Not Like The Movies

A week had passed since the Chicago Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup and everyone was still celebrating, basking in the glory of their victory. The parade that was prepared for every champion had been a surreal moment for the team; it was almost better than the last time they had won. The captain had finished his time with the Cup and was now passing it on to the next player who would take it back to their hometown to share their accomplishment with the neighborhood, friends, and family.

“Can’t believe you guys did it, man,” The captain’s younger brother, David, said as he hands Jonathan a bottle of beer.

Jonathan was glad that they had won and that the fight was over. It was finally time for him and the rest of his teammates to take a break and enjoy the summer. He planned on going back to Chicago after a week or two in Winnipeg to see his girlfriend and her family. It sounded like a pretty good summer to him.

“Yeah, that was a good series eh?” The older brother laughed. David shook his head.

“I wouldn’t know. I didn’t catch any of the games except for the last one.” Jonathan punched his little brother and laughed. “You little shit!”

He was glad to be home but he was so used to living in Chicago and being away from his parents that he was not up for staying a couple more weeks. As soon as his time was over in Winnipeg, he took the first flight back to Chicago and rested throughout the whole trip.

--

“How was your trip?” Jonathan’s girlfriend, Lindsey, asked while unpacking the duffle bag he placed on the bed.

He still could not believe that he landed someone like her. She was gorgeous and had a body that had all the boys’ heads turning. To others, however, it was not a surprise that he would be dating a model. He, on the other hand, was still saying a little prayer, thanking whoever was listening to him for the goddess that was sent his way.

“It was good,” He answered. “Just wish my mom didn’t cry so much before I left. I know she wanted me to stay longer.”

“So why didn’t you stay?” She asked, stopping midway from putting away a t-shirt in my drawers.
Jonathan shrugged.

“I guess I just wanted to be here…” He stopped to think before smirking. “…so I could be with you.”

She smiled and dropped the t-shirt in the drawer, not caring how it was placed. She wrapped her arms around my neck and stood on her tip toes to kiss me. Kissing her was never simple. It was never just a simple peck on the lips. It was never just making out. It was always slow, sultry, and lots of tongue. It does not stop there either. Once we have started, we finish until we’re both nearly passed out from pleasure.

“Wanna go see a movie or something? I’ve been doing nothing when you weren’t around.” Lindsey suggested, wrapping an arm around my bare torso.

“Yeah, sure. Let’s take a shower first.” I smirked, getting up and headed towards the bathroom.

She followed. Always.

--

It actually took a couple two hours to get ready and get out of the building. It was ten o’clock at night on a Friday and downtown Chicago was lit up like it was the holiday season. They walked hand in hand into the local movie theater and never once letting go when they picked out which movie they were going to watch.

When they settled in their seats, watching the previews for the other upcoming movies, Lindsey asked Jonathan to buy them some snacks. Even though the season is over, Jonathan still wanted to stay true to his strict diet but went over to the concession stand to buy a small popcorn and one of those movie candy boxes.

He pulled out a ten from his wallet and looked up to give the cashier the money. He was frozen in place as he watched this girl in front of him take the ten dollars from his hands, eyes never going wide in amazement that the captain, the recent Stanley Cup champion, was standing right in front of her. Looking at the girl in front of him, he almost forgot that he was in a movie theater with his girlfriend. She was beautiful. Her auburn hair was braided to the side and her almost pale complexion reached out to give him back his change.

“Enjoy your movie!” She beamed brightly at him and walked away.

Jonathan did not miss the question that her co-worker asked, “Did you not know who that was?”

--

The movie ended and Jonathan had no idea what they had watched. Lindsey was laughing and kept asking Jonathan if he remembered a certain part in the movie that she claimed had her in tears because it was so hilarious. His mind was nowhere near the present. His mind kept replaying the memory of the girl at the concession stand. Her face was so mesmerizing and all he wanted at the moment was to know her name.

He looked back before they headed for the exit and saw that she was nowhere in sight. He was really hoping that he could at least know her name before going back home because he knew that it was going to be the reason that he would not get any sleep.

Lindsey told him that she would not be staying since she has to head out to her parents’ house for the weekend. He was kind of glad that she was not staying since he knew that there was no way he would be able to keep his mind from drifting to the girl at the movie theater.

The next day, after contemplating and pacing in his living room floor, he finally decided that he would go back to the movie theater and find her. He was reaching for the doorknob, ready to leave his place when his phone rang in his pocket.

It was Patrick.

“What’s up?” He greeted him.

“What’s up, man! I just got back and I’ve been sitting here for about five minutes thinking about what I wanna do. You headed somewhere?” Patrick had always seemed to know his teammate so well that he did not need to be in the same room as Jonathan to know whether or not he was going somewhere. It was summer and there was no way that any of the guys would stay at home all day.

“Uh yeah. I’m headed to the uh…” Then Jonathan had an idea. Maybe it would look really weird if he came to the movie theater by himself with no intention of watching a movie so he decided that he would bring in Kaner as a prop. “I was about to head out to see a movie, wanna go?”

“Yeah! Shawzy and his girl is here with me right now so I’ll tell ‘em too. We’ll just meet you there yeah?”

“Sure.” Jonathan replied, ending the call before Patrick could even tell him to invite the whole team. He did not really want anyone else around but thought over it, thinking that it would look more authentic if he went with a bunch of his friends.

