Trip to Your Heart - A Hockey Fanfiction

Slump

It had been several games since Pittsburgh had come to town and we were hanging on to our playoff berth by the skin of our teeth. The team had barely scraped by with two points in Toronto and we had gotten only one in each of the two other games we had played in Canada. We were on our way to sweep through California before heading home and something was wrong with the captain.

"Claude?" I asked in a whisper on the plane. Everyone around us was either asleep or had their headphones blasting music.

"Yeah?" He was down and defeated. The stress of the trip showed in the frown on his face and his eyes weren't as bright as they usually were.

"Are you okay?" I stroked his arm.

"I'm fine," he sighed, "I didn't get hit that hard."

"No, I wasn't talking about the hit; I know that he didn't follow through. I was talking about you. Is everything okay? It seems like something is weighing on you and it is affecting your game. I just want to know if there's anything I can do to help," I smiled softly.

"Do you love me?"

"Of course, G. Why do you ask?" My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

He sighed again and ran his hands through his hair and pulled them down his face. "I just worry sometimes..."

"That I don't love you?" I bit my lip to hide the fact that I was upset. I thought that we were okay. I told him every day that I loved him; I was there for him through the good times and bad, and I knew when to talk about the game and when not to depending on how it went. I thought he loved me, too, but now my confidence was wavering.

"Yes, err- well, no. No. I know you love me," he said. I couldn't hold back the sigh of relief. "I still worry, though... About other things."

"Like what?" I encouraged.

"....Like maybe you love someone else, too," the words tumbled out of his mouth, and he almost tripped over them trying to get them out so fast. I opened my mouth to deny it, but he continued before I could speak. "I don't know. And give me a minute, please, this is difficult to say," he looked at me imploringly and I closed my mouth and nodded. "I don't know who it is if you do love someone else, but I could probably take a guess. And I don't want this to be a competition, Stella; he and I compete enough on the ice. But if you wanted to take the time to find out if you loved him, I'd be okay with that. I don't want to lose you, and God, it would kill me if I did. If I lost to him..." He trailed off. His entire body was tense with frustration and several other emotions flickered across his eyes.

"Claude..."

"I couldn't handle losing to him again," he was more talking to himself than to me. 

"Claude, wha-"

"Sidney Crosby has taken so much away from me already-" with that I couldn't help but laugh. "Stella," he whined, "Stella, I'm being serious right now." The pain and conflict was clear in his deep, rich voice.

"I do not love Sidney Crosby," I gasped between bouts of laughter.

"Oh, thank God," he sighed and relaxed into the seat.

"Seriously?" I demanded.

"What?" Claude turned his head toward me.

"That's it? That's what has been bothering you this whole time? You've been in a scoring slump because you thought I was in love with Sid?"

"That was not the only thing-"

"But it was part of it?"

"Well, yes," Claude conceded.