Part 6

What a horrible day. Max is out and I'm sitting at home, by myself. Sidney had called and asked if I wanted to go out to eat with the boys; I had agreed but we weren't meeting for another couple hours... I sigh and pick-up my phone, planning on calling Sidney back and seeing if he wants to meet up earlier.
The phone rings in my hand, causing me to jump a bit before I put it to my ear. "Hey Jordan! I need some..." Jared begins.

"How much?" I ask, cutting him off. It's always about money with him; at least since he started dating that Gemma one.

"Uhh..." I groans and I wait silently for him to answer, I can almost hear his brain trying to figure it out. "Like... 30 grand?"

"Are you shitting me?" My mouth drops open; Gemma like money but he's never asked for this much before.

"No..." He trails off.

I sigh, "I'll give you half... you talk to the other guys and figure something out."

"Ah sweet... thanks man." Relief floods his voice.

"Should I be concerned about what you need this for?" Maybe I'm wrong, maybe he needs it for drugs or something...

"Nope." He answers, popping the 'p' as he says it.

"Good n'uff." I hang up the phone; sometimes I wonder how he can be so pathetic. This Gemma one is obviously after the money... why can't he see that? Maybe we'll have to have a talk with him next time we're up... The phone rings again, cutting off my thoughts.

"Hey Sidney, what's up?" I ask, recognizing the number.

"Uh, not to much. We're gonna go play some pool first... you wanna come?"

Thank God! "Sure!"

"Alright, I'm on my way. See ya in a bit." I hang up and smile, leave it to the kid to save the day.


"Welcome to your new home!" Mario exclaims as he throws open the door to his huge house, ushering me inside. "Nathalie's not in right now, but she'll be back in time for supper... don't worry, I wouldn't make you eat my cooking." He chuckles at his joke and leads me up the stairs.
I give him an earnest smile as he looks back, still trying to remain calm... I mean, sure I'm living with him and working for him now but... holy crap batman, Mario Lemieux is talking to me!

He throws my bag on my bed and turns around to face me. "Alright well, this is it... you can do whatever you want to it... posters, paint, whatever! Make it feel more like home." I nod and glance around the room, it's alot bigger than my room back home. "Anyway, I gotta get going, I have a meeting with the coaching staff so... I'll see you later on." He gives me a pat on the back as he walks out of the door, leaving me alone.

I look around my room and let out a low whistle. The floor is a light-colored hardwood, and the walls are all white and empty; like a blank slate. The room feels metaphorical, like starting over.
I unzip my suitcase and start pulling my clothing out; sorting them into the empty drawers of an over-sized dresser, that matches the floor color.
The more clothing that I pull out of my bag, the more things that fall out of my bag. "What the hell...?" I ask out loud to no one in particular. I finish removing my clothes and tip the suitcase onto the bed, allowing the rest of the contents to fall out; pictures and envelopes. I pick up the stray ones off the floor and sit down on the bed.
A smile crosses my lips as I flip through the pictures, Alice had made doubles of all the pictures on my wall-collage and hide them in my suitcase. I laugh as I look through them, allowing the memories of home to swell through me. After a long time passes, I put the pictures down and move to the envelops. There are five of them and they all have a message on the outside; sealed shut on the back.
I start flipping through them; For your first win, for you first loss, homesickness, when the pressure is too much, when you're lonely.
I sigh and put the first four away, gently opening the last one.

"Jordie,

I wonder how long it will be, before you read this letter? Seeing as you're a big pro hockey player now; I'm sure you're surrounded by people, all inflating your ego. (Just remember, I'm faster than you'll ever be... so don't get too cocky!).
I'm not sure how to deal with loneliness; I've never been lonely, because I've always had you.

If you do find that at some point you get lonely, then remember that you have so many people thinking about you, and like me, they're probably wishing that they could be with you too.
Phone calls will never be the same thing, but you can always call me; I'll always answer. And the way we need to look at this is... if you want to be with someone... than aren't you kind of, already there?

Maybe I'm getting all sappy but, I heard this proverb once and I wrote it down to take with me... it makes me think of you:
'Within you I lose myself...
Without you I find myself
Wanting to be lost again'

I hope this helps you, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Miss you much,
Allie"

I read the letter over a few more times before I feel the tears that are trickling down my face. I hear a slam from somewhere down below and whip my face with my arm, heading down the stairs to see what happened.

"Hey Staalsy!" Someone calls from the darkness. Soon enough, Max Talbot appears at the foot of the stairs, "You want some company tonight kid?"

"Sure." I nod as a few of my team-mates gather into the living room. There are 7 guys, including me and almost twice as many girls. They all flop down on random couches and the TV gets turned on. I shuffle down the stairs.

"Where's Mario and Nathalie?" Sidney Crosby asks, looking in my direction.

"Umm... Mario's gone to a meeting or something and Nathalie is suppose to be back soon."

"So you're one of the Staals?" A brunette asks as she takes a seat beside me. I nod.
The guys start asking questions about me and I try to answer them, then the conversation turns to stories about the team; they were quite the group of guys that was for sure.

After a while the girls decide that they want to see the famous Lemieux household; we shuffle off down the hall ways, looking at pictures and memorabilia like we were in a museum.
I feel like we're doing something bad, allowing all these girls in here; but judging by the guys, this is not the first time.
I hear my cell-phone go off and run into my bedroom to answer it; brunette and a friend follow along.

"Hey Jordie!" Alice chirps over the phone.

"Hey! I was just about to call you when the guys showed up... I read one of your letters."

"Oh! That's kind of embarrassing..."

"No. It was great. Thanks..." I couldn't contain my smile as I chatted with Alice, she had just finished packing and was leaving for New York in two days.

"Max!" A girl screamed as she ran into my room, hiding behind brunette. They all started giggling as Max followed them in.

"Oh, where are you?" Alice asks, I have to plug my other ear so that I can hear her.

"I'm in my room right now." I answer, glancing over and shaking my head at Max, who has his arms around two of the girls.

"Umm... maybe I should let you go then..." She sounds disgruntled now, I'm not sure why; maybe she just doesn't want to talk to me anymore.

"Yah, alright-"

"Come on Jordan!" One of the girls calls as Max drags her out of my room, cutting me off.

"Yah, come on man, we're going out." I nod and put up a finger; signaling to give me a minute.

"Well, don't want to keep you so... I'll just talk to you later."

"Yah alright... well it was good hearing from you! I'll give you a call tomorrow, will you be around?"

"No... I'll be busy packing."

"I thought you said you'd just finished-"

"No. I'm not done. Bye Jordan." She hangs up before I can say anything else. I shrug, not really sure what else to do.
I look up and Max is standing the door, motioning for me to follow him.