Page 27 of Four Letter Feelings

Chapter 11

Thanksgiving dinner with his parents was everything he’d hoped it would be. His mom had been emotional as she’d waved him and AJ off for the airport that morning. She’d made him promise to visit again soon, and as he stepped onto the plane, he texted his mom to assure her, once again, that he’d be home again for Christmas.

“Feel better?”

“Yeah. Sorry I kinda threw you into my family shit blindfolded, man. I really am. I just didn’t want to go into the lion’s den by myself. To be honest, though, Dad was way calmer than I expected him to be. He must have had a personality transplant or something. It didn’t go at all how I predicted it would.”

“Dude, you’re sitting there reflecting over the last few days with your parents. That’s cool and all, I get that it was emotional. Meanwhile, though, I’m sitting here wondering how the fuck the plane is going to lift itself off the ground with the fourteen thousand bottles of fucking maple syrup you have in your suitcase!”

“It’s not that bad!” Jeremy laughed. “Just a few to tide me over 'til Christmas.”

“Jeremy, Christmas is two and a half months away. Normal people don’t go through a bottle of maple syrup a week.”

“Normal people aren’t Canadian people. We mainline that shit.”

“Nuh uh. I lived there, remember?” AJ argued, as the plane taxied to the runway, ready for take-off. “Not even normal Canadians need that much maple syrup. You’re officially a weirdo.”

“Maybe so, schnookums, but I’m your weirdo.” He pinched AJ’s cheek and squeezed playfully.

“I still might kill you in your sleep for blindsiding me like that,” AJ retorted, swatting at Jeremy’s hand. “Uncool, man. Totally uncool. I’d still have come with you if you’d just thrown down the friggin’ truth.”

“We make such a beautiful couple, man.” Jeremy sniffed and wiped away a fake tear from his cheek.

“Screw you, man. You can’t deflect from the fact you were a jackass by distracting me with your junk.”

“Damnit, that usually works.”

“Uh huh. Don’t pull that shit again.”

“Sir, yes sir!” He gave AJ a salute.

They sat in silence for most of the flight. Jeremy took a nap while AJ worked on an assignment. As their connecting flight from Detroit touched down in Huntsville, Jeremy spoke through a yawn. “Is meeting your folks gonna be as dramatic as meeting mine was?”

AJ chuckled. “I don’t think so, we’re a pretty typical nuclear family – we have our moments, don’t get me wrong, usually around holiday times when stress ramps up, but for the most part we’re ‘normal’.”

“Normal is a myth.”

“True story! My sister will either have the hots for you, or hate you, I can’t quite figure out which yet.”

Jeremy gasped, feigning being wounded. “That hurts, man. She’s obviously going to have the hots for me – look at me!”

AJ arched an eyebrow.

“I know, I know,” Jeremy said, as he stood up to deplane. “No talking about your sister’s ‘flower’.” He pulled his finger and thumb across his lips as though to zipper them shut.

“Absolutely no talking about Ana’s flower. Can we also stop referring to her ‘flower’?” He shuddered and scrunched up his face. “It’s just weird, man.” AJ made his way into the aisle and followed the stream of people as they trickled off the plane. “Changing the subject— 'cause, ew… We have some shit to do before we get to Thanksgiving, though. Starting with bossing the shit out of this hockey season.”

“Damn straight,” Jeremy agreed.

***

From the moment they landed in Alabama, they were back at the grindstone, though the daily practices of the pre-season gave way to three practices a week combined with their busy game schedule and a heavy course load. Jeremy liked both the captain and assistant captain – as well as anyone can like someone they’d only known for a month, anyway – who had been elected by the rest of the team and he was excited about what the season would bring. The first few weeks of practice had gone smoothly, the team was gelling well and everyone seemed to be looking forward to the competitive season starting. Kyle, a senior and the new team captain, along with Jake, a junior and the new alternate captain, who were chosen to lead the team, had both already started to emerge as natural leaders.

Their pre-season training had been gruelling with the team enduring back to back practices. Their weeks started with on-ice conditioning, followed by off-ice sessions at the gym. Their systems practices, where they worked on their special teams such as power plays, face offs and penalty kills, fell more towards the end of the week. Jeremy was glad that the training sessions had eased off as their season began, he much preferred the thrill of games to the intensive and punishing training schedule.

Throughout the first few weeks of the practice season, Jeremy found himself tested both mentally and physically. According to university rules, students could only play on sports teams if they maintained the required grade point average. Between school work, training sessions and games, there was very little time for anything fun, or off-book.

By the time Halloween rolled around, Jeremy was exhausted.

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