December 28th, 2018.
Buffalo ➜ St Louis
— — —
"Good morning gorgeous."
I looked up and smiled as Vince walked downstairs, "morning handsome."
"Do you happen to know what time our flight is?" He asked, walking into the kitchen as I handed him a plate, "thank you."
"Mhm, our flight is at.." I checked my watch, "not sure, you'd have to call Sammy." I shrugged, looking back towards him.
"Alright, you make coffee?"
"Mhm," I nodded, "it's on the table," I shot him a smile and turned the stove off, "just how you like it too." "Mm, thank you." He kissed my cheek and opened the fridge.
"When you come over here, bring the bacon please." "Alright." He nodded and grabbed the plate, following close behind as we walked towards the table.
We sat down across from each other and ate in silence. He brushed his leg against mine, causing me to look up at him. Thinking it was an accident, I just brushed it off and continued eating.
And then he did it again, and then wrapped both of his legs around mine.
I breathed a laugh and shook my head, ignoring it once again, until he laid his legs in my lap.
"Are you comfortable?" I laughed, looking at him. "Getting there." He nodded, taking the bacon from my plate.
My phone went off in the kitchen, I went to go get it, before I remembered that I was trapped.
I sat back down and saw Vince take his phone out of his pocket.
"It was the groupchat, Sammy said our flight leaves at nine, but we have to meet up with everyone by eight, so that we can check in and all that."
"Great, thanks," I mumbled, moving his feet off of me and standing up, "you got practice today?"
Vince checked his phone, "yea, about an hour from now, why?"
I shrugged, "I was thinking about joining."
He looked up at me, shooting me a small smile, "it's only for a couple hours, then we'd have to come back here and get ready to leave."
"I know, I just want to lace up my skates." I nodded, laughing as I took his plate.
"Can you even lace them up? Like with your arm and all?" He asked, sarcastically.
I walked up behind him and smacked the back of his head, "yes actually, it's like tying my shoes."
He just snorted a laugh, "then I guess that's pretty hard for you too." "Fuck you Dunner." I laughed and walked away.
— — —
"Kay! You're here!" Robby smiled, pulling me in for a hug.
"Robby! Hi buddy!" I giggled and wrapped my arms around him. "I didn't think you were staying, I just assumed you went back to Seattle." He mumbled, hugging me a little tighter.
"I'm here until the first." I smiled, pulling away. "Oh no shit!? That's great!" He laughed, giving me a high five, with a big smile on his face as well.
"And she gets to join in-" "And I get to join practice!" I cut Vince off, laughing.
"And I'm assuming that's why you're here?" Sammy smirked. "That's exactly why I'm here." I pointed at him.
"Well.. guess we'll be forced to have a good time." Robby laughed. "Obviously." I scoffed, sarcastically.
— — —
"You need help?"
Despite asking me, Robby and Vince looked at each other. They both shrugged the other off and turned around, thinking the other had it covered.
"Oh okay," I laughed, "I'll just do it myself!" "Well Robby-" "Well Vince-"
They just laughed, turning back to me.
"Just get the other one." Robby breathed a laugh and bent down, tying my left skate, while Vince worked on my right.
I leaned back against my locker, smirking, "princess treatment, wouldn't you say?" I asked, looking at Sammy. He just laughed, "you're fucking stupid." He shook his head.
A few of the guys snapped a couple pictures, and both Vince and Robby stood up, reaching their hands out to help me up.
They laughed again, pushing each others shoulders.
I stood up by myself and ran a hand across their jaws, "my boys.." and I slapped their faces, "thanks!"
They just looked at each other, turning back to me as their jaws dropped.
The rest of the guys couldn't help but laugh, shaking their heads at their reactions.
After a few minutes, we had finally made our way to the ice, however I was a little hesitant. I was just worried about giving myself another injury.
"You okay?" Robby asked, coming up behind me.
"Yea," I nodded, "I'm fine, just a little nervous." "Well take your time, no one is rushing you." Robby shot me a smile, nodding as he made his way to the ice.
"Kay, hurry up!" Sammy yelled from across the rink.
Robby rolled his eyes and shrugged, "except him."
I couldn't help but laugh, and in a weird way, that made me feel a lot better about stepping onto the ice. "Alright," I sighed, "I'm coming."
"Kay!" Coach Berube yelled, catching my attention, "don't let him pressure you. If you're not ready, you're not ready." He shrugged.
