Not Like The Movies

Jonathan helped out Denise with carrying her bags out of the trunk of his car. She had only packed one small carry on because she was determined to be back before Monday morning. It was Friday afternoon—one week after her and Jonathan reconciled. So far, everything between them was smooth sailing and they only wished that it would stay that way. Denise had requested to take their time together and not rush a relationship to happen. Jonathan could not agree more. He wanted to make things right with her and he knew that by taking the time to really get to know her and enjoy her company, he will eventually break down her walls and show her that he was capable of having a stable relationship.

It was tough trying to explain exactly what happened between them. He tried to pin point what really went wrong but he could not help himself and put the blame all on his brother. Denise, being so understanding and kind, said that it was no one’s fault. She claimed that everything was just rushed and that nothing was really thought out well. Bad decision after another bad decision lead to a disaster.

Completely unplanned, the weekend of the wedding was the time that Jonathan was headed out to Calgary for the Olympics orientation camp. During the time that he and Denise spent apart, he was not able to tell her that he would taking part of next year’s winter Olympics. If they had been on speaking terms, he would definitely tell her. In fact, she was the first person he had in mind the moment he got the memo that he was going to take part in playing for Team Canada. He took pride in his work and he wanted to make his country proud. Those were the kind of moments he wanted to share with Denise.

Denise had been extremely excited for him. She knew how much of an honor it was to be a part of a group of great hockey players playing for Canada. She congratulated him and found out that they would be flying up north on the same weekend. Now, as they stood right in front of each other with their bags being the only thing to separate them, they wondered when would be the next time they would get to see each other again to restart what ended too quickly. They carried their items along with them as they walked through the airport side by side in silence. As soon as they got their tickets, they stood in the middle of the airport where their terminals separated. Jonathan did what he had in mind the whole time they were together. He dropped his bags on the floor and cupped her face with his hands. Denise looked him in the eyes, relaxed as ever, with a smile. Jonathan leaned down to kiss her, not caring if someone recognized him. As soon as he pulled away, Denise grabbed the back of his neck and brought his lips back on hers. She pulled the brim of his hat further down his eyes and pulled away. She looked into his eyes and whispered, “There will be a time for that.” Jonathan nodded because he knew what she meant. He almost forgot about their agreement about taking things slow and letting the whole world about his new found love would be rushing it.

Jonathan picked up his bags and started to walk towards his terminal. He looked back and saw that Denise had not moved. She had a smile on her face and gave him a tiny goodbye wave. He smiled and waved back before continuing his walk. He smiled to himself because he knew that everything would be all right.

--

Denise was greeted with signs and screaming coming from her family. She had her cousins waving signs welcoming her and her mother screaming that she finally got to see her baby again. She laughed and started to walk faster towards them. She was immediately engulfed by hugs and kisses which caused her to laugh even more. She was happy to be back in the company of her family after not seeing them for so long. On the ride back to the hotel, everyone asked her questions about living in Chicago and about her job. Her parents were proud at the fact that she could live on her own and has a job. They were not disappointed that she did not work for a hospital where she could have been a nurse. She had always been grateful that her parents were very supportive of her decisions and were proud of her. Everything had been going fine until her cousin, Mandy—the ultimate gossiper of the family—had asked Denise about her relationship with David Toews.

Sheepishly, she answered, “Um, we’re not together…anymore.”

Her cousins all looked at each other before Mandy turned to look at Denise once again.

“Well that’s gonna be awkward…”

“What?” Denise asked.

Mandy’s younger sister, Mischa, replied, “Your brother invited him to the wedding.”

Her mother turned to her and asked her who David was. Mandy answered by saying, “It’s Jonathan Toews’ little brother. Den totally dated him while he was in Chicago! But I think he chea—“

“Okay, that’s enough Mandy,” Mark, their older brother, scolded. He looked at Denise apologetically and said, “I’m sorry about this one here,” he pointed at Mandy and she huffed. “She’s been keeping up with everything Blackhawks. I think it’s a little creepy.”

“Hey! It’s not creepy! Just because I know a lot about the players, doesn’t mean its creepy.” Mandy defended herself.

Mark ignored her and laughed, “Yeah right. You wanted to be invited to Hjalmarsson’s wedding for crying out loud!”

