We Don't Have Forever

“He just walked off with my sister!” was the first thing out of Jonathan’s mouth as we watched… Sidney walk off with Kathryn.

“He’s a big dork. You would think Captain Canada would be a little more… smooth,” I was amused by what I saw.

“Yeah,” was the only thing that came out of him.

“Oh my gosh, lighten up,” I gave him a playful shove. He smiled a bit, but still opened his mouth to bicker back with me. “She’s making a new friend,” I said before he could spew out with something.

“She doesn’t need to make new friends,” he grumbled, but began walking out of the arena.

“You’re really cute when you’re in protective older brother mode,” I had to taunted. It caused him to glance over at me with a narrowed expression on his face. I grinned brightly and reached up to kiss his cheek.

He grunted loudly, making me giggle as we walked along. Eventually, he led me into a restaurant. Once we were seated, I’m pretty sure he glanced around to see if his sister was anywhere to be seen. I laughed once more at his actions.

“What?” he asked me, not amused by my outburst.

“You’re adorable,” I kept going. He rolled his eyes and brought his phone from his pockets. And then I realized that I was sitting across from Pouty Toews. I let him go for a few moments though. To try and lighten the mood, I flicked my camera on… a little too loudly so that he knew it. I pointed it at him and snapped a picture of the scowl that he was sending me.

“Look how cute you look,” I cooed and flipped it around so that he could see my screen. It earned me another eye roll, but he sat up a little straighter like he wanted to engage in conversation with me.

“So…” I began, searching for something to talk about. “I never knew she skated,” I decided to test the waters. “I mean… I’m not too surprised, but…”

“Yeah, she used to play,” he said; his eyes seeming to be looking anywhere else but at me.

“Aw, why’d she stop?” I went on, noticing the discomfort come over him.

“She got hurt,” he shrugged.

“How?” it came out before I could even think about it.

“An accident.” His responses were getting shorter.

“What hap…”

“It was just an accident. It fucked up her career,” he cut me off with a bit of attitude being sent my way… and I knew I touched a nerve I shouldn’t have… but I had to see how he reacted!

“Oh,” I replied, trying to show I was backing off.

He sat back once more and let out a heavy sigh while he rubbed a hand over his face. Seeing him like this kind of made me regret bringing it up in such a public place. I wanted him to say the next words. Suddenly, I didn’t know what to talk to him about now. Maybe this was a bad idea.

“It was a car accident,” he spoke softly, catching me off guard. “She uh… she was with… with a friend,” he paused for a few long moments. I was looking for some honesty here, Jonathan. “They um… they got into a car accident. I… uh… the driver was fine, but Kathryn, she… she was in the hospital for a while,” he mumbled through.

“That’s too bad,” was the only thing I could think to say.

“Yeah,” he exhaled loudly once more and looked off into the distance; his dark eyes unfocused.

I reached out and grabbed his hand that was on the table. I wanted so badly to let him know that I knew the truth and that he could open up to me about it, but… I already felt like I pushed him a bit too far. So, I took his hand, bringing his attention back to me. He glanced at our hands and laced our fingers tightly together. A slight smile curled at the corners of his lips, making me feel like he was a little more at ease. Hopefully, this is a start for him to get a hold of his emotions of this subject… and maybe even talk to someone about it.