I quickly check my phone as I finished lacing my skates, Chloe had told me that she was with my mom today at her building. Mom had finally made a decision about giving chloe a chance, she wasn't gonna say no we all knew that. Mom loves Chloe.
Seeing no new text from neither of them, I throw my phone in my bag and stand up, grabbing gloves "Let's go! On the ice boys!" Coach yells and I grab my stick.
"Don't stress, chloe probably knows what she's doing, she graduated early. And plus your mom
loves her"Liam assures me as he adjusts his glove beside me. I nod.
"I know, I'd still like to know what the hell is going on"He chuckles.
"They probably think your in practice and don't want to bother you"He shrugs and I nod, agreeing.
Swinging the apartment door open, Chestnut greats me and than the smell of food hits me. I stand up, dropping my bag my the door and turning a bit to see Chloe cooking "Grandma? grandpa?" I ask, they were seated at the island counter with mom. They both smile at me. I give them both a hug.
"How are you son?" Grandpa asks. I nod as he pats my back.
"I'm good"I nod and he squeezes my shoulder "What are you guys doing in town?" I ask as Granddad retakes his seat. In the corner of my eye I catch chloe, she was texting someone. Her face said it all, she was not liking whatever seemed to be on her screen right now.
"We thought we'd come for a visit, can't we visit our favourite grandson?" I roll my eyes at my grandma "now, I hear your always hungry after a good practice. Our treat" Grandpa smiles.
"Sure"I nod.
"Chloe dear, you can join us too. I'd love to get to know you" Grandma smiles and we all turn to chloe. Chloe looks up and forces a smile, Mom looks at me and I give her a small shrug.
"I would really love too Mr and Mrs Lane, but it looks as thought I have to pay a visit back home"
"Everything alright?" I ask. She nods.
"Just some family stuff" I nod. Mom secretly tells us to go and leave and talk. I excuse myself to take a shower and wait for chloe as she enters the bedroom.
"What is it?" I ask immediately as she closes the door behind Chestnut.
"My parents and Caspian"
"Caspian?" I still hadn't found the whole story of why her eldest brother lived on the other side of the pond, I didn't wanna prey. It wasn't my place to ask.
"It's super complicated and I wish I could tell you everything now"I grab one of my duffle bags as I see her grab some clothes, I place the bag on the bed "but Lucie is freaking out and I gotta be there"I nod.
"Okay you go do what you gotta do"
"Please tell your grandparents I'm really sorry"she sighs and I kiss her head.
"I'm sure they understand, plus they'll be to watch me play again when we're in the finals"I smirk. She chuckles.
"Cocky much?" She asks "your good with Chestnut or should I bring him home?"
"Maybe Lu would love to see him again"she smiles at my nickname for her.
"Now go shower, you stink"we kiss once more before she pushes me into the bathroom. I chuckle.
"I love you, I'll FaceTime you after the game"she nods.
"I love you too" she says with a smile and zips up the duffle bag after packing her emergency toiletry bag.
It wasn't until after the game and after dinner that I had said goodbye to my mother and grandparents. I love them I do, but after an exhausting game I really just wanted to lay down. The apartment was pitch black and empty, something I didn't like. Chloe would usually be in the living room with Chestnut or in the bedroom already. I groan as I pull my arm back a bit. I had taken another huge blow, to my shoulder this time and immediately Liam was punching the guy, Will had gotten in a few punches and soon you knew it the whole line was fighting the Anaheim Ducks. A penalty was given to the dude that body checked me and to Liam, he threw the first punch. Mike was definitely not happy about that fact, I had mentioned to a trainer about my shoulder and as I sat on the bench they had enough time to feel it out, saying that it could just be sore but if it's worse in the morning than I should definitely tell them when I went in for morning practice.
I laid lazily on the bed, waiting for chloe to text me back. I had texted her saying I was home and I was good to FaceTime whenever. She had yet to reply and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous that she hadn't texted me back, even a simple okay.
The tv across from me was on low, my eyes starting to close but opened widely when my phone started to buzz, I didn't bother looking at the caller ID knowing it was Chloe "Hey babe"
"Joel?" A shakey voice says, I pull the phone away from my ear and look at the caller. Lucie.
"Lucie?" I say sitting up a bit.
"How fast can you get here?" She asks, asking how fast can I drive like a mad man to Cambridge.
"Lucie, What the hell is wrong?" She stifles a sob "Okay hold on"I continue to talk to her as I quickly pack a bag and shut everything off in the apartment. I rush down the stairs and throw my bag to the back of my car and pull out. Lucie had told me what was going on, Alex had a fight with their dad, their dad getting mad and ended up hitting him. Apparently it wasn't the first time. Alex threatened to leave and go with their older brother, when Chloe got there. He wasn't there and nor was their dad. Chloe and their mom immediately left and Lucie was left at home scared. My hands gripped the steering wheel tightly as Lucie told me everything. She clearly was protected over all of this when she was younger and didn't know how to handle it. As I threw my car in park at the Fisher's driveway, Lucie stands up from the porch. A blanket wrapped around her, she had been sitting outside. I couldn't help but question how long she had been sitting out there, for me or anyone to return. I quicken my steps and wrap my arms around her shaking body, she started to sob.
