Hockey Is My Boyfriend: Part Two (12 page)

J
immy

T
he next day
when we got back on the road, it was completely different. Kelly sat right next to me, and we were talking nonstop. I told her all about the media training session I did, the discussions I had with my agent, and the latest call I had from Mr. Dean. I laid out everything that had been bothering me, and Kelly was so nice and sympathetic. It felt cooler to talk stuff over with your girlfriend than your parents.

“You know what I like about you, Kelly?” I watched the road, but I kept glancing at her happy face. She had been smiling all day.

“Everything?” She guessed with a laugh.

“Well, yeah. But also, it’s so easy to talk to you, you’re like a guy that way. But of course, you’re really, y’know, cute too.”

“I sound like an antiperspirant: talks like a man, but built like a woman.”

I laughed and messed her hair.

“I don’t know a lot about you,” Kelly confessed. “But really, we’ve only known each other for three weeks.

It sure seemed like longer. At one point, I didn’t think I could fulfill my commitment to work at Ivy’s camp, until he told me I could skip the last week. And man, then I wouldn’t have met Kelly. “Ask me anything you want,” I told her.

“Okay. What’s your middle name?”

“Uh, Maxime. It’s French.”

“So, your dad is French?”

I nodded.

“When’s your birthday?”

“May 5th.”

She frowned and seemed to be doing some calculating. “Well, how come you’re already in university? You’re only eighteen, and you’re going into second year?”

“Well, I went to a special hockey academy for high school. And I did three years of school in two, so I started at UMaine a year early.”

“Why Maine?”

“As opposed to Junior hockey?”

“No, I think university is a good idea. But why there?”

“It’s a decent hockey school, a few of my buddies are there, and it’s not too far from home. I like school. I like the learning and the routine. And I’m not really into the big cities.”

Kelly nodded. “I guess your parents can come and watch you play, right?”

“Yeah, it’s only a couple of hours drive for them.”

“Sweet. My family never gets to see me play.” She didn’t look too upset about this though.

“Why did you choose McGill?”

“Because they wanted me to play hockey for them. I didn’t have a ton of options, because I wasn’t as good as I am now. It worked out great though. I love my team, and I love Montreal.”

“Yeah, it’s a great city. Do you speak French?”

“A little. Not fluent like you.” Kelly stretched. “I think we’re getting close, aren’t we?”

“Yeah, it’s about another twenty minutes to downtown. You’ll have to give me directions to your place.”

We pulled up to her apartment. It was a low-rise apartment like a lot of places in Montreal. Her apartment looked pretty student-grade and kind of messy. She shared with two other girls, but nobody was here in the summer. I had brought up her hockey bag, and I followed her into her bedroom.

This room was even messier. Kelly’s clothes were tossed all over the floor and on her single bed. She had a women’s hockey poster on the wall. There was also a bulletin board covered with photos, and I went to take a look. I saw Kelly’s family, lots of girlfriends, group photos, and hockey team ones. The only boyfriend-type photo seemed to be a group one from her prom.

Kelly was busy throwing all her clothes into the closet. “Sorry it’s such a dump. I had only a three-hour stopover on my flight from Vancouver to come back here and pack up my hockey gear for Lake Carswell.”

I kept looking at the photos. Kelly had lots of photos of her cat. There was one of her as a little girl in all her hockey gear. “It’s okay. You sure have a lot of friends.”

“I guess. You meet lots of people through hockey, right?”

“Did you have a boyfriend before?”

Kelly made a face. “Yeah. Why?”

“Just wondering. You don’t talk that much about your personal stuff.”

She walked up to me and put her hands on my chest. “We don’t have a ton of time, so I prefer to spend it in the present. Jealousy is a big pain, and I’m glad you’re not that type of guy.” She rose up on her toes and kissed me. “So, you wanna have sex in an actual bed?”

I sure did.

I couldn’t spend time in Montreal without calling my best friend. We arranged to meet Marty for dinner. He chose this crazy Middle Eastern restaurant and insisted ordering up all this food, and they brought out trays of condiments, flatbreads, and various meat and vegetable dishes. Kelly dug in; she had a big appetite.

