"Coach, could you wait outside?" I say more as a statement than a question. I pull my hand away from Cole, he looks back at me. They both leave, leaving the locker room door open just a crack so they can hear. I turn back to Luke. "Why?" I ask, my voice cracking just a little bit.
"Meredith, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry I did what I did the night we broke up", putting his hands together, he pleads to me.
"Stop!" I interrupt him. "I don't care if you're sorry. I broke up with you almost a year ago, I don't regret doing it. Now I found a guy who doesn't drink, doesn't do drugs, and who's talent doesn't come from performance enhancing drugs. He actually loves me, where as you, I realized just wanted me for my father. That might have been the lowest point in our relationship. That fact that you only wanted a relationship in the end because you thought my father was amazing. I'm a person, not something you can use".
"I loved you Meredith", Luke steps closer to me, he is just whispers now. "Your father didn't have anything to do with us. You are an amazing girl Mere. I would have never done anything to hurt you".
I push him away as he steps even closer to me. "Then maybe you should have thought about that when you started drinking with the rest of your team, and then you started steroids, because that was a great idea. Coming to this school was probably your worse solution for whatever shit you thought you could pull. Now, just stay away from me. Don't talk to me, or I will let Cole fuck you up".
Before I can go on, Luke grabs my face and crashes his lips into mine. I try to pull away, but his grasp is tight. I finally pull away when I hear the door behind us open. With him finally removing his helmet, I slap him across the face as hard as I can. Cole walks up from behind me.
"You dick! What the hell is wrong with you!" Luke stands his ground as Cole stands close to him. Cole is only about half an inch shorter than Luke with Luke in his skates.
"Your girl was mine first, I think I have a right to kiss her", Luke sneers evilly.
"She broke up with you. Do you remember that? Or were you too drunk? I am her boyfriend, and I love her more than anything on the world. You are a screw up little pretty boy who's daddy thinks he's perfect. You aren't perfect, get that through that little brain of yours". This time when Cole grabs my hand, I follow him.
He tries to pull me back into the rink, but I pull harder towards the opposite end of the hallway. I stand close to him, my hands flat on his chest. He breathes heavily, more of breathing out anger. I grab his chin so he looks right at me.
"Hey, hey, look at me", His eyes finally meet mine. "We have been through so much, and we haven't even been together two months yet. I love you Cole. I've gotten beaten, had surgery for that beating, you had brain surgery, we have had our first kiss. We have gone through so much together, this isn't going to change anything. You know what I have told you about him, I have no intention of ever talking to him again, I just needed to tell him myself, then it backfired. I'm so sorry Cole Anderson".
I slowly pulls his face towards mine. I graze my lips against his. He rejects for a moment, then goes with it. His lips move with mine for a moment until he pulls away, our foreheads resting together. "I'm sorry too, Meredith. I am sorry for getting mad at you a few weeks ago, I am sorry for not telling you the truth. I am sorry. Can we just leave? I just can't be here right now".
I nod my head. He grabs my hand and drags me out to his car. He puts the key into the ignition and starts the car. We head off towards his house, because he turned the wrong way for it to be mine. We end at his house. The lights are off in the house, and his parents cars are gone. He parks the car in the garage and we enter the house through the back door, into the kitchen.
"Do you want dinner? We could order take-out or something", Cole says looking through a drawer near the fridge. I sit at the small kitchen table as Cole pulls out take out menus.
"How about that Chinese restaurant we went on our first date? That place was really good", I say with a smile.
"Mmmm, that sounds good right about now", Cole finds the Chinese restaurant menu and hands it to me to look through.
We both decide what we want and Cole places the order for delivery. He nods for me to follow him into the living room. We sit on the couch and wait for the delivery man. Cole turns on the TV and turns it to a hockey game. Minnesota Wild versus the Calgary Flames. I lean against Cole. His arms around my shoulders as I lean my head on his shoulder.
"So do you like Hockey, or not?", Cole asks.
"Yes, I absolutely adore hockey. It's only because of that injury that I can't stand watching it. Every time I watch hockey it just reminds me that I can't play. So, I guess that my whole depression, if you would call it that, is just turned into anger and hatred. When we played a few weeks ago, it was the first time in at least 3 years that I was happy with something to do with hockey. I guess when I told you guys I hated hockey, it was a total overreaction".
"yeah, I'll say", Cole scoffed sarcastically.
The doorbell rings after a few minutes. We eat in the kitchen. It somehow leads to kissing.
He leads me up to his room. I, in some way, don't want to know what comes next. But I know what's going to happen.
Edited: 3/8/22