By the next morning I was in a rage. I was pacing up and down the hall between Robbie and Rizzo's rooms.
"Robert Nathanial McClanahan! What the hell do you talk about in that locker room?" I was beyond caring if Dad heard me.
"What did O.C. do now?" he asked sleepily. It was, after all 6 AM but again, I really didn't care.
"His answer was worse than the question!"
"What question?"
I sighed; Robbie was really not a morning person. "You know, THE Question!"
"You mean, does he adore you with every fiber of his being?" Scratch that, he was a sarcastic morning person.
"AARRG!" I yelled, shoving him back in his room and shutting the door in his face. I started pacing again. "Stupid Robbie, Stupid Jack, Stupid Rizzo! I hate you all!" I was just about to pound on Rizzo's door and demand an explanation for why he left me alone with Jack, when I heard voices.
"So did you tell her?" The thick Boston accent was Rizzo's, but who was he talking to?
"Not exactly, the...feeling was conveyed but uh-"
"WHAT? O.C., tell me you didn't," a pause, "You did? Real smart buddy, absolutely brilliant."
I heard a click and remembered that Robbie's room connected to Rizzo's. "O.C., what'd you do? Dana's having a fit."
"He kissed her!" Rizzo answered. I heard a thunk, Presumably Robbie's head hitting the wall.
"O.C., what were you thinking?"
"I don't know. You should have seen her man, her cheeks were all pink, and her hair was blown back... I just couldn't resist!"
"Okay, now that we've established you weren't thinking, what are you going to do about it?" Rizzo's voice sounded dangerously close to the door, I was praying I wouldn't get caught.
"O.C., There are two types of women in this world, the Show-and-tell, and the Tell-and-show. Dana is a Tell-and-show kind of girl." Robbie was making this far too difficult for Jack, apparently Rizzo agreed with me.
"Dana needs things spelled out for her." I was just the tiniest bit offended by that remark. Like guys don't need everything spelled out for them. I spun on my heel and stomped down the hall.
"Stupid Robbie, Stupid Jack, Stupid Rizzo! Stupid Robbie, Stupid Jack, Stupid Rizzo!" I chanted it like a mantra on the way back to my room. I ran into Buzz on my way there.
"I'm not on your 'stupid list' today am I?" he asked me smiling.
"Not yet, but if you don't get out of the way, I might." I was in no mood for jokes.
After I got back to the haven that was my hotel room, I turned up the clock radio and tried to drown out everything. It was working, until Dad popped in.
"Turn that down, Sweden can hear you!" He said, looking around my newly cleaned room. I had three hours of self-imposed seclusion, I had to do something. "You all packed?"
I nodded and he turned to leave. "Wait, Dad? Could I sit with you on the flight home?"
"So if you don't mind me asking, why aren't you sitting back with Mac and the boys?" Dad asked. I wanted to ignore him, but I couldn't. I turned to look out the window.
"Can't a girl spend time with her father for once?" I knew he didn't believe me but he dropped it just the same.
"All right, I'll be back, need to use the lavatory." He said, and I giggled at his out-of-date words.
Not even a minute later, I sensed him sit back down next to me. "That was fast," I said turning towards-Robbie.
"Hey," He said, smiling slightly.
Now I had enough of the runaround and was going to get straight to the point. "Would you please just tell me what you say about me?"
Robbie glanced up the aisle. "Dana, O.C. likes you, really likes you and ever since we got him to admit it, we've been trying to get him to tell you. That's it really, that's what we talk about."
Well, I felt stupid. I leaned my head on the cool glass of the window and thought about it for a minute. "Robbie, could you move please, I'm gonna go talk to someone." I finally said, getting up.
He obliged, but not before making a sneaky remark, "You two behave." I smacked him on the arm and made my way to Jack's row.
"Can I sit down?" I asked softly. He looked up at me with those big blue eyes of his and at that moment I knew without a shadow of doubt that his feelings were most certainly not one-sided.
"Sure," He replied. Jack's eyes followed me as I sat down in the seat next to him. "Dana, I'm sorry I ki-"
"No," I said, putting my hand up to stop him from speaking, "Don't apologize for that Jack, It was nice." I smiled, "unexpected, but nice." Now I know there is no I in team, but there were 21 pairs of them in The US Olympic Hockey Team and they were all trained on me.
Jack beamed at me, "Do you think it would be nicer if you expected it?"
I pretended to think about it, then leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. "Not really."
