Number Eleven

Oakley POV As the team skates off the ice for the final time this season, I decide to stay behind and do one last lap around. For most of my teammates, this is just another end to another winning year, but to me, this is the last time I will ever skate in this arena as the captain of the Penticton Storm. I can't help but let myself feel a little nostalgic, seeing as this arena has been my second home for the past three years. The bitter cold attempts to nip at my skin through my thick jersey as I look out into the empty stadium. Endless rows of beyond uncomfortable brown seats look back at me as my eyes continue to try and memorize every last inch of space. This is the place that helped me truly refind my love for hockey. It's where I watched my mom and sister scream and shout with their cheesy signs at every game. It's where I met so many special people. It's the place that showed me I could, and can be a leader. Piles of white snow are scattered in my path as I continue to skate my way around the ice. It's peaceful.  The ice beneath my skates cracks, bringing the familiar ripping to my ears with every push of my sharp blades. I can hear my short, puffy breaths break through the rare silence around me, reminding me that it is in fact just me here.   It's odd to be able to hear these small things.  The screaming crowds and coaches yelling, they're both gone.  It's just me and my skates, for the first time in ages.  After a few more minutes of enjoying the odd, relaxing silence, I reluctantly step off of the ice.  Walking down the long hallway that leads to the muggy, sweaty locker room, I let out a low chuckle.  If there was one place that I wouldn't miss, it would be our extremely out of date, grungy locker room.  As I reach the locker room door, I yank it open and almost smack right into Andre, my best friend, and our team's star defenseman.  Andre turns, slapping me on the back as we walk side by side over to our cubbies. "It's been a good run, buddy. I don't know what we're gonna do without our captain next season." "You won't miss me that much, you boys can carry your own." "Anybody ever tell you that you're way too humble?" He raises an eyebrow before laughing. "Last time I checked, you preferred when I'm humble. Something about not stealing all the ladies away from you?" I tease before sitting on the bench in front of my cubby. His eyes widen for less than a second before he covers his shock with a flashy smirk. "I just tell you that to make you feel good, buddy." Sitting down beside me, he starts unlacing his skates. "I am slightly worried I'll lose my touch without my number one wingman, though." In all seriousness, he doesn't have any issues picking up women. I've known Andre for fourteen years and in all of those years, I've never seen him with the same girl twice. "You know you don't need my help in that department, but hey, maybe this is a good thing. It might give you a chance to pay attention to the stuff that really matters. The team is going to need a new captain." "You know how hard it is going to be to try and fill your shoes. I'm already trying to get the defensemen to spend less time chirping and more time actually defending, I get a headache just thinking about keeping the whole team focused." I grab his shoulder and give it a tight squeeze. "Just think about it, man, you know you're my pick." "Hey, don't be getting too sentimental on me Oakley, I'll see you Thursday, yeah? Don't you dare bail on me!" Standing up from the bench, Andre hikes his hockey bag over his shoulder and heads to the door. "Wouldn't dream of it; see ya, man." I wave him off, not missing the eye roll he throws my way before swinging open the door and heading out. As I'm yanking my jersey over my head and untying my skates, I hear coach call me into his office. I quickly finish changing into a pair of sweatpants before heading to his office. "What's up, coach?" I watch as he sits down behind his desk and motions for me to take a seat on the grey two-seater couch that rests against the opposing wall.  "Hell of a season you boys played. You're not the same kid you were three years ago, thank god," he laughs. I flop down on the couch before placing my hands behind my head. "I think you owe yourself a clap on the back for that one, coach." His contagious laugh fills the room before he settles back against his leather chair. "Sure as s**t I do. I take full responsibility for your success as a captain." Ah yes, the joys of being captain. Don't get me wrong, I love this team and I'm honored to have been the guy everyone looked up to, but man does it get draining. Both physically and emotionally.  "Don't go getting cocky now, old man," I chuckle. Looking over at all the team pictures scattered across the room, a burst of pride shoots through my chest. The last three years of my life were spent playing with the same guys, learning from each other as we dealt with the encouraging wins, and the agonizing losses until we eventually moved on to win our first Western Canada Cup together. I'm going to miss it. "Do you know what team you're heading to yet?" "Yeah, Vancouver. Not too far from mom or Gracie. It seemed like the right fit." I look down at the pen on his desk and study it like it's the most interesting thing in the world. He gives me a pointed look. "Vancouver? I thought you wanted to go out to Ontario? You know your mom wouldn't want you to give up your goals for her or your sister." I internally groan. I knew he wasn't going to leave it alone. "It doesn't matter what my mom wants, they need me," I say shortly. This is really the last thing I want to talk about right now. Ever since my father passed away when I was thirteen, I've been doing everything I possibly can to take care of my mom and little sister.  A twenty-two-year-old driving home from a party drunk as all hell ran a stop sign and rammed into the driver's side of my dad's truck. He was killed on impact. Watching my mom struggle with being a single mom and trying to keep both of her kids in their desired extracurriculars was one of the hardest things ever. It wasn't a hard choice for me to make to help her out, as best as any fourteen-year-old can anyway. I knew that there was no way I was quitting hockey, I live and breathe the damn sport. It was, and always will be my passion. I got that from my dad. I remember sitting on the couch with him eating pizza and watching Hockey Night In Canada every Saturday night in our Vancouver Warrior's jerseys. The silly old man never could pick a good team to cheer for. Even at the age of seven, I knew they were a shitty team, but they were his favorite, and that's the only thing that ever mattered to me. Some days are harder than others, but we make do. "Oakley? Are you listening to me?" Coach asks, annoyance written clearly on his worn-down features. "s**t. Sorry, what did you say?"  "I said, what do you plan on doing once you have been drafted? You know you're going to have to leave them at some point. This is your dream."  He's giving me a determined look, trying to convince me to change my mind. Too late for that "I haven't thought that far yet. I don't want to think that far," I say while looking down at my shoes. "I really need a shower, coach, I'll be back this week to get all my stuff. We can talk about this then." He lets out a long sigh. "Go on then. I'll see you next week. You did good tonight." I force a small smile on my lips and give my head a nod before quickly rising from the sofa and leaving the office. ~~~ The sun has just about set by the time I pull up outside of our small two-story home in my beat-up white Chevy. Although our house is not fancy by any means, it's home.  A small porch with old wooden steps sits in the center, featured with a bright red door that my mom painted with my dad shortly after they bought the home. A bay window sits on the right side in the middle of the living room, along with a wooden flower box that lies underneath, filled with yellow daisies. My mom's favorite. A big Oak tree occupies most of the left side of the yard, covering the window that looks into my sister's room. I look out at the water pelting from the sky and groan. It has been pouring rain ever since I left the arena, which really isn't that much of a surprise. Being the end of April in BC means nothing but god damn rain. I grab my hockey bag from the passenger seat and throw it over my shoulder before heading inside. "I'm home," I yell as soon as I open the door. I kick my sneakers off and quickly haul my bag up the stairs to my room before ma has a chance to lecture me again about the rancid smell. After dropping my bag on the floor, I shut my door before plopping myself down on my bed and closing my eyes. "Hey, sweetheart. How was it?" mom asks as she opens my door to peek in at me. My mom looks exceptionally young for her age. Maybe it has something to do with how she always has her short blonde hair done up, or how her crystal blue eyes haven't seemed to dull at all since the first time I remember ever seeing them. I got all my features from my dad, especially his height. Mom being no taller than five-foot-five compared to my much larger six-foot-three frame clearly shows that. "It was alright. It was sad to say goodbye but I'll be okay. I have to stop by the arena this week to pick up the rest of my stuff before I leave Friday." The guys are also throwing me a going-away party Thursday night, despite my arguments. Hockey parties have never been my thing, especially since I became captain. When you constantly end up dealing with a bunch of girls who only take an interest in you because they want bragging rights within their lame clicks, it pretty much sucks the fun out of it.  Although I'm not saying I haven't given in a few times, I'm no saint. I just don't want my last night with my team to be such a clusterfuck of drunk mistakes and awkward conversations the next day. "I would be worried if you weren't the least bit sad, honey. You have to be excited though, you're so close to your dreams." She sits down on the edge of my bed and gives me one of her famous Anne Hutton smiles. "I am so proud of you and I know your father would be too." I don't miss the way her eyes slightly glisten when she brings up dad. My mom always has a way of smiling and making everyone around her happy. Dad always called it her superpower.  