reconnect • charlie conway

wheaties

ever since i had announced that i was joining team usa, i had gotten nonstop comments about how i was ruining my broadway career.

but i wholly disagree. i'll have plenty of time to perform, but lord knows i'm not going pro for hockey, which means my time with my team is limited.

i sat next to charlie in tibble's office, listening to music and waiting for tibbles to actually join us. coach sat on the other side of charlie, looking at his watch impatiently.

don had called a team meeting, which he wasn't able to make, apparently.

charlie grabbed my phone to see what i was listening to and laughed,"are you listening to yourself?"

i looked at him with blank eyes, having no idea what to tell him,"i...sound really good."

he chuckled and took one of my earbuds and put it in his ear,"we'll see about that."

i was listening to the matilda soundtrack, after realizing that i actually really missed broadway.

i was glad to be back to my roots, and i know i made the right decision, but that didn't mean i didn't miss what i had.

charlie nodded his head to the beat, smiling lightly,"i don't wanna boost your ego or anything, cause you know i don't like to compliment you-"

i laughed, shaking my head,"i know, and i thank you for keeping my humble."

"just doing my job." he shrugged, and i watched as tibbles walked in.

i took back my earbud, shoving them back in their case, so that i could pay attention to tibbles.

"sorry i'm late, my meeting ran late." tibbles spoke briefly, before ripping the black sheet off of the object in the middle of room.

"hey y'all, that's us!" dwayne exclaimed.

charlie laughed,"and, here i thought, danica's head couldn't get any bigger."

i turned to him and stuck my tongue out,"i'll have you know, my picture was in time's square and it was at least three times the size of this one, so there!"

coach laughed, poking fun at me as he stated sarcastically,"ooh, you showed him."

tibbles ignored the various comments from around the room, starting on a rant,"today is wheaties boxes, tomorrow's action figures, video games, sky's the limit!" he pulled out a box, setting it on top of a table,"now just so everyone knows who you are...try on these."

don pulled out fulton's jersey, revealing it to the room, as julie smiled,"oh, that's so cool!"

"brought to you by the wonderful people at hendrix, for all your hockey needs," he tossed the jersey to fulton,"fulton, there you go," he tossed the next one towards coach, but it ended up hitting me and charlie,"coach. everyone take your own, i'm not gonna give them out to everybody."

charlie sighed, looking contempt at best about the brand adjustment,"that's nice, coach, but we're ducks. this stuff says 'hendrix' all over it."

bombay shrugged, not seeing the problem with it, and trying to explain it to charlie,"well, yeah, they're our sponsors, charlie."

he gave coach a blank look, feeling as though that wasn't a good enough justification,"so what? can't we be the usa ducks? or at least keep our own colors?"

"it's business stuff, charlie," coach stood up, going to talk with tibbles,"don't worry about it."

when coach was far enough away, charlie turned to me,"what do you think about the jerseys?"