Harry's POV
The energy in the room was electric as we waited for them to roll the carpet onto the ice for the ceremonial puck drop, and I couldn't stop looking around at all the people who had come to support the cause. Not a single person looked remotely unhappy, entire families had come, older couples and crowds of friends, and it felt very representative of the mood I was trying to promote.
A loud banging against the glass followed by some very boisterous yelling prompted me to turn my head toward where my parents were sitting, and I instantly started laughing as I saw Rich and Dan Tomlinson pounding their fists and yelling at me before pressing their faces up into the glass when they saw they'd got my attention. Their father stood behind them, shaking his head, before he smiled over at me and gave me a wave.
I waved back, happy to see them, always amused by the antics of TJ's brothers. It was nice that they'd all showed up, I don't know why I was surprised since they'd told me they would, but I guess it was just another form of support I didn't know I needed until I saw them all take their seats next to my family. I liked that we'd been able to spend Christmas together, that everyone got along, and that it felt like I had a little extra family being so far away from home.
"Who invited those losers?" I heard Teej say as she came to stand beside me, laughing to herself. "Cause it wasn't me."
"I did." I smiled. "I thought it would be nice."
"Careful what you wish for." She chuckled. "Although, I now realized I may have a chance to pie them in the face later so yes, good call."
I laughed as I turned to look at her, seeing everyone warming up over her shoulder and thinking we should probably be doing the same. I motioned toward the ice and she turned to step out onto it, the two of us joining our team as we skated around and warmed up our legs. I didn't miss the way Hughes kept glancing toward us, so I figured I should at least check in with her and see how she was feeling about it.
"You alright with this Hughes thing?" I asked as we skated circles around our end of the rink.
"Yep." She sighed.
"You sure?"
"Well, he hasn't said a word to me, so let's hope he keeps it that way. I'm not in the mood for his shit."
"Fair enough." I agreed. "Let's just try to have some fun."
"That's the idea." She nodded. "And hey, if I have to slam him up against the boards in your sister's honor I will gladly do that."
"I have no doubt." I laughed.
The buzzer sounded to signal the end of warm up, and we all took our places for the puck drop. I skated over to the ceremonial carpet where Wayne was standing to face off against Tyler Palmer, who was selected as Captain of the opposing team, and took my place.
"Alright guys, let's have some good, clean fun." Wayne smiled before he dropped the puck and officially started the game.
There was a brief intermission while they rolled up the carpet and quickly cleaned the ice, before both teams put out their first line for the game to really start. I skated out to my position, flanked by Teej and Rex, with Niall and Liam behind us on defence. I watched closely as Teej skated into the centre for the face off, where she was face to face with none other than Cole Hughes.
"Fuck." I heard Rex mumble under his breath, both of us knowing that if they were both first line centres they'd be covering each other for most of the game.
Still, I had faith that it was a charity game and wouldn't be that intense, but I was quickly proved wrong when the referee dropped the puck and Teej practically shoved Cole out of the way to get to it. I instantly took off down the ice as she made her way toward their goal, passing it to Rex as she deked around their defensemen like it was nothing.
It didn't take long for Hughes to make his way up behind her, slamming her against the boards even though she didn't have the puck. She quickly shoved him off her as Rex fed it to me, making her way back around the net as I shot it and hit the left pad of the goalie. Teej quickly snagged the rebound and brought it back out front, turning to take a sudden shot and score right between the goalie's legs.
"And that's how we start it, kids!" Liam cheered as he made his way over to us, the four of us surrounding Teej as we celebrated the first goal of the game.
It wasn't hard to miss the bitter look on Cole's face as he skated back to the bench, and I had a feeling their rivalry was far from put aside. I wasn't sure if I should say anything to her, since she technically started it with the face off, but I figured I'd give her some space and maybe she'd blow off enough steam as the game went on.
"Am I the only who who's sensing a bit of tension between our first line centres?" Shawn chuckled as I sat myself down next to him on the bench. "I hope Teej knocks him on his ass."
