The Hockey Lie

Chapter 16

TY

November 13

"Steph, I'm nervous for today," I said.

"Don't be," she replied. "Easton loves you, you know that."

"I know, but I don't know which Easton is going to show up today."

"He's sorry, he told you that. He didn't mean what he said," Steph tried to reason.

"I know he says he's sorry, but is he actually?" I questioned.

"I'm sure he is, Ty. Again, he loves you. He didn't mean to hurt you. He probably just lost sight of that for a while. What are you guys even doing today?" she asked.

"I'm not sure, but he told me to bring my hockey stick and skates," I replied.

"You brought those with you here?" Steph asked confusedly.

"Yeah, I brought them because I figured I'd end up playing a pick up game or two this winter with friends. I'm sure Seth and the guys will want to go skating sometime soon," I said, lying.

"Oh, that makes sense," Steph said as someone knocked on the open door to our dorm.

"Hey, guys," Easton greeted hesitantly, pulling his baseball cap off and running a hand through his hair.

"Hey, Easton," chirped Steph with a smile.

"Easton," I acknowledged in a flat voice.

Easton looked really uncomfortable, but he stood his ground. "So, are you ready to go?"

"Yup," I replied, grabbing my skates and stick. "See you later, Steph."

"Bye, Ty!" Steph replied with a wave.

I didn't look at Easton as I walked past him out the door. I heard Steph tell him, "Good luck," as I continued walking down the hall.

"Whoa, Ty, wait up," Easton called, chasing after me.

"You've got long legs, so you can keep up," I snapped.

"Ooo, someone's cranky today," Easton joked.

"You would be too if your boyfriend was an asshole," I countered.

"Touché," Easton sighed as we reached his car. He opened the trunk, and I put my hockey gear in it. After we both buckled up, he started, "Ty, I screwed up again, I know I did, and I'm sorry. I never wanted to hurt you, but my selfishness got the best of me."

"And who's to say that your selfishness won't get the best of you again, Easton? Who's to say that isn't the real you? I'm sitting here trying to figure out if I fell in love with someone who's been pretending to be someone else this whole time. I'm hurt and confused," I admitted, squeezing my eyes shut so the tears wouldn't fall.

"Ty, don't cry," Easton whispered sadly.

"This is what you've done to me. How can you possibly be so selfish as to say that your life is more important than mine, that I should be the only one moving my schedule around to make time for us. How could you have been raised like that?" I questioned as Easton pulled up to the Xcel Energy Center.

"I'll tell you about all of that later. Let's just go skate for a while now," Easton suggested climbing out of the car.

"Avoiding the issue, how typical," I muttered to myself.

"Did you say something?" Easton called from the back of the car.

"Nope," I yelled in reply, climbing out of the car myself. "Nothing at all."

"Sure," Easton said doubtfully, obviously not believing me as he handed me my stuff.

We walked to the entrance together, and Easton held the door open for me. We headed down a flight of stairs down to the ice. The place was completely deserted, which surprised me considering it was a Friday.

"We've got a game today. The guys won't be here for at least three hours," Easton stated, reading my mind.

"How did you- " I started, but Easton cut me off.

"I could tell you were wondering," he explained.

I looked back at him, but didn't respond. I sat on one of the benches and put my skates on. I grabbed my hockey stick and a bag of pucks and headed out onto the ice. After I shot around a bit, Easton joined me on the ice, standing at the blue line.

When I returned to the blue line, Easton took a deep breath and said, "My parents didn't approve of the way I acted all throughout high school, you know." I gave him a confused look, and he continued. I was selfish. I was a complete asshole. Honestly, it's a good thing I was so involved in hockey or else my parents might've ended up grounding me for life."

"Really?" I laughed.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure my sister hated me. I was so mean to her."

"You have a sister?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah, we don't really talk much now. It's pretty sad. My relationship with my parents has gotten a lot better, though. When I went to college, my ego got a little better, but the biggest change happened when I started NHL training camp. Suter and Parise really fixed my attitude. When I went home after that, I think my parents were really happy. They were proud that I had finally gotten over my big head. You really changed me, too. You made me care for someone other than myself and my teammates, and I can't ever thank you enough for that."

"I'm sorry that I assumed your parents were okay with your arrogance. I guess I had always figured that they were just like you used to be," I apologized.

"It's okay. I probably would've thought the same thing if I was in your shoes. I'm sorry for being such an ass. Ever since the summer I've been pretty selfish. I don't know why, but I've been leaning back towards my old ways," Easton confessed.

"And I don't want to be with that guy, Easton. I can't be with that guy. Which one is the real you?" I asked.

"That selfish jerk that told you your life wasn't important isn't me. I don't want that to be me ever again. I'm sorry, Ty, I really am. I had no right to treat you that way, and if you won't take me back, I'll understand. I sure as heck won't like it, but I'll understand," Easton said sincerely.

"Remember that night you first brought me here?" I asked him.

