The Hockey Lie

Chapter 14

TY

November 10

My team was still yelling and hollering in celebration in the locker room after our win when Cullen shouted, "All right, all right, can we settle down for two minutes? I want to say something." We all hushed down. "It was a great team win tonight, guys, but it was also a night that'll go down in history. Our own freshman sensation scored her first goal tonight!" I blushed and smiled as all the guys let out what sounded like a war cry.

"The first of many!" Seth added enthusiastically, and everyone cheered again.

"Thanks, guys," I laughed.

"All right, now that that's been said, let's get showered so we can celebrate! Broadway Pizza in an hour, everyone?" Cullen suggested.

"Sounds perfect!" shouted Adam.

"I guess it's settled. Now let's hurry up because I'm starving," whined Jared.

I was about to head over to my own locker room when Seth stopped me. "Hey, do you want to ride to Broadway's together?"

"Sure, I'll drive. Meet me in the hallway here in a few minutes. I'm just going to wear sweats since we're just going for pizza," I laughed.

"I'm doing the same," Seth replied with a smile. "Well, I guess I'll see you in a few."

I left the locker room and headed over to my own. I quickly showered and threw my hair into a low ponytail. I decided to leave my stuff in my locker instead of dragging it with me. I'd just get it at practice the next day.

I grabbed my phone and saw that I had a text from Easton. I sighed to myself but decided to look at it anyway. Before the game, Easton had sent me a simple good luck text. Even though we hadn't really talked since our fight, we had still sent each other good luck texts before the other's games. It was something we had always done, and we'd never missed sending a text before. I guess even a fight couldn't change that.

I opened the most recent text from Easton, and it read, Congrats on your first college goal. I was watching on TV. We need to talk.

I was glad he had texted me about my goal, but I wasn't too thrilled about the 'we need to talk' part. I still had no desire to either speak with or see Easton after the way he had spoken to me. It had been eight days since our fight, yet I still wasn't really ready to talk about it. I didn't know which Easton would show up if we decided to meet, the old Easton or the one I had fallen in love with. To be honest, I didn't really want to find out, either.

I didn't reply to Easton's text before shoving my phone in my pocket. I left the locker room, and Seth was already waiting for me in the hallway.

"You ready to go?" Seth asked me.

"Yup, I'm ready," I replied. Neither one of us said anything on the way to my pick-up, but once we were inside, Seth broke the silence.

"Ty, are you okay?" he asked seriously.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why?" I replied.

"Cullen said you and Easton got into a fight. I was waiting for you to tell me yourself, but I can't stand seeing you like this anymore."

"Seeing me like what anymore?" I questioned.

"Well, for one thing you've seemed unfocused during practice. It's like your mind is somewhere else. You were great in the game tonight, which I found really surprising with the way you practiced all week. You also just have this distant look in your eyes. You seem lost," Seth tried to explain.

"Okay, Easton and I did get into a pretty bad fight. I didn't tell you because I didn't really want to think about it myself. How did Cullen find out?" I asked.

"I'm pretty sure Steph told him," Seth replied.

"Oh yeah, those two have been seeing each other. I forgot about that," I said distantly. "Anyway, when Easton and I last saw each other, we got into a fight about not seeing each other enough. Easton tried to blame it on me saying I didn't ever make time for him, but I pointed out that I was always the one going places to see him. Then he started saying that his schedule and his life were more important than mine because he was a professional hockey player and I wasn't. He was acting... different. He was acting like the person I though he was before I met him, a self-centered, arrogant jerk that only cares about himself."

"I think you should talk to him," Seth stated his opinion.

"But the thing is, I don't really want to talk to him, Seth. I'm scared that the Easton that'll show up with be the old self-centered one and not the one that I know," I admitted.

"Yeah, but you'll never know until you try. I'm not saying that what he said was okay, because it wasn't. You don't deserve to be treated like that. You deserve better. I say that you meet up with him, and if he's still acting like an asshole, you dump him then and there."

"I suppose you're right. I'll never know until I try. I'll text him later tonight," I decided.

"Sounds like a good idea," Seth complimented.

"Thanks, Seth. You're a great friend," I smiled.

"Don't mentioned it," he replied with a small smile.

"Okay, enough about Easton. I'm not going to let him ruin my night of celebration!"

"Good, now let's go annoy the public with our obnoxious hockey team," Seth joked.

About a half hour later, I was seated at a table with Cullen, Seth, Jared, Mitchell, and Adam. We had ordered two large pizzas for our table alone, one supreme and one pepperoni.

"I love Broadway's pizza," groaned Jared with his mouth full.

"That's disgusting, man," laughed Cullen, obviously not serious.

"You know, this is the best possible way to spend a night after a game," I said thoughtfully, staring at my pizza.

"Late night philosophical thoughts with Ty Brady," joked Mitch.

"Oh shut up," I said, kicking him under the table.

"Quit flirting, no dating amongst teammates!" Cullen yelled jokingly.

"I wouldn't dream about dating Mitch," I laughed. "He acts like a five-year-old."

"Hey!" protested Mitch, and the rest of us laughed.

About an hour later, our table was done with the two pizzas and we had already gotten two orders of cinnamon sticks.

"If I keep eating this much pizza, I'm gonna get fat," I said.

"Nah, you're a hockey player, you'll be fine," Adam replied.

"I suppose you're right," I agreed, grabbing another cinnamon stick. "At least I don't get drunk every weekend." Everyone turned and pointedly stared at Jared.

"Hey, I'm getting better," Jared said defensively.

"Sure, whatever you say," Cullen said doubtfully with an eye roll.

"I'm just glad that when I spend time with you guys I can forget all the stressful things going on in my life and just laugh and have a good time," I said, relaxed.

"We'll always be here for you, Ty, no matter what happens," Seth said, looking me straight in the eye. I knew exactly what he was referring to.

"And I'll always be here for you guys, no matter what happens," I replied sincerely. "You're my team, and I'm not going to let anything come between us, nothing and nobody."

"Ty, I have to admit I was skeptical about having a girl on the team at first, but you've really grown on me, on all of us. We're glad you're around," Jared said.

"Thanks," I smiled. "You know, when we're all old, we probably won't remember our record or how many goals we scored. It's going to be the nights like this that we'll remember."

"Well, here's to more nights like this," Cullen toasted, lifting his pop.

"To more nights like this," the rest of us repeated with a laugh, clinking our drinks together.