Miles Dempsey

JT and I show up at Nola and Ember's apartment around 4 in the morning. Our flight leaves at five but the airport isn't too far from here so I'm not worried. I had JT come with me to take the BMW back to the house. If there's anything I hate, it's leaving my car at the airport when I'm out of town. I trust the kid enough to use it for a couple of days, I guess.

I wait in the car while JT helps Ember get her things into the trunk of the car. My eyes still feel heavy since I didn't get much sleep. To make things at the airport easier, I'm having JT drive us there so I'm currently in the backseat of my own car. "Let's get on the road, kids!" JT says, hopping back in the driver's seat.

"Should we stop by a gas station for snacks?" Ember turns around to look at me. Her big, brown eyes are widened and I almost ask how she has so much energy at 4 in the morning but decide not to. "We'll just get them at the airport," I tell her. She frowns a bit. "Those are expensive."

JT pulls out of the parking space and taps her thigh at the same time. "Don't worry, Em. He's got you on this trip," he says with a boyish grin. Ember's cheeks turn red and she looks at me. JT's not wrong. It's not like I mind. She's Nola's best friend. "We'll get them there," I repeat.

She nods hesitantly before turning back around. The rest of the car ride is pretty quiet. The kid and Ember talked quietly occasionally but I tuned them out and rested my eyes. Falling asleep on planes doesn't come to easy to me so I try to get all the sleep I can on the short car ride.

I'll try and get more at the hotel but by the time we get them Nola's competition will be only hours away.

JT drops us off and we make our way to our gate. It's pretty packed since boarding is only less than an hour away. My hoodie is lifted over my head and I have sunglasses on. Not the best costume but it works most times. Ember and I sit down in two available seats after buying our snacks which she bought a lot of.

She poured her snacks onto the cashier counter and I turned to look at her kind of surprised. I had only gotten a pack of gum, a water bottle, and some Timmies. Her cheeks turned a light pink color. "What if there aren't any yummy snacks in Stockholm?" she said. My gaze stayed on her and I thought, what a perfect match for the kid.

"We can share," she added when I didn't reply the first time. I gave her a nod and she smiled as the cashier proceeded to scan the items. It's not like I was going to tell her no. I was just shocked at her assortment. She doesn't pick snacks like her best friend does that's for sure.

"I had to put the posters in my suitcase. I hope they aren't ruined," she starts. I take a swig from my cold water and shake my head. "I'm sure they'll be just fine," I assure her. She nods, wrapping her arms around herself. She's surprisingly quiet for the rest of the time we're at the gate.

I take advantage of the quietness from her too much because once we're sitting next to each other on the plane, she starts talking about all kinds of things. You'd think I'm her best friend by some of the things she was sharing with me. Ember and I haven't talked much before today. She's a sweet girl, I know that much but we aren't best friends.

I can definitely tell why JT has taken an interest in her though. She's like the female version of him. That much makes me grow a bit fonder of her. I love the kid so it would be weird if I didn't like her.

She took a nap about two hours into the plane ride but I stayed awake for a while longer. There was a bit of turbulence that had me fearful for my life. Ember had slept through all of it though. Once that was over, I was able to fall asleep.

When I woke up however long later, Ember was awake playing some game on her phone. "Morning," she cheered, not looking at me but at the game. "Hi," I say. The flight time on the screen in front of us says we still have about six hours to go. I kind of wish I could have slept more through it. Long flights give me anxiety.

"Can I ask you a question?" Ember says while tapping her thumbs quickly on the screen. I don't even know what game she's playing but it seems to be challenging. Her tongue peeks out from the corner of her mouth as she focuses. "Sure," I say. Still not looking at me, she says, "Why haven't you texted Nola?"

Her words through me off kilter. "She told you that?" I ask her. She nods quickly.

One of the main reasons I haven't texted her is because my mind has been so... busy these past couple of days. My brain has been infiltrated by ugly thoughts regarding my adoption. I go from making myself feel like shit for wanting to find my birth parents to desperately wanting to know who they are. Then there's another voice in my head telling me to find them now.

It gets louder and louder every day. I've been trying to distract myself with hockey and film and anything that can take up space in my head until I fall asleep. Using Nola isn't something I want to do. Worlds was also coming up and I didn't want to add any unnecessary stress to her life. I would confide in her after everything.

