time? At the end of the first, I was too happy, and as a knock came at my door, I didn’t think any differently. The woman asked for an update of the game, and I let her know as I signed for the flowers she was delivering.

“I guess Eric really likes you,” said Niki off-handedly as I brought the flowers into the living room. The issue was that the card didn’t say they were from Eric. It wasn’t hand-writing I recognized, and it wasn’t that I thought I had a secret admirer. Hiding the card from my best friend was something I had to do though. This was something I wanted to keep to myself. She didn’t need to know what was going on in my life all of the time.

“Oh, yeah. He’s just the best,” I grinned. She came over to stand with me as I looked over the flowers. Some of them weren’t ones I had recognized from my experience with flowers. Some were extremely familiar like the red roses, pink carnations, and . The coordination of the bouquet was well thought out. It was nice addition to the window of the front room.

After the boys won, Niki and I said our goodbyes. It was always nice to have her over, but the peace and quiet of being alone was also just something that I needed. This time it was just that I wanted to look at the flowers that came and the note that came with them. Part of me wondered if the most important part of the flowers was that they were delivered during the game. I didn’t think that he could have called the flowers in while he was at work, but he would have had to have had some planning in the whole matter.

“I’ll come over when I can,” read the card. It was creepy to say the least, but I knew what it meant. Patrick had a way of doing things that were sweet, but it still made me wonder if his new girl knew what was going on. If he was going to come over with her, I wasn’t going to let him in. I’d be furious, and he wasn’t going to get anywhere with me. I think he knew that I was not her biggest fan, but that was just something mild as compared with how pissed it would make me if he came over, unannounced, with her.

I started to clean around the apartment, putting leftover pizza away and picking up the empty beer bottle to throw into the recycling. I took a sip out of the other bottle that I knew still had some in it. I knew that it wasn’t the best idea for me to just be drinking while sitting alone at home, but I had started the drink when I had company. Unfortunately, when my phone rang, I was startled and dropped the bottle onto the wood floor. It shattered, and I cussed under by breath.

“Hello?” I said into the phone once I picked it up, deciding to take care of that before the glass and liquid on my floor.

“Hey, is Niki still there?” asked Jonny. I rolled my eyes at the fact that he called. I knew he would want to celebrate the win with her, and I could tell he was with the team. I could hear voices in the background all muffled, but I could pick up a few that were hard to forget like Shaw’s and Keith’s voices.

“No, she just left. She might not answer if she’s driving,” I answered. I figured that she hadn’t answered her phone when he called her cell first. She was the type who often lost her phone, and even though she had Bluetooth, I knew she was the type to forget it. Then I spotted a familiar purple phone case on my coffee table. “Never mind, she left her phone here. When you talk to her later, will you tell her I’ll drop it off later?”

“Sure. Hey, stay on the phone a moment,” he mumbled. I could hear the phone being passed off. I didn’t like the sound of it, but I could just hang up if things were going to go the way that I thought.

I frowned as phone went silent. He must have put it on mute because the call was still going on. A few moments ticked by, and I grabbed the things I was going to need to start cleaning up the shattered bottle and its contents. I pushed the trashcan over with my foot as I grabbed a towel. They were taking longer than I had expected. I guessed this was why he wanted me to stay on the phone. Unfortunately, coming up with a reason I could give to get off of the phone was proving more difficult than expected. Then the voices in the background returned, and I knew that this was going to be an interesting conversation with whoever took the phone off of Jonny’s hands.

“Hey there. Did you get my flowers?” was all that he had to say before I hung up on him. I knew the phone was going to go to him. I didn’t want to talk to him when he spoke just because I did not want to go and deal with the fact that I would have to talk to him about the arrangement. I closed my eyes and abandoned my cleaning to go sit on the couch for a few moments. The flowers were in my peripheral, and it crossed my mind that I should just throw them out before he got back from the trip to LA and to Phoenix. Seeing the flowers here would give him power, but the arrangement was just too pretty to just toss out without any second thoughts.

When the phone rang again, I hit ignore only to see that the number I had ignored was the home number for the Toewses. I called her back as soon as I realized it was Niki. She must have sped- much like she normally did- to get home as fast as she had. Then I noticed the red stain on vase and the base of my phone. The pain was setting in on my hand. I glanced at it and paled.

“Patrick and Jonny just rang. Well, Jonny was looking for you, and I hung up on Patrick,” I told her. She laughed. “Also, will you come get your phone? I kinda need to clean up some broken glass, and I was hoping you could give me a ride to the hospital.”

“What the hell did you do? I’m on my way now,” she said, and with that there was a click on the other end of the phone.