"Don't encourage her." I sighed, looking over to make sure she didn't hear him. "Let it be."
"I'm just saying, she almost did."
"I saw."
I looked over my shoulder at Louis, who just looked back at me with the same expression, before I turned my attention back to the game. Lundy and Mac had blown past the opposing side and dumped it into their zone, and none of us were surprised. The other team didn't seem to be playing with any kind of urgency, which was odd since most of them were our rivals and we'd been kicking their asses up and down the standings over the past few months. I wondered if we were playing too hard, before I watched them gain control of the puck by checking Mac pretty hard into the boards.
"Oh shit, we got ourselves a game now!" Chase said excitedly, banging his stick against the bench. "Let's go boys, get it back!"
For the next two periods we were back and forth non-stop. Every time we got control of the puck they'd take it back, when they'd get it into our zone our defense would shut them down until we took it back up into theirs. It was good hockey, to say the least, but it left us sitting at the 1-0 score for most of the game.
We were half-way into the third when I scored our second goal, followed by Teej hammering another into the top left corner that their goalie didn't even see coming. It was obvious they were getting frustrated as the game slipped away from them at 3-0, and with every second that passed on the scoreboard it started to feel like they were having less and less fun.
There was a tension building, which only seemed to magnify when Liam took a holding call with five minutes left.
"Fuck!" He yelled as he slammed his stick against the box on his way in, knowing he'd just left us a man down on the power play.
"Settle down, Payne." The ref warned on his way past, the rest of us looking around at each other while we took our positions for the face off.
We knew if we weren't careful the door might open to let them get back in the game while we were short, and none of us were about to let that happen.
Teej lost the face off, Hughes sending it back to their left wing as they started up the ice toward our net, Niall being our only defensemen left as Rex and I tried to fill in to cover Liam's absence, leaving Teej our main source of offence. They shot it into the back corner and I went after it, checking their forward into the boards before the whistle blew.
"Cross check, two minutes!" The ref yelled, motioning for me to take my seat in the box.
"That was a clean check!" I argued. "That's bullshit!"
"To the box, Styles." He rolled his eyes at me, Rex coming and grabbing me before I could get myself tossed.
I reluctantly skated to the box, making it well known I wasn't happy about it as I yelled at the ref on the way, before I took off my helmet and threw it into the box before plunking myself down beside Liam.
"Well, we're fucked." He chuckled, both of us knowing we'd just left Niall, Teej and Rex on their own and it was likely the other team would score at least one before we got out.
I looked up at the scoreboard, seeing there was only five minutes left in the game, watching helplessly from the box as play resumed without us. Teej won another face off and fed it to Rex, who smartly just tried to kill time on the clock as he slowly took it down to the other zone as far away from our net as possible. He passed it to Teej who expertly danced around Hughes to take a shot that landed in the net, but before the buzzer could even go off he took a cheap shot and knocked her to the ground, her head hitting the boards before he landed on top of her.
Liam and I instantly stood up as I reached for the handle to the penalty box, but he quickly grabbed me and held me back.
"Wait." He said.
I knew what he was telling me, to give her the opportunity to get up without making it look like we left the box to rush to her defense, but just standing there was killing me. We both watched helplessly as Rex and Niall skated over to her, Niall giving Hughes a good shove before his teammates pulled him back, both of them kneeling beside her as she laid on the ice not moving. The entire arena was silent as we waited for her to move, my heart pounding as I seemed to be frozen in place, fear surging through me as we waited to see if she'd get up.
"Come on, Teej." Liam whispered beside me, both of us holding our breath as we stared at the scene in front of us.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that everyone in the room was holding their breath, the implication of what losing Teej to a serious injury for the playoffs could mean, feeling like our entire lives were riding on the fact of whether or not she got up. Time seemed to move in slow motion as the seconds ticked by, my stomach twisting in knots at the idea that she was hurt, wanting to go to her but also murder Hughes with my bare hands.
