“Prince!” Liam screams my name from across the ice rink as I look towards him with a confused expression. Before I knew it, my hockey stick hit the puck that he passed to me.
It almost hit him across the face, but he didn’t need to know it wasn’t intentional.
“Where’s Chris?” Neil asks as I turn to him.
“He said he was working and that he had to pick up Finn, why? You miss your boyfriend?” Liam smirks while skating over to me, pushing me over as I dragged him down with me.
I get up, watching Liam roll around in front of me, I offer him a hand to get up.
The loser he was, he took it, and I took the opportunity to push him over again. As he attempts to look at me, trying to flip me off, I laugh hysterically.
Even Neil couldn’t help but laugh.
We hear the door open as we peak. Chris runs in with his uniform and skates on, skating over to us.
Liam began to try and get up before Chris decided to push him down yet again. I laughed even harder. “There you are.”
He nods with acknowledgement and says, “I found someone to take care of Finn.” He mentions as we all give him our attention.
“Who?”
“Verina.” He mutters as we all pause with wrinkled looks on our faces.
“Verina? ” We all say it in unison.
He catches his words, “She insisted, and I couldn’t say no; I can’t afford to get kicked off the team by being late.” He attempts at an excuse.
I knew Chris wouldn’t take any favors from just anyone, he would really have to trust someone when it came to Finn.
“I would never turn you in.” I said simply.
He looked irritated, “I don’t want special treatment, Prince.”
I roll my eyes. “You raise your brother, you work three jobs, you go to the smart-ass school we go to, you’re a starter on the hockey team, and you fucking have a fight tonight.”
Chris goes silent. “Besides, I trust Verina.” Bingo. No getting close to her my ass.
“No reason not to trust her.” Neil adds in as more players turn up, walking straight to the locker room, knocking my head back.
“Which is why Finn is with her.” He says with attitude as Neil looked taken back by the sass from his fellow best friend.
Neil rolls his eyes, changing the subject, “Blackwell is tough. They better have brought their A-game.”
Chris looks at the players, he was always good at reading body language, “They did.” He gestures at the other team.
Liam skates around me, “No nearly killing someone, today, Prince.” He winked as it took courage not to whack him with my hockey stick.
But he pauses, “Wait.”
I look around my body, “What’s that?” Liam signals to my hockey stick, catching something different.
I had realized that many players had a lucky charm on them every game they’ve ever played, and it seemed I hadn’t. I wanted to change that and what else to use other than one of the people that did change me.
I had written Adrianna’s initials with a sharpie on my stick handle, and additionally on the taped blade. I hadn’t told her, obviously.
“Adrianna’s initials in sharpie.” I say with ease as Liam smirks.
“I thought she was just a ploy to get August back?” Chris adds on, as I sigh.
My eyes snapped on his, “And I thought you would never get close to Verina, now she’s giving your brother rides?”
Chris backs off, with his hands up in the air as a sign of defeat.
Of course, I saw the teasing coming from them, I would be stupid if I hadn’t. A part of me did not consider that if I did get August back, how
different things would have gone.
“What can I say?” I look down at the ink, “ My girl gives me good luck.”
Liam’s face turned pleased as he looked at Neil, “You owe me a million dollars.” Neil looked at me in annoyance.
“That’s so shitty.” Neil says as I scowl at him.
“Sorry dude, I’m happy for you but you just made me lose a million dollars.”
Neil looked like he just lost a penny. I couldn’t help but smile at the fact that Neil was wrong. I wanted to fucking scream from the rooftops that she was my girl.
As my teammates started to gather on the ice, skating laps, a mixture of families and fans started to fill the seats.
I had once again reserved seats for my family and Adrianna, now of course for her sake she better fucking come and sit her ass on one of those chairs or I will shot a puck straight to the damn head of the opposing team captain.
But to my mistake she walks right in with Amelia by her. She had her hair in a messy bun. She was wearing a pair of ripped jeans, with a pair of heels, and the best part about her outfit was my name on her back, she was wearing my hockey jersey.
Amelia had her hair in braids, she had the college-colored tassels holding them to keep the braids. My family comes right behind them, my stepmother greeting her with a kiss on the cheek.
My father looked the same as usual, he was in his suit and his phone was attached to his ear making business proposals. Amelia held signs, one with my name on it, and one with the whole team’s.
I look back at Liam who was going on about his leg feeling swollen. “You might need to get that checked out.” I mention.
“Nah, coach might not let me play. I need to play this game.” He made a point.
I skated towards him, “I will not let you play if you are genuinely injured.”
Liam pats my back, “I’m fine.” I nod.
I had a weird and unsettling feeling of Liam playing tonight and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be his friend at this very moment or be his
captain.
I wasn’t sure if it was a choice that I dared to make.
 |
It’s the third period.
We are losing.
0-1.
My face contorted in pain as Caleb Greenwood rams his body into my
torso. I ram him back, but his teammate strikes me.
Liam, of course, skates over to push the guy off me. But to our concern, another guy felt the need to run straight into Liam cross checking him as well, causing him to slam against the hard ice and the guy’s body weight rushing him.
