Jimmy
The 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 laughed.
“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.
Jimmy 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.