I watched as Rex peeled off his jersey and held it to her face, quickly realizing that she must have been bleeding before he and Niall shifted and I saw the red liquid splattered all over the ice. I felt rage rush through me as I looked over at Hughes, a smug look on his face like he was satisfied, before I reached for the door and Liam once again held me back.
"Don't, bro." He instructed. "Give her a minute."
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, fighting all my instincts to go out there and beat the shit out of him, reminding myself that leaving the box to start a fight could possibly result in a suspension from the actual league before playoff time. I also knew that it was the last thing Teej would want me to do, so I just stood there waiting like everyone else even though it went against every instinct I had to go to her. I watched as Niall and Rex seemed to ask everyone to give her space, telling them to step back as she became more visible to me, laying face down on the ice.
"Get up, Teej." I whispered to myself, not even blinking as I stared at her. "Come on, baby. Get up."
You could have heard a pin drop as I watched her shift, her arms slowly moving closer to her body as Rex and Niall watched over her protectively, and she very carefully pressed her hands to the ice and lifted herself onto her hands and knees.
Blood was still pouring from her face when Rex removed his jersey from her nose, but he quickly went to put it back and she pushed it away. She stayed like that for a few seconds, seemingly pulling herself together as she wiped her nose with her own jersey, before she slowly stood herself up to her feet.
The crowd erupted around us, cheers for her echoing through the building as Rex and Niall doted on her, making sure she was okay as she nodded in reassurance. The crowd clapped as Niall and Shawn each took one of her arms and gently began to escort her off the ice, before she took us all by surprise and did the last thing I ever thought I'd see her do.
She stopped skating, turned toward Hughes with blood still dripping down her face, and dropped her gloves.
Before any of us could even register what was happening, she grabbed his jersey, punched him in the face, and pulled it over his head.
I heard a cackle of disbelief leave Liam as I tried to process what was happening, before I heard the familiar voice of Rich Tomlinson echo through the air and snap me out of my trance.
"That's my fucking sister!"
She was still pummeling him as he swung wildly in an effort to help himself, but he couldn't seem to land shots any since he was tied up in his jersey. Nobody really seemed interested in stopping it, being that she was completely kicking his ass, and the fact that he was actually attempting to hit her back just proved what a piece of shit he was. He had it coming, and not a single one of us was about to help him out after what he'd just done.
Even his own teammates were at a loss of what to do, just standing there watching as he got his ass beat by the chick he'd been talking shit on for the past year, amused by the entire situation. She landed one particularly good shot that knocked him to the ground, but she just climbed on top of him and kept going at him. Our entire bench was screaming at her, encouraging her to keep going, and I watched for a few minutes before I decided it was time to break it up.
I opened the door to the box and skated over to her, Niall and Rex taking my lead as I approached her and the three of us tried to get a hold of her, fists still flying toward Cole's face as we pulled her away.
"Alright, Rocky. That's enough." I chuckled as we skated her back over to the bench.
She didn't say anything, just breathless and clearly pissed from what had just happened, but the crowd loved every second of it and as we skated past her brothers they were pounding on the glass like she'd just won the Stanley Cup.
I sat her down on the bench and called the medic over, looking up just in time to see Hughes being dragged off the ice by his teammates, no doubt done for the rest of the game. I told everyone to head to the locker room and ended the game, knowing there was no point with three minutes left and a score of 4-0. I think it was pretty clear it was over, the sheer amount of blood on the ice called for a major cleaning, which we would have had to wait for anyway. We'd wiped the floor with them, literally, and it was now time to clean ourselves up and head out to play some games.
I sighed as I crouched in front of Teej while the medic attempted to clean up her face, but she just kept smacking his hand away.
"I'm fine." She snapped. "It's just a cut."
"A cut that's fucking bleeding everywhere." I scoffed. "Quit being so stubborn and let him clean it out."
She just glared back at me, still breathless and obviously in a mood, but she stopped fighting it and just huffed as he started to clean her up.
"You didn't need to stop me, you know." She said through gritted teeth. "He had it coming, it was a cheap shot."
"I think you made your point, babe." I chuckled. "I don't know how much more you could have done, you had him on the ground. I let you go longer than I would have let anybody else."
