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Excuse the mistakes

Picture of Nick (Brant Daugherty) on the side --->

Chapter dedicated to my lovely sister, sprite_flyte! She writes beautiful poetry and I want all of you to go check her out!

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“Open your eyes, ref! That was a cheap shot!”

I threw my hands up over my head in frustration, but the referee just ignored me and my cries of protest. After watching Nick’s teammate, who’d gotten cross-checked into the boards, get up and skate over to the bench, I collapsed onto my seat in a huff, and I crossed my arms over my chest.

“This freaking ridiculous,” I muttered, my mouth twisting into a grumpy scowl, “I mean, that was so obvious and yet the asshole didn’t get called!”

It was taking all of my will power not to kick the soda out of the hand of the college guy in front of me in irritation. Even though Cornell was winning the game by a goal, it was going terribly. The other team, some college from Rochester whose name I couldn’t remember, was getting dirtier as the game progressed, and our team was suffering. Luckily, no one had gotten seriously hurt, but if the referees kept being so oblivious, someone would.

Is it a requirement to be blind when you sign up to be a ref?

“Kels,” Dane said, laying a hand on my shoulder lightly, “it’s just a game. There are only four minutes left; it’s going to be fine.”

I turned to face him slowly, and if it was possible, my scowl twisted even more. “Four minutes is a long time,” I replied through clenched teeth, “If the other team keeps up like this, someone could get a damn concussion in the next four minutes.”

Dane looked like he wanted to say something, but instead, he looked past me at my dad, who was sitting on the right side of me. “Is she always like this?” he asked, and my dad snorted.

“Oh, she can get a lot worse,” my dad stated with a chuckle, “One time, when we came up to see Nick’s first game, Kelsey managed to get in a fight with another parent, and it got so bad that security had to—”

“He deserved it!” I interrupted, not wanting my dad to go into the painful details, “he was encouraging his giant lump of a kid to get penalties.”

“That is true,” my dad said with a nod, “He was being a jackass, but that doesn’t mean you can grab his—”

“Can we be done now?” I demanded loudly, and I winced as the people in front of us turned around and glared at me. I shot them an apologetic look before glaring back up at my dad. “Let’s stop bringing up the past, okay? It’s something I had to live down, and I’d prefer not to have to do that again, father dearest.”

“Okay, okay,” my dad, replied, putting his hands up in the air in surrender, “I’ll stop. Besides, someday, I’m sure we’ll have a repeat of that little episode, and I’m going to make sure to record it and post it on YouTube.”

“How do you know about YouTube?” I asked crankily, “I mean, aren’t you supposed to be old or something?”

My dad let out a playful gasp and shoved me in the arm, making me lose my balance and fall over into Dane. “I may be ‘old’, but I don’t live under a rock,” my dad said, “I know all of the hip things going on right now.”

“And just like that, you remind the world that you are a parent with two kids over the age of sixteen,” I mumbled, but I didn’t move from where I’d landed on Dane, since he’d taken the opportunity to put his arm around my shoulder and pull me into his side.

“Watch yourself, Kelsey,” my dad replied with a playful tone, and he poked me in the arm. I decided not to say anything back to him, since suddenly, I was feeling very comfortable in Dane’s arms.

“Hey, your brother’s on,” Dane said, gesturing to the ice with the hand that wasn’t resting on my right shoulder. I followed his gaze to see that Nick was indeed on the ice, taking a faceoff in the Cornell zone. His hair, which he always seemed to have long and shaggy, was poking out the bottom of his helmet, and when Nick lined up at the center dot for the puck drop, I could see him tense up in anticipation.

In less than a second, the whistle was blown and the puck was dropped, and Nick immediately pulled the puck back into the corner with his stick. Then, he brought it around the back of the net and passed it up to one of his wings. As the Cornell offense line, followed by the two defensemen, brought the puck up the ice towards the other team’s zone, I glanced up at the scoreboard to see that the time had dwindled down to about two minutes.

“C’mon,” I whispered, “keep the puck in their zone, guys.”

