Skate On {NHL Fanfic}

Chapter 26: Secret Unveiled

CHAPTER 26: Secret Unveiled

“You nervous?” I asked John, as a few other member from the Canadian team were entering the gym.

I was here for a little while, not sure why. It was almost a habit to get up early and get to the gym, but I knew that today would be something different. It was the golden game, USA vs CANADA. It broke my heart to think that one of those teams were gonna lose, but whichever it was, they were gonna survive.

I reminded John that this was after-all only a game and that he should just play the game he loves so much. “You understand me?”

He nodded, but I could tell he was a bit distracted. I think a lot of them were. It was quite normal and I understood the pressure they were going through. He shook his head, “What are you even doing up?”

“I’m here for you.” I put my hand on his shoulder, but he didn’t look very convinced.

He frowned, and stared at me, unconvinced.

“Okay, I couldn’t sleep.” I finally said, removing my hand from his shoulder and walking through the gym, trying to keep up with him.

He nodded, throwing me a sideway glance. “I see, and you came to the gym? Of all places, you chose the place that you can't do anything because of your shoulder?”

“Yeah, I know. It's the first place I thought of, to be honest."I grinned.

He smiled over at me, sitting on the edge of one of the benches that allowed you to lift weights. "Understood. How's the shoulder feeling?"

"Still the worst.” I sighed. “You know what the doctor told me last night?”

“Is it bad news?” He asked, a bit worriedly.

“For me, not necessarily for you.” I said, and he nodded. “It looks like I’m gonna be off the ice a bit longer than I had expected. I may only start skating again this summer.”

He grimaced, already understanding how I was feeling. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

“I’m trying to be okay with it.” I said to him. “I just have so much going on at the same time, all I want right now is to go back to school and continue with what I wanted to do in the first place.”

“You gonna explain that to me?” He asked.

I took in a deep breath, and took a seat on one of the benches in front of him, making sure there weren't too many people around us. Not that much. I frowned and looked up at him, “Do you really want to know before you’re game?”

“I do. It’ll really relax me, to be honest.” He looked up at me, and waited.

“So you don’t know at all… how my father died, or even my mother, right?” I asked him.

He shook his head. "I've only heard parts of it."

I took in a deep breath. “Okay, it’s not an easy subject, but I feel like you need to know to really understand, but you have to promise me, you don’t tell anyone about this, okay?”

He nodded, “Of course.”

I took in a deep breath and tried to think of how I could explain this to him, without starting to cry of course. “My father was at the arena, in Ottawa, I think and he was teaching a few junior players in a camp. It was development camp in the beginning of the year and my father loved getting involved in that. Eventually at some point, it got a bit too intense for him and… he had a cardiac arrest. He just fell on the ice and he never woke up.”