SATURDAY, March 23rd
"Wow, this place's huge!" Naia exclaims as we enter the big arena of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
She keeps on taking pictures of everyone and everything we pass as me and Cole walks a few steps behind.
"I can't even remember the last time I went here," Cole sighs, thoughtfully biting his bottom lip.
"You've been here before?" I ask him, as we finally find our seats in the crowded arena.
"A lot," he nods. "I used to come here with dad.. I miss that."
I smile at him, aware of the fact that his dad died a couple of years ago. "We should come here more often, then."
He looks down at me, watching my face before nodding in a smile. "Yeah."
"Hey Ellie, there's your boyfriend."
Naia catches my attention, pointing towards the rink and a guy whose back is facing us. Once he turns around, you can easily see his cute grin as he talks to someone named 'Marner'.
"He's cute," Naia mumbles, admiring them both. "If you break up or something, you'd be fine if I accidentally started dated him, right?"
I turn my head to her, grinning at her words. "We're not even together.. But yeah, I'd be fine. As long as it's an 'accident'."
She sighs, playfully hitting my arm before going back to checking out the hockey players. "I've never been into hockey guys anyway."
09:30 PM
We stand in some hallway underneath the seats. After following William's careless instructions, which pretty much just said 'talk to a guy named Joe', we eventually made it here. What exactly 'here' means, we are still not really sure about.
The game ended 1-2 for Rangers, but it was fun. I'd never say that to Logan, or anyone in my Canadians-family really, but I enjoyed it.
"Oh look, humans."
I quietly laugh at Naia's ironic sentence. Turning my head to the way she's looking, I can spot three figures coming our way. I recognize the middle one as William, he's smiling at me while the other two are watching me and my friends with big eyes.
They're soon in front of us, one of them smiling bigger than the others. "I really can't believe you're real!"
The stranger stares at me, walking towards me until his arms are around my body. I try to hug him back, even though this is the weirdest situation I've ever been put into.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Elle!" He continues, finally releasing me from his tight grip.
I nod my head doubtfully. "It's nice to meet you too."
I catch Williams eyes over the stranger's shoulder, just to find out he's as amused as ever. His other black haired friend is laughing too, though both of them calm down as the stranger opens his mouth again.
"I'm actually glad that you texted me- well, Willy. He's been very exited latel-"
"Wait, Mitch?" I ask as things finally starts to make sense in my head.
"That's what people call me, yeah," he shrugs, making me smile.
"Hi."
He laughs at my words, hugging me again. "Hi bud. Wow, I really thought Willy made you up or something."
I nod, "I was just gonna say that. You look just like I imagined though. Maybe a little older."
Mitch's face lights up like the sunset after my sentence. "You think I look old?"
I open my mouth to tell the truth about how I was expecting him to be like ten years younger, but find myself nodding instead. "Um, yeah. Sure."
His smile grows even bigger, if that's even possible, as he rest his arm on my shoulder. "How the fuck did Willy manage to catch your attention anyway? You're like the best girl ever! Did you know that his wardrobe's full of Beyoncé pos-"
"Soooo," William interrupts, apparently more aware of mine and Mitch's conversation than we thought. "Anybody's up for pizza?"
11:00 PM
"I honestly haven't seen uglier shoes in my entire life, Aust."
Mitch seems to be about to throw up while he takes a closer look at the slippers his friend's wearing.
Auston opens his mouth to defend himself, though you can tell that he's a forward once he starts speaking. "Wh.. green is great."
Everyone, Auston excluded, laugh as we continue eating the food in front of us. We're at Mitch's place, more specifically in his living room, where we've been hanging for the past hour or so.
Auston and Mitch are actually really fun. Unlike me, they're very outgoing and has been insulting each other ever since we entered the house.
Noticing that my phone starts ringing on the table, I grab it to find my brother's name written across the screen. I leave the room as discreet as I can while the others keep on arguing about whether slippers are cool or not.
I answer the call once the bathroom door is locked behind me. "Hi Logan," I smile.