From there, everyone turned their attention towards Mandy’s interests with the Blackhawks. Denise was still trying to process what Mandy had just told her. David was invited to the wedding. She did not know what to do. Does she ignore him? Does she talk to him? What would he tell her? What would she tell him? Just when she thought everything was back to normal, David happens.

She liked him.

She really did. But not the way that she likes Jonathan. She knew that she probably liked David because he was so much like his older brother. She also liked the fact that she could hang out with him in public without being harassed with a million questions and photographs of her suddenly appearing online. But even through all that, she would still pick Jonathan. She did not know how to avoid the situation. How did her brother even know him?

Once they arrived at the hotel, Denise pulled Mandy aside and asked her how Peter knew David. Mandy shrugged and said, “I think they played a game at the pond once a couple of months ago. They became, like, best buds or something.”

“Does Peter know about…”

“Nope,” Mandy shook her head. “If he did, he wouldn’t even have invited him at all. Actually, he probably would’ve given him a black eye before telling him that he’s no longer invited.”

“Oh my God…”

“Don’t worry, Den. I won’t tell anyone else. I’m sorry for just putting your business out there.” Mandy looked sincere and Denise did not hesitate to forgive her.

After her brief conversation with her cousin, she headed up to her room and was pretty impressed that her brother booked her at a fancy hotel. The room was beautiful. It was too big for one person but she did not care. She jumped on the bed and giggled to herself. She sighed in contentment. It had been awhile since she had a day of relaxation. The boys were out for Peter’s bachelor party and the girls stayed in their rooms or did whatever they wanted since Melissa requested not to have a bachelorette party. Denise decided to take a bubble bath—something she had not done since she was a little kid. She was fully relaxed and has a satisfied smile on her face. Once she was done, she laid in bed wearing only the hotel robe. She flipped through the tv channels until she saw that the movie Dear John was showing. After all, she was a sucker for chick flicks. Thirty minutes into the movie, a beeping sound came from her opened laptop that was on the desk. She hopped out of bed and grabbed her laptop to see the notification that was making the sound. She smiled a little when she saw that Jonathan wanted to FaceTime with her. She accepted the request and after a few seconds, she saw his face appear on the screen.

In his hotel in Calgary, Jonathan nearly fell of his chair when he saw that Denise had only been wearing a big, fluffy robe that appeared to belong to the hotel. The front of her robe had parted a bit, exposing her neck more. Her hair appeared darker since it was still wet and her eyes were heavy like she was sleepy.

“I hope I’m not keeping you up or anything,” he said after seeing her tired eyes. Denise shook her head and he heard her soft giggle.

“I was just watching a movie and I guess I felt a bit sleepy after. It’s so cozy here, I was feeling too relaxed.” She explained, closing the gap of her robe.

“Watcha watching?” He asked. She told him the name of the movie and he said he had never watched it before.

They talked about movies for awhile until Denise realized that it was one in the morning which meant that it had to be midnight in Calgary.

“Oh my God, I am so sorry,” she apologized which caused Jonathan to look confused. “You probably have practice or something tomorrow and I’m keeping you up.”

“Nah,” he shook it off. “It’s just this orientation, team building kind of thing. I’m worried that I’m keeping you up. I know it’s your brother’s wedding tomorrow.”

“It doesn’t start until noon, so I should be fine.” She answered back. Then she decided that now would be the time to let him know that David would be at the wedding tomorrow. “Hey…David’s gonna be at the wedding tomorrow. Peter invited him.”

Jonathan was quiet for a second before responding back, “I shouldn’t be worried right?”

“Right.” Denise said firmly. He really should not have a reason to be worried.

“I’m more worried about Peter finding out about what really happened between me and David. I don’t want to ruin his special day.” Denise said sadly.

“Everything will be okay. David is a great guy who just makes really dumb decisions. Just pretend like everything that happened down in Chicago never happened, okay?” Jonathan saw Denise nod her head.

“Hey,” he called out and she looked up on the screen. “I miss you.”

She smiled and blushed.

“It’s only been a few hours, Jon.”

“A few hours too long, Denny.” Her smile got bigger as she heard him say her nickname. It sounded even better coming from him.

“I miss you too. I’ll call you after the wedding m’kay?” He laughed and nodded. They both said their second goodbyes of the day and shut both their laptops down.

Denise fell back on the back, still in her robe, and immediately fell asleep with the same content smile on her face.