Hockey Baby 🏒

••• TWENTY-ONE •••

••• TWENTY-ONE •••
Ashton

    It's been one month.

    One. Whole. Month.

    One month without my best friend and the girl that made every day worth living. I skated on the ice during practice and looked over at Patrick, who was skating on the other side of the rink not even looking at me. I clenched my jaw as I grew more frustrated that he wouldn't talk to me.

    I've tried talking to him and calling him, but he just ignored me. He treated me like I was just another teammate and it killed me. It was even worse when I looked up and noticed Sophie sitting with Christina. She looked even more beautiful than the last time I saw her, but she kept her eyes trained on Patrick.

I was starting to think that maybe after this season, I should try and get transferred to another team since there was no way in Hell they were ever going to forgive me.  "Ash?" I looked away from Patrick and saw Keith staring at me worriedly from the bench. "You alright, dude? You look like shit." He held out a water bottle to me and I took it from him as I shrugged.

  "Same shit, different day." I took a drink from the bottle and glanced over at Patrick once more to see him smiling and waving up at Christina. I watched her smile and wave back at him, but before I could get upset with the fact that he forgave her, I met Sophie's gaze.

    Her mouth parted slightly as her eyes widened in surprise the second our eyes met and my heart pounded so loud that I didn't hear Justin approach me. "Hey, Maverick," He greeted me as he reached behind me for his water bottle. "How are you doing these days?" I reluctantly looked away from Sophie to stare at Justin questioningly.

  "Why do you care?" I asked and Justin chuckled as he raised his hands with a smirk on his stupid face.

  "Whoa, relax, buddy! I'm just trying to check in on my teammate after he got brutally dumped a couple of weeks ago." He said as he looked up at Sophie, but she was staring at me. "Must've been brutal because you've been playing like shit and not even Lincoln wants to talk to you." I glared at Justin, but he just smirked back at me.

  "How about you mind your own business, Thorne." I suggested as I started to skate away with Keith and Justin trailing after me.

  "Sure, I could do that. But, then again, I wanted to let you know that I plan on asking Sophie out now that you two aren't together." I turned around so fast and raised an eyebrow at him as I chuckled in disbelief.

  "Oh yeah? Well, good luck with that, buddy. She's still in love with me and would no way in Hell go out with you."

  "That's not what I heard the other night when she was on the phone with my sister." Justin said as he stood right in front. Keith placed his hand on my shoulder and tried to pull me away.

  "Drop it, Justin," Keith warned and then looked at me. "Come on, Ashton. He's not worth it." I shook Keith's hand off of me and pointed at Justin.

  "Leave Sophie alone." I said sternly and Justin chuckled.

  "Nah, I don't think I will. Now it's my turn to have fun with her and believe me, I'm gonna have her screaming my name by the end of the week." He grinned at me and all I saw was red. I threw my gloves on the ground and punched Justin straight in his face. Justin quickly recovered and went to punch me, but not before Patrick slammed into him and Justin crashed to the floor.

  "Maverick! Thorne! Lincoln! That's enough!" Coach screamed from the middle of the ice and skated towards us angrily.

  "If I ever hear you talking about my sister again, we will beat the shit out of you and Coach won't be there to save you." Patrick hissed as Justin scowled up at us.

  "Are you children done fighting? Or am I going to have to pull you all from playing tomorrow night?" Coach threatened and we all shook our heads. "You're done for today, go home and cool off and I expect there to be no fighting tomorrow." He pointed at us and then skated away.

    I didn't stick around and wait for Patrick to just ignore me. I skated away and immediately went to the locker room. I was pulling my clothes out of my locker when I heard someone walk up to me. I expected it to be Justin trying to start another fight, but to my surprise it was Patrick. "Hey, I, uh, just wanted to say thanks for sticking up for Sophie back there." He said breaking the silence and I nodded as I continued to grab my stuff from my locker.

  "Of course." I closed my locker and started to zip up my bag to head toward the showers, but Patrick stood in front of me blocking my way.

  "You really love my sister?" He asked and I took in a slow deep breath as I nodded.

  "Yes, I really do, Patrick. But, don't worry. She won't talk to me and by the end of the season, I'm going to go play for a different team so you don't have to worry about us ever getting back together." I assured him and started to move around him, but he stopped me again.

  "Whoa, dude. What do you mean you're going to play for a different team? I don't want you to leave." He said quickly, but I just shook my head. "I'm serious, Ash. I don't want you to leave. Playing for the Blackhawks was our dream." He reminded me and I nodded as a lump formed in my throat.

    He was right. It was our dream. But, I just couldn't play here anymore. "The dream was for us to play together for the Blackhawks. We're not playing together, Patrick. You won't talk to me or practice with me! You hate me and so does, Sophie. It's literally killing me every day to come to practice just to be ignored by the two people who mean the most to me in the world. So, I'm leaving after this season and I just want you to know that I'm sorry for hurting you, Patrick. I'm not going to stay here and ruin your dream of playing for the Blackhawks because I'm in love with your sister." I finally walked around him but instead of heading towards the showers, I exited the locker room and walked straight towards my car.