Chapter 419: Foppa XXVI—Detached

“Hey Pete, why didn’t you tell me I was uncool?”

Really, Peter couldn’t help a scowl when he looked at Joe. “What?” Sakic’s eyes were calm and clear, his mouth a little tight, he yawned and stretched. No team practice today, just relaxation at their Los Angeles accommodations and a light skate tomorrow. Not knowing exactly what he wanted to do, Peter had wandered to the hotel lobby, hung against a wall, until Sakic had noticed him and come over.

“Well,” Joe said, “I’m not cool, basically. And no one has ever thought to tell me that.” He nodded and narrowed a piercing gaze as if informing Peter that he had better get to work on that power play before he finds a way to get him off the team.

Feeling confused and cornered Peter shrugged. “Hey, Joe, you’re cool man, why would you think otherwise? You’re like the hero on this team, just about every kid in Denver wants to be you and, you were the Olympic MVP last year, Canada loves ya. What do you think is “uncool” about you?”

“Well, I’m not,” Sakic replied and he crossed his arms. “God knows how many times you guys have laughed at me or pitied me behind my back and I don’t want to know, but I’m gonna be working on it Pete, you’ll see.”

Ah only one explanation for this one, Peter thought and he grinned. “Has Keaner been picking on you Joe? You’re the captain man, knock it out of him.”

Sakic rolled his eyes. “Well I don’t want Mitchell being embarrassed about his square old Dad in a few years so maybe it’s a good thing Mike thought enough about me to tell me something, think of it that way!”

“Well for starters,” Peter replied and he pointed at Joe, “Don’t be using the word “square” even I know not to use it.” Sakic smiled and Peter couldn’t help but feel elated at being able to amuse him. Thank God he didn’t feel any of that lust he used to feel for him, but it also reminded him of a portion of his body that was still stunned and silent, too pained to even think about.

“See that was easy to tell me wasn’t it?” Joe grinned. “I’m off to get some brunch wanna tag along?”

“No it’s fine,” Peter grinned, deciding not to chide Sakic for the word brunch. “Maybe dinner’ll be on me later okay?”

“Suit yourself,” Joe said. “Oh and Blakie’s been flown back home already if you want to tell the rest of the guys that, I just got a call from the coach and Footer’s gonna be in Anaheim for a couple more days, poor guy. We’re sure gonna miss those two, see ya later Pete.” Joe began to whistle, put his hands in his pockets and sauntered out of the lobby.

Back to boredom, Peter sighed. He could have easily gone to breakfast with Joe, or he could go to one of the rooms, drag someone out to hang with, he could go see a movie, the hotel pool, the weight room, anything! He had a free day, and he didn’t have the heart to take advantage of it. Also, he just didn’t want any words of comfort or sympathy from anyone he knew, just as he was trying to not think about those things.

Quite a few times it crossed his mind to call home, see if Jo would pick up, maybe she hadn’t left after all and she waited for him to call. He thought about calling her cell, but he couldn’t think of how to react if she answered or even worse didn’t pick up. Mostly, he hoped that she would call, he would pick up and he would hear her voice, apologetic and wavering, saying his name, telling him what really happened, why she had done that. And it ate at him far more than any pain he’d known before, precisely because he had never known a pain like this before.

When had a girl that he’d cared this much about, dumped him? In fact, when had he ever cared for a woman this much? Her eyes and her smile, her laugh, her legs, her breasts, her flashing mind, her sharp voice, her anger, her bliss, all of it festered in his heart and maddened him. Angered as well, he often thought about her calling him or coming back and ignoring her, shutting her out, punishing her for destroying such a good thing, the perfect thing they had.

So much for intelligent women right? She had her own career, opinions, ambitions; she was older than him, mature. Not a girl, a woman, a real woman, and he had been proud of himself for finding her, for realizing how a man didn’t need to toy with groupies and girls forever, he’d even imagined his mother meeting her and being overcome with pride and joy. This woman who had carried his child, his dreams, the possibility of so much more and this intelligent woman had torn into his chest just as surely as he could have done, and left him without looking back.

See if I ever get hurt like that again, with her or anyone else, Peter thought. And he felt dull inside, detached, torn, injured. It pissed him off because; he knew that this must be how every girl he’d strung along and dumped had felt. And the last thing he wanted right now was guilt.

“Hey, Pete, what’re you doing just hanging around?”