He wore a simple t-shirt and khaki cargo shorts along with his sneakers. With a cap put on backwards, he flipped it around and hung it low on his forehead, not wanting to attract the attention of any wandering eyes. He walked in the theater and saw Patrick standing by Andrew and his girlfriend. I removed my cap and slapped it on my hand before giving the guys a handshake and hug for Shaw’s girlfriend.

“So what do you guys wanna watch?” Andrew asked but Jonathan didn’t answer. His eyes were already searching for an auburn-haired girl. His eyes landed right at the concession stand where he saw her handing a teenage boy what appeared to be a large popcorn.

“Got the hots for that girl?” Kaner nudges him, following where his captain’s eyes were fixated on.

“I don’t even know her,” Jonathan admitted.

“So? You don’t need to know someone to have a thing for them,” He gave his captain a pat on the back before paying for the tickets.

”Yeah, maybe for you.” Jonathan thought and headed towards the concession stand.

Her co-worker, who he assumed was the same guy that asked if she knew him at all, had his eyes wide open, completely star struck. He elbowed the girl who caused her to look up at him in confusion then moving her gaze towards Jonathan as her coworker jerked his head to side a little, telling her to look at who was there.

Jonathan was next in line and he was about to say something when she beat him to it.

“Hello sir, what would you like to get?”

”Sir? God, I feel like an old man hearing that.” Jonathan thought.

“I…I’m not really sure.” The girl cocked her head to the side in confusion, giving Jonathan a clear view of the name tag on her black collared t-shirt with the theater’s name on it.

Denise, he read and repeated in his head two or three times before she asked him if he had anything in mind.

”Yeah, you.” He almost wanted to say.

“I’m sorry about my friend here. He’s a little knocked up in the head, probably partied too hard.” Patrick came out of nowhere and interrupted right when he was about to say something. “You know we just won the cup recently? It’s been a crazy couple of weeks.”

“Cup?” Denise asked, confused once more about the conversation.

“Yeah, the Stanley Cup. You never heard of it?” She shook her head. Patrick was getting ready to burst out in laughter.

“The Blackhawks?” She shook her head.

“You don’t watch hockey?” She shook her head again.

“Holy shit dude…” Patrick breathed out. “She’s obviously been living under a fucking rock.”

“Get outta here man,” Jonathan whispered, begging him to leave before he ruined it for his captain.

“May I remind you that you have a girlfriend, a smoking hot girlfriend might I add, waiting for you at home.”

“She’s at her parents. Besides, just a few minutes ago you were telling about not needing to get to know someone to have a thing for them.” The captain countered.

“Jon, are you being serious right now? Are you—” He was about to say something when Denise interrupted.

“Um…if you guys don’t mind, there’s other people I need to take care of so…”

“Right.” Jonathan moved to the side, bringing Patrick along with him.

“How come it’s alright if you get to cheat on your new girlfriend of the week with some other chick but I can’t even talk to another girl?” Jonathan asked, angry at his friend for getting in between something he wanted to do alone.

“You and I are two different people, Jon. Lindsey is a great girl and I think it would be really fucked up if you cheat on her with some girl who you don’t even know. Besides, look at her. She looks like someone Shawzy’s age.” Jonathan looked over to Denise and noticed that she looked younger than some of the girls he’d met in the past.

“So what? That’s the same age as Lindsey!” He argued.

“Yeah but Lindsey doesn’t look like she straight out of college. Dude, just give it up. You’re living the dream right now so don’t fuck it up by banging some random girl.” Patrick walked away and headed for the movie he paid for.

Jonathan saw that Denise was walking out from behind the concession stand and headed for the door that had the sign “Staff Only.”

He walked right up to her before she went in and introduced himself.

She was hesitant to take his hand at first but then smiled, “I’m Denise. Nice to meet you Mr. Stanley Cup champ.”

He laughed nervously. “Thanks. So you really never watched hockey before?”

She nodded. “Never. I just heard my co-worker, Richie over there, tell me that you’re Mr. Stanley Cup champ.”

“So you’ve never heard of me or seen me before?” Jonathan asked.

“Well you look familiar so I’m guessing I’ve seen your face before, probably in a magazine or something.”

“Wow…” The captain muttered.

“Never had that reaction before around here?” She laughed. “You must be pretty famous then. I know, I know. Do I live under a rock or something?”

”She jokes with herself. Funny.” Jonathan thought.

“It’s…different.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, unsure of what to do with them. He was afraid that he might do something stupid like give her a friendly punch on the shoulder like how he would with his teammates or maybe brush the strands of hair falling in front of her eyes that she did not bother to tuck behind her ear like the other girls would.

“Well Jonathan, I’m about to head out to get something to eat for my break. Enjoy your movie.” She turned to go inside the Staff Only area but Jonathan grabbed her arm quickly before she could.

“Wait!”

At the same time, they both looked down at where his hand was loosely wrapped around her arm.

“I’ll go with you.” She looked up at him, confusion becoming the common theme playing in her eyes.
“If…if you don’t mind. I mean, I know it's kind of…”

“A little forward?” She finished for him.

“Yeah.” He let go of her arm, feeling defeated.

“I don’t want the public to get the wrong idea. You must have some kind of reputation to uphold, I’m sure.” She rubbed the arm that he had his hand on, not because it hurt but to remember the feeling of his rough hand grasping her arm. A shock of electricity went through her body, a feeling that she had never felt before.

“It’s okay. No one will bother us. I have this,” He holds up his baseball cap that he tucked in his back pocket.

“O-okay…if you’re sure about this…” She said hesitantly.

Jonathan smiled, “I’m sure.”