by Kat Obie
“Wait, what? How do you know that?”
Alice shot her a knowing look, then Jenna pieced it together. Corey said something about the accident to Scotty, and Scotty told her. It was no secret their boyfriends were friends. Well, that’s if she actually confirmed that she was indeed Corey’s girlfriend. Alice teased, “You know Corey and Scotty are friends. He confided in Scotty last night about everything. I don’t think Corey had any idea that he interrupted a video call with Scotty and me. It was a good thing I muted my mic. But seriously, you are keeping the boy in knots.”
“That’s the problem, he’s a boy.”
“A boy? Yeah, he’s young. That can’t be denied. But he doesn’t look it and he sure as hell doesn’t act like it. Both he and Petey are super mature for their age. Are you sure it’s his age that’s bugging you and it’s not the other thing?”
Jenna knew that Alice was right. He wasn’t a typical twenty-one-year-old. He was brash but so driven. His big goal was to get him a sizable contract when his current one expired and ideally make it to the second line again rather than stay on the third line.
“Honestly, the car thing wasn’t that big of a deal. If anything, I didn’t really get to know him at all that night. We met when Scotty brought him here with his friends. It was completely unexpected. I loved chatting with him and we have way more in common than you would think.”
“So what’s the holdup?”
Jenna just shrugged her shoulders and took a sip of her beer. “He’s not here. It’s not going to grow. I don’t even know if he will be staying in Cleveland next season.”
“Yeah, that’s technically true, but he’s only a restricted free agent. I can’t imagine the Sound letting him go on an offer sheet. It’s more what kind of contract and how long. You don’t have to go anywhere. You can just get some good clean sex with a hot hockey player. What’s the harm in just seeing where things go?”
Jenna knew Alice was correct. They were just labeling what they were doing. It was just a label. So she texted Corey.
J: I’ll come to visit and you might get to call me your girlfriend.
C: Really?
J: Yeah. Be awesome against the Wild. Kinda sorry I won’t watch.
C: Yeah, not like you aren’t going to watch your own game. I’ll call you after the game, okay babe?
J: Sounds good.
C: Talk to you soon.
Alice wanted to get some food before they left for the outdoor game. Neither of them wanted to pay stadium prices and they didn’t want anything at Evil Genius. So they headed over to a soup restaurant close by.
Eventually, they made their way to the game. The stadium was buzzing with Flyers and Penguins fans alike. Everyone seemed to be ready for an explosive game even if they were going to be cold and wet. Jenna made sure that both of them had ponchos for the rain. They both had sweatshirts on and their Flyer jerseys on top.
They got wrapped up in the game. At the start, they were taking photos and videos of the day. It would be a while before they could watch a hockey game outdoors in a football stadium again in Philly. Besides, there were some great views to take in.
The game was living up to the hype. It was high paced and the weather seemed to be holding out. The second period brought in misting rain, enough to be annoying but not enough to cancel anything. There was a fight after a hard hit by the Flyers on a Penguin near the boards. For a while there, the Flyers were not getting the shots that Jenna was hoping for. Best of all for all Flyers fans, they were able to tie it up with seconds left on the clock and forced overtime.
Jenna took out her phone again and started to take some photos and videos to capture the moment on film. She noticed Alice thumbing her necklace and doing a mix of praying and swearing for the Flyers. As soon as the Flyers’ captain touched the puck, Jenna started to film everything in hopes that he would do something amazing and break the tie. Sure enough, he was able to create some space and scored on the Penguins. It sent the remainder of the Flyers fans to pure jubilation. The fireworks they set off seemed to just cast a mist of smoke over the ice.
Jenna turned toward Alice to celebrate with her and saw that she was busy talking on her phone. Jenna could hear Alice ask about what was going on with Scotty. There was a lot of concern in Alice’s voice when she should be celebrating one of the best come from behind wins all season. Jenna’s heart went out to her friend since it was clear that something happened to Scotty to cause Alice to worry. Since Jenna could hear only one side of the conversation, she didn’t know much more than that. Jenna could rule out a few injuries since Alice did ask if there was a stinger.
As soon as Alice put her phone in the pocket, Jenna asked, “What’s going on? That wasn’t a happy-sounding phone call.”
“Scotty got hurt tonight.”
“Is he okay?”
“Don’t think so.” Alice shook her head. “Now I just want to get to a place where we can turn on the Sound game for any updates during the game. But you know how that doesn’t always happen midgame.”
“I’m not opposed to watching the game at my place. That way I can see Corey play too.”
“Cool. I just don’t know who they will slot into Scotty’s spot at center. I guess either Dykstman or PK, but neither are natural centers. Also, I still can’t believe you and Corey are now a thing and you even care about the Sound in a more than them-winning-will-help-the-Flyers or Scotty-makes-me-happy kind of way.”
“I could say that about you. Hell, you moved in with Scotty. I still can’t believe you guys were practically living together before you told me fully who he was. I should still be giving you shit for having Instagram break the news that your Scott was the one freaking Sound player that you’ve been crushing on since they got a team.”
Alice shrugged her shoulders; the playful banter was a little bit of a replay of earlier but it was something to really marvel at. Neither of them expected it yet that’s exactly what happened.
