Tape to Tape

Chapter 4

We were doing a scrimmage, this time with a crowd of fans watching us. Probably not the best time for half the team to be hungover, though. The loud roars of the crowd cheering us on made everyone's headaches worse.

Everyone but mine, at least. No drinking means no hangover.

Beside me, Will and Julia were skating around, warming up. Julia didn't have much to drink, but Will was clearly uncomfortable in the bright lights, stumbling once in a while and cursing under his breath.

We were just skating in circles around the rink, smiling and waving at fans. I smiled at a family by the window and gave their son a high five through the glass. It was so fun being back on the ice, especially with the crowd cheering you on.

"It's fun, isn't it?" I heard Auston ask Julia as I skated up to them. We were all headed towards our bench, waiting for Coach Babcock to give us instructions. We were going to get split up into two teams. Hopefully, my team would be win.

"Alright guys, you know the drill. Kick some ass but be careful. For some of you guys, this is your first impression on our fans. Don't do anything dumb!"

I watched as he listed names for each team. He was going through each position and dividing the players. Next up were forwards. That meant that my name was going to get called.

"Feds, blue!" he called out. I smiled and skated over to grab a blue pinny. They were kind of uncomfortable and way too small to wear over our jerseys, but it helped the fans keep track of the teams. I skated over to join Mitch, who was a right winger. We watched as coach continued to call out names.

"Miller, red!"

I watched Julia grabbed a pinny and skated up to Auston, giving him a big high five. The crowd cheered incredibly loud for her—most of our younger and female fans were super supportive of her. I did catch a few people rolling their eyes, though.

Screw them, I thought. Just wait until they see how good she is.

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"Feds!"

I received the puck and quickly made my way down the rink, weaving between all the other players. I saw Mitch standing off to the side, ready for my pass.

I swiftly sent the puck towards him, but it never ended up at his stick. Instead, it had been intercepted by a short, speedy skater.

Julia, fuck!

I caught up to her, attempting to get the puck back. I skated in front of her and got ready, but I wasn't sure how hard I would have to body check her to get the puck. We made eye contact, and I swear she winked at me.

She made a sharp turn towards the boards to get around me, so I lunged. However, instead of crashing into her, I just flew against the wall, my body crashing into the side of the rink.

She had quickly turned the other way last second, outsmarting me. I spun around and watched her take her shot and score.

"Sorry, Ryan!" she called out to me as she whizzed back to the other side of the rink, blowing me a kiss. I groaned as I felt some soreness on my ribs. They were definitely bruised.

I shook it off as I skated back into the game. Rolling my shoulders, I knew that this would be a tough one with Julia on the other team. But a part of me was happy that in the end, this was just a scrimmage, and in a real game, she would be on my side.