Symphony of Chaos and a Chorus of Euphoria

Tay couldn’t believe what she had heard, she watched John, who was now bouncing his right fist off his forehead in a drunken attempt to stop the room spinning. Tay silently reached up and pulled his hand down to his chest and held it there. They were still for a moment and the only sounds were the soft thumps of music down the stairs and the sound of John’s heart beating.

John moved his hand from under Tay’s and placed it on her head stroking her heir with his thumb. Tay closed her eyes as the music drifted far away and the sound of Johns heartbeat was the last thing she remembered hearing before falling asleep.

John slowly woke up, the house was silent the party must of finished ages ago, he would have to thank Brody for watching out for the house. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with his right hand then went to sit up. Only to realize he couldn’t.

He looked down to his left and saw a untidy sprawl of Brown hair across his chest. He smiled to himself as the last thing he remembered was Tay curling up to him last night. She was under the covers now though, she must of got cold and crawled under them and then went back to almost the exact position she was in, with her head on Johns chest and his left arm curled around her.

John tried to slowly slide away from her but as he lowered her head on to the pillow her eyes flickered open focusing tiredly on him, John froze. Not because he was scared of her seeing him but because of her eyes, a dark chocolate brown but yet sparkled full of life as she looked at him, hair falling over her face so that between her hair and the covers all he could make out was her eyes and the bridge of her nose.

“morning” John said softly.

Tay blinked at him slowly then in a husky voice replied

“morning”

“im just going to head down the stairs, you go back to sleep. Ill be down there when you get up” John said pulling the covers up slightly over her exposed left shoulder. He got up and left.

Tay watched him go, she didn’t want him to go part of her wanted him to just lay there and hold her for a while, what the other part of her wanted she never knew for as soon as John had closed the door she drifted into sleep.

Down the stairs John was searching for Brody. Judging by how clean the house looked Brody must of stayed up long after the part had finished and got rid of the evidence. Eventually John found him on a couch in the living room using a pillow as a cover.

“Hey Brods”

Brody awoke with a start and sat up

“oh its you John, you scared the shit out of me” he said laying back down on the couch and closing his eyes

“hey get your self up to one of the guest rooms, no friend of mine ever sleeps on the couch. Come on up you get” John heaved Brody to his feet and pointed him in the direction of the stairs

“thanks Richi” Brody muttered.

Once Brody had disappeared John sat at the breakfast bar slowly rotating himself on the chair. He remembered seeing Tay had been crying last night and for some reason this upset him quite a bit. He sat recalling all Tay had told him about hew she had been bullied and forgotten all her childhood at school. He got up and paced playing with his hair, then stopped. Why was he so concerned with a girl he had only started to talk to a week ago?

John decided that he needed a skate to clear his head. He grabbed his skates from the garage and walked down to the back yard rink.

Tay awoke to the morning sun streaming in Johns room. She stretched and took a deep breath. The pillow smelled of John and she smiled faintly sitting up and pulled her phone from her pocket. There was a few messages from Jordan on here

“Hey where are you I’m heading home with mike?” was the first and

“Hey I’m home now but give me a call if you’re dying or something ☺” was the second

Tay sighed and put her phone back in her pocket, she was going to have to find a ride home some how. Maybe if she asked Brody nicely. She looker around John’s room, in all the calamity of last night she didn’t realize how large it was. The bed faced a large walk in wardrobe and to the right of the bed there was an on suite. On the left wall there was a large window, which over looked the garden and forest behind the house. Through the window Tay could see John skating on the ice rink. She watched him for a bit before getting up, and catching a reflection of herself in the window tied her hair in to a messy ponytail before setting off for the rink. She sat on the edge of one of the boards her legs swing out in font of her. John noticed her and skated over. Placing both hands either side of Tay and looking at her. She had never noticed before how intense his emerald eyes were. He smiled at her

“so I’ve been thinking” he started

“I hope that didn’t hurt to much” she said with a cheeky smile

“Careful Tay I might just pull you down to the ice” John grabbed her lags and pulled them

“Don’t!” Tay laughed grabbing on to the board regaining her balance she beamed at him and they stared at each other for a moment

“You were thinking” Tay encouraged him to continue

“um yeah, we should hang out more at school and on the weekends and stuff” John finished

“That would be cool, how about today? Movie marathon?” Tay asked hopefully

“I cant sorry I have a hockey game tonight” John said lifting him self to sit on the boards beside Tay

“You guys play on Sundays?” She asked to hide her disappointment

“Not the school team no, I have a triple A game, I play out of school” John explained

“Next week though I will totally be down for a movie night”

Tay smiled

“Next week then, can I ask you something?”

