Chapter 41 Kennedy
kennedy
“Hey, Kellsie, got time for a visitor?” Jordan says as we stand in the doorway.
Her sunken, tired eyes light up. “Jordan! I wasn’t sure you’d make it with the playoffs going on. Come in!”
He smiles as we enter the room. “Where’s your mom?”
“She went down to the cafeteria to get something to eat. She’ll be back soon,” she says as Jordan walks over to give her a hug. “Wait…oh my gosh!” Her excited squeal pierces the air. “Is this who I think it is? For real?”
He laughs and turns to me, waiving for me to come closer. “Kellsie, I’d like to introduce you to Kennedy, my girlfriend.”
I nervously walk to her bedside to shake her hand. “Nice to meet you, Kellsie. How do you know who I am?”
She scoffs. “I saw you two making out on the internet with the rest of the world.”
My cheeks heat as I shake my head, and Jordan runs his hand through his thick, dark waves.
I’ve seen him do that a million times, but today it catches me off guard, settling deep within me.
Not out of cockiness, but almost as if he’s as embarrassed as I am to be called out by a teenager for our kiss.
He subtly smirks at me, and I can’t help but embarrassingly smile back.
“If you two are done making out with your eyes, I have some questions,” Kellsie teases as she crosses her arms, interrupting our ridiculous glares at one another. I blink in shock, wondering if I’m in a hospital or a courtroom.
This girl is serious.
“Questions?” Jordan and I answer simultaneously.
“Yep! Jordan, you need to go find something else to do so I can interrogate her alone.”
My eyes go wide as I see this sweet, innocent girl, dealing with far more than any teen should ever have to, looking at me like she’s got a scalpel hidden under her pillow, more than ready to slice me up if I don’t meet her standards.
Jordan laughs. “It’s okay, Kells. She’s been vetted.”
“So? I love you, but you can’t vet someone you made out with. That’s against the rules,” she grumbles, glaring at him like a parent who is going to ground him for a week. “I’m serious, Jordan…get out of here!” She shoos him out of the room. “Just give us five minutes. I’ll be able to tell by then.”
He looks to me, his eyes almost comically big, as if asking permission to leave me alone with his youngest bodyguard.
“I can handle myself,” I say to him. Surely, I can handle a harmless teenager. At least…I think she’s harmless.
He nods as he walks toward the door. “I’ll go grab us some coffees.
” He gives me a quick peck on the cheek, and the small, quiet gesture has me ready to melt into a puddle.
I jolt at the smile lifting my lips, straightening my spine.
What is wrong with me? I am a badass woman who does not whimper over stuff like this. Pull yourself together!
“Behave yourself, Kellsie!” he throws over his shoulder as he closes the door behind him.
I turn to face Kellsie, a slight twitch in my jaw as I search for something to talk to her about. “So, tell me about—”
“What are your intentions with Jordan Boucher?” she interrupts, her sunshine smile nowhere to be found.
Wow. This got intense quickly. And how the hell do I answer this question?
Cue the nervous stomach. I never thought about my intentions, other than things that are not appropriate to discuss with a teenage girl.
“Well, we’ve been dating for a few months. I guess, right now, my intentions are to just keep dating him.”
“Interesting.” She taps her fingers on the tray across her lap. “You don’t want to marry him for his money?”
I can’t help but snort out a laugh as I take a seat in the uncomfortable guest chair next to the bed. “To be honest, his money is the least attractive thing about him. I don’t care about any of that.”
“So you are attracted to him then?”
I blink. Who the hell is this kid? Does she have some sort of magical truth serum running through her IV?
I look down at the tiles, hiding the stupid smile that hijacks my face. “Yeah. I am.”
“Good answer. If you said no, I would have known you were lying. I saw it in the online kiss.” My brows kiss my hairline as Kellsie rolls her eyes.
