Wasted

“So I’ll assume we’re the only ones that have never been here?” Brandon asked as we all settled into a massive booth. “Me and Shawzy?”

“You’ve been missing out,” I stated. “Best blueberry pancakes ever.”

“Better than Pamela’s?” he raised an eyebrow.

“Ooh,” I groaned. “That’s a tough one. They’re a tie.”

“Pamela’s?” Sharpie asked. “Pittsburgh thing?”

“Pittsburgh thing,” we chorused together.

I left my menu closed on the table, as did the rest of our group, save Andrew and Brandon. Jon was still pretty quiet at the end of the booth, people watching out the window. He was directly across from me and I found myself studying him.

His eyebrows were knit together, deep in thought. But his eyes were thoughtful and neither was his mouth. His eyes seemed a little confused and his mouth was set in a firm, hard line. None of his emotions were corresponding. Captain Serious definitely seemed to suit him.

“So what do you do?” Kaner asked from his seat. “College?”

I nodded. “I’ll turn 23 in June and graduate around the same time. I’m waiting on internships now.”

“Any with the ‘Hawks?” Brandon asked hopefully. “You’re amazing. The media department would love you.”

“Like you know so much,” I nudged his shoulder with mine. “But yeah, I applied.” Shrugging, I sipped my coffee. “But they have such a popular program, I’m not sure I’d get in.”

“You’re a journalism major?” Jon spoke up, looking at me.

“Yeah,” I hesitated. Why was he now joining the conversation? “Broadcast journalism. It’s a tough market to get into, but it’s what I’m interested in.”

“Not gonna become a professional cheerleader with the Bulls?” Brandon teased.

I made a face before pinching his arm. “I could do it if I wanted to.”

“You were a cheerleader?” Andrew asked. “Can you do a backflip?”

“Indeed I can,” I fished for my phone and pulled up my Facebook. “Cheered for school and competition. Here,” I handed him my phone with a few old photos I’d scrounged up in the depths of my photo albums.

Shaw’s eyes bugged out wide and he passed the phone across the table to the others. Sharpie glanced over it before passing it along.

“Word to the wise,” I pointed at him. “Don’t let your daughter sign up. It’ll take over her life and you’ll never see her.”

“You didn’t like it?”

“Nah,” I shook my head. “I loved it. But it took up more time than I would have liked. Patrick whatever you are doing, you need to stop. Right now.”

“What?” he asked innocently. “I was just admiring your… hair bows.” Patrick tilted the phone so Jon could see.

He smirked at his teammate. “You run a blog?”

I gasped and lunged across the table to snatch my phone back. “How did you know? Oh my god.”

“An email popped up,” Kaner shrugged. “I might have hit read and not dismiss…”

“Not a good way to get on her good side, dude,” Brandon laughed. “But it would have come out eventually.”

“So you blog about hockey?” Sharpie asked. “Just us?”

I laughed. “Yeah, no. I talk about whatever I choose, but when it started out it was primarily cheer and Pittsburgh sports. When I moved out here for school, I broadened my horizons. I’m now a proud Bulls and Sox fan in addition to the Blackhawks.”

“Yea, girl,” Kaner extended a hand to high five. “Go Bulls!”

We gave our orders to our slightly star struck waitress and settled into normal conversation. It was almost a little unnerving with how relaxed they were with the fact that I blogged about them.

“So?” Shawzy asked. “You gonna take a picture or what?”

I squinted at him. “What kind of person do you think I am?”

“Do you expect us to think you’re not going to blog about this,” a smile actually teased at Jon’s lips. “We might be hockey players, but we’re not stupid.”

“Well after that concussion…,” I let my teasing voice trail off. “If you guys are cool with it, a picture would be fun.”

They made sounds of agreement and I held my phone above us to snap the picture. I laughed at the first one and shook my head.

“Andrew, your eyes are closed and your mouth is hanging open,” I held my phone up again. “Do I need to count down?”



“So are you free to catch for real soon?” Brandon asked as we stood outside my car. I had driven Sharpie, Shawzy, and him back to the practice rink to pick up their cars. Andrew was waiting in the rented SUV that he and Brandon were sharing and I could see him getting impatient in the passenger seat. “Don’t get me wrong, today was fun and all, but I want to talk with you for real.”