The rink went silent as Liam screamed in agony, Chris and Neil following with anger and rage in their eyes looking for a fight.
The referees pulled them away as I was not restrained. I skated full speed on the opposing team causing them to fall and slam into the boards.
I looked at the crowd, and Adrianna’s lost expression on what was going on, and I myself was not sure what really happened.
Medics come to place Liam on a stretcher pulling him out. I skate over to him.
“I shouldn’t have let you fucking play.” I blamed myself as Liam laughs off the pain.
The crowd got louder, looking back at Chris hooking Holden Kelson. “It’s better to be me than anyone else on the team, Prince.” He voices.
I shake my head, disagreeing.
“Chris loves this game.” He grits out.
“You love it too.” I counter as he shakes his head.
Liam continues “Chris loves it, it’s the last thing going for him.”
I try to speak as he interrupts me, “Neil does it to get away from his parents and fuck— “
Liam doesn’t let me get another word in, “This is your whole life if your family doesn’t rip it away from you.”
“I don’t want you doing shit on the ice once you get taken care of.” I say sternly as he grins like a Cheshire cat.
“I’m fucking serious.”
He shakes his head, “Coach wouldn’t let me anyways.”
“Is Margo here?” He asks with a simple smile as I look around. “No, I don’t think so, Brookshire.”
He shakes his head, laying back down, “With her fiancé, isn’t she?” “I’m not sure.”
He sighs, “You don’t have to lie to me.”
The referee drops the puck on the ice, looking at me warning me to get ready once again. Liam laughs, “I lost my girl.”
I tilt my head, “You said you weren’t serious with her.”
“I was also smoking when I said that, and I was stupid.” He lets out.
“Now, she’s getting married after graduation and she’ll never speak to me again.”
“Margo isn’t important right now.” I said quickly as he rolled his eyes. Liam looked behind me, “Look at your girl.” He gestured over to
Adrianna. I try not to move my eyes from the puck and ice.
I hear yells, my eyes find hers, with a bright smile and about six additional posters. She cheers for me.
The medics pull Liam away as he waves me off, the referee losing patience whistling for me to gather in the middle.
I skated over, couldn’t help but point my hockey stick at her. “This is for you!” I scream.
Her cheeks are flushed.
The game begins as the referee drops the puck. The sound of my teammates crashing into the boards echoes around me. I snatch the puck and skate as fast as I can through their defense, surrounded by the yells and cheers from our side of the rink. My skates dig into the ice, sliding as I channel all my energy into dodging defenders, colliding two of their players together. The others seem wary of me; the news about Alex Twain’s injury hasn’t gone unnoticed.
I take a shot at the goal, the puck slicing through everyone in its path and hitting the back of the net in just two seconds. The goal horn blares, and my eyes immediately search for Adrianna, who’s screaming my name. My teammates skate over, jumping on me and pulling me into tight hugs.
We’ve tied the game just as Chris is released from the penalty box. He skates toward me with a big grin.
Forty-seven seconds left in the game. I’m not sure if we can pull this off. We all gather at center ice, ready for the next play, while Coach Livingston shouts at us that we can do it.
Chuck skates to the side, scanning for me as he moves around.
Neil blocks the defenseman who tries to charge.
His movements are precise, like a well-rehearsed dance. He’s quick but controlled, and I remember the days I trained him during his freshman year.
Twenty-one seconds left.
He flashes me a grin as he heads toward the net. I pass the puck to Andrew, who immediately sends it over to Chris. Chris, ever skillful with his stick, confuses the other players before passing it back to me.
I skate towards the goal line, find Chris in the middle, and brush past the defense, sending the puck his way. He scores with a slick move.
The goal horn blares again as I take a moment to catch my breath.
The clock runs out, and the whole team skates over to celebrate. 2-1.
I can’t help but search for Adrianna. Smiling, I leave the rink and head towards her. She wraps her arms around me, though she seems a bit uncertain about going fully public.
This moment isn’t for show—it’s for us.
I resolve her dilemma by taking off my helmet and bending down to kiss her. She places her hands on either side of my face, and it feels like everyone else disappears the moment our lips meet.
I’ve never been lost in a kiss before, never really understood the saying.
But now I do, as my heart skips a beat when she pulls away. I smile. “You came,” I say softly.
She rolls her eyes playfully. “You’re never going to let that go, are you?”
“Never.”
A moment of silence falls between us. My smile widens as I took a good look at her, she grimaces, “Take a picture, it would last longer.”
I laugh, I didn’t care whether it was obvious that I liked looking at her, “And you say I’m the one with the big ego.”
“That’s because you do.” She stresses, matter of a factly.
“You won though which should boost your ego even more!” She exclaimed as I looked at her again.
“Of course, I won.” I say with pride, “I had to, I mean I dedicated one goal to you.”
Adrianna’s face yet again reddens as she pulls me in for the second time, “You are so sweaty.”
“Yes, well, skating around for a duration of time will do that to you.” “It’s disgusting.” She whispers.
I laugh, “You’re still hugging me.” I whisper.
She hugs me tighter, whispering back, “I know.”
