CHAPTER THIRTY
Oh dude, you’re a fucking idiot
JAKE
Everything is not fine.
Why?
I’m nursing one hell of a hangover and feel like I could vomit all over the ice at any second. If Coach knew how much I drank last night and how shitty I’m feeling now, he never would’ve put me in the game.
After yesterday’s win, the team decided to celebrate. It started off as wings and beer, but then we somehow ended up doing shots until two in the morning.We went harder than I expected, but hey, it’s the end of the semester and we’re about to go on winter break.Who really cares about the last game before the holiday. With exams starting this week, most of these guys have class on their mind, not how well we’re going to play against a team that shouldn’t even be in our division.
New Hampshire has lost almost every game of their season, including last night. But if I would’ve known that they were going to play like a fire was lit under their ass, then maybe I wouldn’t have had those last few shots. I should’ve gone home at a reasonable hour like Nate.
Nate, being the responsible young adult that he is, tried getting us all to leave once the Boston game was over, but the team was pretty unanimous on our decision. Nate left us alone with our consequences, and fuck am I feeling regret today. Eli followed him shortly after, trying to make a good impression as the assistant captain.
I wasn’t expecting to stay out as late as I did, but Caroline showed up with a few of her friends, and we lost track of time.
The buzzer sounds, ending the first period.We’re up 1–0, most of us not playing as well as we should. Sure, we’re up by one point, but a lot can change in the blink of an eye.
I’m sure Coach won’t let us hear the end of this one.
I skate over to the bench, following the rest of my teammates into the locker room. If Wilson wasn’t in the locker room with us, I’d be hacking into a garbage can by now. But I need to play it cool.
“What the hell is going on out there? Huh?” Coach’s voice is too loud for my pounding head. “Last night we beat them three–nil. And today everyone is skating around as if your skates are filled with cement. Wake the hell up!”
The room fills with groans—no one is impressed by how we’re playing, but none of us are going to tell Coach why we’re doing so poorly.
“Captain? Do you have any inclination as to why we’re playing like shit?”
Nate’s eyes scan across the room, internally debating whether he should come clean and betray his teammates or shove it under the rug.
“No, Coach. But I’m sure everyone’s going to wake up and get their shit together.” The tone of Nate’s voice is enough to get everyone to sit up straight. Dad’s mad.
When Nate gives us orders, we listen.
“You’re damn right! And if you don’t, expect brutal practices when you all get back from winter break.”
Coach takes a second to look at each of us. When his gaze lands on me, for a second I see disappointment in his face. At least I’m doing my part and keeping the puck away from the net, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t come near our zone more than once in the first period.
“Have a drink of water, take a shit, I don’t care what you do, but in ten minutes when you get back on that ice, you all better have your heads screwed on straight.”Wilson smacks his clipboard onto the bench next to him and storms out, the rest of the coaching staff following close behind.
“What the hell? You guys promised if you stayed out late, it wouldn’t affect your game.”
“Sorry, Dad,” Levi pipes up from the corner, deep bags under his eyes. He looks as pale as the ice.
Last night he left with Caroline, and I think the two of them might be seeing each other, but it’s not my place to say anything ’cause it’s not my business.
“How late did you guys stay out?”
“I came home around eleven. The rest of these idiots decided to go a little too hard last night. I think it was all the female attention they were getting.”
“Coming from you, Murphy? You had Jasmine’s tongue down your throat half the night.”
“Yeah, but at least I left before you, Seb.”
My head throbs again. Maybe if I rub my temples hard enough, the pounding will stop.I grab two small pills from my bag and toss back the ibuprofen with some Gatorade—blue because every other flavor sucks.
“Shep, I thought you were going over to my sister’s place last night to see the girls?”
A loud gasp comes from our left—a freshman, Seth Donnelly, is sitting on the bench with his mouth wide open. “Jake’s screwing around with your sister and you’re letting him live?”
“Donny, how dumb are you?” Eli throws a towel at his head, which he dodges at the last second.
“Everyone knows Jake’s seeing Nichols, you idiot. She’s my sister’s roommate.”
“ Oh .” Seth looks like a lightbulb just lit above his head. “Sorry, Captain.”
I shake my head at him. The kid is speedy on the ice, but not as fast at keeping up with what’s going on around him.
“It was too late by the time we were done, so I just came home and tried to get some sleep before the game.”
