Friday
I woke up to my phone ringing. Noah's name was across the screen, and it was 6:30am.
I answered annoyed, "Noah Hale why the fuck are you calling me at 6:30 in the morning on a Friday?"
"I'm bored"
"I was sleeping"
"Sorry, I got up for practice and then your dad sent out a text saying practice was cancelled today so now I'm bored. Do you want to hang out?"
"Wait rewind, my dad cancelled practice? Why?"
"It's actually pretty common the day before big games. It's the opening season game tomorrow, so he gave us the day off. Speaking of, you're going right?"
I smiled to myself, "yeah I'll be there. You know, for my dad and stuff"
For my dad and stuff?? Nice Scarlett, smooth.
"Right.. well now that you're up, do you want to go get breakfast or something?" Noah said breaking me out of my thoughts.
"Whatever, sure. I need to get ready though so don't show up for atleast another 15 minutes."
"You get 5." he said and hung up.
I jumped out of bed and put on the first outfit I could find; black leggings and an oversized Golden Knights sweatshirt with some old air forces. I combed through my hair and threw it up in a messy bun before applying some light mascara. For someone who's about to go out to breakfast with Noah Hale, I look like a homeless person.
In true Noah fashion, he was texting me 5 minutes later that he was outside of my dorm building. I grabbed my wallet and keys and walked down to his truck.
The 20-minute car ride was filled with small talk and comfortable silence. Noah drove us to a café a few towns over. It was cute and almost completely empty. How he knows all of these secret places to go is beyond me but I'm not complaining.
"Are you nervous? About the game tomorrow?" I asked him as we looked over the menus.
"Nah, not really. I mean the Wolverines are a force for sure, but I think we're looking pretty good this season. Especially with Whitlock and Parker being sophomores now and a little more comfortable on the ice, we should be fine."
I nodded; my dad had given a similar answer when I asked him earlier this week. Our waitress came over to take our orders and shortly after our food was brought to our table.
As we both ate, we talked more about the game and Noah told me about some of his responsibilities as captain. Overall, it was a laid-back breakfast and we spent most of it just talking about nothing specific.
After Noah dropped me back off at my dorm, the other girls were all still asleep, so I decided to get a head start on some homework that was due Sunday night. All I had to do was write a personal essay for my English composition class. It only had to be 3 pages long and I was able to finish it in a few hours.
We spent the rest of the day inside since it had started pouring around 9am and, so far, hasn't stopped. We were all cuddled up in mine and Nat's room, per usual, and were on our third movie on the day.
It was only 10pm, but I was already ready for bed. The game tomorrow started at 2 but if we wanted good seats, we needed to be there by 1. Which meant we needed to leave our dorms at 12:30 to walk over. And with all of us needing to shower and get ready, I'm sure it'd be an early morning. We finished our movie, and Chloe and Bella went to their room for the night. Not much later, I was sound asleep to the sound of the rain hitting our window.
Saturday Morning- 8am
For the second day in a row, I was woken up to my phone. This time, instead of it being from a hot boy, it was my mom.
"Hi mom" I said, half awake.
"Oh sweetie! I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you. I was just calling to ask you if you wanted me to bring your game-day shirt to you. I noticed you left it here unless you were just planning on getting ready here and then driving together?"
"Well mom I was kind of already planning on going with my friends to the game... and we all bought matching shirts from the bookstore. I'm sorry I didn't realize you had planned on me still going with you. Do you want me to cancel on them?" I asked, hoping she said no, but also feeling kind of bad.
"Don't be silly! I should've known you'd want to go with your friends now that you're a student. I'll see you after" she said, but I didn't miss the slight sadness in her voice.
"Sure, I'll come find you and dad afterwards. Hey I gotta go, Chloe's calling us all to start getting ready. Love you"
"Love you too honey" and she hung up.
I guess I hadn't realized that my mom has never had to go to one of my dad's games alone before. I'm sure she'll be fine, there are plenty of players parents and other coach's spouses that sit in the same area.
After our showers, we were all doing our hair and makeup. Since I knew the area would be cold, I put my hair into two lose pigtail braids and put a navy-blue beanie on. We all got matching "Golden Knights Hockey" long sleeve shirts that were slightly cropped. I paired it with white ripped jeans and air forces. I also put a navy-blue jacket over the shirt and encouraged the other girls to do the same. Other than Chloe, this was their first hockey game, and I don't think they are prepared for the cold.
We were lucky enough to grab four seats that were in the first row of the student section. We set our things down and Nat and Chloe offered to go get everyone drinks and food while Bella and I saved our seats.
Soon enough the lights were dimmed and the announcer game over the speakers.
"And now, your Golden Knights starting 6!" he said as majority of the stadium started cheering.
"First up is sophomore #12; starting Goalie Seth Whitlock!"
"Next we've got sophomore #18; starting defense Cameron Parker!"