I didn't understand how a smile could be someone's superpower until after he died. Which I guess really does make her a modern-day superhero. Our superhero.  I sit up to look at her properly. "I am excited. Will you guys be okay, though? I'll try to come home as often as I can." I know my new schedule is going to be crazy but I would do anything for my family. "You need to stop worrying about your sister and I. You're going to get grey hairs and you're only twenty, you silly boy. We will be fine. You go and find yourself a girl of your own to take care of." She winks while grabbing my hand in hers. I chuckle, "Sure mom, I'll get right on that." I've never actually brought a girl home before. Not as my girlfriend, at least. I've never had time, my life is crazy enough without adding another girl in the mix. "Good, It's about time you finally brought a girl home, I'm getting old here!" She leans over to kiss me on the head before making her way to the door. "Anyways, I know you're probably tired, but there are leftovers in the fridge if you're hungry. Goodnight, I love you." "Night mom, I love you too." She leaves my room, shutting the door softly as she does so. ~~~ Friday morning comes quicker than I was expecting. My going away party was shockingly a lot of fun despite my previous reservations. Andre kept the guest list pretty small, thankfully, and I managed to successfully stay away from all the possible awkward morning encounters. Saying goodbye to the team was really hard, harder than I care to admit to anyone.  When I first joined the team, I used to act like my s**t don't stink, and yeah, I had the skill to back it up, but my attitude cost us a lot of games. Our coach was the one who helped knock me down a few notches. I learned the hard way that it means f**k all on the ice if you can skate circles around everyone else and barely miss a shot because if you don't have the team behind you, you might as well go home. So I worked my ass off the rest of my first season to gain everyone's respect and then my second season, I earned the privilege of having the beloved C on my jersey. I can happily admit that all the work was worth it, considering I just came out of this season as the number one goal scorer in the Junior league. I finish loading the last box into the bed of my truck just as my mom comes outside to say goodbye.  "I wish I could be coming with you, but you know that I have to work." Seeing the unshed tears in her eyes is enough to make me want to say screw it and stay here, but I know that will only make it harder later.  "I know you would if you could, mom. But don't worry. I'm a big boy, I'm sure I can handle it," I say, trying to lighten up the mood before the waterworks start. Suddenly the front door slams open against the siding and I whip my head to see Gracie come running down the steps like a complete lunatic in her matching, sparkly white pajamas. "Why didn't anybody wake me up? I could've missed saying goodbye to my big brother." I let a loud laugh push past my lips at the sight in front of me. Gracie has her hands on her hips and eyebrows shot up to the sky in a failing attempt to seem intimidating. Gracie ended up getting almost all of my moms' features. To the point where if you didn't already know we were siblings, you most likely wouldn't even be able to tell. Just like my mom, Gracie has identical crystal blue eyes and sandy blonde hair, ergo, the parts that don't match up with my brown hair and green eyes.  "I did wake you up sleepyhead, three times. You kept going back to sleep after saying something about me ruining your dream about Harry Styles?"  Her whole face lights up as she recalls her dream. "Oh! Well, then I can't say that I'm sorry. You don't wake somebody up from a dream about Harry. It wouldn't have been worth it for me. No offense." She shrugs and starts giggling to herself. "Haha, so funny." I roll my eyes before checking the time on my phone and letting out a heavy sigh. "I hate to be a downer, but I gotta go. I'm meeting my new coach at twelve and if I don't leave now, I won't make it." I take a final look around at our quiet neighborhood and take a deep breath. "I will be back as soon as I can. I promise." Mom is the first one to reach out and give me a hug.  "Drive safe," she murmurs as she moves back, still holding me in place by grabbing my hands. "And let me know when you get there. Have fun, but not too much fun. I love you." She gives me tight another hug before moving over to let Gracie say goodbye. "Goodbye big brother, I won't miss your stinky ass gym bag, but I will miss you driving me wherever I wanna go," she laughs before wrapping her arms around my waist and giving me a hug. "I'm joking. I will miss you. Love you." "Goodbye, you little s**t, don't give mom too much trouble please, and no boys! Love you too." I return her hug and plant a kiss on the top of her head. Turning around and heading to the driver's side of my truck, I give them both a wave before I get in, start it up and head for the highway. Goodbye Penticton, Hello Vancouver. (Silent readers,)Don't forget to hit that star ⭐⭐