Love Rivalry (A Gabriel Landeskog and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Fanfiction)

Chapter 39 - Fate

Ryan's POV

I pulled my car key out of the ignition and opened the door, greeted by the cold Edmonton night.

Tonight, I was getting together with some friends that I used to play in Red Deer with. We were going to a bar in downtown Edmonton to catch up and have a few drinks.

I walked inside and saw a couple of my old teammates sitting at the bar watching highlights from the Oilers' game from the night before, where we beat the Stars 3-1.

I caught their eyes and they stood up.

"Nuge! What's up, buddy?!" One of them said as I approached the bar.

"Nothing much, how about you guys?" I asked, high-fiving both of them. A few more guys showed up and we exchanged memories, jokes, and just had a great time.

They asked me about how the NHL was. How the pace was different from playing junior. How the NHL grind differed from a junior season, and other things like that.

Time flew and before any of us realized it, it was already 2:00 A.M.

Closing time.

We all walked outside, the Edmonton air still cold and windy as everyone went their own ways.

I got into my truck and turned the key in the ignition.

It wouldn't start.

I tried again and again but my truck wouldn't turn over.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I muttered, getting out of the car. I popped the hood open to try and figure out what the problem was. I figured the battery had died. I pulled my phone out of my pocket to call Taylor and have him come help me jump the car.

I kept pressing the home button, but it wouldn't bring up my lock screen.

"Dead." I said, angrily tossing it into the passenger's seat, slamming the door shut.

I leaned up against my truck, trying to figure out how the hell I was going to get home.

No truck, no phone, no help.

It was beginning to look like I was walking.

I tried plugging my car charger into the cigarette lighter, but since that ran off the battery, it wouldn't charge my phone.

I locked my truck and took my car keys with me and began the long walk back to the house.

The house was about a twenty-five minute drive itself, so a walk would be somewhere close to an hour.

My body was already tired and the cold weather would only cause soreness. Regardless, I kept on going.

I walked from street to street, trying to take in some of the downtown scenery to pass the time.

Then I came across a place that I was familiar with.

A place that held a special spot in my heart.

The park that Ashley and I went to on our first date, five months ago. I decided to walk along the trail, seeing that a short detour wouldn't really matter. I walked up the path, seeing the trees that we're filled with different colored leaves on the fall, now barren and empty, but will re-emerge as spring approaches soon.

The leaves that covered the ground have been replaced with powdery snow, as a few street lamps light the darkened park.

I look over to the pond, now frozen, seeing the cuts in the ice from skates during the dog days of winter.