He stays silent for a few seconds, I can tell that he's struggling with what he's about to say. "Hey, Elle. Um, are you good?"
I furrow my eyebrows at the tone of his voice, feeling my heartbeat increase once my thoughts starts finding its own reasons to it. "It happened again?"
For the second time during our short conversation, he stays silent. Though that tells me more than any word could.
"I told you to call me right away!" My voice is shaky by the fear within me, and I'm not even trying to hide it. He knows I'm scared, he's been in these situations before.
"I'm sorry," my brother exhales. "I knew you'd be busy with that hockey game so I.."
Logan lets the next words be unsaid, it would probably just be another apology anyway.
I bite my bottom lip, shaking my head once the anger slowly starts sinking. "How is he?" I can hear my words echoing in the large bathroom in the waiting for his.
"He's good now," Logan says, trying to lighten up the situation. "I'm with him right now, actually.. Mom was here as well, but she left a few minutes ago."
I nod by myself, taking a deep breath to calm down by heartbeats. I may be used to these situations, but I'm still very bad at handling them.
"Do you wanna talk to him?"
I observe myself in the mirror, mentally preparing me for what's gonna come. "Yeah."
"Yeah?" Logan repeats, I can hear his shoes hitting the floor through the phone speaker. "Okay. I'll text you later. Bye."
"Bye," I mumble, even though I want him to stay with me.
As I wait for another voice to come, I change the phone from my right to left hand as it has started to shake more than normal.
"Elle?"
I press my lips together, feeling my blue eyes water up by hearing his friendly voice. "Hi dad."
"Hey bud!" I can hear the smile through his words, placing a slight grin on my lips as well. "How are you doing over there?"
"I'm doing good," I say lowly, finding myself gripping the phone even tighter, almost like I'd be afraid that his voice would suddenly disappear. "I.. Me and my friends were watching hockey earlier today. Toronto against New York Rangers."
"That sounds horrible," dad says, I laugh. "I thought I raised you well."
I smile, "You have. But if it helps, Toronto lost."
He laughs hoarsely, reminding me of the actual situation and causing my smile to slowly fade away again. He becomes silent as well, probably searching for something else to say.
"Are you okay?" I suddenly ask, realizing that my voice's shaking as I do.
It takes a few seconds before I can hear him speak again. "I'm okay, honey. I'll be fine, I promise you that.."
I smile a little at his words. Even though they're always the same, they calm me a lot.
"You' sleeping on the couch for me?"
I smile, letting a lonely tear fall down my cheek. "Of course."
"Good," I can hear him smile as well. "I love you, honey. Come visit soon."
"I will," I answer. "I love you. Bye."
Letting him end the call, I stand still for a few minutes, just staring at the phone in my shaking hand. Many thoughts wander through my head, thoughts that has crossed my mind before and which I won't let stay for long.
"He's okay," I whisper, taking a deep breath to collect my feelings as it feels like they've exploded all over the bathroom during this short time.
Unlocking and opening the door, I quietly walk back into the living room where my friends are still sitting. I sit back down on my place between Cole and William, trying to catch on whatever they all are talking about. I give up as soon as I hear the word 'Maple Leafs', knowing that I probably won't understand what they're saying anyway.
Instead, my gaze lands on my hands resting in my lap. They're shaking, it feels like my entire body still is.
Suddenly, I can spot another hand next to mine. At first, it just rests on my thigh, but it doesn't take long until it slowly connects itself with my shaking hand.
I'm very aware of the fact that the big hand holding in mine belongs to William, though I still don't let my hand hug his back. Instead, I stare at my fingertips vibrating a little above his fist.
It's not that I don't wanna hold his hand, I guess that I'm just a little too broke to do so right now. I'm not used to touching, or even talking, while being this vulnerable. It's new to me, but for some reason, I find my fingertips ease little by little, until they're completely still.
I open my mouth slightly, trying to understand what just happened in front of my eyes. What normally would take hours to get rid off, just disappeared in seconds.
I find my fingers lower, until they finally hit the back of William's hand.