She was the first person I wanted to rant to until I realized that I couldn't. Seeing her in a couple of hours will help. Hopefully, she isn't too mad at me for being MIA.

"I just wanted to make this surprise even bigger. You think she'll be upset when she sees me?" I ask honestly. Ember knows her more than anyone. Her lips purse and move to the side which makes it look like she's thinking about what answer to give me. Finally, she shakes her head. "I think she'll be happy. I know she was really down about the fact that I couldn't come."

That's all the confirmation I needed to hear. The reason I brought Ember was because I knew Nola would want her best friend there. It would have been nice to have the kid here too but there were only so many people I could bring. He has to keep the team winning while I'm gone too.

"Can I ask another question..?" She asks carefully. I've answered about a thousand of her questions this plane ride. Another one can't hurt. "Sure thing," I say, taking a drink from the mineral water Ember had given me. She finally puts her phone down now, facing me in her seat. "Why are you so nice to her? Nola."

Her question catches me off guard once again. It's an odd question but not one that's hard to answer. "Because she's my friend. I'd like to think I'm nice to all my friends," I reply. Ember's gaze stays latched on me making me feel somewhat nervous. "You do.. all your friends laundry for them?" she asks, brow raised.

What is this woman trying to get out of me?

"You don't even know how many times I've done your boyfriend's laundry," I say truthfully. "I mean like a girl friend's laundry," Ember replies. "I don't have girls who are friends, so no. Besides her," I shoot back. Her eyes narrow a bit. "She's the only girl who's your friend?"

Kind of.

"Well there's my friends girl Kait and my manager Tiffany if you want to count them but other than that, no." Shrugging my shoulders, I try to understand her point in all of this. After a stare-down that I don't back away from this time, she nods. "Well thank you for that. Nola needs good people in her life. It makes me happy that you care about her," Ember admits.

My lips inch up a bit at her confession. It's nice to know Nola has people like Ember in her life who care so much about her. "Can I ask one more question..?" Ember says, holding up her pointer finger. "Yep," comes my short reply.

"Do Canadians also go to college?"

Oh boy.

***

Ember and I arrived in Stockholm around three in the morning on Friday. Worlds started at ten so we had a couple of hours to get some extra sleep in at the hotel. My body didn't let me relax and I ended up waking up by seven.

Deciding that I would start my day, I got up took a shower, and shaved my face. Then I searched the nearest cafe to get myself a coffee and a couple of biscuits and muffins for breakfast. It was almost nine when I got back to the hotel so I knocked on Ember's door. "Coming!" I heard her shout from inside.

Thirty seconds later, she opened the door. I handed her a basic iced coffee and a box of pastries. "Oh my, thank you! Come in, I'm almost ready." She takes both items from me and I walk carefully into her hotel room. Clothes are thrown all over her bed and her suitcase that's opened up on the floor.

"What time did you wake up?" I ask, carefully sitting on her bed in the small section where there aren't any clothes. "Like thirty minutes ago," she says, her hands doing something with her hair and some kind of clip in her mouth. "No rush," I say, looking around again.

My eyes land on a white poster with 'Nola Scott's #1 Fan' written in pink marker. "Is that the poster?" I ask. Ember turns to face me and nods. "One of them. The other one is under it," she tells me. I lean over to pick them up. The other one reads, 'Team Nola' in blue and red marker. "Nice handwriting," I say.

Ember smiles. "Thanks. Pick your poison. I'll take any of the two." I look at both of them again and set them down behind me. We'll see. Two minutes later, Ember comes out of the bathroom and throws on a baby blue puffer over her small shoulders. "I'm good to go! Let's try to get there before girls start getting on the ice," she says.

I grab the posters and hand them to her. We both exit her room and I make a quick pitstop to mine to grab a larger coat. There's a deep chill in the air. While I can be used to the cold, living in California for a while has gotten me used to not so cold winters.

The arena Worlds is taking place at is about ten minutes from our hotel so we get there at almost ten. We check in and find seats over on the left side of the rink. We've devised a plan to somehow get back into the locker room space and see Nola after her performance. How we're going to go along with that plan? I have no idea but we're going to wing it.

We're sitting for about ten minutes before the first skater comes out.

It's not Nola but my leg already starts bumping up and down nervously.

I know she's going to kill it but I can't help but worry. For the sake of her feelings, I want everything to go perfectly.

When I look over at Ember, she turns to face me too. "She's got this."

Please let her have this.