Author's Note:

I AM SO SORRY! I know it took me forever to update this.

I was soooo busy with my play, and my brother stole my laptop… trust me, I'm more angry than you guys are. But that definitely has given me time to think up some good plots… I hope.

Enjoy!

James's POV

"JAMESY!"

Groan.

"Heeeeyyyy, Jamesy! I missed you!" Stella screamed at the top of her lungs.

Why me? Why me? Curse my good looks.

"Missed me? You just saw me last night," I said cautiously. It was 10 a.m. and Stella had caught me in the lobby while picking up mail. I knew I should've left Carlos to go get it.

"Oh, well… you know!" Stella said.

Today's Tuesday. That means Wednesday, Thursday, Friday… only four more days of Stella. Kendall said she was leaving Saturday.

"Your hair looks especially shiny today! Did you-" she snorted. "…use a smoothie?" She burst out laughing.

"I'm going to get my hair cut," I said indifferently, then walked away… quickly. I could here her screams of disapproval as I entered the parking lot and jumped in Mrs. Knight's rental car. I hope Mrs. Knight won't be needing it soon.

I raced to the hockey rink. I could only hoped Stella wouldn't come stalking me here. I went up to the desk and rented some ice skates. An OPEN SKATE sign was next to the door to Rink 3. I paid to go skating then rushed to the ice.

It felt like home. All I needed now was some gear, a hockey stick, and a puck.

After skating 5 laps, I leaned up against the wall and watched as some little girls were skating around… then a couple… then a girl, by herself. She looked about my age and had long blonde hair. I was expecting her to start doing some jumps and swirls, like a professional ice skater, but she never did. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, it looked like she was practicing some hockey plays; not very well, but still they were hockey plays. I had to go talk to her.

The closer I got, the more I could she her face. She had eyebrows darker than her hair (it reminded me of Kendall) and kind of a narrow face… wait, it wasn't…

"Jo?" I asked, skating within feet of her. She jumped, fell on the ice, looked up, then made a face.

"Argh, um… Hi James."

"What are you doing here?"

"Skating."

"Well, duh." I rolled my eyes. "You told Kendall you hated hockey."

"That doesn't mean I'm practicing it!" She said, trying to get up. She paused. "That didn't come out right, did it?" I shook my head and extended my arm for help.

"Explain," I said, as she steadied herself back on her two feet.

"Can we sit down first?" she asked. "I need to get off this ice." We skated over to the rink exit, then sat down on a bench in the lobby.

I looked at her and raised my eyebrow, signaling her to start talking.

"Well, ever since I found out Kendall loves hockey," she started. "I started watching it, you know, see why he was into it, maybe even come to like it myself. I just watched it on occasions, that's all. But then when I saw him flirting with that Stella girl" – I froze up – "I just, I don't know, thought maybe I could impress him by playing hockey; get him away from her."

"Stella," I said. "You think Kendall likes Stella?" Jo nodded.

"Well, I can guarantee that he doesn't," I said. "Not even close."

"What do you mean?" Jo said, disbelieving.

"Stella has a huge thing for me, and you know Kendall, he wouldn't ever bother that even if he did like her, which he absolutely does not."

Jo looked confused. "I think I understood that, but I'm not sure."

I grabbed her shoulders. "He doesn't like her."

"Okay," she said, grabbing my shoulders. "Now, tell me about you and Stella."

I groaned and brought my head down to my knees.

"She's obsessed with you, but you really don't like her?" Jo guessed. I moved my head in slightly up and down. "Anything else?"

I slightly raised my head. "Can I trust you with a secret?"

"Can I trust you with my hockey secret?"

"Well…" I bit my lip. I had no idea how to put this into words. "I think, I think I would, you know, actually like Stella, if... back in Minnesota, I had this girlfriend, Bella. She had the same hair as Stella, their names rhyme… Bella was loud and talkative… they could be twins, I swear. I really liked Bella, probably the most I would ever like a girl. I could even say I loved her. But then, she… she…" Jo was really into my story, leaning in close.

"She broke up with me!" Jo's expression wasn't surprised like I expected it, it was more exasperated.

"And let me guess, you're the dumper, never the dumpee?" I nodded, tears filling my eyes.

"That's it?"

"Well," James said. "I like Bella because she wasn't the type of girl that was shy and intimidated by my good looks. She was the type that would come up and talk to me."

"Well, so is Stella."

"I said, 'come up and talk to me,' not 'come up and stalk me!'" Jo shrugged.

"Forget Bella, if Stella's crazy about you enough to stalk you, she'll never break your heart like Bella."

"You think?"

"Yes! Now just give her a try!"

I gave in. "Fine, but if she ever…"

"…it's my fault. I understand. Now can I go home? I'm freezing. It's like 50 degrees in here."

"50 degrees? Cold? In Minnesota, that's warm."

"WHAT?"

"Well, at least it's warm in the winter."

Author's Note:

Not a whole lot to "sink your teeth in", but if I added another POV it would be too long. Next update will be soon!