“True. But if it wasn’t for the break-in, I wouldn’t be living with him now. I know it’s been going so superfast but it’s been good. This month has been kinda sucky with both of us traveling a lot but it makes our time together better. I can’t imagine him being out of my life. I love him.”
Corey
The game with the Wild went to hell quickly. Once Scotty took the knee on knee hit, the whole dynamic shifted. The Sound got angry and Corey was no different. It was Scotty. Not only was Scotty the team’s best player, he was a team guy who would defend anyone in a heartbeat. He saw how Scotty worked with Petey to settle down his nerves after the last game. It was no wonder that Wheels, a defensemen for the Sound who was out on the ice, immediately fought the guy who took out Scotty. Hell, it took all of his willpower not to jump over the boards and take the guy out. It wasn’t that Wheels couldn’t take on the Wild guy on his own—he could. Corey just wanted to fight for Scotty himself.
While the Sound were playing angry, they were determined. There were lots of forechecks and hard hits all night to wear down the Wild. With being down to eleven forwards and their best center out of the mix, everything was being shifted around. Corey found himself moved up to the second line for most of the game.
When the period ended, Berman didn’t have to remind the guys of much. Everyone was just trying to figure out if Scotty needed to have surgery or if it was going to be a shorter injury. To Scotty’s credit, he somehow managed to let the trainers allow him to be in the room for the intermission talk. He was on crutches and had a huge ice pack on his leg now that he had all the gear off. So he was definitely done for the night. It was hard to miss the amount of pain he was in since he was constantly gritting his teeth or even swearing.
When Berman was done, Scotty spoke up. He said, “Guys, I know you are angry. Make sure you are playing smart while playing with that chip. Don’t take any stupid penalties. You need to finish it up strong. Crestie has a shutout going on, protect it. I’d rather see a win and a shutout than a bunch of reckless pen
alties. Come on and finish strong.”
Then Scotty went quiet. He was in obvious pain and probably should have been keeping the weight off his leg altogether but that was Scotty. Then again, there wasn’t a guy on the team who wanted to miss any part of the game due to injury.
Toward the end of the third period, Berman shouted “CC, you go out there with Lager and Dykst.”
Only the coaches really ever called him CC now, but growing up everyone did since both his names started with C. Corey did what he was told but was surprised to be told to go out on the first line. As he was lining up at center ice for the first puck drop, he realized that Hartsy wasn’t on the bench. He must have gone into the locker room for some repairs. Instead of doing the modified freak line, Lager directed Corey to his weak side and Lager stayed on his strong side on the right. Dykstman skated by and said, “Get your backhand ready. Aim it at net or toward Lager.”
Corey nodded. He knew he had to be ready. Sure enough hot off the draw, the puck was directed his way. He sped up toward the net. He had a Wild player chasing him down. He pivoted and rimmed the puck up back off the boards back behind the net. Dykstman was already there to get the puck and went in for the wraparound shot. The shot didn’t work and rebounded off the leg pad toward Lager. He did a one-timer and it bounced back. It became a rush to the puck by Corey and the Wild in front of the net. Fortunately, he got to it first and he was able to fire a wrister and it went in to make it 2–0.
The Sound bench erupted with stick taps. They headed back to the bench. By then Hartsy was back on the bench, so Corey knew he would be dropping back to the second line again but he didn’t care. He could score as easily on that line as he did on the top line.
The game moved quickly. Very quickly. The Sound scored once more at the last minute mark. It of course came from the top line. Which wasn’t unusual; they scored all but 10% of the goals. But Corey was still pleased with his goal and then having several other strong opportunities to make it a multipoint game.
Once in the locker room, they had the usual team meeting as the guys took off their gear. Corey rushed to get the sweaty stuff off as quickly as he could. He hated having it on any longer than necessary.
After the press came in and asked a few questions, he could finally text Jenna. When he pulled out his phone, he saw that he already had a message from her, which caused him to smile widely.
J: Nice goal there.
He was tempted to say he scored for her but she would call bullshit too quickly, especially since they both knew that she wasn’t going to watch the game.
C: You saw that one? I thought you and Al had that game.
J: We did. After watching the Flyers pull off an epic win, Alice heard about Scotty. So we came back to my place to watch your game hoping for updates.
Corey shook his head as he was absentmindedly holding on to the locker stall with his free hand. He could see Alice and Jenna wanting to watch the game with that news. Corey knew that had to change some of their plans for the night. He was hoping that he could get a date out of Jenna for when she was planning on seeing him next, especially now that she was okay with dating; but he knew that he couldn’t press too hard tonight.
Corey walked toward the trainers’ room to see how Scotty was doing. He knew a few of the guys were doing the same thing if they weren’t getting repairs on themselves. Lager was beside Scotty pretty quickly and was standing next to him. Corey remained closer to the door so that he wouldn’t be in the way. He was tempted to bust Scotty’s chops for doing a call with Alice on speaker but there was a sweetness in their conversation that made Corey envious.
C: So your plans are going to get cut in half?
J: Not sure. I don’t think it will change a ton, maybe a shorter game night tomorrow.