“I thought she called you around midnight and asked you to go over?” Kieran pipes up from next to me.He gives me a conniving smirk, knowing the guys will never let me hear the end of this.
“ Woah woah woah. You chose to stay out with us over going over to your girlfriend’s?” Levi facepalms, dragging his hand down his face. “Oh, dude, you’re a fucking idiot.”
“No, she was having a girls’ night. I didn’t want to intrude.”As soon as the words leave my mouth, I realize how stupid I sound.
I am an idiot.
I should’ve gone over last night. I should’ve left the damn bar and my friends.
One of the other seniors on our team, Trevor McAvoy, sighs loudly. “Oh, Sheppy. If my girl called me and asked me to come over—I’d be there no questions asked.”
“Sheesh, okay, sorry. If you haven’t noticed, I’m not used to being in a relationship.”
McAvoy shakes his head. “Yeah, not gonna lie when I heard you and Vanessa hooked up, I was pretty shocked. I’m surprised you gave up the game.”
I wasn’t expecting to get a girlfriend in my last year of college. I always thought that I’d settle down after enjoying my time being single. Looking at my life now, I’m happy I changed my mind.
Nate starts hitting his stick on the ground, gaining everyone’s attention.
“All right, enough about Jake’s love life. We don’t have time to discuss how hopeless he is, we need to get back on the ice. Move your asses.”
We all hustle back out onto the ice, prepared for whatever happens next, a new fire lit under our asses.
The second period flies by.Wilson decides to do shift changes constantly , hoping that it’ll give us a second wind and take a lead bigger than we had last night.
We make sure to time our switches perfectly, so we don’t get a penalty for too many men on the ice. That shit is the fucking worst, e specially if you have some freshmen who don’t clean their ears out and can’t hear a damn play.Coach’s strategy works, and Levi scores another goal for us before the buzzer goes off.
We spend our fifteen-minute break listening to Coach go over which plays we’re going to make, and something about if we don’t win by more than three, he’s going to play Taylor Swift at every practice.Most of the guys groan about that, but Tay and I are good friends. Mainly because that’s all Vanessa listens to in the car.
Damn , I can’t wait to see Vanessa after this game. Hopefully she’s not too mad that I didn’t stop by last night.
As we walk back on the ice, I scan the crowd for her. Tucked to the side, near where the Zamboni comes out, she’s holding onto her camera, and it looks as if she’s scrolling through her photos.
I can’t wait to give her the present I got her for Christmas. After her favorite tote bag broke, I’ve been on the hunt for something to replace it, and I finally found something. She’s probably going to lose her mind when she opens it.
The third period starts off rough. And by rough, I mean I got tossed into the boards twice and the second time nearly knocked the wind out of me. Whatever distraction I was able to cause allowed us to regain control of the puck and Nate scored another goal.
After face-off, Nate passes the puck back to me. I take control, because fuck it, I deserve to have some fun after that hit.
The defensemen on New Hampshire seem to have smartened up overnight, because they’re both prepared for me to barrel down center ice to them. Instead, I look over my shoulder and see Levi close behind—open. I whip the puck back to him, dodging one of New Hampshire’s defensemen. I watch as he goes flying into the boards.
I hope Ness got that on camera.
Levi whistles, catching my attention. Nate and Sebastian have now joined us, and I fall back, idling the line at center ice. I see an opening, and luckily so does Levi. He skates around the player blocking him, tossing the puck to me, as I have a clear shot into the net.
Within seconds the puck is in my possession, and with a quick flick of my wrist, I send the puck flying past the goalie, right into the mesh of the net. Suddenly it’s 3–0 and we only have a few short minutes left. This feels very déj à vu.
Now that most of us have hit our second, or third wind, we’re ready to really push. With only a few minutes left, we completely take over.We act as if we’re all starved wolves and the puck’s a piece of meat. We do not let it out of our sight. And we do no t let the other team take what’s ours.
I glance up at the clock as it ticks down, less than a minute remaining in the game.
Eli takes possession of a rejected goal, passing it back to Nate to take down the ice. Levi is right next to him, and McAvoy, who switched with Seb, glides past them, open for a pass. Nate shoots it over to McAvoy who passes it over to Levi. Levi swings around the net, passing back to McAvoy, who is now open and on the opposite side of the goalie—who’s so lost that his attention is nowhere near Trevor.
He shoots and scores the final goal of the night, finishing 4–0.
