Perfect Symmetry

I had the idea to talk to Coach Q and the rest of the Blackhawks legal department before Danielle, so on Wednesday morning I rescheduled my usual early meetings and walked into the United Center after a morning skate. I was lucky and caught Coach Q just as the group was finishing.

“Jazz, how’s it going?” he asked me cheerfully, patting me on the back.

I gave him a weak smile. “I’m well, thank you Joel. Look, I was wondering if I could have a quick word with you. I might have inadvertently created a sort of situation and I wanted to fill you in.”

His smile faded. “This sounds ominous.”

“Well it’s not a joke,” I admitted, rubbing my forehead nervously.

Joel led me to his office, where I filled him in on Danielle’s actions and showed him another copy of the magazine. I explained that those things I said about Jonathan were meant to hurt her, not Jon, and were taken terribly out of context.

At the end of my spiel, Joel had a frown on his face and his arms were folded across his chest in a threatening manner.

“When did you find out she was a writer for this magazine?” he asked slowly.

“After I found the article in the shop, sir,” I answered truthfully.

“Does Tazer know about this?” he continued.

I nodded grimly. “I went to him first. He was pretty upset.”

Joel nodded. “Can’t really blame him. Well I appreciate you telling me, Jazz. I will hand over this magazine to the legal department and we’ll see what can be done.”

“And what about my quotes, sir?” I asked heavily.

Joel looked at me sympathetically. “How did he react?”

I laughed humorlessly. “He’s pretty angry with me. He thinks that is my opinion of him. Of course it’s not, but...”

“You’re not responsible, Jazz. Whatever you said to Danielle should have been an exchange between the two of you, but she published it without notifying or asking you. She is in the wrong. Now let us handle it,” Joel commanded firmly, standing up to excuse me.

I nodded with a small smile and turned to leave.

“Don’t worry about Toews, either. He’ll come around. He’s just hurting right now,” Joel tried to assure me.

I nodded again and left his office and began to walk down the hall while looking at my toes. This was a bad habit, and I was reminded again how stupid it was to walk without watching where I’m going as I bumped into someone.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, glancing up.

“Jazz?” Viktor’s strong voice reached my ears and I blinked a few times until his face came into focus.

“Oh hey Viktor,” I greeted half-heartedly.

He put his hands on my shoulders gently.

“Are you okay? What are you doing here, I haven’t seen you in two weeks!” he exclaimed in disbelief. “I was starting to think something was up with you.”

I shrugged. “I had to talk to Coach Q about Danielle.”

“Danielle? Toews’ girl?” Viktor asked with surprise.

I explained the whole thing over again and watched as his eyes grew big with astonishment and he pulled me into a hug.

“Why didn’t you tell me right as it all happened, Jazz? I could have helped you through it,” he soothed, kissing my forehead.

“I didn’t want to spread the story around if Jonathan didn’t want people to know,” I explained weakly.

“And what did Coach say?” Viktor asked curiously.

“He was really nice about it. He said it was all Danielle’s fault and I had nothing to feel guilty for,” I answered.

Viktor nodded. “Well that’s true, isn’t it?”

“I suppose. But I feel terrible. I was manipulated and now Jonathan’s paying the cost. He has every right to be mad at me,” I said with conviction, pulling my bag over my shoulder.

Viktor kissed my cheek. “Why don’t we go out for brunch, hm? It feels like ages since I’ve properly been with you.”

I shrugged him off gently. “I’m not really up to it today, Viktor. Plus I have to be back at work in about an hour.”

“So we’re swimming in time,” he gave me a smile that usually would have had me melted in his arms.

I gave him a small smile and kissed him gently on the lips.

“Not today,” I repeated. “But I’ll try and come to the game this weekend and we’ll do something then, okay?”

Viktor nodded kindly and then after one more kiss he headed to the dressing room to clean up properly. I left the arena and was about to hop into my car when I spotted Jonathan jogging towards me.

“Jazz!” he called out loudly.

I waited patiently for him to reach me, which didn’t take long, since he was jogging pretty fast, even in his suit.

“Hey,” I offered, looking down in embarrassment.

“Coach told me you came by to tell him about the situation,” Jon explained. He wasn’t even breathing hard after his jog.

I nodded. “I wanted him to know what was going on.”

“I’m sorry I yelled at you at my place,” he apologized, “I was just so angry, and I needed to let it out. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“I shouldn’t have said those things,” I admitted, “but I never thought they would be interpreted as slanderous. You know I have a high opinion of you.”

Jonathan smiled. “I’m glad. Anyway I broke up with her.”

I nodded grimly. “I know. She called me and told me it was my fault.”