C: She seems determined to take care of Scotty.
J: Wait, you can hear their conversation?
C: LOL. Scotty must be feeling more of the meds than he thinks. He has her on speaker.
J: Lol. I can only hear just her. Who is she cussing out?
C: Lager. He’s chirping like always.
J: Lord. Is he always that bad?
C: He’s worse on the ice. But it’s pretty funny.
J: What’s your style?
C: For what?
J: Chirping.
C: Depends. Sometimes I try to annoy the shit out of guys, other times it’s just pure randomness. But I can be quiet.
J: What the worst chirp you’ve done?
C: Calling Alice a nerd.
J: LOL Why? When?
C: Scotty was hosting a practice. I saw someone short with a full cage. I didn’t know who it was.
J: What happened?
C: Nothing but I felt like an asshole since I know how nervous she gets playing. She was probably embarrassed pretty good.
J: Not enough for her to tell me about it other than just being embarrassed by her lack of skill. She had fun with the line combinations and couldn’t stop talking about it.
C: Lol. Good to know.
Everyone headed for the bus back to the hotel. Corey and Petey were walking ahead of Lager and Scotty. Lager was trying to keep Scotty’s mood up while Corey and Petey were talking about the game. No one was mentioning the elephant in the room: how Scotty’s injury was going to put a damper on the team. Losing one of the league scorers for six weeks sucked. They all would need to pick up the slack.
Corey noticed how Scotty didn’t sit in his normal spot. Instead he stayed up front, most likely so he could get off the crutches as soon as possible. Lager sat across from Scotty letting him stretch out. Petey and he went to their normal seats since they boarded before Scotty and didn’t realize Scotty was going to switch it up.
Corey was just ready to get back to the hotel. He was ready to hear Jenna’s voice again.
Petey asked, “Going to come to dinner or should I grab you something?”
“Grab me something.”
“’Kay.”
“Thanks.”
5
Jenna
Jenna was getting off the plane in Cleveland. She followed the signs to the exit. It was her first time walking through the airport but it was easy to navigate in part because it was so small. But she was excited to finally get to Cleveland.
As she walked out the security gated area, she saw both people she was looking for. It was impossible to miss Corey. He was tall and lean. He had a wide smile underneath the bearded square jaw that was absolutely heart-stopping. Next to him at a little over a foot shorter was Alice with her lean athletic body and her brunette hair pulled back. She was half expecting to see Scotty in the wings but he was nowhere to be seen.
Jenna immediately hugged her best friend. “I’m so glad that you’re here. But I thought you had to take Scotty to PT?”
As Alice pulled away from the hug, she said, “I do but his flight is late.”
Then Corey came up and practically squeezed the life out of Jenna with his hug. It was the first time that they had hung out since they were in Philly a month ago. They didn’t have much physical contact then and it was surprising how absolutely strong the hug was.
She pulled back and instinctually let out a gasp, “Jeez, you’re strong.”
“Hey there, beautiful.” Corey looked super concerned and asked, “Are you alright?”
Jenna was laughing and said, “Yeah, I just wasn’t expecting it. I’m not a fragile flower.” That got Corey laughing with a sly smile. It was something that Jenna absolutely loved seeing.
“I know. Do you want to get something to eat or get the car from Scotty’s…and Alice’s place first?” It was clear who Corey was closer to and who he thought of first. It also made sense. Jenna was glad that Alice was being so flexible and generous lending out a car and giving Jenna a place to stay if she needed a break from Corey.
“Food would be good.”
“Great.”
“Alice, do you want to join?”
Alice shook her head. She was probab
ly giving them alone time. But Alice said, “Got to wait for Scotty yet. Go have fun without me.”
Jenna nodded. She knew that Alice had been a chauffeur for Scotty lately. Even though Scotty was off crutches, they were trying to keep the pressure off of his leg as much as possible since it was the right knee that was repaired.
“I think I see gimpy,” said Corey. Alice rolled her eyes practically out loud. Yet at the same time, Alice looked toward the gate. The moment she saw her love, Alice broke out into a dumb, lovestruck smile.
When Scotty came up, he said with a laugh, “I didn’t expect a welcome party,” as he roped an arm around Alice’s waist. Even though they only really met one time, he seemed to welcome Jenna like an old friend. “Hey, how was the flight in?”
“It was fine,” said Jenna.
Corey quietly put his arm around Jenna’s shoulders. She just leaned back into his body. She realized that Corey smelt of fresh cologne. She knew that she had a large smile on her face much like the one that Alice had.
“We were going to get some dinner. Do you and Alice want to join or do you still have PT tonight?”
“Can’t join you guys for dinner. I just got off the phone with Doc. He still wants me to come in for PT. But we’ll see you guys later at our place.”
“’Kay,” said Corey, giving Scotty a fist pump as the couple departed. He looked into Jenna’s eyes and asked, “Do you need to pick up a bag from baggage claim?”
“Nope. Got everything right here.” She patted her bag. “Are those two always like that?”
“Yeah, pretty much, although there wasn’t any kissing this time. It’s also kind of cute when you think how it’s something that everyone kinda wants in their life.”