"I fucking hate that guy." She seethed.
"I think you made that clear."
I tucked my lips into my mouth to keep from laughing, fully amused by how pissed she was, almost finding it adorable that she'd completely lost her temper. It wasn't like her to even be that aggressive on the ice, always just focusing on the game and letting her talent speak for itself, but apparently Hughes had pushed her to her limit.
"You good, Teej?" Rex asked as he came and sat beside her. "That was one hell of a hit you took."
"Yeah, I'm good. Sorry about your jersey." She sighed.
"No worries, a hockey jersey isn't quite broken in until it's got some blood on it." He chuckled. "You got all your teeth?"
She clenched her jaw and showed her teeth to him as he inspected her, and from what we could tell they were all accounted for.
"All there." Rex grinned as he patted her on the shoulder and made his way to the locker room where I'd sent everyone else.
The crowd had began to make their way up to the concourse once the show was over, but unsurprisingly there were a few of them that made their way straight to the bench.
"Holy shit, I have never been so proud of you in my entire life." Rich announced as he hopped over the barrier and came to stand in front of her. "Let me see your hands."
She rolled her eyes at him as she held them out, full of cuts and scrapes as he inspected each one like the battle wounds they were.
"You really kicked his ass." Dan chimed in. "I guess we taught you well."
"Why am I not surprised that you two wanna take the credit?" She scoffed.
"I mean, we taught you everything you know." Rich chuckled. "But to be fair, I didn't know you had that in you. Impressive, baby sister."
"Thanks." She sighed. "I think."
"How you doin, Sweet Pea?" Her dad asked as he placed his thumb and forefinger under her chin, inspecting her face. "I think you're gonna be sore tomorrow."
"Pain is temporary, glory lasts forever." Rich said as he high fived his brother.
"Alright you two, let's get you out of here." Her dad chuckled, shooing them back off the bench. "We'll see you guys upstairs."
I nodded and shot them a wave as they left, thanking the medic as he gathered up his things, before I turned back to face Teej once we seemed to be alone.
"How bad is it?" She asked.
I took in the cut to her cheek, which wasn't actually that deep, and figured it probably wouldn't even scar. Her nose was swollen and bruising already, which I assumed was what took the brunt of her hit into the boards. She had a fat lip that was still bleeding into her mouth, her teeth stained red with blood as she intermittently had to spit it out. She was bound to have two black eyes for quite a while, along with some serious swelling, but I couldn't help but smile up at her.
"You look gorgeous."
"Fuck off, Harry." She said, cracking a smile.
"What? I'm into the whole battered boxer vibe, it's hot."
"Funny." She replied, rolling her eyes at me.
"Just think of what your mother would say."
"Oh man, I'm actually sad she missed it." She laughed.
"We'll send her a copy of the tape. It's probably on youtube by now."
"Is it weird that I kinda wanna see it?"
"No, it was epic. I'm gonna watch it on repeat." I smiled.
I chuckled as I stood up and helped her off the bench, before she began to look around for someone she clearly hadn't seen in a while.
"Harry..." She said slowly, her eyes scanning the room before she turned back to face me. "Where's Louis?"
I quickly turned and looked around, noting I hadn't seen him since the game was on, and he hadn't even been to check on Teej since she'd been back on the bench. We both knew him well enough to know where he was, and that I was gonna have to go fetch him.
"This can't be good." I sighed, turning back to look at her. "I'll go get him."
She threw her head back in exasperation as I leaned forward and kissed her forehead, sending her back to the locker room to shower while I went straight to the opposing team's locker room. I wasn't even half way down the hall before I heard him yelling, chuckling to myself at how predictable he was.
"You're a piece of shit, Hughes! If you ever touch my sister again I'll fucking kill you, do you hear me? I will fucking castrate you!"
The door opened as I approached it, a couple of the guys escorting Louis out into the hallway as he continued his tirade, his right hand already swollen and puffy after it no doubt met Cole's face.