“I have a lot of free time to analyze videos, plus I saw the way you blushed when I brought it up a few minutes ago. I can tell he really likes you. I’m just making sure you’re not going to break his heart. ”
My stomach drops, the guilt of how I’ve treated and misjudged Jordan creeping in. And after everything he confessed to me last night? Damn, do I appreciate her looking out for him.
“Wow, you guys are close?” I hum.
The genuine smile lifting her lips steals my breath.
“Jordan’s the best. He comes here when he’s not on the road, and we just sit and gossip.
He gives me all the tea on the Riders, and I give him all the tea from the hospital and catch him up on our fav reality dating show, You’re the One.
Have you seen that show?” I shake my head, fighting my smirk, realizing Jordan binges reality dating shows.
“Oh my God! It’s the best. There are rumors next season may feature a hockey player, and I am going to riot if that’s not the case. ”
“Jordan watches You’re the One?”
“Oh…he does. He knows all the contestants and sends me messages to talk about who got eliminated if he’s on the road. We also watch all kinds of movies and learn TikTok dances. He’s the coolest.”
My heart is beating out of my chest as I lean closer, listening to this young woman talking about how cool my boyfriend is. Well, fake boyfriend. The more I get to know him, and see the pieces of his heart I’ve never seen before, the more I want to take the word fake and throw it off a cliff.
“Yeah, I’m starting to realize there’s a lot more to Jordan than I thought,” I mumble.
“I like that you call him Jordan. Everyone here calls him Bougie. Not me. I hate getting called nicknames at school when I’m feeling well enough to go, so I always call him Jordan. Plus, I feel kind of special getting to call him by his real name.”
“I only call him Jordan, too,” I say with a bit of a laugh, not really liking his nickname either.
“You know, you didn’t answer my earlier question,” Kellsie says with all seriousness. Shit. “Are you going to hurt him?”
My breath stutters, all the air having left my lungs.
As much as he used to annoy me, as much as I thought he was just some crazy immature playboy, the thought of me doing anything to hurt him hits like a punch to the gut.
He’s done so much to keep me safe, to protect me.
Not to mention the thought of anyone else hurting him makes me want to roundhouse kick someone in the face. This is normal, right?
“Kellsie, I would never hurt him. Sometimes…” My voice sticks in my throat. “Sometimes relationships don’t work out, but I swear I will never do anything to hurt him.”
She tilts her head, her eyes closed deep in thought, then finally nods once. “Good answer. And if you do hurt him, I have a scalpel hidden in here, and I will find you.”
“I guess I’d better keep my promise then.” I laugh, the two of us seeming to have the same sense of humor. “So, how long has Jordan been coming to visit you?”
“The Riders did an event here last season, and we just kinda clicked. He said he had sisters he misses like crazy, and I have a brother I don’t get to see very often since he’s away at college.
The day he came, I was watching the Barbie movie on my iPad, and we talked about Ryan Gosling’s performance and how he was robbed of the Oscar. He’s the shit.”
My eyes widen as I clutch my chest. “Are you allowed to swear?”
“When you have cancer, your parents really don’t care if you cuss. There’s a lot of downsides, but that’s definitely one of the perks. Also, getting to cut in line places ’cause you’re sick.”
I offer her a smile, stunned at her optimism. “I’m really glad you can find the bright side of things.”
She shrugs. “No one knows when their last day is going to be. I hope mine is a long time from now, but you never really know. It’s just a lot more likely for me to go sooner, so I try to live every day doing whatever I want.”
“I’m sure that’s hard some days,” I whisper.
“Yeah, it can be, but if I dwell on what’s going on with me, it’s too depressing. That’s why I like following crazy shows on TV and chatting with people like Jordan. And you! He told me you’re a pilot. That’s badass!”
“I have to admit, it’s a pretty cool gig.”
“I think it would be so cool to get to fly a plane. Being stuck here in this damn room makes me wish I could see new places that don’t have snails painted on the walls.”
I snort as I look around the childish decor. “I guess they really don’t have teen rooms here, do they?”
“No. But at least it’s better than the adult floors and their stupid beige walls. Why is everything beige?” She shivers, sticking her tongue out. “No one likes that color.”