I sigh and rub her back. I guide her back into the warm house and flick on the lights as I sit us down in the living room. She stays glued to my side and I let her cry. Once her sobs turn into quiet sniffles I look at the coffee table in front of me.
"I was doing homework when Alex and dad were fighting"
I didn't want to bring up the fight going on between the older siblings and her parents so I moved on "what kind?"
"History"
"I quite like history"I tell her.
"Really because I suck and I'm suppose to be doing a project on world war 2" she sighs.
"How about, I make some hot coco, we throw on a random tv show on Netflix and I help you"
"Your willing to do that?" She asks. I shrug. "I mean like you just finished a game and I oh my fuck, I made you drive here after a game"
"Lucie"I chuckle "it's fine" she looks at me and sighs.
"I could go for some hot coco"she says sheepishly. I smile and rub her arm, nodding.
"You find a tv show that won't distract us and I'll make the coco"she nods and I stand up. Lucie and I worked on her history project for almost two hours when the front door swung open, I look back to hear fighting. The three stop and stare at Lucie and I sitting on the ground the coffee table full of papers in front of us.
"Hi Joel"Eleanor gives me a tight smile, I give her a small one. Calvin gives me a tight smile before walking away, Eleanor following him. The two whisper yelling at each other. I stand up and chloe walks down the steps to the living room slowly. She sighs and I wrap my arms around her and she physically relaxes.
"What are you doing here?" She asks, her arms closing around my waist.
"Lucie called me, crying"I mumble in her ear. She nods and I kiss the top of her head. We pull away and Chloe looks past me to look at Lucie.
"Thank you"she whispers, I nod and kiss her quickly. An hour later, I had found out that Calvin had gone to stay at a hotel for a couple days.
"So where is he?" I ask Chloe, the two of us were laying in her bed upstairs in the dark.
"I don't know, we rushed to the airport and found out that the plane he went on left an hour before we arrived"she mumbles. I watch our hands playing with each other in front of us.
"I'm sorry babe"I mumble on her head. I feel her turn her head to check the time on her nightstand and I wince.
"What?" She asks gently.
"I got body checked and it's my shoulder" she sits up a little.
"Why didn't you say something before?"
"Because obviously it didn't matter before"I chuckle. She gives me a look and I sigh. "When I go into practice tomorrow I'll check with the trainers"
"Oh my god, I forgot you had practice"she stresses.
"Chloe, it's fine. Hey"I pull her towards me a bit. "It's fine alright, nothing I'm not use to. I'll be fine, could you please lay down now"she sighs and lays back down, on my chest this time. Neither of us said anything for a few minutes and I knew when Chloe's breathe became even that she had finally fallen asleep. I smile to myself, kissing the top of her head. I knew it would be awhile for me to fall asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Your late, really late"Coach says as I skate onto the ice.
"I had to go to Cambridge, and the snow"I ramble as I tighten my gloves.
"Did you get that shoulder of yours fixed?" He asks.
"It's sore, but I'll make do with the rest of practice" he eyes me and than sighs.
"Fine, get your ass out there"he points with his chin to my team. I nod and swiftly skate over to them. Practices ended but I stayed with our other coach to get in some more work seeing as I almost missed an hour of practice. After my extra practice I met up with the trainers and they told me just pack ice on it all night. All I did was nod and exit the building.
My feet slowed down as I notice Alex, leaning against his car, I unlock my car and that grabs his attention "What the fuck dude?" I immediately say as I walk up to him. I throw my bags into the back of my car and Alex throws me a Taco Bell bag, I raise my eyebrows at him. He sighs and leans back on his car. I stand across him, leaning back on my own car.
"I fucked up"
"No shit"I mumble and dig through the takeout bag. "Your suppose to be with your brother"
"Well I ended up in New York and flew back. I need a place to crash" he says.
"Your not gonna tell your sisters?" I ask him as I bite into my taco.
"I don't want to yet. Caspian is ready to lie"I shake my head.
"It's not my place to ask but your sister are rough. I held both of them as they cried multiple times, your gonna have to talk to them"
"I will, I just need time" I nod. "I need a place, and I can't crash at your apartment because well my sister lives there"
I sigh "don't you have any football buddies?"
"I do but none would keep a secret so"
"I'll call Ben or Liam" he nods.
"I owe you Joel"
"You owe a lot more, but I love your family so"He nods.
"Chloe is still in Cambridge so you can crash at mine for a while, so"he nods "thanks for the Taco Bell" he nods, again.
We slide into our own cars and I pull out first, him following me "you got enough clothes right?" I ask him as we enter the empty apartment.
"Yea I'm fine"I stretch out my shoulder and head for the freezer for an ice pack "something wrong with your shoulder"
"Yea I got boarded in my game last night and I hadn't had time actually think about it"
"Sprained?"
"Their not worried about it, so no not really. It's just a sore muscle I think" He nods "you still hungry?" I ask as I check my phone, texting chloe back that I'm at the apartment and gonna take a nap.
"No, I scarfed down a lot of Taco Bell"
"Okay well, I don't have a game so Xbox?" I ask, he shrugs and we move to the living room, getting to ready to not talk and just play games.