“Mmm, this is delicious,” she said. Then she and Marty started comparing all their favourite restaurants in Montreal. That was something people here loved to do—argue about all the best places to eat. I had relatives here on my dad’s side, and they all took pride in knowing the food scene.

After dinner, Kelly excused herself to go to the washroom. While she was gone, I asked Marty, “So, what do you think?”

He shook his head and laughed. “This is so you. I tell you to get some practice talking to chicks, and you come back three weeks later with a girlfriend.”

“It’s not like I planned this. There are some things you can’t predict.”

“You’re saying that? I’ve been telling you that forever.”

“So, you like her?”

“What’s not to like? She’s cute and down-to-earth. She’s nothing like the kind of girls you said you liked though. You usually get a big hard-on for tall blondes.”

Yeah, it was funny that I had tried to blow her off in the beginning. She was so friendly that I thought she was coming on to me, but her friendliness and how easy it was to talk to her were what made me feel good now. I never felt awkward or boring, and she was so much fun.

“She’s great,” I said. Too bad I couldn’t talk about the incredible sex part. For once, I was getting to be the guy with the girlfriend instead of the third wheel.

Marty nodded his head. “Yeah, it’s a good idea, Freshy. A summer fling.”

A summer fling? Was that all we were? I felt like we were more than that, but I hadn’t talked it over with Kelly yet.

J
immy was going
to drive straight home, so he decided to leave as early as possible on Monday morning and avoid the traffic.

“Wish I could wake up with you every morning, Kelly.” Jimmy was eating breakfast and holding my hand. It reminded me of that morning together at camp, when he declared we were boyfriend and girlfriend.

“I had an amazing time with you this weekend,” I told him.

“Yeah, me too.” He smiled, put his arm around me and pulled me in for a big smooch. I was definitely going to miss him. He picked up his toast again, but before he took a bite he asked, “So, when can we see each other again?”

“Gee, that’s tough. I mean, you’re pretty busy the rest of the summer, and then we both go back to school. In different countries.” If we happened to be in the same place at the same time, we could see each other again. However, given our busy schedules, that seemed unlikely.

“You could come to Maine for a visit. Maybe a three-day weekend? It would be great if you could come and see me play.”

“I guess, but since we both have hockey, we’ll never be free at the same time.”

Jimmy nodded. “Well, you never know. Maybe after the season is over you can come down. It’s only about a five or six hour drive.”

If I had a car. As I opened my mouth to point this out, he kept on talking. “I have this awesome long distance plan. I got it to keep in touch with my parents, but I’ll add you onto it, and then we can talk anytime. Or we could Skype. It would be great to be able to see you.”

Was he talking about going out long distance? I hated to be the dream stomper, but this was nuts. “Jimmy, get real. We live in totally different places, and we’re both really busy. I don’t see how this can work.”

“Kelly, come on. It’s not like everyday you meet someone you totally connect with. Of course we should stay together. I mean, in some ways it’s perfect for us—we both have hockey and school and not enough time during the week. We’re too busy for relationships that take up tons of time and energy. What we’ve got is more manageable. And when we do get to see each other, it’ll be awesome.”

He punctuated this with a kiss, which was kind of distracting for me. Then he continued, “Plus, I don’t want to presume, but it’s a pretty sure thing I’ll be on the World Juniors team. I was last year. And you know where the tournament takes place, right?”

I shook my head. Not actually something I thought about six months before the event.

“Kelly, it’s in Vancouver! Perfect. You’ll be home for Christmas, and then we can see each other.”

It was like he had a five-year planner in his head. And I was getting inked in for dates up until 2011.

It was all ridiculous. Phil and I had agreed long distance couldn’t ever work, but Jimmy was completely confident it was the right thing. And I couldn’t explain the effect Jimmy had on me. He seemed to be able to persuade me to do things that were nuts. Like holding his hand in the dining hall, or even being his girlfriend for two weeks. But I guess he saw it as more than two weeks. He was always looking ahead, unlike me.

I still thought this relationship couldn’t last, but maybe it would be easier to break up later—when he wasn’t caressing my hand and making me feel all kinds of hot.

Jimmy kept talking. His low voice was almost hypnotic.