“Oh my God, Kellsie…same. I hate beige. It is not in my color wheel,” I say as we high-five.
We’re still chatting and laughing as a knock at the door interrupts us.
“Can I come back in?”
“Yep!” Kellsie yells toward the door.
Jordan peeks his head in, looks at her, then looks back to me, his smile disarming. “Kennedy, blink twice if she’s holding you hostage.”
I stand with my arms raised as he comes back in to join us. “I’m fine. Kellsie’s pretty damn cool.”
He smiles wider than the entire hospital floor as I bite my lip, trying to keep my ovaries from melting into a complete puddle.
“Well, Kellsie, what’s the verdict?” he asks with a shaky voice. I pick at my nails as we wait for her response, as if he really does take her opinion seriously.
Honestly, I think he does.
She looks back and forth between the two of us, pursing her lips and taking her sweet time deciding exactly the right words to say. She smirks, finally letting us off the hook. “She’s cool. I approve. You can keep dating.”
Jordan clutches his hand over his heart, very dramatically acting like she’s revived from an actual heart attack. “Thank God. I was really hoping I didn’t have to break up with her.”
“What?!” I say, my voice just as shocked as his. “You would really have broken up with me if she didn’t approve?”
“She’s the boss! You’re lucky she said yes,” he says, leaning in to kiss me on the cheek as a full army of butterflies fills my stomach.
A nod of approval from his teenage friend, a kiss on the cheek, and my knees are threatening to betray me.
He stays close to my cheek as if telling a secret only to me, but saying it loudly enough for Kellsie to hear.
“Be glad she said yes because I talked to her mom in the cafeteria about seeing if we can get her to a playoff game this season.”
“Seriously?!” Kellsie screams as her face lights up with excitement. “I’m supposed to be going home in a few days. Oh my God, pleeassseee let my doctors clear me to go!!!”
“I hope so, Kells! We’ll get you tickets in the suite with all the WAGs, and you know I’ll hook you up with whatever you want.”
“Could I get my own nacho bar?”
“I think we can arrange that. I can bring a nacho bar here if you want one. How about we set up a nacho bar for the entire floor and all the staff tomorrow? We can celebrate the Riders making it to the next round and you, hopefully, getting out of hospital jail soon. That work?”
“That would be sweet! Hospital food is the worst.”
“You got it, Kells.” He laughs again, pulling a Sharpie out of his pocket. “So…what do you have for me to sign today?”
I take a step back as Jordan follows Kellsie’s very detailed directions to grab a stack of things across the room to sign.
It’s not even hockey or Riders’ merch. It’s a lot of random items; some stuffed animals, a book, a weird-looking bottle of shampoo, and one of those hospital water bottles with the ounces listed on the outside and a giant bendy straw.
He gracefully signs everything she asks him to, chatting with her the entire time, asking how things are going with school, what she thinks the Riders need to do to bring the Cup home this year, and, of course, talking about how they can’t wait for the next season of their favorite reality dating show to start back up.
A look passes between them before they burst into the theme song simultaneously with a bunch of ‘ooo ooo’s as they both wave their arms in matching hand motions.
Watching these two interact is cuter than a litter of newborn puppies.
Something tightens in my stomach as my mind flips back to when I saw him dancing at the club a couple of months back.
I was so irritated at him for showboating on that bar.
I was bitter that he was flaunting his hot body and his dance moves to get attention. I was so put off by everything.
I was wrong.
This side of him? His compassion. His ability to make everyone around him feel magical. His heart. He did all this with no cameras, no media, no photos, no recognition.
I was so caught up in preconceived notions about a rich hockey player with more money than God, I failed to see the real Jordan.
And now all I see is this incredibly tenderhearted, loving human.
One who also happened to mention that he was attracted to me.
A warmth spreads through my body. But this isn’t lust. It’s not attraction.
It’s not infatuation. And it’s fucking scary as hell.
This fake relationship is starting to feel more real than I ever imagined.