How to Save A Life - The Fray
Walking out of the locker rooms and towards the ice, I see Chris sitting on the bench with Asher on his lap. His big blue eyes light up when they see me as I reach my hands out towards him and Chris turns his head towards me. "Shit, you scared me a little there." He says before I scoop Asher up in my arms.
"Sorry." I say, a guilty smile on my face as I walk towards to open door that's connected to the bench wall. Looking to my right I see Ev already leaning her back against the glass, a thing we've done since the first game of the season. Stepping onto the ice I slowly skate towards her with Asher rested on my arm. She's got the jersey I got her on, with a Mavericks baseball cap turned backwards, her hands moving as she talks to one of the girls.
I lean my back against the glass as Asher reaches out and puts his tiny hand on the glass, before quickly moving it, most likely because it's cold. Evelyn's head turns as her green eyes meet mine and she smiles up at me before waving at Asher. She reaches over to the seat and grabs something before holding up Asher's little soundproof headphones. I hold my index finger up and nod towards the bench before skating over towards it. After a couple of minutes she comes walking towards the railing that is above the hallway towards the locker room, where fans stand to say 'hi'. She reaches down, handing me the headphones.
"Good luck." She smiles down at me.
"Thanks baby." I say before we both walk away.
Somehow I talked Coach into letting Asher sit on the bench with the team during tonights game. He probably only agreed since it was against St.Louis, which meant it was an easy game.
"Did you see the shit Sampson pulled during their game against Anaheim the other night?" Evan asked as I walked up.
"Yeah, that mothefu- pucker, really thought he could get away with that?" I say.
"Mother Pucker?" Chris asks, leaning his elbows on his knees.
"He's getting to the point where he's trying to repeat what we say, obviously he can't form words yet, but we're trying to be careful so his first word isn't fuck or some shit." I say shrugging my shoulders.
"As you literally drop the F-bomb." Evan says, taking a sip of his water.
"I said we were trying, but I didn't say we were trying hard." I say as the guys chuckle.
"Alright then, puckers, let's get this show on the road." Chris says standing up.
✳︎
Jumping over the board, I sat down on the bench next to Jake, who hands me a water bottle as he bounces Asher on his leg, intensely watching the game.
Asher reaches his arms out as I take him and set him on my lap. "How's he doing?" I ask as Jake looks over at me.
"Good, he laughed when Chris slammed Rodgers into the wall next to us." He says as I chuckle.
"Atta boy." I say, squeezing his sides as his eyes follow the movement of the players on the ice. "Hey man, are you okay? You've been off your game lately." I turn towards Jake as he sighs.
"Yeah, I've just got a lot of shit going on right now." He says, looking over towards our side, even though no one is over there except for the goalie.
"You wanna talk about it?" I ask, nudging his knee with mine.
"No."
He was always the kind to hide his feelings and keep his emotions bottled up until he exploded. It wasn't healthy. He was just a selfless person who always putting everybody else's feelings before his. "Come on Jake. Talk to me."
"Greyson, I said no. Drop it." He says giving me a serious look as I swallow slowly. He never uses my first name, let alone 'Greyson' instead of 'Grey'. Knowing I had overstepped, I sighed, focusing my attention back on the game. Although, I couldn't. Something was obviously wrong.
"Why can't you tell me?" I ask turning my head to look at him as he sighs loudly, rubbing his hand over his face.
"She asked me not to." He said as my brows furrowed.
"Who asked you not to?"
"Katherine." He says as everything clicks.
He'd been sitting next to her every time the group hung out, he was always looking at her, the sexual tension was high every time one of them walked in the room. God, how didn't I figure it out before. "Are you guys together?"
"No.. Yes.. I don't fucking know. It's complicated." He groans, leaning back against the wall.
I lightly chuckle, "How?"
"I can't tell you."
"Why not?" I push.
He lets out a breath, fighting with himself before he says, "Evelyn doesn't know yet."
I sit up straighter, "Evelyn doesn't know what."
He looks over at the girls, a sad expression covering his face, before he leans closer to me. "She has kidney failure, which Evelyn knows about, but it's gotten worse." He says as my eyes widen and his hand lands on my arm, "She's dying, Greyson." He says, tears filling his eyes.
