Rowan Pierce went through the stages of grief quite quickly. At first, she was sad. But now she was angry. There was so much hurt bottled up inside of her. Her friends watched as her tears became emotionless stares. If there was one thing Rowan was good at, it was holding a grudge.
She'd show Adam Banks what it meant to not matter to someone.
Adam Banks had never felt worse. As each day dragged by without her, he suffered more and more. He missed her. He missed her touch. He missed what they used to have.
It was breakfast, Rowan sat with Brady, Jenny, Mabel, and Harper. She shot invisible daggers into the back of Adam's head as he sat at a nearby table, talking to Amanda.
"Okay, Rowan, put the spoon down," Brady quickly said as he gently pulled it from her grip.
She had been aggressively holding the spoon onto the table, her knuckles turning white from all the pressure. "It's plastic. It's not gonna hurt anybody."
"Not usually. But by the looks of it, it's gonna kill someone," He replied.
"I can't believe I ever liked that piece of shit," She mumbled to her friends.
It was clear to them that she was only angry because she didn't want to deal with the feeling of hurt anymore. They all stayed quiet as Adam got up and started towards their table.
"What is he doing?" Mabel whispered.
"Rowan, I've been trying to talk to you for days now, please?" He begged, leaning over the end of the large table.
Instantly she got up and left -- not being capable of baring a conversation with him.
"I don't think she wants to speak right now," Harper suggested.
"Just tell me when she's ready."
"I wouldn't hold your breath. It's gonna take a lot of time," Jenny told Adam. He nodded before walking in the direction Rowan left in.
"I miss when they were together. Amanda and Adam's names don't even sound cool together," Averman mumbled, watching the failed interaction from a distance.
"Rowan has made it abundantly clear that they were never together," Julie sighed.
"I know but Radam is a much cooler name than...Amadam? Adamanda?. Radam just sounds so..." Goldberg explained, trying to find the right word. "...rad."
"Rowan, please just talk to me," Adam called, trying to chase her down the hallway.
"That's actually the last thing I'd want to do," She loudly said, not looking back at him.
"Oh, it speaks!"
"It wasn't planning on wasting its breath on you."
"But you're talking to me right now," He pointed out, his voice sounding hopeful.
"And I'm already regretting it," She stated, slamming her dorm room shut and locking it.
Adam took a deep sigh as he leaned his forehead against the wooden barrier that separated the two. "I've never felt this horrible before."
"Good."
"Ro, I'm so fucking sorry."
There was no response. Instead, the door flew open, surprising Adam. "Does this mean..."
"No," She answered, not giving him the satisfaction of meeting his eyes as she walked past him and into Matt's dorm room.
Adam heavily sighed, sliding down the wall and sitting on the ground.
"You alright there, Banks?" Jesse asked, plopping down next to him.
"No," He admitted.
"This is about Rowan, right?"
"Yeah," Adam confirmed. "I screwed up, Jesse. I really screwed up. I lost the most important person in my life just for some girl who I won't ever see after we go back to Minnesota."
Jesse hesitated. "Remember the first time we met -- not at hockey but in the alley?"
Adam nodded, not quite sure what this had to do with the issue at hand.
"I do. And not because it was funny watching the kid I used to hate get socked in the face. But because I remember while you, Larson, and McGill were acting so tough, Rowan was right there behind you guys. And something I don't think I'll ever forget is the way your face softened, almost breaking into a smile when she grabbed your hand to pull you guys away," Jesse told him.
"Jess, what is this ab-"
"No, I'm not done. Just listen," He said. "And then Fulton came in -- being like a foot taller than her -- probably scaring the absolute hell out of every kid in town. But you cared so much about her that your first instinct was to keep her safe, willing to take on Fulton Reed just to protect her. I don't think I've ever seen anyone love someone like that."
"How is this supposed to be helping right now?" Adam asked.
"It's not," Jesse answered while standing back up. "It's supposed to remind you what it was like to love Rowan back home -- before any of this complicated bullshit got in the way. Before California got in the way. Then maybe you'd remember what really matters."
Adam was left sitting in the hallway, alone -- thinking about everything Jesse has just said to him.
"Come on, Ro! You just heard all of that and you're still gonna ignore him?" Matt desperately asked, taking his ear off the door.
"That's exactly what I'm gonna do."
"How can you be such a bitch?" He laughed.
"Matthew, he told me I didn't mean anything to him," She reminded him. "Why would I forgive him for that?"
"Because it's Adam!" He tried to reason with her.
"At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who he is. He still hurt me. And since it's so important that it was Adam -- he was the last person I thought would put me through this much pain."
"But he sounds genuinely sorry," Matt quietly said.
"And I sound like I genuinely don't give a fuck," Rowan shrugged, trying to leave just as quickly as she came.
Before she could open the door, Matt ran to block her exit. "I'll tell you a secret of mine if you promise to have just one conversation with him."
"Will you really?"
"Yes, anything", he begged.
"Okay, deal. Tell me who you like."
"You're such a little bitch, Rowan," Matt groaned, mumbling his answer.
"I'm gonna need you to speak up. I can't hear you."