“Shoot” John said now rubbing ice off his skates

“Can you give me a ride home? Jordan left last night and we drove here in his car” Tay asked awkwardly

“No problem, first things first” John tugged his skates off and jumped over the boards

“Breakfast” He finished lifting Tay off the boards and setting her down on the grass. Laughing the pair set off to the house.

John drove in to the city were he showed Tay a café he went to a lot, it was called Center Ice and it was full of New York islander and ranger memorabilia. Including a jersey John’s dad once wore. The owner greeted John warmly before saying he could order for free.

Once they had finished and john had left a 20doller tip the got in the car and Tay directed them to her house.

“so I guess you go to that place quite a bit?” she asked

“Not as often as I used to, mom took me there before we would go see dad play” John replied

“Did you’re dad always play for New York?”

“No he got drafted to Tampa Bay then traded but I was born here and he played the rest of his career with the rangers so we didn’t have to move again, do you watch much hockey?” he asked

Tay shook her head

“No I never got a chance to”

“What are you doing this Friday” John asked

“Nothing why?” Tay asked quirking an eyebrow at him

“Come watch me...I mean us play?” John asked going red slightly

“sure id love to”

John beamed back at her as they drove. Tay fiddled with the radio as they drove.

“oh there are some Cd’s in the center console” John explained lifting his arm off the console as Tay opened it and plunged her hand in, pulling out the first CD she felt.

“Paramour?” she asked looking at him quirking a eyebrow.

John shrugged but went slightly red

“I think some of their stuff is good” he defended

Tay laughed at his attempt to save himself

“I like them to” She said putting the CD in and letting the first song blast out the speakers as she sang along under her breath.

“This is me” Tay spoke.

John pulled into the drive of a simple two story house and put the car in park. The pair sat in silence for a moment neither one knowing what to say.

John broke the awkward silence, the opened the center console and pulled out a pen, then grabbing Tay’s arm he began to write a series of numbers. Tay felt warms spread from the point where John was holding.

“Text me” He said letting go of her arm to reveal a phone number.

Tay looked at it and smiled

“ I will” she said getting out the car

“Ill see you at school tomorrow”

They said good bye and John left. Beaming all the way home. However he didn’t have long to think of their meeting as he had a hockey game to prepare for.

Tay walked in to school on Monday with Jordan. Jordan was furious when he heard about what Amy had done to Tay

“I’m sorry” He apologized yet again, he had been doing it all morning

“I should have been there, I shouldn’t of left you” he finished

“its okay Jordan don’t worry, besides I ended up talking to John and he gave me a ride home” Tay told him

Jordan went very quiet at this and he clenched his jay. Tay did not notice this, she was to busy staring at the boy standing next to her locker. It was Brody,.

“but why was he here? He must be waiting for someone else” She told herself as she drew closer

“Hey Brody” she greeted him.

“ill see you later” Jordan muttered continuing to walk on when Tay stopped at her locker.

“Morning” Brody yawned

“waiting on someone” Tay asked as she twirled the combination in to her lock

“Yeah, you” Brody yawned

Tay looked at him failing to hide the look of shock on her face. Up until last week Brody never gave her a backwards glance let alone talk to her

“Umm, okay” Tay responded

“Can I have you’re math notes? I have math first” Brody asked

“Can you have my math notes?” Tay repeated what he said

“well I mean borrow, ill give them back at lunch. Its just that I didn’t do mine” Brody admitted hanging his head.

“Sure” Tay laughed as she reached in her bag and handed over her notes to Brody he beamed as he took them

“thanks Tay”

“that’s Okay, just ask me for help next time rather than copying my notes. Hey have you seen John this morning?” Tay asked grabbing her history books from her locker and throwing them in her bag

Brody shook his head

“Nah, I know he had a rough game last night so he will probably be in late or a the rink with his dad going over plays and practice strategies for the game this Friday, he told me you are coming to the game” Brody informed her whilst flicking through the notes she had handed him

“Yeah ill be there, first time should be good” Tay said and they began to walk down the hall

“well ware something warm, and don’t worry about Richie he always pops up somewhere” Brody gave her a soft smile and walked into his class leaving Tay to wander to her history class.