"Damn, the Tomlinson's are on fire today." One of them chuckled as they let him go and pushed him toward me. "I believe this belongs to you, Captain."
"Unfortunately." I sighed, looking down at Louis who just flipped me the bird. "I'll take it from here, thanks guys."
"See you upstairs for the festivities!" They laughed as they headed back into their locker room, and I just threw my arm around Lou and walked him back toward the rest of the team.
"Teej didn't need you to do that, bro." I sighed. "She took care of him well enough on her own."
"Oh, no. That was for me." He grinned up at me, suddenly more than calm and back to his usual self.
"Fair enough." I chuckled.
"Did you see him? She fucked him up so good." He said emphatically, throwing his head back as he laughed. "I have to admit I was shocked. Seeing her drop her gloves was like the single greatest moment of my life."
"It was pretty great." I smiled, recalling the image. "I just wish I'd been able to enjoy it more, I was so freaked out before that about her being hurt, I don't think it registered."
"Yeah that was a scary few minutes, I'll tell you that." He sighed. "But nothing keeps Teej down. Never has, never will."
I nodded in agreement as we approached the doors to our locker room, it had already been a long day and the event had barely even started. There was still so much to do, so much fun to be had, that I was hoping all of the craziness hadn't put a damper on the event itself.
"Now I have to go in here and shower, then head upstairs and provide some entertainment. Can I trust you to stay out of trouble for the rest of the night?" I asked Louis, shooting him a skeptical look.
"I mean, I'm first up at the kissing booth so I guess it depends what you mean by trouble." He grinned, wiggling his eyebrows at me. "I'm joking, I'll behave myself. And before you say it, Chels is there too, volunteering to kiss dudes."
"Well since I'm 90% sure you'll be kissing toddlers and little old ladies, I say I doubt you can get into that much trouble." I chuckled. "Chels might get a little more action."
"Careful." He smiled, turning to head upstairs. "We made a deal. Besides, kids and old people love me. They're my specialty."
"Ice that hand!" I called out after him, and he just waved me off and disappeared down the hall.
I pushed the door to the locker room open to find exactly what I knew I would, the whole team buzzing and talking about how awesome it was that Hughes not only got what was coming to him, but that Teej was the one to dish it out. I chuckled to myself at how excited they were, before I headed to my stall and grabbed my stuff to take a shower.
By the time I was finished almost everyone had left to head upstairs, and by the time I got dressed it was only Teej and I remaining as she hovered by the door waiting for me.
"I'm so sorry, Harry." She said as she came over to me, taking me by surprise as the familiar tone in her voice made me smile.
I had a feeling this would happen once she calmed down out of her rage, and I just sighed as I brought my hand up to the side of her face and looked down at her.
"Teej, it's fine. He asked for it."
"I know, but this is your night and now it's all anyone can talk about." She continued. "And oh god, your family is here! I didn't even realize, they must think-"
Before she could even continue I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers, smiling against her as she finally stopped talking and kissed me back, whimpering against me before she pulled away and brought her fingers up to her swollen lip.
"Oh shit, I forgot. Did I hurt you?" I laughed.
"It had to be done before I went off the deep end." She chuckled as she held her hand to her lip, trying not to smile. "Ouch."
"Sorry, babe. I just thought I'd stop you before you went on all night."
"Understandable."
"If people only knew that the chick beating the shit out of Hughes an hour ago was now apologizing profusely about everything she could think of..." He smiled as I threw my arm around her and led her toward the door. "Don't worry, I know you have a reputation to protect, I won't tell anyone."
"I do feel bad though." She sighed as we made our way down the hallway. "Not for hitting him, but that I did it on Abby's night."
"Are you kidding me? Abbs would have been all over that." I laughed. "She'd be all over me about how I should never do you wrong or you'll kick my ass."
"I knew I liked her." She chuckled.
"She woulda loved you." I said as I leaned over and kissed her head, just as we approached the door to the concourse. "And just in case I don't get to tell you tonight because we're gonna be surrounded by all these people and cameras, I love you."
