You skated around the goal, seeing the tiny black puck being angrily passed back to center ice by the goalie. You saw the hats fly onto the ice making your ego skyrocket.
Your teammates engulfed you in a hug before you skated past the bench, earning praise and gloved fist bumps. Your eyes wandered towards the cheering crowd, eventually landing on your boyfriend, his family, and your family.
They all stood up and clapped. You smiled at them as best you could, your face covered by your cage.
Skating back to the center, you took the face off, winning it easily. You were about 30 seconds into your shift before your Coach called you off. The score was 3-0, all goals being yours.
You sat down on the bench and took off your helmet to drink some water. Your coach walked over, placing a gentle yet aggressive hand on your shoulder.
"Great shit out there. I love watching you play." She told you, a rush of pride flowing through your body.
"Thanks." You smiled.
She smiled back, "I'm not putting you back in for the rest of the game."
Your smile fell and your eyebrows furrowed, "What?"
"I want to see what everyone else can do. It's nothing personal."
"This is not the place to do that. We need to win this game!" You exclaimed.
She ignored your comment waving you off.
~~~
"What the-?! Y/n, get back in there!" Your coach yelled.
Your team had somehow managed to blow the 3-0 lead and it was now 3-3. You tried to maintain your annoyance seeing as all 3 goals were easily preventable, but your team just gave them up.
You skated back on the ice, calling your team over. Once they huddled around you, you saw the disappointment in their faces.
"Alright, these last three goals? Forget them. We play til the final minute." You said.
They all nodded, but you earned one or two eye rolls at your speech. You made a mental note to say something about it later.
Before you took the faceoff you looked up at the jumbotron above the ice. There were 3 minutes left in the third period. 3 minutes to score one goal or stop the other team from scoring.
The ref dropped the puck and you won it easily. But as your teammate went to send the pass up the ice, the opposing center got to it first, carrying it up the ice.
You noticed your defensemen were slow to get back and pretty much gave up on it. Since you were running off nothing but adrenaline and anger and managed to catch up to her.
As you poked at the puck and her stick, your skate came out the slightest bit, but not enough to trip her. Unfortunately, she noticed this too and took a dive forward so it looked like a trip.
Confusion covered your face as you heard the whistle blow and the ref came up to you, "Go to the box!"
You threw up your hands in confusion, "For what? She dived!"
The ref only shook his head and skated towards center ice, "Canada, number 13, 2 minutes for tripping."
His announcement didn't stop you from arguing. As captain, you were allowed to. The back and forth banter between the two of you continued until you finally stepped in the box, still fighting.
You took off your helmet aggressively, throwing it to the floor. You threw your head back to lean it against the glass, letting a breath out as you caught a quick glance at the ref over by your team's bench.
The ref and the linesmen huddled together, watching the film again. Two minutes or so passed by when the same ref came back to center ice.
"The call on the ice will stay. Canada, 2 minutes, delay of game."
~~~
The sirens blared as you heard Team USA celebrate.
You picked up your helmet and exited the box, tears threatening to spill out of your eyes. You didn't look up, you didn't look at your team, and you especially didn't look at Luke.
The locker room talk didn't help. Some girls were already messing around, laughing and giggling as if you guys hadn't lost in the finals.
While your hands took off your padding and untied your skates, one of your teammates came up in front of you. You looked up at her.
"You know you really shouldn't be upset. If it weren't for your penalty, we could've scored instead of letting them end with the power play."
Your eyebrows furrowed and you stood up, your skates making you tower over her slightly. "My fault? Maybe if you could keep pucks out of our end we wouldn't have lost."
This comment made her upset. She shoved you back, causing you to stumble a bit before you found your footing and shoved her back. Right as she hit the ground, your coach walked in.
"L/n! Take off your skates and get out here. Now." She said sternly.
You ignored the comments that flowed in the room, your eyes trained on your cubby. You untied your skates quickly and slipped on your slides, walking out to the hallway.
Your coach sighed when she saw you, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pulled you for that long, especially after the second goal."
You stayed silent, knowing that if you said something it would've been something along the lines of, 'Yeah, that was pretty fucking stupid.'. Instead, you sighed and gave her a side smile.
She touched your shoulder and walked away, leaving you in the hallway alone. In a few minutes, family members and loved ones would start filing in like they always did after games. But you couldn't keep it in anymore.
Tears flowed out of your eyes. They started slowly, then turned into full-on sobs. You fell to your knees, your legs going weak and no longer supporting your body.
You let down your team. You let down your family. You let down your country. and most importantly to you, you let down your boyfriend.
He, Jack, and Quinn had taken a practice or two to come watch you play tonight, so you couldn't help but feel even more upset.
All of a sudden, you heard a voice near the end of the hall.
"Y/n?" You heard, recognizing Luke's voice immediately.
You didn't even get the chance to turn around before his arms were around you, one hand rubbing up and down your back, the other holding your head. You let your head fall forward, hiding in the crook of his neck as your tears dampened the skin.
"I'm sorry." You croaked out.
Luke shook his head, "For what? You played amazing."
"I wasn't good enough. You came here for nothing."
He pulled your body away from his, still holding you close. He held your face gently in his hands as he looked at you, his face full of sadness. "You were more than good enough. You got your team on the board. It's not your fault."
You couldn't form anymore words, letting yourself fall completely limp in Luke's arms. His shirt was damp, but he didn't care. All he cared about was you. He shared the same passion for the sport as you, so he knew exactly how you felt. He also knew this is exactly how you would react if this was him.
Eventually, you calmed down. You pulled away from him, admiring his face. He gave you a comforting smile and wiped the straggling tears off your cheeks with his thumb.
"You okay now?" He smirked.
You laughed and nodded, "Yeah, I'm okay. Thank you."
He stood back up, helping you to your feet as well. While you weren't crying anymore, the feeling of failure lingered in your body. Luke took note of this, pulling you pack into a hug. You let yourself relax into it, the hug bringing you nothing but comfort.
"I love you so much. Win or lose, you'll always be worth my time." He told you, placing a kiss on the top of your head.
You hummed, "I love you too. Thank you for coming."
At that moment, you forgot about everything. The only thing that mattered to you was Luke.
Only Luke.
"Get a room!" You heard Jack yell from the other end of the hall, causing you both to roll your eyes.
I was going to upload study buddies pt.2 but it's sitting in the drafts rn bc I can't figure out an ending 💔
hope you enjoyed this one !
<3, J