Part 2

***So I totally just wrote this really quickly at work, I didn't have time to proofread it so sorry in advance for any typos or spelling errors, I'll fix it tonight =)***


Mom and Jared are waiting at the door as we pull up. The driveway is pilled up with snow at the end, so I have to hit the gas hard to gain entrance. The sudden bumping throws Marc and Eric around in the backseat and they begin to laugh.
I laugh too; it's good to be home.

I take all three of the front steps at once and pull mom into a one armed-hug, punching Jared on the shoulder with my free hand. This reunion only lasts momentarily though, soon snowballs are flying at the front of the house and mom retreats inside, but she's laughing as she closes the door behind her.
We continue where we left off years ago; Eric and Marc running around the front yard trying to dodge the snowballs that Jared and I are throwing at them from the front porch, hidden within the protection of the porch. We stay like this, laughing and playing in the snow till it's to dark to see anything.

As we walk inside we're all drenched, and freezing. Mom is scolding us for getting the front entrance so wet, but she's too happy to see us all to stay mad for long. As a smile breaks out over her face my father walks in from the kitchen, and moves forward into the entrance hall puddles to give us all hugs.

"Well, I hope you boys are hungry... your mom has a big supper ready in there." He points his thumb over his shoulder towards the room he just came out of.
Without further hesitation Marc dashes off into the kitchen with my mother close behind. Eric, Jared and I make our way up the stairs and into our bedrooms.

I strip off my wet clothes and toss them into the hallway. I pull open one of the drawers in the dresser and grab an old t-shirt and a pair of sweats. I dress quickly and take a moment to look around the room that I had grown up in.
All the poster that I had tac'd up long ago were still there, as were the pictures of all the friends I had left behind in Thunder Bay. They were arranged in a checker pattern on the wall above my bed, in the exact same position that Alice, our old neighbour, had placed them in.


"Ugh! Allie that's so gay!" I whine, flopping down in the bed next to her feet. She's standing on my pillow, her tiny frame holding a stack of pictures and some blue molding tac.

She laughs as she looks down at me."Don't be such a baby Jordie! Trust me; you'll thank me when it's done. It's going to look awesome!"

"Wow... that's gay..." Marc quips' as he pushes my door open and lets himself in.

"Told you..." I said matter-o-factly as Allie shakes her head and continues placing pictures on my wall.

"So what are we doing tonight?" Marc's leaning against the far wall, his hands in his pockets. He's flexing his arms slightly, trying to get Alice to look at his new found 'muscles'. I chuckle to myself at how hard he tries to get her to notice him; with no avail.

"Ummm... what did you guys feel like doing?" Alice says back softly, lost in thought as she cocks her head to the side and takes a step back from her collage.

"We should go camping in the yard again, that was fun." I suggest, my eyes lingering on Alice still.

"Oh yes!" She jumps up and falls down onto her knees beside me, giving me a giant smile, "I was hoping we'd get to do that again before school started!"

"Sounds good to me, I'll see if Eric and Tanya wanna come too." Marc gives me a bitter look as he turns to leave, I look back up at Alice who has turned her back to me. She's smiling up at my wall and I follow her eyes.
Over thirty pictures are plastered above my bed in an 'either-or' pattern. Right in the middle is a picture of her and I, taken a few days before at the lake. Our faces are pressed together and she has he arms wrapped around my neck, we're both laughing.
My eyes gaze over the rest of the pictures that she's chosen for her creation. Most of them are of us; sports, school, hanging out, junior formal - whatever the event, we're both always smiling.

"Do you like it?" She's looking at me intently, her eyes dancing with a mischievous look.

"Yah, it looks cool..." I trail off, glancing away from her look and back at the wall. Her green eyes always cause me to forget what I'm trying to say. I know without a doubt that I'm in love with her, even though Eric says I'm too young to know what real love is. I want more than anything to tell her how I feel, but we're only 12 and she'd probably laugh at me.

"Eric and Tanya are gonna come too." Marc says as he pushed my door back open, "Dad says we should set up the tent now before it gets dark."

I push myself off my bed and give Allie's hand a tug, pulling her behind me. "Wanna go to the store and get snacks first?" I ask her, releasing her hand as she comes to stand beside me.

"Ok, race ya there!" She's laughing over her shoulder as she runs out of the room.

Marc is smiling after her as she bounds down the stairs. We look at each other for a minute before jogging after her. She's a very short girl, even for her age, and we could easily catch her; even with the head start she has, but we jog at a comfortable pace behind her. She always wins. We always let her win.


"Don't worry Jordie, you're still just as ugly." Jared snipes from my bed room door. He's changed into sweats as well and is laughing at me as he holds the pile of wet clothes in his hands. "Mom's got a picture of the baby too! You should see how big he is, he's gonna be a year in January, can you believe it?"

"No... I didn't realize he was that old now...." I trail off, thinking about Allie. We had lost contact after I got drafted into the NHL.

Alice had had a very hard home life growing up. Her mother died in a car accident when she was very young and her father had raised her. He was hardly ever home with her, and when he was he was intoxicated. He was never mean or abusive to her, but he had never managed to cope with the death of her mother.
Alice had been raised almost as a sister for us, my mother had taken her under her wing and subsequently she had ended up at our house everyday.
When she got accepted to NYU my mother had hoped things would get better for her. When she met a rich guy named Andrew my parents had been happy for her, and I had honestly tried to be; but even with the distance between us I still felt a twinge of jealousy every time I thought of him.
One night he broke her jaw. My mother flew down to New York the next day and tried to take her back to Thunder Bay, but Alice had refused to leave.
A few months later she found out that she was pregnant, and gave birth to a boy a few months later in January. She named him Shamus.
Andrew ended up leaving her for another girl and we all breathed a sigh of relief. She had never finished her degree but managed to land a good job as a secretary in a New York law firm.

I have never seen her son, until now.

As I reach the kitchen and head towards the fridge, I am caught off-guard by a picture of Alice holding an infant in her arms. She is smiling her little lopsided smile and her eyes are teary.I feel like someone has punched me in the stomach.
I'm winded and my mind is rushing in a thousand different ways. I don't want anyone to see my reaction so I turn quickly and head back to the kitchen table.

I sit down just as Jared and Eric enter the room. Beside me Marc is already on his second helping.
The dinner goes, as our dinners always go. Loudly and full of action. We talk about hockey, what we're doing besides hockey, more hockey and then the conversation turns in a direction I don't want it to take.

"So... Alice is going to be back in town for Christmas, did I tell you that?" My mom says absently to my father. He grunts a no, still focused on eating his meatloaf. "Oh well, her and Shamus are going to be staying here too, for Christmas. You haven't met him yet have you Jordan?"I shake my head and stare down at my plate."He's such a sweet little thing, tiny just like his mother! I'm so glad she decided to come home, I've been so worried about her..."

I keep my eyes down on my plate as I try to decide just exactly what type of emotion is spreading over me now.