I loved coming to Nick’s games, which was unfortunately not a common occurrence. This was the first game I had managed to come to this season, and it was the first game I’d ever come to with a boyfriend. It had been exciting from the start, the dirty, cheap shots aside, and Nick and his teammates had been playing well. Nick had even managed to score the first goal at the beginning of the second period.

It was actually somewhat funny to watch Dane as he watched Nick play. Dane played the same position as Nick, and he had been engrossed in all of the plays Nick created and participated in. I’d had to resist the urge from chuckling when Dane would lean over and make some comment about how smart a move or something was, and it was pretty cute.

I mean, I myself get really into watching Nick play. His games were almost always intense, and it was hard not to get sucked into them. However, since I’d grown up going to Nick’s games, I didn’t look at him with wide eyes. Nick was my older brother, and telling him that I admired his skills would result in the boosting of his ego, which I really didn’t need.

The seconds ticked down until suddenly, the buzzer rang out in the ice arena. The game had ended with Cornell winning by a goal, and the whole team rushed from the bench and ice to the surround the goalie, who’d made some amazing saves tonight. Nick and his teammates hadn't let the dirtiness of their opponent throw them off their game, and that resulted in sweet victory.

I waved when Nick looked up at the stands before he went into the locker room, and I grinned when he raised a hand in reply. "That was a great game," I said as I reached down and grabbed my drawstring backpack, "I mean the refs were shit but still."

"Agreed," My dad replied with a nod, "your brother played well. He took done questionably shots but thankfully no penalty."

I opened my mouth to defend my brother, but in all good consciousness couldn't because he had indeed given out a check or two on the dirtier side. Like I've said before, I get my serious aggressive problems from Nick and my dad, both of whom hated to admit it at times. So, instead of pointing out how my day's comment was a bit hypocritical, I just raised an eyebrow and looked back at Dane as we walked out of the stands and up to the lobby.

"So," I drawled, slipping my hand in his, "Are you ready for some dinner?"

At the mention of it, Dane's smile disappeared and he paled. I had to resist the urge to laugh, and I just squeezed his hand for a moment. We were going to dinner after the game with Nick, since my dad and I hadn't really been able to visit him since we'd moved to Clarkson. When I'd invited Dane to Nick's game, we didn't know about dinner. Nick texted me web we were already on our way to the game, and Dane couldn't back out.

Apparently, when my dad had done his fatherly duty in scaring the crap out of Dane, he'd mentioned Nick as my giant, overprotective brother that would snap Dane in half if he hurt me. While I wasn't pleased with my dad for saying that, it was probably right on the mark. Nick was a big guy who was extremely protective of me. Also, knowing his personality, Nick was going to milk his intimidating position and make Dane really uncomfortable.

I couldn't decide if it was going to be painful or amusing to watch.

Probably both.

*

"So you're the captain of the Ice Devils, huh?"

Nick looked at Dane expectantly as he took a long sip from his glass of root beer, and I glanced over at my boyfriend to see that he looking incredibly uncomfortable. I couldn’t blame him, since Nick had been giving him looks all evening with the underlying messing don’t think I won’t break your face if you hurt my sister.

‘Uh, yeah,” Dane replied with a nod, “since last year.”

“I see,” Nick said slowly, and he nodded once. “Did you get Kelsey on the team because you want to get in her pants?”

My dad spewed water out of his mouth as I choked on the wad of half-chewed hamburger in my mouth, and I looked from Nick, who seemed pleased with himself, to Dane. His face was bright red, and he looked mere seconds away from vomiting.

“N-n-no… I…. I…” Dane didn’t know what to say, since Nick’s frank question had caught every single person at the table other than himself by surprise.

Remember when I mentioned how I thought it could be amusing to watch Nick be overprotective towards me and tease Dane for a bit? Well, yeah, it’s not. I mean, the awkward atmosphere as we’d waited for had been kind of funny because of the way Dane kept glancing at Nick from the corner of his eyes. However, as soon as we got out food, Nick had been firing the most uncomfortable questions at Dane that were pretty much meant to make him feel bad every time he answered one.

I was just about done with it.

