Fast Break

twelve: secrecy

December

The boys were seeing each other, but it wasn't anything official. It was fun for them. They'd sneak around during school. Find corners to sneak kisses in, they'd only skip periods they could afford to miss. Soon the tension would build as they grew busier.

The only guaranteed time they had together now was  hockey practice and hockey games. They had a game, it was heated as always. This one was worse than usual. Lakewood was wasn't doing so good, 1-3. Matthew was growing more irritated by the second, this game had him seriously pissed off. It didn't help that there was this player antagonizing him the entire time. Christopher noticed how angry he was and intervened.

"Grayson." Christopher said.
"What?" Matthew hissed.
"You might wanna calm down, unless you wanna be thrown in the penalty box." Christopher pushed him gently.
"Yeah, yeah." Matthew rolled his eyes and shrugged it off.

Matthew was fuming. That player got on his last nerve. Matthew was waiting for face off. He was down and ready, when the guy he'd been so angry with, was across from him. He tried to keep his cool. They were chasing the puck when the other player rammed Matthew into the wall. He was used to taking hits but what he said set him off.

"What? Your boyfriend tell you to calm down?" He said.
"That's it." Matthew growled.

He threw his stick, gloves. He grabbed the guy and tarted throwing punches at him, the guy did the same. Matthew landed a good couple punches on this guy, the guy retaliated with a couple himself. Leading the rest of the team to retaliate. Everyone was getting aggressive, even Christopher got caught in the crossfire; he was trying to pull the guy off of Matthew when some other guy wanted to fight. He got a small cut on his cheek, a bruise on his cheek, and a cut on his top lip. While Matthew escaped with a black eye, a busted bottom lip, and a cut in his eyebrow. Matthew was left standing while the guy was laying on the ice; Matthew grabbed his gloves, helmet, stick, and started skating to the locker room. The game was called off and both teams forfeit as a result of their actions. The whole team sat in the locker room as they got reprimanded.

"What the hell happened out there?!" Ms. Alastair yelled at the entire team, as Ms. Penelope and Coach Briggs attended to the teams wounds.
"There will be consequences. Go home, we're running practice early tomorrow, 6 AM sharp. No one will be late. You should all be ashamed." Ms. Alastair hissed as she walked off.

Everyone quickly left the locker room, leaving him and Christopher alone. Matthew sat on the bench in his gear holding an ice pack, disappointed in himself. He threw his skates in his bag and sat there. Christopher walked over and stood in front on him. He placed his curled right index finger under Matthew's chin and lifted his gaze to meet his own, his hair damp and some stuck to his forehead from sweating. Chris placed his thumb on his chin. He maneuvered Matt's head left to right, examining the boys wounds.

"Damn. He got you good." Christopher uttered.
"You should see him..." Matthew spat blood out of his mouth.
"Matt there's blood on your jersey." Christopher was concerned.
"It's not mine." Matthew sniffled.

Christopher took his hand back and sat down next to him. Matthew looked over at him, he was slightly ashamed.

"You okay?" Christopher asked.
"Yeah." Matthew really got a good look at his face. "Oh my god. Chris, your cheek." Matthew faltered as he cupped the boy's face with his hand.
"I-I'm okay Grayson." Christopher winced as Matt stroked his bruised gently.
"I'm going to find that asshole that did this." Matthew seethed.
"No, it's okay. It's just a bruise." Christopher smiled weakly. "What happened?" He asked.
"He pissed me the fuck off." Matthew growled.
"Come on, get your stuff." Christopher chuckled.
"Why?" Matthew asked.
"You don't wanna go for an interesting drive?" Christopher teased. "The backseat of my Impala is calling." He sang.
"Shit, why didn't you lead with that?" Matthew laughed and got dressed so quick.

They were off. Matthew had to call his mom and tell him he'd be home late. However, he skipped the whole "I got into a fight" part.