"Jenny! Okay? Jennifer Garcia!" Matt nearly shouted under the pressure.
"Oh my god," Rowan's hands flew to her mouth in excitement.
"Don't forget your part of the bargain."
"Fine," She narrowed her eyes at him, hesitantly opening the door.
Adam was now slowly walking back to his room, but instantly turned when he heard the door's latch come undone, the girl appearing once again. "Rowan, I-"
"I don't want to talk to you," She quietly stated, giving a glance towards Matt to show she did it before walking to her room.
"Rowan!" Matt shouted after her.
"He spoke, I spoke. That's how a conversation works!"
"Has she always been this stubborn?" He asked Adam.
"Yeah," He sighed, staring at the closed door.
"Coach isn't here. Why do we have to be?" Connie asked the group as they stretched on the field.
"We have a game tonight. We have to work out," Dean said.
"I say mutiny. Who's with me?" Goldberg asked.
"Goldberg, I'm too tired to mutiny," Dwayne interjected.
"Come on, guys, it's not like we couldn't use the conditioning," Julie sighed.
"Speak for yourself, babe," Dean slightly laughed.
"Her name is Julie, not babe," Adam said, glaring at Dean.
"Don't tell me how to talk, rich boy," Dean yelled, shoving adam backward.
Everyone started yelling, trying to break up the argument between the group. Charlie used his body as a separator for Adam and Dean.
"Hey, Team USA! What are you gonna do today? A million jumping jacks?" A voice called out to them, immediately Jesse stepped forward due to the problems he's had in the past with this particular boy.
"Man, I'm getting sick of you!"
"And I'm getting sick of seeing the USA represented by a bunch of whining babies," Russ Tyler yelled.
"Well too bad you can't back up that mouth," Jesse spat.
"Man, me and my boys could take you anytime, anywhere."
By the end of the street puck game, Russ Tyler had scored the most incredible goal any of them had ever seen.
"For the eighth time, I don't know where he is!" Charlie Conway shouted over the arguing voices of his teammates.
They were minutes away from puck drop in their game against Germany and Gordon Bombay was nowhere to be found. Somehow, Charlie had convinced Ms. McKay to pretend to be their coach so they wouldn't have to forfeit the game.
Germany was much larger than most of their players, giving them the advantage of more legal and painful checks into the board or on the ice. They continued to play until they heard the odd screeches of a duck whistle, the very same Charlie had used just a few weeks ago to round them up in Minneapolis. It took a few minutes before all the players had decided to come and talk to him, still rightfully upset at him for abandoning the team after one loss.
"Team, guys... I was wrong, and I'm sorry. I forgot about the team and the team is all I have. all I want, is just one more chance, just one more shot. I'm back, okay? Believe me," Bombay said, giving his team apologetic and convincing eyes.
His apology must've given the team a renewed spirit. They skated out for the final period and won the face-off. Jesse waited behind the net, hesitant about their next play. After a few words of encouragement, he called the Flying V. Guy and the others joined him behind Goldberg, in a V-position. They skated down into Germany's zone, passing the puck around before giving it back to Averman. He took the shot and scored -- Winning the game for Team USA.
Rowan flopped down next to Brady. "Boys suck."
"Hey, I'm a guy," Brady said, looking up from the T.V.
"Yeah, but you're not like a guy-guy."
"A what?" He chuckled.
"Well, there are guys, right? And then there are like real guys -- like ones you have feelings for and stuff," She explained.
"Oh, got it," He understood. "Thankfully I'm not a real guy."
"Yeah," She agreed.
"So what'd he do?", Brady asked.
"You really want to know?"
"Every detail."
Rowan sighed, recapping the events from the past few days.
"Guys do suck."
"Tell me about it," She mumbled, rolling over onto her stomach. "What about you? Any lady troubles?"
"Uh, no. Not exactly," He shifted around a little. "There's actually something related to that I've been kinda wanting to tell you."
Rowan sat up and looked at him curiously.
"Rowan, I'm gay," Brady quietly admitted.
A smile broke out onto her face as she ran over and wrapped him in a huge hug. "I'm so proud of you."
"I love you, Ro," He slightly laughed, letting a few tears slide down his cheeks.
"Hey, don't cry," She whispered, wiping them off his face.
"But I'm so scared."
"About what?"
"My parents are coming down for the competition and I haven't told them yet. I'm terrified they won't accept me. I know when they get here, the first thing they're gonna ask me is if I have a girlfriend. I don't know how much longer I can keep lying to them."
"Bray, they're your parents. They'll love you no matter what. It might take time, who knows how long, but I promise things are gonna work out for you," She softly told him, "And if it's gonna make things any easier, I'll pretend to be your girlfriend or something whenever they're around so you don't have to feel like you're lying to them."
"Thank you, Rowan, so much," He hugged her again.
"I'd do anything for you, Brady."
"Now, let me rephrase my question," She said, sitting next to him with her head resting on his shoulder. "Any guy troubles?"
"Oh, you have no idea," He laughed.
a/n- I decided to add an lgbtq+ character into this story because I felt we needed some more representation. HAPPY PRIDE MONTH <33