23. Tell Me Again How It Was Just A Holiday Thing
23
TELL ME AGAIN HOW IT WAS JUST A HOLIDAY THING
SETH
The Battle of Alberta is an institution, and Calgary and Edmonton fans can become pretty fired up towards each other. Any time we play Edmonton, emotions are running hot, and tonight’s game is no exception. We’re at the disadvantage of being on their home ice, but that just fuels our desire to win.
I can hear the crowd screaming while I skate to the bench door during a line change and take a quick moment to look up in the stands, the atmosphere adding to the adrenaline running through my veins. Currently, the game is tied with a score of two to two. But we’ve still got five minutes left, and now it’s just a matter of which team is the hungriest for the win. I’d really like to avoid going into overtime and lean forward to holler out encouragement when Jenson flies past with the puck, ducking under the outstretched arm of Edmonton’s captain, Dylan White, who slams into the boards before racing after him. Jenson flicks the puck across to Volkov before skating behind the net. Volkov sees the opening and once Jenson is in place, he shoots the puck back to him and Jenson slaps it hard, narrowly avoiding the glove of the goalie, Tatum Billings, and landing it in the net.
The crowd goes quiet save for a smattering of boos and a few cheers from our handful of fans lucky enough to get tickets in enemy territory. Those of us on the bench jump up to high-five our team mates who skate past on the ice. The third line heads to the bench while Linc and I, along with the rest of the first line, make our way out to centre ice.
I look up at the clock. Four and a half minutes left to keep the lead.
Anything could happen in four and a half minutes.
I’m determined we are leaving this game ahead. The ref skates up beside me, puck in hand, and I crouch with my stick ready, ignoring the aggravating chirping from Dylan, who faces off against me after being double shifted in a desperate attempt to tie the game.
So much about this game is about getting into each other’s heads on the ice, but I’ve always been pretty good at blocking out the noise. Once the puck drops, I scramble for it, shoving Dylan aside and shooting the puck towards Linc. He takes off with it down the ice, streaking towards the net. Dylan races after him, and I follow suit, tracking Linc while he narrowly avoids being slammed into the boards by one of Edmonton’s defencemen.
When I get near him, Linc passes me the puck and I turn to shoot it towards the net. My mind goes into slow motion when I watch the puck heading towards a gap under the blocker. I’m ready to raise my hands in celebration when the puck collides into the post with a bang and I lose sight of it.
Thankfully, Karl Lindberg, our left winger, is the first player to notice the ricochet and reaches past a defender to catch the puck with his glove, dropping it to the ice before firing it back to Linc. As I get in position to the right of the net near Tatum, who is distracted by Linc, I bang my stick down and Linc lets the puck fly. It hits my stick and I smash it into the net before Tatum has a chance to do more than turn his head.
The majority of the crowd is silent while I throw my arms up, bracing myself when my other four teammates on the ice crash into me from all sides.
This is why I love this game. Sending rival fans to the exits early while cursing my name is almost as rewarding as hearing cheers at home.
Despite the crappy ending of last season, I don’t think I could give this up. It’s the only time I want the attention on myself, when our team is victorious.
I get out of media detail today, smirking when Linc gets stuck with dealing with the questions while I follow the rest of the team into the locker room. Checking my phone, a name I haven’t seen in a while shows up. A friend of mine and Linc’s from high school, Ben, lets me know he’ll be in town from Vancouver this weekend. He’ll be at the game on Friday with his girlfriend and wants to know if we can catch up at some stage.
We’ve got a big weekend of team events ahead of us before heading on the road for several away games, but I figure I can squeeze in a catch up with him after the game and send back a quick reply suggesting a bar local to my house. Linc and I are regulars there and they usually keep away any unwanted attention when we show up, so it’ll be a better way to catch up without an audience.
“Did you see the message from Ben?” Linc asks once we’re back on the team bus.
“Yeah, I told him to go to Buck’s Bar after the game and we’d meet them there. Did you know he was dating someone in Calgary?”
“Nah man, but I haven’t heard from him in a while, not since I left Vancouver. Will be good to see him. ”
I go to reply, but my phone lights up, showing off my wallpaper, the photo of Kylie and I together on our final day in London. I’d changed it in a moment of weakness last week.
Linc looks down at it and snorts. “Go on, tell me again how it was just a holiday thing.”
“It was. How can it possibly be anything more? This would take long distance to a ridiculous level.”
“True, but you’re clearly into her more than you’re admitting. I’ve never seen you like this over a woman before. Kylie is awesome, so I think you should try to see if you can make something out of it with her.” Linc points at my phone.
“What are we talking about?” Dean looks over the back of the chair in front of us.
“Seth met an awesome chick while we were away, and I think he should go for it.”
“What’s the problem?” Dean asks, looking at me.
“She lives in Australia,” I reply, and his eyebrows shoot up.
“Jeez. Yeah, I can see why that would be a problem.”
“But,” Linc interrupts, “she’s half Canadian and has family in Calgary. So it’s not like it would be a huge leap to ask her to come here for a while.”
“Even if I knew how to get in touch with her, I can’t ask her to uproot her life,” I say, shaking my head.
“You’re never going to know if you don’t ask. I’m sure if you contacted the tour company, they’d have her email address or something,” Dean replies.
I let my head fall back against the headrest with a groan. “Great, now there are two of you. Look, Kylie and I agreed it was just a holiday thing. Just drop it, okay?”
“Whatever. All I know is that she got you to jump out a fucking plane, man. You wouldn’t do that for just any woman.”
“You jumped out of a plane?” Dean looks stunned.
“You did what, Davidson?” Coach has now joined the conversation from where he sits a few seats ahead, looking pissed .
I shoot him a wary look. “Linc did it, too.”
“Oh nice, that’s loyalty for you,” Linc says in mock outrage.
“If I’m going down, you’re going down with me.”
“No more jumping out of planes, chuckleheads. You’re both too expensive to replace.” Coach levels us both with a glare.
“Aw, thanks Coach, I really feel the love,” Linc says, placing a hand over his heart.
“Watch it, O’Malley.” Coach turns back to the front of the bus.
I smack Linc up the back of the head. “Say it fucking louder next time.”
While Dean and Linc continue chatting, I stare at the photo on my screen. Maybe Dean’s right. Maybe I could ask the tour company for Kylie’s contact details, or at least pass my details on to her. I know they’d been putting together a list of people’s contact information on the last day for those who wanted to stay in touch. Linc and I hadn’t bothered putting our details down, but now I’m regretting it. Why had I been so stupid and not even got her email address? Even if we weren’t going to try and have a relationship, it would still have been nice to stay in touch.
Vowing to look into contacting the company once we got home, I pocket my phone and rejoin the conversation with Linc and Dean, feeling a little lighter at the idea of finding a way to have Kylie back in my life.