The guys skate over to Trevor, tackling him as the rest of our team joins from the bench.
It must suck being on New Hampshire’s team tonight. I definitely wouldn’t want to be on that bus ride home.We’ve all been there before, tucking our tails between our legs and listening to our Coach bash on us and our performance for hours, but that’s what made us a better team. Maybe it’ll be a learning moment for them.
We head out to the locker rooms as the crowd starts filing out of the bleachers.
I change and shower faster than normal, washing only my body and letting the water run through my hair. I can wash my hair later, hopefully with Vanessa in the shower with me. Maybe she’ll even let me use some of her shampoo.
As I make my way through the arena, trailing my hockey bag behind me, I scan the lobby for that familiar brunette. I pass by anxious family members and friends patiently waiting, until my eyes finally land on those gorgeous green eyes. The only reason I can see them from this far away is because of those damn glasses. I fucking love them though. They make her eyes seem two times bigger than they are, but I don’t care because I get a closer look at those beautiful evergreen irises.
I swear her gaze pulls me to her because within seconds I’m halfway across the room.
“Hey, angel girl, enjoy the game?”
She drops her bag onto the ground as I pull her into me, inhaling that sweet coconut scent.
“You guys were great tonight. I mean, you always are, but two shutouts in a row? Kieran must be on cloud nine.”
I look around the lobby to try to find him, he must’ve snuck out right after me.
“So, what’s the plan for tonight? Wanna go back to your place? We could go to mine, but Eli invited some of the guys back to the house.”
“I wanted to talk to you about something first—” A group of guys from the football team walk over to us, interrupting midconversation.
“Hey, man, great fucking game.” Their captain, Jeremy Fields, tells me.
“That was a wicked goal.”
“Great way to end before the break.”
I smile and clap hands with a few of them. “Yeah, thanks guys, appreciate it. I’ll check you guys at the New Year’s party, yeah?”
“See ya later, Shep! Can’t wait to see you on the big screen next season,” Fields calls out before leaving the arena.
I fix my attention back on Vanessa. Her arms are crossed over her chest, giving me the vibe that she’s not too happy.
“Sorry about that, what did you want to talk about, angel girl?”
She takes her bottom lip into her mouth before speaking. “Actually, I was going to ask if we could reschedule? I have a lot of studying I need to do. Maybe we can meet up this week in between exams?”
I can tell by her body language that something is up.At times like this, I wish I had mind-reading abilities.
“Is everything okay, Ness?”
Her eyes pan behind me then land back on me before she answers. “Yeah, everything’s fine. I’ll message you later, okay?”She stands on her tiptoes, placing a kiss on my cheek before slinging her backpack over her shoulder and leaving the arena.
Somehow I have a feeling that everything is far from fine. Most times I can read Vanessa’s emotions without her even saying a word, but today I’m off my game. Maybe Levi knows what’s bothering her. The two of them have gotten a lot closer over the semester.
“Brody!” I call out to him, jogging to catch up as he exits the front doors.
“Shep, what’s up?” He fist-bumps me and motions for me to follow him to the parking lot. I pull my hockey bag behind me, falling in step with Levi.
“Have you talked with Vanessa lately?”
We reach Levi’s SUV, and I toss his bag into the back as he opens the trunk door.
“Nichols? No, not really. I haven’t spoken to her since last night.”
“Last night?”
He slams the trunk closed, pulling his phone out of his pants pocket. “Yeah, she messaged me at, like, one in the morning. Just asking if I was still at the bar with you.”
That’s odd. Why didn’t she just text me and ask if I was still there?
“That’s it?”
“Yup. I told her that we were going to stick around for a little longer. I invited her out, but she didn’t respond.” Levi eyes me up and down, clearly noting my off-kilter expression.
When it comes to having a girlfriend, I feel like I know nothing at all.
“Why, what’s up?”
I shake my head. “Nothing. I think I’m reading too much into something.”
“Maybe Nichols is just stressed out. It’s exam season, and our prints got messed up in the lab over the weekend, so she’s been freaking out about getting her project finished on time. Either way, take the girl out for a night, get her mind off everything and I can guarantee she’ll be putty in your hands, brother.” He taps me on the shoulder as he moves to climb into his car.
“Okay, yeah. Thanks, Brody.”
He puts his hand to his forehead as if he’s saluting me. “Anytime.”