crossways: a jack hughes story

chapter 11

you wake up the next morning to the sound of your phone alarm going off. it's a monday morning, the last week of your classes for this semester. you were one week away from it being summer, and you have a long week of finals coming up, so you spend your morning studying until your first class at 10 am.

around 9:30, jack texts you your plane ticket to new jersey and your ticket for the game. you see he got you seats right behind the bench.

you thank him and he says no problem. 

after a long week of studying, taking your final exams, and more studying, it's time for you flight to new jersey.

you land at around 2 pm, and jack is waiting to pick you up. he hugs you and drives you to his apartment.  you've never seen it, so you're pretty excited.

during the drive, jack asks you how the end of school went, and you ask him how the season is going.

"not so good, we can't even get to the playoffs, i love this team but we just can't seem to improve." jack says.

you try to comfort him, and his mood seems to improve as you get closer to his apartment.

you walk inside, and it's really nice. you can tell he pays good money to live here.

"well, here it is. i tried to tidy up." jack says.

"it looks great. i love it." you say.

his apartment has one bedroom, a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room, a laundry room, and a giant balcony with a view of the city. he lives on the 8th floor of the 12 floor apartment complex.

you spend the rest of the day just catching up, and just relaxing on the couch. you two go to a casual dinner. jack lets you pick the restaurant, so you choose a local sushi restaurant.

you get back from dinner around 8. you plop down on the couch as jack goes to the bathroom.

he walks out and sits down next to you on the couch.

"oh by the way, i invited luke to the game too, if that's okay. he wanted to come to a game and he just finished school as well, his flight comes in at 6 am tomorrow." jack says.

"oh yeah that's fine, is he gonna sit with me?" you ask.

"yeah if that's fine with you?" jack asks.

"yes that's fine, now i won't have to sit alone." you laugh.

jack laughs with you and cuddles with you on the couch. you both go to bed around 11, as he has to wake up early to pick up luke from the airport and go to practice. 

you wake up around 9 am. jack's already gone, so you check your phone. you see a few texts from him; when he got to the airport, when he picked up luke, and when he got to practice. he said luke is watching him practice, there was no time to come back to the apartment to drop luke off and go back to the stadium.

jack won't be back until about 12, so you start to get ready for the day. you didn't pack that much, as you're leaving tomorrow night to go home for about a month, then to jack's for the rest of summer.

you're dressed in your hughes jersey with jeans and your nike blazers. jack and luke get home shortly after, and jack is all sweaty. he looks so cute when his hair is all sweaty, and you start to blush.

you make small talk with luke as jack takes a shower. it's a little awkward, but you get through it. luke looks like jack, and you can't tell if it's a good or bad thing, cause luke's cute.

no zoe, you can't have a crush on your boyfriends younger brother. you keep telling yourself.

jack drives you and luke to chipotle for lunch. you guys mostly talk about hockey.

after lunch, jack has to go back to practice before the game and get ready. he lets you and luke sit in the stands and watch him.

eventually the game starts. luke is sitting to the left of you, and some random lady to the right of you.

the devils are playing the bruins, one of the toughest teams in the league. during the game, jack keeps looking at you from the bench, smiling, waving, and blowing kisses.

it's midway through the second period, and the devils are losing 3-0. jack is on the ice with the puck and he cross checks david pasternak, one of the most physical guys in the league. the refs stop the play to give jack a penalty when all of a sudden pasternak starts punching jack in the face, knocking jack face down. you and luke stand up, alarmed, and you gasp. jack isn't a fighter, he never has been. refs and personnel rush over jack, bending down to talk to him. jack is slow to get up, and once he gets to his knees, you see blood start pouring out from his nose onto the ice. the refs grab pasternak and put him in the penalty box, and jack is escorted off the ice, holding a towel to his bloody nose. both teams are given penalties, and play resumes a few minutes later, but all you're focused on is jack. you watch the personnel check his nose, checking to see if it's broken. you're hoping jack's eyes meet yours, but they never do. you see him walk into the locker rooms with the personnel and you're a nervous wreck.

"i hope he's okay." you tell luke.

"oh i'm sure he's fine, a broken nose at the worst." says luke, unbothered.

jack doesn't come back out the rest of the period. you anxiously wait another 10 minutes for the 3rd period to start. the players come back out and you see jack. he's putting his helmet back on and holding his stick, but his nose is bruised and has a nose strip on it. you wince as it looks like he's in pain.

he sits on the bench and turns around at you and mouths "i'm fine."

you breathe a sigh of relief.

the game ends and the devils lose 3-1. their playoffs hopes have been over, but you still wanted to see them win.

you and luke wait in front of the devils locker room, showing your passes to the security guard. jack walks out and gives you a hug, and nods to luke.

"is it broken?" you ask.

"well it was, they popped it back into place." jack says, still wearing the nose strip.

"eww." you say.

"well this is just to help me breathe, the doctor said i'm gonna get a lot of swelling and two black eyes." says jack, pointing at the strip.

"sucks for you." says luke.

"shut up." jack says.

you get back to jack's apartment around midnight. you're all pretty tired, and luke goes to the couch as you and jack go to his room. you get changed into one of jack's big shirts and jack changes into sweats and leaves his shirt off. he gets into bed next to you and you go on your phones for a few. jack pulls up the play of him getting hurt on the NHL app.

"why are you watching that?!" you ask.

"i wanna see what it looked like, it's not everyday you get punched by THE david pasternak." jack says. you giggle as jack puts his phone on the charger.

he says goodnight and gives you a quick kiss. you put your phone on the charger too and pull the covers over your shoulder.

you wake up to jack and luke yelling at each other. jack isn't next to you, and you pull the pillow over your head. you walk out to the kitchen and see jack and luke playing some video game.

"oh look who's up." says luke.
"you guys woke me up." you say as you cross your arms.
"sorry." jack gives you puppy dog eyes as you roll your eyes and go into the bathroom to take a shower.