The Tales of a Future Hockey Wife

Chapter 3: Ride in Hell

~Eleanor~

Friday morning, at eight o'clock in the morning, the car is packed, and I am ready to go. Unfortunately, like in any hockey event, I cannot ride with Ben. He has to take the bus with the rest of the team. He texted me half an hour ago to tell me he was at the arena. He texted me again four minutes ago to announce that they were leaving. I was waiting for his text to leave as well, but I am still waiting for some of my passengers to arrive. Since no girls are allowed on the bus and that I am not the only one who wanted to go, a couple of girls and I made plans to ride together. We ended up being too many to fit in any of our cars, so my father lent us his van. Out of the five girls, only three are here, Olive, Ryan Pollock's girlfriend, Josie, and me. Olive is trying to reach Jasmine, one of the girls who was supposed to ride with us. She called her four times and she hasn't picked up. This is why I hate depending on other people. It always ends up being unpredictable, and, most of the time, they do not give a shit about you. I especially hate depending on hockey girlfriends, they are accustomed to having everything handed to them. They think everything revolves around them, but it doesn't, and they are about to learn a lesson about punctuality.

At a quarter past eight, I tell the girls to get in the car. If the others cared about the ride, they would have showed up by now. I will probably get looks and comments from the guys, but, right now, I do not care at all. I don't even care if my actions have repercussions on Ben, I just want to get on the road. Our ferry tickets are at nine and it takes forty-five minutes to get there. We have to leave now, so I am glad that no one objected to us leaving the other two girls behind. I take place in the driver's seat, Olive beside me and Josie in the back. If I would have known that it would only be the three of us, I would have taken my own car. I hate this van, it's harder to know my distances. Fortunately, we have a good time during the ride. We sing and talk the whole time. Josie is one of the few girls that I like from the hockey girls. She goes to school with me, so we started hanging out when I saw her at a game a few months ago. We have many things in common apart from hockey. She likes the same books as me and we share the same opinion about Mrs. Turcotte's French class.

I had to speed up on the highway, but we made it in time for the ferry. We were set to take the ferry at the same time as the boys, but since they are on a bus and us in a car, we aren't on the same level of the ferry. I text Ben to reassure him that we made it in time. I leave out the fact that we are missing two girls. I don't want to cause trouble on the bus, even if imagining young men wearing suits arguing is fun. He'll get in enough trouble for not having a "compliant" enough girlfriend once the guys learn what I did, I don't want it to explode in a confined space.

***

As always, the hotel looks awful. I say hotel, but motel would be more appropriate. When we walk in the lobby, it smells like cigarettes. It even tainted the paint on the walls. Back in the day, it was probably white, but now, it is a faint yellow. I understand that the budget is limited, but why do they pick the worst hotel a city has to offer? Last month, when they were staying in Mississauga, Ben sent me pictures of the hotel they were staying at. The wallpaper was torn on every wall and you could see holes in the gyps. The worst thing was the hair he found on the shower wall. I don't think this room had been cleaned before they arrived. They all slept fully clothed and showered at the arena. The coach even apologized which was a first. Usually, when they complain, he tells them to "man up" whatever that means. The boys got here a little before us, we spotted the big red bus with a black scorpion on each side in the parking lot. It was even more obvious when we walked in, everywhere I looked, I spotted young boys in suits carrying heavy bags and hockey sticks. I never understood why the players have to wear suits when they travel and before games. Ben told me it is to establish a certain respect of the sport. For us girls, it's nice. Who can say that they see their boyfriend in a suit multiple times a month especially at our age? We can. I even went shopping for new suits with Ben before the season started. A few of the boys have spotted us, some wave, others ignore us like they don't know who we are.

Sitting on couch talking with another player, I spot Ben. He is wearing the suit we bought together, black dress pants and coat, a white shirt, and a navy-blue tie. He is extremely handsome. I take advantage of the fact that he hasn't seen me yet, I walk towards him, so that I am standing behind him. Joe, the other player, sees me since he is facing Ben, so I place my index on my lips to tell him to keep his mouth shut. In a fast movement, I cover Ben's eyes with my hands and place my lips close to his ear. His hands immediately cover mine, and I can sense a smile slowly forming on his lips.

"Guess who," I whisper in his ear and hear him chuckle. He pulls me in front of him to make me sit on his lap and I interlock my hands behind his neck. I haven't seen him all week. He had two games on the road, so he was gone four days, and he had way too many trainings in between for us to make time to see each other. We talked every day though. It is our tradition, every night that he is away, he calls me before going to bed. He places his hands on my hips to pull me a little closer. It is obvious in the tightness of his grip that he missed me. He buries his nose in my hair and inhales. Even if I can't see him, I know that his eyes are closed. I can't wait for tonight after the gala, when the stress will have gone down. Finally, he will be more focused on us than on hockey. Even if it's only for a couple of days, I'll gladly take them.

"Are you wearing that tonight? You look hot." I play with the soft strands of hair behind his neck making him sigh. He nods, good, I love this look on him. His hands move from my hips to my lower back, he pulls me little closer. He presses his forehead to mine before tilting his head to press his lips to mine in a soft kiss. Through his lips, I can feel his nervousness. If only there was a way for me to take it away, but the only thing that will relieve his stress is knowing for what team he will play for next year. Our kiss is brief, we are interrupted by a male voice calling his name.

"Johnson, team meeting in ten. Go put your stuff in your room and meet us in 205." That is his coach, Daniel Rivest. He has a French accent that makes his words a little less harsh. He is an ex-player from the NHL. He played for the Montreal Canadians for eight years before retiring. Ben adulates him. He nods and motions for me to get off his lap. He gets up as well to grab his heavy hockey bag. He holds out his hand for me. I grab it and we make our way up the stairs. Of course, this shitty motel doesn't have elevators.

Our room is as ugly as the lobby. There is a double bed in the middle of the room. The bed covers are blue and covered with flowers. I think my grandma had the same. Even her got tired of it. The floor is covered with a brown rug. It looks like it hasn't been vacuumed in quite some time. There is no way in hell I am walking barefoot this weekend. I can't help but laugh when I enter the bathroom. I see Ben's head in the doorway seconds later asking me what's wrong. I don't have to answer, when he sees the baby blue toilet, sink and bathtub, he is laughing with me.

"I thought they could afford better hotels than that in Midget AAA." He shakes his head, a small smile on his lips.

"Don't expect more from the Major Junior's either El. From what I heard, it's worse." I scrunch up my nose to show my disgust.

"I think I'd rather shower at the arena with you." His laugh is louder now. He very well knows that I would rather die than shower in that place. Public showers are the death of me. I don't understand how someone can feel comfortable enough to shower in a room filled with twenty other naked human beings.

When he leaves for his meeting, I am left alone in our room. I know I won't see him until it's time to leave for the gala at five this evening. I don't know what they talk about in those meetings, but it always lasts for hours. I grab all the stuff I will need to get ready and head towards Olive's room. Olive's boyfriend, Alexander, is stopping after this year. They will both attend the University of Victoria in the fall. It was never his goal to play for the major leagues. He always dreamed of becoming a physiotherapist, so that's what he will be studying next year.

At a quarter to five, both boys knock on the door. I get the reaction I intended from Ben when he sees my silver dress. He eyes me from head to toe a couple times before biting his lower lip. The later it gets, the more I want this day to be over.