The Hockey Player (Matt Sturniolo)

Explain

Matt's POV

I hadn't closed the door to mine and Nate's room when he demanded, "explain yourself"

"Explain what?" I groaned, sitting on my bed, that squeaked. Our rooms cream cement walls screamed prison cell more than a college dorm, but only needed it for sleeping and changing.

"You can fool the others with that crap, but not me" He crossed his arms and frowned. "So, explain"

I surprised myself with that outburst, which flew out of my mouth. The words made the rest of the trip silent. The hypocrisy that I wanted to play with Aurora's feelings wasn't lost on me, but no girl deserves to be targeted by the team. "It needed to stop"

"Yeah" he sat on his bed, then frowned when it squeaked. "Except you ignored it for three years, then explode? That's not like you"

"I know" I ran my hand through my hair and rested my elbows on my knees. If my mouth didn't move, I wouldn't have believed those words came from me either.

"Then why did you cancel the game? Because of Madison?"

"Madison didn't deserve what happened to her, and you would've had the same reaction if it was Ava"

Nate's eyes furrowed. "What happened to Madison was shit. That had to happen, but Aurora? Are you seriously comparing a stranger to my girlfriend?"

That wasn't what I meant, and I definitely didn't fell that way about Aurora. He didn't know that last year, it was Ava. I made the guys remove her for Nate, but never told him to keep team peace.

He smiled and uncrossed his arms. "You like her"

"What? No! She's my way to fuck over Dan this season, which is my business" I said, clenching my fists. "The less guys involved, the better"

"Right, because you staring at her drooling meant nothing?"

He had a point. She had me frozen when I first saw her. Aurora ticked every box. All I needed was time until she gave in.

"That was before I knew she was Dan's sister" I shrugged, like it didn't matter. "That's all she is, Nate. I don't want a girlfriend or a distraction from hockey"

"And you think playing her is the best way to achieve that?" He asked. "Keep telling yourself that's your motive, but you're ready to face reality, I'll be there"

Why were we friends? "It's true" he threw me a look, like he didn't believe anything I said. I turned away and opened my gear bag, then pulled out a brown paper bag with my Mom's writing on it. "This won't be good"

Nate leaned over and we both looked into the container. Both of us gagged at the sight of the burger, or what should've been a burger. "Nope" I said, closing the box. "Let's go find something edible"

"Let me call Ava" he said, pulling out his phone like he hadn't been texting her all day. "I want to let her know we got here"

I rubbed my aching head. That reaction there, was not how I felt about Aurora. And I wasn't adverse to texting her because she blocked my number. Feelings for Aurora? Please. He couldn't have been more wrong.

~

"Get up!" Nate gave me a rude awakening by throwing something at me. A shoe, smacked the wall next to my bed and landed on my shoulder. "Alarm, dude"

I turned off my alarm, then checked my messages. Nothing after I cancelled the guys game. Tough. They could cry in their breakfast and get over it.

With half opened eyes, I got dressed and hoped I didn't put my shorts on backwards. This early hockey training was bullshit. After training, was breakfast, two more hours of training, lunch, an hour of free time, then four hours of special team practice. After dinner, I met with coaching staff to talk about issues or concerns.