meant to be • adam banks

chapter fifteen

Around ten minutes pass before I hear the door open, and I put on a straight face as quickly as possible. "Adam?" I hear a female voice call out. "Are you in here?"

"In my room Jules." I call back, breathing a sigh of relief upon realizing it's not Ella or one of her friends. "I'll be out in a second."

I throw my suit jacket back on and walk into the common room, then take the seat next to her on the couch. "Aren't you supposed to be in lunch right now?"

"I could be asking you the same thing." she responds with a tone that makes me realize she's not going to be taking any of my shit. "You realize you can't run away forever, right?"

I sigh and run a hand through my hair. "I have no idea what you're talking about Jules."

"Oh don't give me that." she says, giving me a disapproving look. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. Are you going to bail on the game later because she'll be in the crowd? Because you're playing him? Or are you going to toughen up, be the star everyone knows you are, and not let it bother you?"

"Easier said than done." I mumble, looking down at my feet. "I don't know what I'm going to do when I see her wearing his jersey, with his number on it."

"Adam, are you serious?" she asks, very obviously done with me. "Why would she do that at a home game, knowing all the drama it would cause? You've got to start using your common sense dude. Not that you deserve to know after acting like this, but she's rooting for us. And for you."

"I doubt it." I answer with a sarcastic laugh, which causes Julie to slap me on the shoulder. "What the fuck was that for?"

"Adam, you're her best friend." she insists. "Despite everything that's happened between you guys over the years, she still considers you to be her best friend. You of all people should know that."

"Well she's not mine." I tell her coldly. "Not after this. I'm not sure if you know this or not, but best friends don't do this to each other."

At that, she stands up and walks towards the door. "Whatever, I'm done. Sorry for trying to help you."

When the door slams shut behind me, I can't lie and say that I don't feel bad for snapping at her. This whole situation has made me so angry, and I guess I've forgotten that my friends are genuinely just trying to help me.

After sitting in the silence for a few more minutes, I make a note of two things in my head. The first one, apologize to Julie in the locker room and thank her for her help. It helped way more than I thought it would, even if I didn't want to admit it.

And the second... Alex Larson has no idea what's about to hit him.

~

I can faintly hear the music thumping and the crowd cheering as I stand in the hallway, waiting behind Charlie for him to start leading us onto the ice. Once he gets the okay from our rink manager, we walk through the doors and into the arena.

We're met by deafening cheers as we make our way down the runway, and as I step onto the ice, I feel a sense of calm wash over me. There's just something about the cold wind zipping past me as my teammates fly by and the feel of my blades beneath me that brings me peace, no matter how stressed out I may be.

Once our warmup is done and the national anthem has been sung, I take my spot at center ice for the face-off. It's hard to hear the ref over the crowd, but that's why Friday night games are my favorite. The atmosphere is always something else, and I can't wait to see how college will compare to this.

I cleanly win the face-off and get the puck back to Dean, who starts an attack from the back. He skates it into Hill-Murray's zone before passing it to Fulton, who then starts to work it around the five of us. I quickly skate to the front of the net and make myself open, banging my stick on the ground in an attempt to get Guy's attention.