My mind was all over the place. Katherine was dying. Evelyn didn't know. But Ev knew she had kidney failure. Why wouldn't she have told me. Oh my God, Katherine is dying. "Jake..." I say softly, before wrapping arm around him, pulling him to my chest. "I'm sorry."
"You can't tell Ev." He mumbles into my shoulder. "She wants to tell the girls herself." He says, pulling away as a tear falls from his eye.
"You really like her, huh?" I ask as he looks back over at the girls again.
"No." He says as my brows furrow. "I fucking love her. and I'm scared shitless, I can't lose her man. Not when I just got her." He confesses, a shaky breath escaping his mouth.
I didn't know what to do, or say. Nothing would help him, so I did the only thing I could and I hugged him again. I don't know how he wasn't crying right now, if it was Ev, I'd be sobbing. God, I couldn't even imagine losing her.
We both focus back on the game as Chris gets the puck in his possession after battling for it against the wall as he makes his way towards our goal, skating at full speed, he skates around the goal before shooting the puck and it goes in. The usual routine of the lights going out, red and white spotlights flashing everywhere, the sirens going off as Chris does a victory lap before they replay the shot that made the score, 6-0. St. Louis sucked extra tonight, I was barely even sweating anymore. The buzzer went off meaning the game was over as we made our way to the locker rooms.
I quickly changed, not bothering to shower here, it's not like I did much tonight anyways. I could shower when I got him, in my own shower... With my wife. Before heading out of the locker room, clad in a navy suit. Evelyn was already standing there, leaning against the wall with the girls, Chris, and Jake. Her eyes light up when she sees me and she pushes off the wall, holding her arms out for Asher.
Kissing his cheek as he rubs his eyes, laying his head on his shoulder, "It's past your bedtime isn't it?" She says, rubbing his back as his eyes fall heavy. "Good game babe." She stands on her tippy toes to kiss me.
"Thanks baby." I say, smiling into the kiss. Wrapping my arm around her waist we make our way back over to the group as Evan comes out of the locker room.
"I think we're gonna head out." Evelyn says, glancing down at Asher. Everyone bids their goodnight's before we make our way out of the arena and into my truck.
"I don't know what was going on with St. Louis tonight." Evelyn says, hopping into the passenger seat after fastening Asher in. "It was like they were all drugged or something."
"Yeah, it was weird. I hate games like those, they're too easy." I say, resting my hand on her thigh as we peel out of the parking lot.
The one good thing about having to stay for interviews is most of the traffic is gone by the team we leave. "Evelyn." I find myself saying as she turns to me, a worried expression on her face.
"What's wrong?" She asks, her perfectly sculpted brows knitting together.
"Can I ask you a question... About Katherine?" I ask as she swallows slowly.
"What about her?"
"Why didn't you tell me she had kidney failure?" I ask, turning my head to look at her as we come to a stop at a red light.
She sighs, "She asked me not to. I've been hiding it for years." She says, and you can see almost a weight lifting off her chest. "She's had it since she was eleven. She doesn't like people knowing because she doesn't want pity and she doesn't want to be known as "the sick girl". I don't blame her. It's been the same level for most of her life but, now that she's gotten older it's gotten worse and..." Her voice chokes up as she looks down in her lap, and I grab her hand.
"It's okay, take your time."
"And... There's a 90% chance she could die if she doesn't get a transplant within the next five years." She lets a sob escape her mouth as my heart breaks for her.
"Evelyn, I'm so sorry." I squeeze her hand as she cries, finally letting the emotions of this, out. God, I wish we weren't in the fucking car right now, I just want to hold her in my arms and comfort her, or at least try.
"Neither of her parents are a match and none of us are. It kills me that I can't help her." She says, wiping tears from her face.
"Ev, you are helping her." I say as she looks up, a confused look on her face. "You're helping her by being the reason she has a normal life. You treat her the same as everyone else and there's nothing more that could help than for her to feel like she's living a normal life."
Her teary eyes meet mine as I squeeze her hand, "Really?" She asks as I nod my head.
"Yeah, baby." My hand cups her cheek, "I can't promise you that she's going to be okay but, I can promise you will be, okay?" I say as she leans into my hand and nods her head. "I love you so much baby." I say as I feel tears in my own eyes.
She has no idea how much I love her and I hope to God I never lose her.
Word Count: 1,870
I know this chapter is a bit short but boy was it hard to write. I definitely cried a little. Stay tuned for an exciting announcement coming later today! (katherine's story)