Tay didn’t speak to John until Friday morning when he walked in to History class warring a light blue letterman jacket with cream white sleeves and blue jeans.

“Good morning everyone” He said loudly from the door announcing his arrival in class

people clapped and whistled as he sat down next to Tay. There was nothing like a home hockey game to get the school excited. Mrs. Pikes calmed the class down and John turned smiling to Tay.

“morning” He said in a low voice

“You look happy” Tay whispered

John’s eyes flashed as he grinned at her

“of course I am, its game day” he said in an excited whisper

The excitement was radiating off John and it was hard not to get carried away in. Tay smiled at this and went back to taking notes.

“you still coming?” John asked

Tay nodded in enthusiasm and watched John. Who had begun drawing a diagram on a piece of torn paper from his note book. After a while Tay was able to make out what looked like seats and a ice rink. In the middle chair of the row closest to the ice John scribbled

“Tay sit here, seat 14 k”

then he handed it to her and got his phone out and started to text someone, probably Brody

“why this seat?” Tay asked

“hmm’” John said looking up from his phone

“why this seat” Tay repeated

“Oh,” John leaned across the table

“it’s the best seat in the house”

Just then Brody came knocking on the door. Warring the same identical letterman jacket as John

“sorry to disrupt you’re class but I need to borrow John, I mean captain of the hockey team right there” Brody spoke pointing at John

more people clapped and whistled as John got up. He waved and to silence them and walked to the door, he turned and winked at Tay before Brody grabbed him and pulled him out the door backwards.

“what’s up?” John asked

He and Brody were walking down the deserted corridors of the school. Most students were in class and the halls were eerily quiet save for the muffled voices of classes from behind doors

“Flirting with Tay again are we?” Brody teased

John said nothing and continued walking

“c’mon afternoon skate then of to Terry’s with the boys before the game” Brody jerked his head in the direction of the ice rink and the pair hurried off.

Tay snuck in to the ice rink after history, she wanted to give John her address for Saturday and this may be the last chance she gets to talk to him before the game. She could always text it to him but it was something about the way he winked at here that gave her a drive to talk to him. Sure she was going to miss English but she thought it was worth it.

The stadium was strangely loud and cold. As the noise of the players hitting pucks against the sides and the noise of them skating. Tay made her way to the top most row of chairs and settled her self down.

She began looking for John and eventually found him wrestling with Brody around the sides of the rink. The Puck squirted out and John sped off after it with Brody hot on his heels. Tay noticed that unlike his team mates who wore a full face most John was the only player to have a visor across his face. His emerald eyes gleamed as he out maneuvered Brody easily and took on towards the goal. He raised his stick to it the puck, and.

CRACK!

His stick snapped and the puck flew harmlessly off to one side. This event earned a few remarks from his team mates ad John made his way off the ice and down a tunnel.

Tay took this chance to leave her seat and go down a tunnel close to her. She followed signs to the locker room and eventually came to to large doors with

“Knights”

Painted across them, slowly. She opened one and stepped inside.

The room was full or large wooden stalls with clothes littered all around them. The rubber floor was scuffed and scratched with the skates of players. She stood in the silence trying to think where John was when all of a sudden he came out of a door off the locker room, new stick in hand.

He crossed the locker room and stopped turning to face Tay, a smile split his face as he saw her

“Hey” he said

Tay took a step forward and John raised a hand, she looked at him confused

“I wouldn’t come to close, this gear stinks” he explained

“Oh” Tay laughed, but continued to walk over

“hey don’t you have English” John inquired frowning at her

Tay shrugged as she pulled a sharpie from her pocket

“it can wait” she said grabbing John’s right arm and rolling the sleeve on his Jersey up.

She began to write on his wrist. John who had was sweating under the heat of his gear felt the spot Tay was holding become hotter than his body.

Tay finished writing her address in his arm and let go of his arm looking at at John through her bangs.

“So is this our thing now? We just write messages on each other’s arms?” John said smiling

Tay quirked at eyebrow at him and punched him in the chest

“Go play, Ill see you tonight”

and with that she turned and left the locker room leaving John to stare after her, wanting to run after her