"I know. I'm ready, believe me." I nodded and gave him a thumbs up.
As much as I said I was ready, I wasn't.
Every time I was asked, I was so beyond excited to come back, yet here I was.. hesitating.
Vince skated up beside me, "you need any help?"
I sighed and turned to him, "just come here and help me balance, it's been a while." I giggled.
He came over to the small door and held his arm out, laughing as I barely slipped, "not funny!" I laughed as well, slapping his shoulder.
"Okay, you're right, I'm sorry." He tried to hold his laughter in. "Vince, I will slap you again." I giggled, catching my balance.
I was holding on to his arm, and he just looked at me, "you good?"
"Yea," I nodded, "I got it, thanks." I smiled and looked up at him.
He returned the smile and slowly back away.
It wasn't that I forgot how to skate, it was just the fact that I hadn't been on this ice in almost three months, my balance was a little off.
But as soon as Vince backed away, I just stood there.
The guys just watched, wanting to see how this was going to go.
I skated forward, picking up speed as I circled Vince.
I skated away from him, making my way around the rink as the guys slightly cheered, I rolled my eyes.
"You guys are making it pretty hard to focus." Nodding, I couldn't help but giggle.
As I picked up more speed, it all came back to me. My balance, my speed, the skating itself.
"Watch!" I pointed at all of them, making sure I had their attention.
"Please don't do something stupid, oh my god." Vince laughed, shaking his head.
"I'm not, I'm just gonna see how much I can push myself." I nodded, skating to the opposite side, away from everyone. Except Vince, who stood a few feet away from me.
I tried to start backwards, but it clearly didn't work, and I slipped, falling right on my backside.
"Alright, let's not do that." I mumbled, laughing to myself as I stood up.
"You alright?" Vince asked, I replied with a nod.
"Okay, okay.. let's try it this way instead." "Be careful Kay." Vince breathed a laugh.
I skated forward and gave myself a little push, turning around to skate backwards. I smiled and looked at Vince.
He gave me a thumbs up, "keep going!"
I kept skating backwards, picking up more speed before I spun back around and snowed the guys.
"Ohh, you bitch!"
I laughed, skating in circles around them.
"You want your stick or not?" Sammy asked, holding it out, I gladly took it from him and smiled, "thanks."
— — —
We had all decided to play a game of hockey, half of us in our home jerseys, and the other half in our away ones.
We would switch positions here and there, just for giggles. Somehow the guys were trying to talk me into being the goalie.
"Absolutely not," I shook my head, "not happening."
"Guys, if she is trying to come back within the next couple months, how about we just let her play her position? That way we can see how she's doing, and what she needs to work on." Vince nodded.
"Exactly, thank you." I patted his shoulder, smiling.
"Okay yea, that makes sense." Sammy nodded. They all agreed, knowing he was right.
"Unless she wants to be the goalie." Vince shrugged. "No." I shook my head again. "Well there you go." He nodded, causing the guys to laugh.
"We've gone like.. forty-five minutes over, we should just call it a game." I breathed a laugh.
"Well you've made three goals, nobody wants to lose to you!" Sammy laughed. "Well suck it up!" I giggled, shrugging.
"Let's at least keep playing until they make a goal, they can't lose three to nothing." Vince laughed as well, shaking his head.
I groaned, "alright fine."
— — —
I managed to make two more goals by the time they had made one.
"Finally! Oh my god!" Sammy rolled his eyes. I just laughed, shaking my head, "congratulations."
Coach spoke up and called everyone off the ice, and we all met back in the locker room.
"You.." he pointed at me, "you keep playing like that, and you're taking us right to the playoffs."
He laughed and shook his head, "you're injured, and outplayed half of our top players, that's insane."
"Guess I'm just that good." I shrugged sarcastically, causing the guys to laugh.
"Uhm, I did take a look at the papers, and speaking from experience, and seeing the way you played during practice, I believe you'll be back in a few weeks." Coach nodded.
I smiled and nodded as well, "see.. everyone keeps telling me that I'll be back soon, and every time I go to the appointments, I'm never cleared." I laughed.
"Well you're not the first person to have this injury, and you're not the first person I've coached with this injury, believe me, this is the start of your return."
I nodded again, looking at the guys,
"I'll take your word for it."
— — —
6-8-23
I'm back hello 😼
Hope you enjoyed <3