“Not being left alone,” Peter replied to Dan Hinote whose grin seemed to encompass the entire breadth of his baby smooth face.

“I told you he didn’t want to be bothered!” Alex Tanguay said and Peter felt his interest piqued.

“Eh!” Hinote replied dismissively. “Pete come on, if you didn’t want to be bothered there’s better places to do that then a hotel lobby, I mean the autograph hounds will be sneaking in soon.”

“I’m bored,” Forsberg said and he grinned thinking of the news report, just a small story, and how fast it had circulated through the team. “And what about you two? Looking for more purse snatchers today? Collecting bounties?” Coach Hartley had clipped out the article highlighting Hinote and Tanguay’s good deed and posted it on a corkboard in the locker room before the Anaheim game to everyone’s delight. And on a post it in bold letters, Hartley had written, “Role Models On and Off Ice.”

“Oof don’t mock us!” Alex huffed.

“Yeah!” Hinote agreed with wide eyes and an earnest nod of his head. “I mean Tangs and I, we really stuck our necks out there, don’t be knocking a good deed, especially one done for a lady.” And behind Danny’s back Alex rolled his eyes and scowled.

Peter laughed and felt light and frothy, realizing that these two, bound together by mutual disregard and captain’s orders could be just the salve his soul needed. “Fine, what are you two losers up to today? It’s gotta be better than nothing.”

“We’re gonna catch an early movie,” Danny said. “A few good ones started on Friday, I dunno what we’re up to after that, Alex’s choice then I guess.”

“Why not,” Peter said, “I’ll buy.”

“Woah cool,” Danny grinned and he gave a thumbs up to Alex and skipped out of the hotel lobby, waiting on the sidewalk for them outside.

Alex rolled his eyes. “He’s such a square!”

Well maybe the word wasn’t completely out of fashion, Peter thought laughing to himself, feeling so much better. The feeling didn’t last though. He joined the duo on the sidewalk, and Alex pulled out his cell phone to order a cab. As he did so, Peter shuffled on his feet, enjoying the balmy air, the sunlight on his face and then he looked around. When he did he noticed something odd, a girl, and stranger, he knew there wasn’t anything weird about a girl, just that this one… he frowned.

“No we are not gonna see Hell Cabin!” Alex exclaimed. “I don’t care how much blood and guts it got that just gross Danny!”

“Aw come on Tangs, you can hold my hand if you get scared.”

“EW!”

She leaned against a palm tree, her fingers behind her, skinny, she had long skinny legs, bare legs, a skirt too short, completely skinny. That’s what bothered him about her? Too thin for any culture, like a waif or maybe a girl from a Japanese cartoon. In fact he would have thought her Asian, with her slick black shining hair and small frame but her skin was too pale.

Really, just a kid, nothing strange about a kid on the sidewalk right?

“Well Alex I ain’t gonna see Life of a Poet, cause that just sounds boring.”

“You should like it,” Alex retorted, “It’s about a young man who gets involved with a married poet old enough to be his…”

“Definitely not seeing it! What about you Pete? Anything you want to see? We’ll let your decide cause you’re the veteran and everything.”

“Suck up!”

She laughed loudly, talking to a boy, a teenager who smoked a cigarette, a brother or a boyfriend perhaps. Something about her irked him, perhaps she seemed familiar, or perhaps he just didn’t like the thought of her hanging with a boy like that without a parent in sight. He squinted and she looked briefly in his direction giving him a flash of tiny red lips, and large, oversized brilliant eyes, laughing eyes. For an instant he thought of Josefina, the flirtatious knowing gaze she would give him, the come hither glance, and he felt pained to remember it and repelled to see a child aping it and degrading it. Little brat.

“You okay?”

Peter looked at Danny who’d tapped him on the shoulder. The cab had just pulled up to the sidewalk. “Sure, just that girl over there, she seems kinda… familiar?”

“Where?” Danny exclaimed. “Maybe she’s an actress?” He craned his gaze. “I don’t see anyone.”

“Right by the palm…” Peter began and then he realized she was gone, in a breath of an instant she’d gone. “Well she was right there.” Danny didn’t seem too concerned and Peter thought about it as he crawled into the back of the cab. An actress would make a lot of sense, those kids weren’t even really human, and he’d probably seen her in a movie or in commercials or something. But what he couldn’t shake was a creeping feeling in his brain, as if the child had reached into his skull and nestled into his brain, burning her eyes there.