Tape to Tape

Chapter 5

"You know, Ryan, I would like you a lot more if you had a car," Daniel mumbled as he merged onto the next lane. He was going to drop me off at practice on the way to his class since my car was still in the shop.

"Hey, it's being fixed," I defended myself, bouncing my legs nervously. It was the first real practice back here in Toronto. I wasn't particularly nervous about the hockey part—I was more nervous about seeing Julia and the rest of the team.

After the training camp, there had been a bunch of reports about me and Julia's "sparking romance", which was entirely untrue, and even more about my break down post-scrimmage. Coach Babcock had told me to go easy on my knee until the next practice, but it was hard doing that, especially since this was the week that Daniel decided he wanted to start the house renovations.

I groaned as I thought about seeing the rest of my team and having to listen to them make awkward small talk. Everyone was super cautious around me now and treated me like I was going to break any second. Not only was it annoying, but I never felt weak until everyone started acting like I was.

"Where's the parking lot entrance?" Daniel asked right as we were passing it. I sprung up in my seat and pointed towards it, shouting at him to turn right. Looking at me with wide eyes, he slammed the breaks and yelped, sending me flying into the dashboard.

"Bitch!" he laughed as he slowly reversed the car and turned. I shook my head and chuckled at the cars behind us honking their horns, watching Dan stick his hand out the window and flip them all off. Running a hand through my now messy hair, I quickly unbuckled my seatbelt and hopped out of the car as he pulled over by the entrance. I grabbed all my stuff from the backseat and headed inside, waving Daniel goodbye.

"Good luck Feds! Have fun!" he shouted back at me like an eager hockey mom. I laughed to myself as I walked through the doors, nearly bumping into someone.

"Shit, sorry!" I apologized as I swerved to dodge them. I turned around and smiled apologetically at whoever I nearly hit.

"No worries, Feds," a familiar voice replied. Julia flashed a thumbs up before turning around and heading towards the doors I just came through.

"Wait, Julia!" I called out. She quickly stopped and turned around, raising an eyebrow at me.

"What's up?" she asked, readjusting the bag on her shoulder. I scratched the back of my head, trying to find words that made sense and didn't seem weird.

"I don't know if you know, but there's a lot of stuff going around about us dating. I'm not sure if you care that much but I don't want it to affect our careers, you know? But I also don't want it to be awkward between us with the whole dating thing because I wouldn't personally date you," I rambled. She shot me a weird look before crossing her arms and frowning.

"You wouldn't personally date me?" she repeated.

"Sorry, that's not what I meant. I mean we're not dating, but everyone thinks we are, so I just—" I began, before she chuckled and cut me off.

"I know what you mean, idiot. And it won't be awkward if you're not awkward. Which you are, by the way. So just act like everything's fine and we'll be good," she told me, giving me a reassuring smile. Before I could say anything, she already turned around and walked straight out of the arena, leaving me confused.

"That was a lot of verbal diarrhea," someone from behind me laughed. I turned around and saw Mitch leaning against the wall. I rolled my eyes and chuckled, flipping him off while walking towards him.

"I just don't want it to be weird, you know?" I told him as I swung my arms around his shoulders. We made our way towards the changeroom and got ready for our first official practice with our new team. I was still incredibly nervous but I knew it was going to be good.