"I love you too." She smiled. "But I can't kiss you because my lip feels like it's exploding and it hurts to talk, so don't make me laugh either."
"Are you sure you don't wanna just go home and ice your face? It looks sore." I said sympathetically as I gently ran my fingers along her cheek. "I understand if you aren't into this whole thing."
"Why? Are you embarrassed that your girlfriend looks like she lost a fight with Mike Tyson?" She asked, quirking one eyebrow.
"Bold of you to assume that you couldn't beat Mike Tyson." I said. "From what I saw I think you could give him a run for his money."
"I mean, he is old and washed up now." She shrugged. "But no, I wanna stay. I can't wait until my busted face is plastered all over the front page tomorrow."
I rolled my eyes at her as I opened the door, letting go of her hand as everyone seemed to descend on us the second we stepped onto the concourse. All kinds of media appeared and started asking her about Hughes, to which she politely and repeatedly answered with all kinds of facts about the charities that would benefit from the event. I knew how much she would hate being seen on TV and in the papers with her face like that, but she was sucking it up because she knew it was important to me, and I adored her for it.
For the next few hours she put up with every single person she spoke to commenting on how sore she looked, all the while the swelling just seemed to get worse with every passing second. It somehow became a joke to the rest of us as she started to make up fake stories about how I beat her up because she made my tea wrong, or how Niall fought her over the last piece of pizza.
We heard that Hughes had left immediately after the game to get medical attention, apparently requiring quite a few stiches to his face, but we were all quite satisfied that he wouldn't be shooting his mouth off anymore. The rest of us enjoyed the next few hours of charity games, throwing pies at each other and playing all kinds of carnival games, Lulu getting more than enough attention from the rest of the team as they paid for her to play whatever game she wanted. Her and Niall seemed to have formed a special friendship as they became attached at the hip for every game, and TJ's brothers took turns letting her sit on their shoulders so she could see everything going on.
My parents must have told me a hundred times how great they thought it all was, and it was nice to be able to introduce them to my team and people they hadn't been able to meet when they'd been there for Christmas. It felt like some kind of new beginning that we were all starting on together, and I couldn't imagine what it would have been like without them there.
The night flew by as everyone enjoyed themselves spending money for a good cause, and before I knew it I spotted my sister passed out asleep on Dan's shoulder. I checked the time to see that it was past midnight, and figured I should get her to bed.
"Here I'll take her." I said as I walked up to Dan. "It's way past her bed time."
"Are you sure? She's fine, I don't mind holding onto her." He said, offering to keep her as she stirred a little and looked up at me.
"You tired, boog?" I asked and she nodded sleepily against him before I lifted her up and took her, instantly melting into me and falling back asleep. "Let's get you to bed."
I made my way back over to my parents, spotting Teej on the way with Rex and Mac, sitting near the bar as they laughed about something. I chuckled to myself as they chanted for her to chug her beer, knowing they'd been telling her all night that getting drunk would help her face not hurt as much, not factoring in that in the morning she'd have an hangover in addition to her sore face. I figured she was probably the next person I should put to bed, so I handed my sister off to my Uncle and went back to get her.
"Styles!" Rex said excitedly. "You want a beer? Take mine, I'll get another one."
"I think I'm gonna head home pretty quick, most people have left and we're shutting down." I laughed as the three of them looked around, clearly oblivious to everything else around them.
"Oh come on! Have a beer, the night is young!" Mac scoffed. "Besides, your girlfriend is a fucking legend, bro."
"I knew that a long time ago." I chuckled.
"I didn't. I was a bit of a dick, to be honest. Sorry, Teej." He said, regret clear in his voice. "My bad."
"All is forgiven." She laughed, holding up her beer to tap it against his. "But Harry is right, I should really go ice my face."
"Boooooo." They both said in unison as she stood up, stumbling a little before she grabbed onto me to steady herself.
"Oops." She giggled before I turned around and let her hop up onto my back. "How did you know I needed a piggy back? You just get me."
"I do." I smiled up at her as she threw her arms around my neck, and I carried her through the concourse as we both said our goodbyes and thanked whoever was left for coming.
