Hockey Rivalry

Chapter 22

There's a soft knock on my bathroom door. Maybe it's Lilly. I sit up.

"Logan!" A male voice yells from the other side.

I slide back down into my bathtub.

"Come in!" Toby says.

Logan walks in and shuts the door behind him. He hops up and sits on the sink counter.

"Hi." I say.

"Hi Lia." He smiles.

Toby takes my glasses off my face and wipes them off. He puts them back on.

"Is Lilly with them?" I ask.

Ellie gives me a sad nod. Toby starts petting my head and stroking my tangled hair.

"She, uh, she's upset with you." Ellie says.A tear slips from my eye."She thinks that you didn't trust her enough."

"I'm sorry." My voice breaks.

"You didn't do anything wrong Lia." Toby says trying to comfort me.

"My mom's back." It didn't feel right calling her mom. "Well Raquel." I correct.

"Oh." Ellie says. "Yesterday was not your day." She tries to lighten the mood.

"It certainly was not." I shake my head.

Toby hands me a tub of ice cream and a spoon.

"ice cream?" He asks.

My throat stiffens at the thought of food.

"No, thank you." I say resting my head on his shoulder.

Ellie gives me a concerned look.

"Pretty sure we all saw our Christmas presents out there." Logan says.

"Definitely." I give him a small smile.

"That's a pretty big present for Colton."

"There'a more to it too."

"It's okay Lia. We're here. We'll sit here for as long as we have to." Ellie says.

Toby passes out the ice cream. Logan not having to share with Ellie because I don't want one.

_____

I got dressed. Well kind of. I'm wearing dark grey sweatpants and a red sweater.

Logan had to leave but Ellie and Toby stayed with me.

"I can't believe you got him this!" Toby says observing the signed hockey stick.

There's a knock at my door.

"Hey Merlia." Alex says poking his head into my room. "Dinners ready and uh, moms here with her family."

"Oh I'm starving!" Toby says standing up from my desk chair. Ellie follows behind him but I stay back.

"What's going on little sis?" Alex asks sitting at the edge of my bed. "Boys?" He asks.I just nod my head. I start crying. Alex wraps his arms around me and comforts me. "It's okay Lia. We can go hit pucks at the rink of you want to."

I nod my head remembering how good that felt.

"Lets go eat dinner." I say and we both get up and go downstairs.

My throat stiffens at the sight and smell of food in the kitchen. I don't feel like eating.

Raquel and her family sit on one side of the table on seat left empty for my dad.

Toby and Ellie sit on the other, two seats left empty for Alex and I.

I sit down across from her.

"Merlia, this is Marissa." Raquel points to the little girl. I give the little girl a fake smile. I know who she is.

I don't say anything and stare down at the food in front of me. I don't want it.

"I made it Merlia." Raquel says. Makes me not want to eat it even more. "It used to be your favorite."

Pesto Pasta. I take one small scoop and put it in my mouth. I chew and swallow. I don't want it.

"Merlia. You can be mad at me all you want but I'm here now." Raquel says.

Everyone at the table stops what they're doing. I look up at her.

"I am mad." I say dropping my fork, "you left us. No explanation. You started a new family. You replaced us. You can't just come back a few years later and expect me to call you mom when your ex best friend Maria, my dad's best friends Mr. Davis and Uncle Monty and even Alex all helped raise me. Because you left us. For what? Why did you leave? Was it because my loving dad couldn't buy you that white Range Rover sitting in our driveway? Or the pears sitting on your chest?" My voice keeps raising as I go on. I stand up and tears flow from my eyes, "you are not my mother. I want no relation with you and your family because you abandoned us. You abandoned us for money. But guess what, a castle can feel empty without the right one and a home can most definitely feel like a castle with the right people!" I yell.

Raquel looks at me with her mouth open.

I push my chair in and stomp out of the house. I get in my car and just sit there. I keep punching the horn and it makes me feel better.

Toby, Ellie, and Alex all walk out and get into my car.

"Shall we go to the rink?" Alex asks.

Without any hesitation I buckle my seatbelt, start my car, and drive to the rink.

Which is closed to the public.

_____

"Everything is Just falling apart so fast." I sob.

Ellie is sleeping over. Toby went home.

Ellie and I are in my basement on the couch. My head is resting on Elli's shoulder as she brushes through my hair with her fingers in attempt to soothe me.

"I mean. Who the hell does Raquel think she is stomping back into my life? She's never done anything for us."

"You just have to keep your head up." Ellie says, "like you did when you and Jake broke up. And may I add I never liked him."

I laugh.

"It's okay. Me neither." I say, "but I feel like Jake has changed for the better." I think back to our conversation from yesterday.

"You aren't wrong about everything happening so fast." Ellie says. "You've been there for me through everything so now I'm going to be here for you."

"I just want to know how he's doing." I bring my hand up and wipe my eyes, "if he's as miserable as me or if he's back to sleeping around. I guess he never stopped sleeping around."

"Sing me a Song." Ellie says.

"Only if you sing with me." I say.

"You know I'm not good but I know that you don't like singing alone. So okay."

"Before You Go by Lewis Capaldi." I say.

Then we start silently singing. I feel the lyrics in my heart. Relating to every other word.

Ellie sings happily out of tune but she doesn't care. I stare at the wall. All of our names written on it. When we all knew we had each other. When everything was okay.

Right below our names is "Dream Team".

I've lost everyone.

I lost my family.

My voice breaks when I sing and I stop. I let myself cry.

Ellie continues to sing out of tune. In an attempt to make me at lest smile.

__________
•End•