“You feel it, don’t you? What we’ve got together.” He pulled both my hands onto his chest, pulling me closer. I could smell him. There was energy radiating off him and the heat between us, and a wave of pure desire hit me and pulled me under.

And that’s how I ended up in my first long distance relationship.

A
broken water
pipe in Ottawa caused me to have a dirty weekend in Orono, Maine.

The Martlets were supposed to be playing a game at Ottawa U on the first weekend of October, when the word came down that the arena had to be closed after a burst pipe flooded the ice. Coach Mike could have scheduled extra practices, but after hassles with the sports administration, he decided we needed a break and set us free.

I never got weekends off, so I called Jimmy and he was keen. So I started trying to figure out how to get to UMaine. It was a trip that took six-and-a-half hours if you had a car, but twice that on the bus.

Since I last saw Jimmy in Montreal, we had talked on the phone but there had never been a chance to see each other. The whole long distance thing was working out better than I expected. It wasn’t like I was a big partier to begin with, but now if I felt like staying home on a Saturday night, nobody got on my case. And I had a bulletproof excuse for the clueless guys that did ask me out, one that worked perfectly and didn’t leave things all awkward.

I hated talking about the whole deal though. Anyone who could do math realized we had only known each other three weeks. Deirdre was particularly shocked.

“Tank, are you shitting me? You got a serious boyfriend from hockey camp in New Brunswick? I’ve only lived my whole fucking life in Moncton and had one relationship.” Yeah, but Deirdre was at a disadvantage because she dated women, so the prospect pool was a lot smaller.

“It’s not really serious,” I protested.

“What’s his name? If he plays hockey, I probably know him.”

Yeah, she was going to know him. “Um, it’s Jimmy Frechette.”

Deirdre was shocked into silence. Her blue eyes opened wide and her mouth dropped open. Then she started laughing. “Of course. I shoulda expected nothing less from Kelly Tanaka, the girl who gets hit on while drowning. Now she’s dating New Brunswick’s answer to Sidney-fucking-Crosby.”

Once she finished laughing, she squinted at me. “But jeez, how old is he? Wait, I know this because he played hockey against my brother. He’s only eighteen. Jesus, Tank, you’re a cradle robber.”

This was another thing I hated talking about. He was only a year behind me in school, but he was two years younger. But his age was part of his personality. Jimmy had done a lot of exciting things I hadn’t, even if he seemed to be kind of socially backward. He probably found me the same mix. Mature was never a word I’d been tagged with.

Deirdre was frowning now. “I personally don’t know him, but I’ve heard stuff about him. Isn’t he a little—” She stopped abruptly.

“A little what?” I asked.

“Nothing. He’s your boyfriend, right?”

“Spill, Dee. It’ll kill you to keep an opinion to yourself.”

“So unfair,” she declared. But she plowed on. “Well, people get jealous, right? They say he got so far because all he does is hockey. Eat, sleep, hockey.”

I waited for the bad part. “Lots of people do that. And they don’t get as far as he has.”

“Too true. And you can talk hockey ’til the cows come home. So he’s probably not boring to you.”

Oh, that was the bad part. “We don’t just talk hockey.”

“Ah, sex rears its ugly little head. Well, ugly to me, but not to you,” she snickered. “He’s built like a fucking truck, so if that’s what you’re into, great.”

I laughed. That was what I was into, in a perverted way.

“Jeez, Tank, you know something weird? I’m probably the only person in the world who has met all your boyfriends.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Dee knew J.P. the best, since we had hung out a few times last winter. But she had met Phil this summer, and apparently Jimmy too.

“And you know what they all have in common?”

“I’m almost afraid to ask,” I replied.

“They’re all as hot as fuck.” She laughed. “Even I can tell that.”

The travel arrangements almost derailed my trip. I wasn’t going to sit on a bus for thirteen hours, even for Jimmy. But I found a ride to Portland on McGill Rideshares. I could take a bus from there and end up in Orono around 11:00 PM Friday. The Rideshare guy also agreed to take me home if I got back to Portland by noon Sunday, all for the low price of gas, snacks, and my pleasant company.