We ran into my parents just as they were leaving, both my mom and Kate telling Teej for the hundredth time that her face looked painful, to which she responded by telling them it wasn't that bad. We promised to come over for breakfast in the morning, before we took off on our own walk back to the dorm. I was pretty sure TJ's brothers and Louis had convinced the rest of the team to head out to the bar, so by the time we got home it was nice to have the quiet after such a busy night.
"Babe!" Teej called from the couch as I got changed in my room. "Can you make me some tea?"
"Yes." I chuckled as I came back down the hallway, her poking her head over the back of the couch to grin at me.
I puttered around the kitchen as she tried to find something for us to watch, holding the bag of frozen peas to her face just as I'd instructed her to. I finished making our tea and grabbed some snacks before I sat down on the couch and she immediately pushed me over into my back so she could lay on top of me.
"Ouch." She whined as he rested her face against my chest, moving her head around for a few seconds before she sighed. "I can't find a spot that doesn't hurt."
"Well we don't have to lay like this." I laughed.
"I want to." She whined. "I missed you."
"I've been with you all day?"
"I know, but it's not the same." She sighed. "I missed the good cuddles."
"Me too, baby." I said as I leaned down and kissed her head. "Thank you for staying tonight, I know you were sore."
"I'd rather stay and be sore with you then come home and be alone." She said simply.
"Oh actually, that reminds me." I said, sitting both of us up and looking at her.
"Why? Why are you stopping the cuddles?" She whined as she sat up, clearly not pleased with me as she pouted.
"Because you have some serious explaining to do, you dirty little liar." I accused with a laugh.
"What? What did I lie about?!"
"You sat in my room this morning acting all shocked that I'd heard from Gretzky when you were probably talking to him the whole time."
"Well duh, where do you think he got your number?" She laughed. "It was my idea to bring your family over, obviously."
"How did that even happen?"
"He apparently contacted the university and asked your uncle for both our numbers. Then he called me and said he wanted to reward you for what you were doing and do something nice for you, so it was the best thing I could think of." She shrugged.
"Well I apparently don't give you enough credit for you acting ability, because that was one hell of a show you put on this morning."
"Thanks. You know, I really appreciate that. I've been trying this whole method acting thing, I think it's really gonna help me win my Oscar." She smiled.
"You are multi-talented, TJ Tomlinson." I nodded.
"Can I have my cuddles back now?" She asked as I pulled her back into me, laying us both down as I kissed her head and she settled in against me. "Yay."
She fell asleep within minutes, the excitement of the day paired with the drinking she'd done catching up to her, and I just laid there with her running my fingers through her hair and getting lost in my thoughts. I went over everything that happened from start to finish, reflecting on the success of the event and all the people who had shown up to support, hoping that we'd raised lots of money and could help as many people as possible. I still couldn't really believe that my parents had shown up, and it hadn't really occurred to me until then just how much planning it must have taken for them to get off work with such short notice and take Lucy out of school.
I looked around the dorm and thought about where I was when I first arrived there, how angry and lost I was, how much I was hurting the people I cared about without really realizing. I thought about how far I'd come, how much I'd grown and changed, and how many things I was truly thankful for. I was blessed with so many people who loved me, the opportunity to do what I love and get an education, and to have met the person that I truly believed was the only person who could have saved me from myself.
I knew in my heart that I would never have made it through the past year without her. I was stuck in a pattern of self-destructive behavior, the pain of my sister's death consuming me to the point that I just pushed away anything that was good for me, and she forced me to pull myself out of it. That stubbornness about her that drove me crazy sometimes had saved my life, because she refused to give up on me, and refused to let me give up on myself.
We'd both been through so much since we met each other, it felt like we'd both seen each other at some of the lowest points in our lives. It felt like if we could make it through those things as strong as we had, we could make it through anything. I couldn't imagine my life without Teej by my side, encouraging me and talking me down when I need it, and if I had it my way we'd never be without each other.
Because no matter what happened, she'd always be my Gretzky.