"How could I forget?" Easton replied. "Your jerkface of a boyfriend had just cheated on you. I brought you here to make you feel better."

"And you did exactly that. I still have to wonder why you had a cardboard cutout of Jake, though," I laughed.

"Umm..." he said awkwardly.

"You've always been a bit obsessive," I smiled.

"It's only because I care," he argued.

"I know you do. Anyway, I've been thinking a lot since we had our fight, and that night kept coming up in my memory. That was the night I realized that you weren't the selfish guy I always assumed you were. That was the night I started falling in love with you," I confessed.

Easton skated a step closer to me and placed his hands on my waist. "I love you, and I hope you can find a way to forgive me," he said, staring into my eyes with his ocean blue ones. "I know this isn't the first time I've screwed up, and it probably won't be the last, but I promise that from now on I'll try harder. I can't lose you."

I looked away from Easton and didn't reply for a while. When I finally did, I said, "I'll forgive you this time, but if it happens again, I don't know what- "

"It won't happen again," Easton interrupted. "I love you too much for it to happen again."

"I missed you," I whispered before crashing my lips onto his. Easton attempted to pull me closer to him, but he lost his balance. Before I knew what was happening, we were both falling.

I landed on Easton, and Easton landed on the ice with a thunk. "Ouch," he groaned.

"Thanks for breaking my fall, babe," I laughed sheepishly, patting his chest.

"No problem, honey," Easton said sarcastically.

I pecked Easton on the lips one more time when somebody called out, "I take it you two lovebirds are back together again, eh?" It was Coyle.

Easton and I hurried to get up off from the ice. "I thought you said they wouldn't be here for a few more hours," I whispered forcefully.

"Normally they don't!" Easton protested.

"What were you two doing here?" asked Zucker slyly as he joined Coyle by the benches.

"We were just shooting around," Easton told them.

"Hmm, Yeo's not going to like that if he finds out. Remember, no losing focus on gamedays," said Coyle.

"Yeah, and no guests, period," added Zucker.

"Come on, guys," Easton pleaded.

"We're just messing with you, man," laughed Charlie. "We won't tell Yeo, but it'd probably be a good idea for you two to get out of here before Koivu or Yeo shows up. That would be bad."

"All right. See you guys in an hour," Easton said.

"Bye, guys," I called.

"Bye, Ty!" Jason and Charlie called back, waving.

"I love those two," I smiled as we reached Easton's car.

"I know you do," Easton muttered in reply, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, at least they aren't going to bust you," I pointed out.

"I know, I know, they're good guys," Easton said. "Okay, I know it's terrible that we've been dating for almost a year and you haven't met my parents, so I was wondering if you'd want to come over for Thanksgiving at my parents' house. My sister and the rest of my family will be there, too."

"I'd love that," I smiled.

"Okay, good," Easton said, relieved. "I think you'll really like my sister. You two seem like you would get along."

"I hope your family will like me," I said nervously.

"They already love you," Easton assured me.

"Somehow I don't believe you, but okay."

Easton pulled into the U's parking lot outside of my dorm building and walked me up to my room. He said, "I'm going to be busy these next few weeks, and I'm assuming you will be too. The next time we'll see each other will probably be Thanksgiving."

"And we can talk more about that later," I added.

"All right, so I guess I'll see you on Thanksgiving," Easton said, placing a hand on my cheek. He leaned in and kissed me softly. After just a second, he tried to pull away, but I wouldn't let him. "What, is one kiss not enough?" he laughed.

"Of course not," I replied with a smirk, pulling him closer to me forcefully.

A few minutes later, someone next to us said, "Ahem." Easton and I finally pulled apart and saw that it was Steph. "Can't you two make out somewhere other than outside of our dorm where I'm trying to study," she said, pretending to be mad.

"Sorry, Steph," I laughed.

"I'll leave you two alone, but I swear if you're out here for more than two minutes, I'm going to throw loverboy out the window. It's impossible to study with you two making out noisily in the hallway," Steph huffed, heading back into the dorm.

"She's not actually mad, is she?" Easton whispered.

"No, she's just joking around," I replied with a laugh.

"Well, I suppose I should get going," Easton said.

"Yeah, you have a game to get to. Well, I guess I'll see you on Thanksgiving," I said.

"Right, Thanksgiving," Easton confirmed. "I love you."

"I love you, too," I smiled, pulling him back in for one last kiss.

"Bye," he waved, walking back down the hallway.

"Bye," I called in reply before heading back into my dorm.

"So I take it you two made up?" Steph questioned.

"Yup, we're good now, more than good," I smiled.

"I swear, if I catch you two making out outside of the dorm again, I'm gonna hurt you two," Steph threatened.

"Oh, it's not that bad, is it?" I asked with a laugh.

"It's disgusting," Steph said seriously.

"Sorry," I laughed, not sounding sorry at all.

"I'll let you off this time with a warning since you're all happy you two are together again, but next time you won't be as lucky," Steph said.

"Whatever you say, Steph, whatever you say," I chuckled.