His face darkened. “She didn’t.”

I tossed my hand out coolly. “Don’t worry about it. I’m pretty good at verbal sparring if it comes down to it. And she lost that battle.”

Jonathan gave me a proud look.

“Good. God, I can’t even remember what I saw in her. That’s four months of my life I wish I could get back,” he groaned, leaning on the hood of my car.

I frowned. “I know. Hey, I have to get back to work now, but I’m thinking of cutting out early. How about a feel-better dinner?”

Jonathan looked surprised. “I don’t really want to go out.”

I shrugged. “That’s fine. We’ll stay at home and order pizza.”

“My place?” he offered. “I have a huge TV.”

I laughed. “Seven okay?”

He cracked a genuine smile. “Sounds great.”

As I drove away I felt slightly guilty giving Viktor the sly and spending the evening with Jonathan. I told myself it was fair, since Jonathan needed some company after a bit of a relationship fiasco, and I would be seeing Viktor this weekend anyway.

It made sense, right?
~

I picked up a large pepperoni pizza on the way to Jonathan’s place as well as a collection of some of my favourite break up movies. Titanic, Casablanca, An Affair to Remember . I had no idea whether he would even concede to watch any of them, but I decided to try anyway.

His doorman waved me in with a smile and I took the long trip up the elevator before hitting the penthouse. Jonathan opened the door, looking very nice in a pair of dark wash jeans and a blue plaid shirt.

I, on the other hand, was wearing sweats and an old concert souvenir t-shirt. I patted his back encouragingly.

“You look nice, but my pizza movie night involves sweats to encourage maximum eating,” I explained as I side stepped him and walked into his apartment.

The living room had snacks and soda’s displayed on the table, as well as...one large cheese pizza.

“You already have a pizza?” I demanded, turning to glare at him.

Jon shrugged helplessly. “I assumed since we were having it at my place, I was taking care of the food.”

“Well that would have been totally unfair and sexist,” I snapped in mock irritation, dumping my pizza next to it. “Oh well, now we have cheese and pepperoni. I really suggest you change into sweats.”

Jonathan rolled his eyes and disappeared into his bedroom and reemerged wearing sweats and a wife beater.

I laughed at the wife beater. “You look like a douche bag with that tank top on.”

He glared daggers at me. “You look like a twat no matter what you’re wearing.”

I burst into laughter. “Oh snap! That was a good one. Now, I brought some movies to watch and you get to choose which one.”

I displayed my choices and Jonathan gagged at all of them, claiming they were weak ass girl movies and he was dying for some action.

“James Bond! The perfect mix of action and sexiness,” I suggested loudly.

“Casino Royale?” Jon offered.

I narrowed my eyes. “Daniel Craig?”

“Of course,” he rolled his eyes.

I grabbed a slice of pizza to prove my point. “Deal.”
~

After the film had finished, we started on the second box of pizza and Jonathan looked at me seriously.

“So where have you been, Jazz?” he asked conversationally.

I snorted. “Where have I been?”

“Yeah; you don’t come to the practices or games anymore, I barely ever hear from you and neither does Burish or Kaner. I know you’re not with Stalberg that much because I heard him talking to Hjalmarsson about it. So what’s up?”

I sighed tiredly. “Well I got a promotion at work after those ads came out and I’ve just been swamped all the time. I want to support the team but I have to get my stuff done too, you know? But I was thinking about coming to the game this weekend; who are you playing?”

Jon gave me a surprised look. “You don’t know?”

I rolled my eyes. “Sorry I haven’t memorized your schedule.”

“Well I just thought since this is the game you’ve been waiting for...” Jon trailed off.

I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“We’re playing the Sharks, Jazz,” he explained with an evil grin.

I gasped. “Oh I am so at the game this weekend. This is going to be so good.”

“We’re going to win,” Jonathan said confidently.

I smirked. “We’ll see about that.”
~

It was game time. I was ready for tonight, with my lovely signed Joe Thornton Sharks Jersey and a tiny Blackhawks wristband on my hand to make it fair. I was dragging Hailey along too, since I hadn’t really seen her properly in a few days. She was wearing her Seabrook jersey naturally, and she rolled her eyes at my jersey.

“Isn’t that like the equivalent of being unfaithful in your relationship?” she teased, pulling at the hem of it.

I gasped. “Hailey! No! This a fucking signed Thornton jersey. And I’ve always loved the Sharks so deal with it.”

I got so many dirty looks at the United Center it was actually hilarious. I high fived other random Sharks fans and smiled cheerfully at all the people who were glaring at me.