"Senior #29; starting defense is Mason James!"
"Now for your forwards, first up is Senior #22, Right-wing Elijah Westfall!"
"Give it up for your starting Left-wing, and co-captain, Junior #9 Andrew carter!"
"Last, but certainly not least, Captain, and starting Center is Junior #3 Noah Hale!"
The crowd got noticeably louder at the mention of Noah's name, my own yelling included. I also couldn't help my eyes from being trained on him from the minute he stepped on the ice. They were huddled up, listening to something my dad was saying.
I saw Noah lift his head and his eyes were scanning the crowd. He made his way through the student section until he landed on me. Our eyes met and he gave me a soft smile and a... wink.
A WINK. WHAT DOES A WINK MEAN????
Okay Scarlett, calm down. A wink doesn't have to be anything more than an acknowledgment. Or maybe something got in his eye.
I was brought out of my own thoughts when the sound of a whistle echoed through the arena. The two teams went to their positions and Noah and the opposing center faced off in the middle. The ref blew his whistle and the puck dropped to the ice. Immediately, Noah got possession of the puck and passed it to Elijah Westfall, who then skated a few yards and passed it back to Noah to make a goal. He shot it effortlessly and not even 5 minutes into the game we were up 1-0.
First period went by fast and second was about to end. We were still up, but Seth had unfortunately let some pucks in, putting us at 3-2. As the second quarter ended, I could tell the team was tired. We were winning, but Michigan wasn't making it easy for us. We had already gotten 3 penalties and Noah was one of them.
Two minutes into the third period, the opposing team's forward ran straight into Seth, knocking him back into the net. If you know anything about hockey, going after the goalie is a big no no. Almost instantly, our entire bench was on the ice and the other team followed. Before we knew it, both teams were fighting, gloves off, on the ice. The refs and coaches separated what they could and were forced to call the game.
Because they go by the score at the end of the finished period, we were awarded the victory. I had a feeling, however, that the boys wouldn't get a very victory-related speech from my dad. My dad hates fighting, he says that it's the worst part of hockey and that if it were up to him, it wouldn't exist. He knows it's unrealistic for there to never be altercations in a sport like hockey, but he despises the team brawls. Especially on the first game of the season.
The girls and I made our way out to the area outside of the locker rooms so that Chloe could wait for Seth. Normally, I would avoid this area since its almost always filled with puck bunnies that try to flirt with every player. But we promised Chloe we'd wait with her.
"Do you think he'll sit the ones who started the fights?" Chloe looked to me
"That would mean sitting Noah, Cameron, and Elijah. No, he won't do that. They'll probably pay for it in practice though."
She nodded and went back to looking at the doors.
"I can't believe there was a full-on brawl at my first ever hockey game! How exciting" Bella beamed.
I smiled at her and laughed at her eagerness. "Just wait until we face Cornell, tends to get pretty ugly"
Chloe nodded, "that's true! Last year, this senior took so many penalties for unnecessary charging he got ejected from the game."
Nat and Bella looked scared yet intrigued at the idea of a messy game and it made me chuckle to myself.
A little while longer, my dad and the assistant coaches came out of the locker room. My dad came and gave me and hug and gave my mom a kiss on the forehead. We said our goodbyes and they left through the door to the back parking lot.
Shortly after, the boys started to come out. Seth, and the other 3, made their way over to Chloe and our group. Seth hugged Chloe and she started inspecting a cut above his eyebrow. Noah came over to me and I noticed a big bruise on his cheek.
I lightly lifted my hand up to his cheek and he winced at the contact, "sorry, does it hurt?"
"It doesn't feel great but it's not the worst I've ever had" he smiled.
I shook my head and pulled my hand away, "well, you had a good game before you all went crazy"
Andrew cut in, "no one goes after the goalie, that's common sense. They had it coming"
I nodded in agreement and watched as a group of girls made their way up to Noah faking concern over his 'injuries.'
I rolled my eyes and backed away from the circus that surrounded him.
"Oh my god Noah, do you need me to come take care of you?" a blonde with too much make up and too little clothes on asked. I almost barfed.
"No Kacie I'm good." He said peeling her hands off his arm. He turned to everyone, "you guys ready to go?" we all nodded.
We made our way through the crowd and Noah flung his arm over my shoulder.
This boy and his mixed signals are going to give me whiplash.
Seth looked over at us from beside Chloe, "are you guys coming back to the house? We were gonna hit up a few parties in an hour or so, you can come if you want."
Chloe looked at us with pleading eyes begging us to go with them. As if Nat or Bella would ever turn down a party anyway. We all agreed but us girls were firm in our response that we needed a chance to get changed.
Seth drove us all back to our dorm and told us he'd be back in 30 minutes to pick us up.
♥︎A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter!! Don't forget to Comment and Vote! See y'all in the next chapter ;)