I was really looking forward to seeing Jimmy. When we talked on the phone or Skyped, it seemed more like we were friends and not boyfriend/girlfriend. Jimmy was a big worrier, and he bounced a lot of stuff off me. He worried about not being good enough for his UMaine team and for the NHL. He worried about whether he was going to grow more and get stronger. He worried about meeting the expectations of his parents, the Blackhawks, his agent, his teammates.

I worried about school and assignments, but I had some bigger issues looming. My problems were a lot harder to put into words, so I didn’t talk about them. I was worried about what career I would have once I was done with school and what it would be like when I couldn’t play competitive hockey anymore. But sharing problems didn’t exactly make for an exciting relationship, and neither of us seemed to be good at getting romantic on the phone.

As I got closer and closer to Jimmy, I was increasingly excited. Would we still have all the chemistry we had in the summer? As the bus turned onto the campus, I peered out into the dark night. I could see rows of trees, wide lawns and brick buildings. The UMaine campus was compact and looked like a movie set all constructed at once. McGill was all historic stone buildings crammed into downtown Montreal.

The bus slowed, and I saw Jimmy. He was standing by this bear statue, exactly where he said he’d be. He was standing very upright, his hands jammed into the pockets of a team jacket, and wearing a toque.

“Jimmy!” I got off the bus and propelled myself at him.

“Whoa, Kelly.” I had almost knocked him off balance. My arms were wrapped around his neck, and his arms went automatically around me. I luxuriated in the familiar feeling of his strong body against mine. I lifted my face up to his. His lips were soft and warm, and I kissed him hard. When we stopped, our breath was visible in the cold night. Just kissing him left me almost breathless with desire. I kept holding his hands but took a step back and looked at him carefully. He looked like a million other guys in his jeans, thick sweatshirt, and team jacket; but he also looked so special to me. He smiled shyly with his wide brown eyes focused only on me.

As much as I wanted to, we couldn’t keep on making out in the middle of campus. Jimmy took my duffel bag and wrapped an arm around me. We walked down the wide path. I put an arm around his waist and squeezed. He felt different.

“Jimmy, are you bigger?”

“Yeah, I worked out with this special trainer in August and he put me on a new program. I’m trying to bulk up with weight work and protein shakes, and I’ve gained almost five pounds.” He sounded really proud. “We won our game tonight, first game of the regular season.”

Jimmy stopped and pointed. “The arena’s back there. You’ll get to come to my game tomorrow. I’m really glad you came, Kelly.”

“Me too.” I leaned my head into his chest, and he held me tighter. “Mmm, nice and warm. It’s cold here.”

“Are you warm enough?” Jimmy peered down at me. “Do you want my sweatshirt?”

I shook my head. I was so happy to be with him that I hardly felt the cold. The night sky was clear, and fallen leaves crunched underfoot. I knew there were other students around, but it felt like the world was only the two of us.

“So, Kelly, there’s a bit of a get together tonight. Nothing big because we have another game, but if you want to go—the guys want to meet you. Or if you’re hungry, we could go out someplace to eat.”

Well, I could party anywhere or eat anyplace. But there was only one place I could have sex with Jimmy. I smiled at him, and he grinned.

“Okaaay. I guess we’re on the same page here.”

It didn’t take long to get to his place. He lived in a dorm on campus, in a single room. Pretty nondescript but tidy, and it had a nice double bed. Once we got inside the room, Jimmy pushed me against the door and kissed me again. This time his lips were hard against mine, and his hands ran up and down my sides. He skimmed the sides of my breasts and hips, like he was trying to warm me up. I reached up to angle his head so we could kiss better.

As our bodies pressed together, I felt something vibrating and heard a little noise. I kept kissing him but finally stopped.

“Is that your stomach?” I asked.

He flushed and nodded. “I usually eat after the game, but I waited for you. Y’know, in case you wanted to eat. And you didn’t, so.”

I giggled. “I think you better get something to eat.” I knew what that was like. You burned a ton of calories in a game and needed to refuel.

“Ah, this is so embarrassing. All I wanted was to be alone with you, and now…” He shook his head.

“No, it’s perfect. I’ve been in a car or a bus all day, so I’d love to take a shower. And get ready for us.” I gave him a quick kiss, and he rushed off.

I showered, put on some fresh clothes, and then I sat down to relax and wait. I was full of anticipation. Our chemistry was as strong as ever.