Amazing Grace (Jonathan Toews)

May I Have This Dance?

Jonathan

"I don't get why I'm the one that has to go to these up tight, suit and tie, high end functions. I don't slow dance and I most certainly don't know what to do with three different kinds of forks. I'm the captain of a professional hockey team for fucks sake, I shouldn't have to do this" I vent as I try to tie my tie for the fifteenth time today. I hated these things.

"You're going to these events because you are the captain" my bubbly friend Patrick chirps from the couch in our living room.

"This shit was not in the job description" I mumble as I give up on my tie. It looked good enough.

"If Stan knew you were whining this much he would have never named you captain in the first place" he claims.

"I'm not whining" I defend and laughter sounds from his direction filling up our larger than life apartment complex.

"You are" he argues and I roll my eyes. He was not going to help my mood so I better just drop it now.

I throw on my suit jacket and button it up a little. I add a little gel in my hair and decide it was good enough.

"How do I look" I ask as I walk into the living room. I open my arms up and Patrick wears this smirk on his face that tells me that he's about to be no help to me.

"Like a idiot" he claims and I laugh.

"Perfect. Thanks for your help." I pack up my things and slip them into my pocket. I check the address of the ballroom one last time and tuck my phone away.

"Don't have too much fun without me" Patrick chirps as I head out the door.

"Oh you know, there's nothing I would rather be doing on a Saturday night than be slow dancing with some rich mans daughters so their daddy will invest in our team... living the dream."

Fifteen minutes later I arrive at a high end ballroom in the heart of Chicago. There was huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and dim lights so no ones ugly personality gets highlighted. I'm not really sure what this place was called and quite frankly I don't care. As a part of being the captain of the Blackhawks comes duties like this where I am forced to go around and talk to possible donors and investors and talk to them about why putting time and money into our team is a good idea. Use the usual lines like "it's a pleasure to meet someone as highly touted as you" then follow it with "you would not regret your decision to become a part of something as historic as the Chicago Blackhawks organization. Our future is so bright." It's the same thing over and over again and quite frankly I hate it. I'm 22, I'm still a kid who's living with his best friend in the coolest city in the world. I don't want to be here forced to dance with some crusty mans daughter so he'll like me better. I want to be at the bar with my friends getting drunk and watching hockey. But I guess life is full of disappointments eh?

I walk around and introduce myself to some people. A lot of the targeted men have been at this type of event before, some of them have donated and some of them would rather do just about anything else. I don't blame them, we haven't done anything worth investing in quite yet but we were close, I can feel it.

"Hello sir, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Jonathan Toews" I say shaking a mans hand. He hadn't been to one of these types of things that I've been at before and he was kinda away from all the other guys here so I figured that means these other guys hasn't been able to corrupt him yet making him my best chance.

"I know who you are son, I'm a big fan" he smiles as he lets my hand go. "I'm William Hartford and this is my wife Ruth Hartford" he introduces. I swear I've heard that name before.