I smiled. “Aw, there’s the sweet Saad I know.” I pulled out my phone to double check. “I’m actually helping out with a cheer camp this weekend and I have an exam on Monday so that’s pretty much my weekend summed up. Oh, and I’m working nights. Besides, you’re busy securing yourself a spot in the big leagues.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t make time for a little reunion,” he said.

“How about this?” I bargained just like I would when he refused to clean up his toys. “You finish up camp here, get your name on the roster, and then Mr. Big Star can treat me to breakfast?”

“Sounds like a deal,” Brandon agreed. “I should go,” he glanced over his shoulder. “Shawzy might drive off without me.”

I laughed. “Go on and get outta here. But hey!” I called after him. “Don’t be a stranger okay?”

“Never!”

I waved to him and turned back to my car, only to hear my name being called. Turning around, I expected to see Brandon coming towards me. Instead, it was the captain himself.

“Hey, wait up!”

I stood both expectantly and curiously at the hood of my car. “Yeah, Jon?”

“This is yours,” he extended my familiar blue scarf. “Ours got mixed up.”

“Oh!” I unwound the one I had on and held it up. Sure enough, they were both identical colors. “I didn’t even realize this one didn’t have tassels. Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he assured me. “Thanks for letting us all crash your lunch plans.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I mimicked. I opened my mouth, but hesitated to continue. “If you don’t mind my asking… is everything okay?” Jon seemed taken aback by my point-blank question and I instantly regretted asking. “Forget about it. It’s none of my business. I’m sor-,”

“No,” he said abruptly, shaking a hand. “Don’t be. Frankness is…nice. You’ll make a good reporter.”

“Oh,” I scratched my neck nervously. “So, uh, is everything okay?”

He shifted around on his feet. “They should be, shouldn’t they? I mean, hockey’s back. But everything else is pretty fucked.”

“Care to explain?”

“There’s all this stuff going on that I shouldn’t be worrying about,” he sighed. “What’s done is done and I should be moving on and forgetting about it.”

“So who’s the girl?” I tilted my head.

Again, he gave me a bewildered look before breathing out a laugh. “Damn, you’re good.”

I shrugged. “It’s a gift. Listen, I’ve got to get home before work. But I’ll expect you to be reading. Might find some helpful advice.” I held up my phone. “PeaceLoveAndHockeyPucks.com.”



Hola, mi amigas and amigos. Actually, I have no idea if that’s proper Spanish because I’ve never taken it. Oh, well.

So this is entry number two for today! I just got in from lunch maybe thirty minutes ago and I’m all primped for work. The ‘theme’ tonight is bling, so I’ve got on a bling-y peplum top, some sparkling shoes, and some shiny jewelry. And pants too, of course. If you’re in Chicago and looking for a pretty delicious meal, come on down to Peplum by the river and see me! I’ll be working all night.

If you read my entry from this morning, you’ll know I had plans to go out to lunch with Brandon Saad. (I got out of the lunch shift at work, phew.) Well, our plans changed. Drastically. What was supposed to be a quiet lunch between old friends became an outing with what felt like half the Blackhawks roster.

No, seriously. I’m going to attach a picture I took and you can see for yourselves.

All joking aside, I had a great time meeting Sharpie, Kaner, and Captain Serious. Reuniting with Saader and Shawzy wasn’t all that bad either. We had an awesome lunch of the best pancakes in Chicago, (I stand by my Pamela’s in Pittsburgh) warmed up with coffee, and had some… interesting conversations. I hope that I get to do it again! That is, if they can fit me in around their busy schedules.

And to an anonymous reader who might be in need of advice (you know who you are), I suggest taking a listen to my current music below and remembering to save your strength for the things you can change and forgive the ones you can’t. You got to let it go.

Zac Brown Band, ladies and gents.

Stay tuned in the coming days for some updates on plenty of teams across the league!

Stay classy and sassy, never trashy!
XO-Steph

Current music- Let It Go by the Zac Brown Band