We were sitting nine rows back from ice level, thanks to Seabrook’s connections, and I was really excited. I could see Patrick Marleau, Dan Boyle, and Joe Pavelski warming up, shooting pucks as the crowd booed them.

I smiled just as big when I saw the Blackhawks enter the rink, but most of my brain was rooting for the Sharks.

The game started slowly; both teams feeling each other out. When Hossa got called for a silly penalty, the Sharks went on the power play and Marc-Eduard Vlasic scored from the point. I cheered awkwardly as everyone else booed

“Pickles!” I called out, referring to Vlasic’s nickname.

Hailey shoved me. “You’re terrible. Everybody here hates you.”

“It’s true,” the people standing next to me said.

I laughed. “The game is still young; I don’t think either team is going down without a fight.”

I was right. Within seconds of the beginning of second period, Jonathan scored an unassisted goal. The crowd erupted and I gamely sang along to Chelsea Dagger, albeit with very little enthusiasm. There were no more goals in second period, but the Blackhawks dominated the play, which made me rather frustrated with the Sharks.

Third period rolled around and suddenly the Sharks came alive. Rookie Logan Couture got a goal, and so did Devin Setoguchi, and Ryane Clowe, to give the Sharks a three-goal lead, which they held onto until the end of the game, when Sharpie scored one to close the lead to two goals. Then Marleau got the empty-netter with three seconds to go, ending the game.

I was really proud of the Sharks’ performances in the first and third period, and I cheered loudly as Blackhawk fans booed the Sharks and booed me.

I would have gone down to the locker room immediately, but I knew Viktor would be disappointed and Jon would be sour, so I did something I had never done before; walk towards the visitors’ locker room. I flashed the security guard my pass (that only really got me to the Blackhawks room) but he waved me in anyway. The team was just finishing off with some press questions when I crept in. I spotted Joe first and went over to say hello.

“Great game!” I exclaimed as soon as I got close enough.

Joe looked up and seemed confused at first, as if he was trying to place my face to his memory. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long.

“Jazz! How are you?” he smiled at me and stood up to give me an awkward shirtless hug.

I laughed. “I’m doing well! I hadn’t been to a game in ages and when I heard the Blackhawks were playing you guys I couldn’t resist.”

“Nice jersey,” he remarked with a grin.

“Yeah I can’t remember who gave it to me,” I joked.

“Must have been a really nice guy,” Joe bantered

“I’m guessing you gave it to her?” Patrick Marleau, who was sitting next to Joe, interjected.

“You guessed right,” I replied with a smile.

He introduced himself in that deep voice of his and we shook hands.

“I’m pretty offended I wasn’t chosen for that ad campaign,” Marleau teased me.

I blushed. “Next time, then.”

After meeting a couple other players, I left them alone and trekked back to the ‘hawks family waiting room. Several players were leaving, looking pretty dejected.

I spotted Jonathan coming out of the locker room and our eyes met.

“You win this round,” he warned me. “But we’ll have our revenge.”

I laughed and gave him a hug of comfort to try and soften the blow. He wrapped his arms around me too and I felt him relax into the hug. I held my breath and refrained from sniffing him.

Somebody cleared their throat from behind Jonathan and I opened my eyes to see Viktor looking at us with a confused look on his face. I loosened my hold on Jon and I felt his hands slide from my waist. I gave Viktor a smile and kissed his lips softly.

“Ready to go?” I asked him cheerfully, taking his hand.

He nodded, running his other hand through his hair before squeezing my hand and walking out of the waiting room. I mouthed a quick goodbye to Jonathan and then spent most of the walk trying to cheer Viktor up.

“I know it was a tough game,” I consoled him as we walked towards my car.

“You know what would help?” he whispered into my ear seductively.

I smirked. “Tell me.”

“If you took off that damn jersey,” he murmured, kissing my jaw.

I shivered. “I’ve only got a tank top underneath! And it’s freezing.”

“Well we’re not going out to dinner. You’re coming home with me,” he stated firmly. “So you can take off that thing and hide it as soon as we get in your car.”

I huffed but did as I was told, refusing to talk to him during the car ride. I drove in silence, and he didn’t even try to tease me, which was different. Once we arrived at his place, he turned to look at me seriously.

“Jazz, this is going to sound bad, but do you mind if we do this later? I’m exhausted and feel like shit after losing,” he told me calmly.

I was surprised. “If this is about my silent treatment in the car; it was just for giggles.”

“No, it’s not that...I’m just not really up to it,” he assured me.

I frowned. “Okay. Well, call me if you change your mind.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he promised, pecking me on the cheek before getting out of the car and walking into his building alone.