I Love Her Anyway

Calista's small hand knocked on the apartment door that was adjacent to her own. A small family lived with in the run down building, though they seemed to be holding up well in the world. As she leaned against the wooden frame of the door, she smirked as she recalled catching the teenage boy in the act of smoking a joint just a few nights ago. Hearing shuffling noises inside, she pushed her weight to stand up straight.

"Calista?" The high school girl asked quizzically, raising her eyebrow at her neighbor. Calista's lips stretched into a wide smile.

"Got plans tonight?" Calista questioned. Ashton simply shrugged her almost too boney shoulders. "You'll never guess what I have." The younger of the two crossed her arms over her chest, intrigued by her visitor.

Calista never paid much attention to Ashton and vice versa. In fact, her twin brother, Brendan, was much more taken by their older neighbor. Ashton, like most of the other neighbors, was suspicious of Calista, wondering what she did for a living. It sure wasn't a well kept secret that Calista arrived home in the late hours of the night and then was awake by sunrise to make it to class in time. Most of the other tenants would turn away at the sight of the dancer, assuming the worst from her as if she was tainted. And maybe they were right.

In her hand, Calista flashed the two tickets. Ashton's hazel eyes widened like she was staring at the golden ticket that would admit her into the chocolate factory. Her hands reached out for them as if they were merely a mirage that she feared would disappear before her very eyes.

"No way," she muttered, scanning each word on them before looking back at Calista, who wore a smirk on her nude lipstick covered lips. "These are glass seats," she observed. Calista shrugged nonchalantly. She wasn't quite sure the difference anyway.

"So, you wanna go?" Calista asked casually, eyeing Ashton as she nodded.

"Of course I want to fucking go, Calista," she screeched incredulously as Calista snatched the tickets back into her grasp and then smiled sweetly.

"Great," she said, "bring me something cute to wear at six and then we'll head over," she finished and headed towards her door, leaving the ecstatic minor bouncing in her doorway. "Oh, and don't be late."

She didn't stick around to wait for a reply before she swung her door closed and let out a breath of relief. Calista was worried that she would be forced to attend the game alone, which would be incredibly embarrassing when Jon realized that she didn't have any friends other than her coworkers, who weren't much of friends anyway. What he wouldn't understand is that Calista certainly didn't have time for friends. Besides, she wasn't graced with the best social skills anyway. Going to the hockey game with a teenager wasn't nearly as shameful as going alone, Calista decided.

By the time Ashton was pounding on the door, Calista's hair and make up was perfected to her liking. She floated across the small living room area, letting the chain lock fall against the wall and allowed Aston to enter her apartment.

"I brought you options," she announced cheerfully. After tossing her bag on the ground, she laid out three jerseys on the couch. Calista examined each before her eyes fell on the last one. She smiled to herself.

"So that's how you spell Toews," she mumbled. Ashton's face contorted into one of annoyance.

"Uh, yeah, that's how you spell Toews," she confirmed with a snarky under tone. Ashton rolled her eyes at the other female's lack of knowledge of hockey, wondering why she bothered to get tickets if she wasn't up to date on the spot.

Calista's attempt to stifle her laughter at the avid fan's reaction failed as she pulled off her sweatshirt, revealing her plain white cami. Taking the jersey off the hanger, she then slipped it on. Loving the way she felt with Jonathan's name on her back, she beamed at Ashton.

"How do I look?" She questioned, glancing down at the red jersey that fell down to her thighs, which were covered by black leggings. With a roll of Ashton's eyes, she picked up the two ticket's from the table.

"It's not a beauty pageant," she replied sourly as she examined the tickets once again. Knowing this was likely sure to be an excruciating night, Calista groaned inwardly while she collected the belongings that she was planning to take with her in her clutch. "Hey, whose number is this?" Ashton asked abruptly. Raising her dark brow, Calista looked over Ashton's shoulder at the sloppily printed telephone number. With a smirk, she took the ticket and hurriedly typed the digits into her phone, saving the new contact. Her fingers flew across the keyboard as she typed out a message.

