no going back | nathan mackinnon

0.6

The drive back to Dartmouth was rather short, which Y/N was partially thankful for. She had to work at the store for a few hours the day they got back, so it gave her a reason to leave early. She hadn't seen much of Nathan since he dropped her off at her house, they hadn't been talking other than a few words of acknowledgement here and there in passing.

It was awkward to say the least.

Y/N knew that she wasn't being fair to him, all Nathan wanted from her was a friendship and because of her own insecurities she was pushing him away. She needed to get her act together and try to make it work.

Which is how she ended up at his front door, holding two old ball hockey sticks and an orange plastic ball in her hand. Knocking on his front door, she was greeted by Kathy who's face immediately upturned into a bright grin upon recognition of what Y/N was up to.

"He's in his room sweetheart." She moved aside to let Y/N in. "Sticks stay outside." she reminded the girl just as she had done many times before when they were kids.

Y/N blushed and nodded, setting the two sticks against the post that help up the front porch, she tossed the ball back and forth in her hand as she made her way through the house- everything was familiar, she passed the various mackinnon picture frames and awards that were hung along the wall as she headed to the stairs case.

Staring up at the steep incline, she glanced down at her boot. Her mobility hadn't exactly been great in the last few weeks, but she knew that she could get up the stairs- she just had to take her time. Which is what she did, taking one step at a time, she held onto the railing and ascended the stairs, finding herself in the landing after a minute or two.

Although she had only been walking for maybe five minutes at the most, from the time it took her to get from her house, across the yard to the mackinnons and then up the stairs- she felt winded.

Catching her breath, Y/N paused for a moment before continuing on and heading to the bedroom at the end of the hall. There it was in all it's glory. Navy blue painted walls and covered in various hockey posters, Nathan Mackinnon's childhood bedroom stood tall.

Nate was laying on his bed, eyes shut with headphones in tapping his foot slightly, with one hand resting across his stomach and the other behind his head- his bicep was on perfect display and Y/N found herself grinning.

She took the orange ball and tossed it across the room, landing on Nathan's stomach. It wasn't a hard enough toss to hurt, but enough to make him jolt and open his eyes. Seeing Y/N standing in his doorway, he took his headphones out and sat up.

"Come on- I wanna show you something." Y/N told him, walking into the room a little bit further.

Nathan pursed his lips, he didn't know if he was up for having her shut down on him again. "What?" he asked, laying back down and closing his eyes.

Y/N huffed, giving him an eye roll as she shoved his legs to the side. "You have to come outside if you want to see." she told him stubbornly. "Please?" she looked at him with the softest gaze and kindest smile, within an instant Nathan was putty in her hands.

They took their time heading back outside, Nathan wanting to go down the stairs first in case Y/N fell- he wanted to be able to catch her in case anything went wrong.

When they got out to her driveway, he noticed that she had set up the hockey net and the sticks as well. He felt a warmness spread through his chest. Looking at her with a smile, he noticed Y/N's slight expression of nerves.

"Whenever we used to argue, we settled it by playing a game... Now im not exactly as agile as I was before- but i figured this would be the best way for us to get our shit together." she looked over at him and furrowed her brows hopefully.

Nathan responded by picking up his old stick that was now way too short, A hockey stick should come up to the bottom of your nose when you were wearing skates, but this one came to about mid chest. "Oh thats so not fair." he pouted playfully.

Y/N chuckled and picked up her own, it was about an inch too small but that was simply because she had finished growing a little bit before Nathan took his growth spurt.

For hours the two of them played in the driveway, taking turns being the goalie and having penalty shots on one another, before they started practicing some hold play- obviously the game wasn't as intense as when they were kids, considering Y/N was still nursing her injury- but the fun was still there.

After they were worn out, the two of them sat on Y/N's front porch, each holding a bottle of beer. The heat and humidity was getting worse so they knew that it was time to call a quits. Staring out at the sunset, Y/N took a sip of the malt liquid. "Are we good now?" she asked, tilting her head as she glanced at nathan.

He had beads of sweat dripping down his face and back, which he made no attempt at wiping away. Resting the cold bottle against his knee, he nodded. "Yeah... were good." he smiled at her.

Y/N nodded. "I was thinking, I don't know how interested you would be- but my mom wanted to step away from the store for a while..." she trailed off. "Her and Dad want to go camping out in Antigonish." she told him.

Furrowing his brows, Nathan sipped from his bottle as he listened to her explain. "And?" he motioned for her to continue.

Smiling faintly, Y/N shrugged. "I don't want to go- so I thought maybe you could help me run the store for a few weeks?" she suggested. "I know you're here for a break, but it would really help me out." she told him. "I'll even put you on payroll." she winked, giving him a slight nudge.

Nathan laughed softly. "Oh yeah? You gonna match my 6 million salary?" he snickered. He was only joking around, but he knew Y/N would get a kick out of it.

"I was thinking more like minimum wage." she laughed. Nathan chuckled softly and shook his head.

"That's okay- You don't have to pay me anything... But yeah- I'll help you out under one condition." he told her.

Raising her brows at him, Y/N looked at him. "And what might that be?" she teased.

Nathan smiled. "I get to take you out for dinner before I go back to colorado." he suggested. "Its not a date- just us going for dinner, my treat." he told her.

Thinking it over for a second, Y/N was actually really happy with that offer, she couldn't pass up the idea of free food- but also getting to spend time with Nate would be great. Hopefully.

"Deal."