“You’re a jackass, you know that?” I stated, glaring at Nick. Then, I stood up and pushed away from the table, and I walked around it until I was standing next to my older brother. “Excuse us for a moment,” I said to my dad and Dane, and then without warning, I grabbed the collar of Nick’s shirt, forcing him to stand up.

I ignored Nick’s protests, of which there were many, and I just pulled him through the restaurant until we were standing in front of the bathrooms in the back corner. I shoved him against the wall, which was pretty impressive since he was a considerably bigger than me. Then, I stood in front of him with my hands planted firmly on my hips.

“What the hell is your problem, Kels?” Nick demanded, throwing his hands up in the air.

“What is your problem, Nick?” I hissed, and I gestured towards our table, “Why are you interrogating Dane right now?”

“I’m not interrogating him,” Nick replied with an amused smile, “I’m just asking a couple questions I’d like to know the answer to.”

“No, you’re not,” I deadpanned, rolling my eyes, “you’re asking Dane questions to make him uncomfortable and self-conscious. Nick, I love you, but you’re being a dick. If I’d have known you were going to be like this, I wouldn’t have asked Dane to come because you’re being mean.”

“Mean,” Nick echoed, tilting his head thoughtfully, “This is the first time you’ve called me mean since you learned about swear words, Kels.” He wiggled his eyebrows playfully, but I wasn’t having any of it.

“Stop teasing me,” I replied, not taking the bait. I stabbed my finger into Nick’s chest and said, “Please stop making Dane uncomfortable because it’s starting to really piss me off. Plus, I don’t want him to dump me because my brother ran him off.”

“Look,” Nick said after a moment, and he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, Kelsey. I know I’m being an ass, but it’s only because I care about you and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I won’t,” I stated, and made sure not to smile at the fact that he cared so much. I was still trying to act angry so that Nick would know for sure that I was serious about him stopping.

Nick paused for a moment, like he wanted to say something to me, but then he swallowed and looked away. “Shall we head back to the table now, little sister?” he asked, “or do you have more to be mad at me about?”

My eyes narrowed and I simply said, “Spill your thoughts, Nick.”

Nick hesitated once again, but he knew better than to lie to me or try to deflect because I could see right through him. “Okay, okay,” Nick said, putting his hands up in surrender, “Kels, you can’t get mad at me for saying this, but I’m just really worried that you’re going to get treated differently.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, frowning in confusion, “My teammates treat me like any other teammate. We’ve already gotten past the fact that I’m a hockey player without a dick.”

“Not by your teammates; by Dane,” Nick said, and he rubbed the back of his neck. “Do you really think that Dane is going to let you be the aggressive defensemen you’re known to be, especially in front of the net and in the little fights in the corners?”

“Dane knows to let me play my game,” I stated firmly, and Nick’s mouth straightened to a line as he nodded.

“Alright,” he said, “Alright, I’ll leave him alone. I just want you to be careful; that’s all.” I smiled at Nick and thanked him for caring, to which Nick pulled me into a hug. “Let’s head back to the table, Kels,” he said, and then I followed behind him back to the table, where Dane and my dad were deep in conversation.

As I sat down next to Dane and let him slip his hand in mine, my mind wandered to what Nick had said. I may have confidently told Nick it wasn’t a possibility, but in reality, I could see Dane doing just what Nick said. There was a difference between defending a teammate and protecting your girlfriend, and I didn’t put it past Dane to do the latter during a game.

I just had to pray that he wouldn’t. 

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FINALLY!

So do we all love Nick? I personally do. Also... Dane... comments?

So, I know it's been a long time, but I've just started school this week, and I've had to focus all my attention on getting ready for that and stuff. So, I hate updating late, but I can't apologize for putting school before wattpad. That might be the only priority I have straight right now.

Here are some fun things I've done recently! I joined my school's radio club which means that for an hour every six or so days, I get to broadcast MY music choices. That's really exciting for me! Also, I got a tumblr! I'm hopefully going to start posting posting sneak peeks of stuff I'm working on maybe. I'm going to attempt to put it as the external link, but if that doesn't work, it's:

closetanarchistwattpad.tumblr.com

Song on the side is Bezerk by Eminem because it's a boss song.

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