'Leaving for the arena now :)'

She left it at that, assuming Jonathan would know it was her and then slid the thin smartphone into her clutch.

"Ready?" She asked, disregarding Ashton's pointed glance as she was dying for Calista to let her in on whatever was obviously being kept secret. Instead of doing that, Calista just wore a smug expression and slipped on her flats before ushering the girl out of her apartment. With a few words in protest, Ashton followed closely behind.

Calista had no idea what was going on as bodies whizzed past her, down to the other end of the ice. However, she had caught on to cheer when Ashton did. Late in the second period, Jonathan scored soon after he stepped out for his shift. After beating the goalie top shelf, Jonathan grinned to himself and Calista jumped to her feet, along with the rest of the fans at the United Center. She smiled as Jonathan was mauled by his teammates not too far away. Calista was awestruck; she'd never been much of a sports fan and she hadn't expected the atmosphere to be so overwhelming and exhilarating.

It had been a while since Jonathan felt as accomplished as he did when the puck hit the back of the net with Calista watching. The young captain made it a point to avoid looking to where he'd chose to sit her. Though he wouldn't admit it, most definitely not to himself, he feared that she wouldn't even show up to see him play. Maybe she wasn't as interested in him as he thought. Or something more important could have come up.

As Patrick Kane tapped him with the blade of his stick, Jonathan glided away as he circled, his skates carving into the sheet of ice. That sound alone released endorphins in Jonathan's brain, leaving him buzzing as he toned out the thousands of cheering voices. The teams began to settle, preparing for the next face off when he finally glanced up and locked eyes with Calista.

They were only a couple of yards away, separated by the thick glass that she sat behind. Jonathan smirked at Calista and threw her a wink before turning away and meeting his opponent at center ice just as the crowd began another chant.

"Did he just fucking look at you?" Ashton clutched onto Calista's arm. Reluctantly, she tore her eyes from the rather entrancing game before her and smirked at the younger girl.

"He must like me," she replied in a teasing tone with an uninterested shrug of her red jersey clad shoulders. Ashton noticeably rolled her eyes and huffed, but Calista didn't pay much attention.

She was astounded as her eyes followed Jonathan's grace and composure as he skated so fluidly across the ice. She'd never seen anything like it before. The unity between the players and even the fans that came to support them sent out a family like vibe, which was something Calista never really experienced before.

Just a few seconds before the final buzzer would sound, ending the game in disappointment for the opposing team, which Calista wouldn't be able to tell you their name at all, Ashton leaned over, her mouth close to Calista's ear.

"I swear he keeps looking at you," she yelled over the loud noises of the happy fans and the trademark goal horn song. Calista smiled to herself, observing while Jonathan made his way off the ice after a stick salute to the packed arena. She'd taken notice of all Jonathan's third period glances too.

As the thousands of bodies were flooding into the isles, Calista's phone buzzed in her bra. She pulled it out, knowing there was time to kill before anyone was going to move an inch.

'Stick around for a while? I'd love to see you, Cal.' Her soft, feminine features broke into a grin as she typed her reply. Calista's stomach flopped inside of her at the thought of meeting up with Jonathan. As their time together increased, she became more and more smitten with the tall man. She was finding it so hard to resist the bubbly feeling that she had been struggling to subside for months.

"Do you have to be home any time soon?" Calista asked, looking at Ashton while she typed away on her own smartphone. She barely looked up and shrugged.

"My mom probably didn't even realize that I'm gone," she scoffed a bit with a roll of her eyes. There was quite a lot that Calista didn't know yet about Ashton's family. The high school aged girl's disheartened attitude went unnoticed by Calista, who simply smiled to herself, knowing Ashton wasn't looking at her anyway.

"Great," she replied, leaning against the railing. "I have someone for you to meet."