"So, are you feeling ok, dear? You mentioned a sore shoulder in your last e-mail."
"Yeah, mom, I'm fine," Parker said, smiling. "I've gotten over it."
"We were going to come down for your birthday. Is that ok?"
"Um...we play at home that weekend. The sixteenth."
"Yes, and Ali and Scott both have tournaments that weekend in Atlanta. It works out perfectly."
"Wow."
"So, we want to go out for a birthday dinner after your game. You can bring some of your friends from the team, and we'll have your brothers and sister and some friends of theirs."
"How many people are you driving down here, anyway?"
"Well, I told the kids they could each have one. So Ali and Scott have teammates that are coming with their parents anyway. Byron is bringing a teammate, too. Jordan's bringing his boyfriend." Parker had to work through it in his head. Ali and Scott were finishing up hockey now, and getting into soccer and baseball, respectively. Byron was the top player on his club lacrosse team at 13. Jordan was - wait.
"Mom, Jordan has a BOYFRIEND?"
"Yes, dear. He didn't want me to tell you because he was afraid you wouldn't treat him the same. Which is funny, because that's the exact same thing you said when you didn't want me to tell him."
Park had suspected his 15-year-old brother, an extremely talented dancer, was gay for a while, but the thought that Jordy was afraid of telling him was disturbing. "Well, you can tell him I have one, too."
"Do you, dear? That's nice. What's his name?"
"Chris. Chris Storm. He's from Clarksville, Tennessee. Defenseman."
"Storm? That's an interesting name."
"Yeah."
"How are Billy and Damon?"
"Good. They're dating each other now."
"Oh, I saw that one coming a mile away."
"Mom!" Parker rolled his eyes to himself, but really he was smiling. He got along with his family better than most teenagers. He and Jordy were especially close. And his parents made efforts to meet all his friends and accommodate them. Telling them he was gay hadn't been an issue at all.
"So, tell me about hockey."
"It's good. We're doing really well, Mom. Really, really well. I think...I mean, they're scouting us at every game. Some of us could even get drafted this year."
"Really."
"Yeah, really. Even if...I mean, if I got drafted high, I wouldn't go to college. You know that, right? I want to play hockey."
She sighed. It was sort of a sore spot. "Yes, I know. I'm not happy about it, Parker, but you know your father and I just want the best for you. If you would rather give the pros a shot, that's fine with us."
He smiled. "Look, Mom, I better go. We've got afternoon practice."
"Ok, dear."
"Tell everybody hi for me."
"I will. I love you."
"I love you too, Mom."
Park hung up the phone and started down the hall to practice. The rooms had all become familiar, now. Favorite teams and players adorned the walls outside every room. At the end of the hall was a whiteboard with game stats and personal stats, updated after every game by Sarah. Parker always glanced at it on his way out. The record stood currently at 6-0-0.
Coach was in team building mode, and today was running day, so we were jogging by line. He sent me, Billy, and Damon out to run a few miles, telling us to avoid getting hit by a car. Which was good advice. "So...what are you two doing tomorrow?"
Billy looked confused. "Um, the usual...practice, food, practice, sleep?"
"It's Valentine's Day tomorrow. What are you doing?"
They looked at each other then back at me. "Nothing," Damon said. "Why?"
"I'm trying to decide...I mean, do I get Chris something? Or...do we not do that? Should we, like, go out to eat or something?"
"Park, you're asking us like we're the experts in this."
"Well..."
"Why don't you just ask him?"
"That'd be kind of awkward."
"More or less than not knowing what to do in the first place?"
"Mm. Good point."
We jogged in silence for a few minutes until I noticed that Billy's breathing was a little off. A few more moments and I realized he was drawing in breath sharply when he stepped on his right leg. "Hold it," I muttered, slowing to a walk.
"What?" asked Damon.
I pointed at Billy. "What's wrong?"
He blinked at me. "Nothing?"
"Wrong answer. Your knee's bothering you again."
"My knee always bothers me, Parker," he said.
"When did you have it looked at last?"
"Um...before I came down here. August."
Damon let his breath out in a hiss. "Let's go back. We don't need him hurt."
"I'm fine," he insisted, looking between us like we were betraying him.
"Billy, you aren't fine if it hurts every time you put weight on it. Look, you're favoring the right even when standing."
He quickly adjusted his stance. "I'm fine."
"Come on, Billy," Damon said, his worry audible in his words. "You know you're not. Don't make it worse."
He sighed and looked down. "All right, whatever." But he insisted on jogging back, too, and Damon and I tried to ignore his rather obvious attempts to hide the pain he was in.
Our trainer, Marcus Kramer, looked grim as he examined Billy's swollen knee. "How long has it been hurting you?"
"A while," he muttered. "I mean, it usually bothers me, but I guess it's gotten worse in the last week or so."
"I want some better diagnostics. I'm taking you to the hospital, all right?"
"Whatever," Billy sighed. He looked over at us. "I'll come find you guys when I get back."
Damon and I left the trainers room. Dame was looking at the floor. "He'll be fine, Damon."
The big winger shook his head. "I'm afraid...I don't think it is fine. Marcus looked pretty worried. It could be bad."
"He's young, he'll heal fast, whatever it is. Quit worrying about it. We've got a game in two days, worry about that instead."
He looked at me with a brief smile. "Yeah, I'll do that..." He disappeared into his room. Well, there was a captain slash friend duty out of the way. Now I had to find Chris...and have that awkward conversation about Valentine's Day...