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Excuse the mistakes

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“20… 19… 18…”

I whispered the seconds as they remaining time in my penalty ticked away. My hands rested lightly on the top of the boards, and I was bouncing on my skates. Sitting in the penalty box for the past two minutes had been painful. The play had mostly been in our end, and my teammates were tired and struggling, and it was my fault for getting a checking penalty.

However, my choices had been to clear the kid on the breakaway or let him get a shot on net. Since this kid had scored the only two goals for the opposing team, I’d chosen the former option. Coach Hannover had approved, which made me feel better, but I was still mad at myself for not catching him in the first place to avoid the breakaway all together.

I looked across the ice where our bench was, and I waved at Coach Hannover to try and get his attention. However, he was too focused on what was going on in our zone, and he didn’t notice me. I figured it was better to go to the bench, since we already had two defensemen on the ice.

“7… 6… 5…”

In the final seconds, one of our defensemen managed to pass the puck up to the waiting Dane. The penalty clock hit zero, and I jumped over the boards and landed firmly on the ice. I started to skate across the ice towards the bench, but before I got far, I realized I was in the prime position for a give-and-go from Dane.

"Dane!" I yelled, slapping my stick on the ground to get his attention, "Dane! I'm open!"

Dane swung his head around to find the voice calling to him, and when he saw that it was me, his eyes narrowed. I watched in shock as he completely ignored me as he kept battling through the swarm of players from our opposing team. Dane had intentionally held the pass when I’m sure he knew the play would’ve been better had he just passed it to me.

I had no choice but to skate towards the bench where my coaches were waving me over, and as I stepped onto the defense end of the bench, there was the unmistakable sound of the puck hitting the metal frame of the net. I didn’t have to turn around to know that Dane had scored; the cheers that erupted from the bench told me everything I had to know.

This game had been pretty close, with each team getting only a few shots. Until now, we’d been tired at zero-zero, and the air was thick with tension. Dane’s goal the first of the game, and our very first of the tournament, and it put us ahead. As happy as I was that we were now winning, I was also silently brewing about Dane’s obvious jilt.

“Welcome back to the bench, Rogers,” Coach Hannover called, and I looked towards where he was standing at the center of the bench.

“Thanks,” I deadpanned, and Coach Hannover nodded.

He paused for a moment, looking at me, and then he said, “That was a smart check, kid.”

“Thanks,” I repeated, in the same dead, flat tone as before. Coach Hannover frowned at me before sharing a confused look with Coach Marshall, and then he shook his head and returned his focus on the game. I grabbed one of the communal water bottles from the shelf in the boards and squirted some water in my mouth in an attempt to shake off what had just happened and get my head back in the game.

The effect was disappointing.

*

We’d managed a win.

After Dane’s goal, the other team had managed to tie it up five minutes into the second period. The score had stayed like that into the third, with barely any shots coming out of either end. With three minutes left in the third, Alec tipped in a slap shot from the point, and we held the other team off to weasel out a win.

I had shaken the other team’s hands with a firm frown on my face, and I didn’t really join in with the happiness as my team and I skated off the ice. I may be drawing this out and being an overdramatic, sore winner, but I couldn’t help it. 

As I sat in the locker room, I quietly peeled off my sweaty gear while the rest of my team celebrated our win. I was understandably not in the mood to be loud and happy since, you know, I was pissed. The goal, I could live without having. However, Dane straight up ignoring me was something that was making me pretty damn mad.

Owen tried starting a conversation with me, but after a few seconds, he saw I wasn’t in the greatest mood. So, he squeezed my shoulder and left me alone. I felt thankful and guilty at the same time, and I started to feel out of place in the upbeat locker room.

I finished pulling off my gear, and I quickly tugged my t-shirt on over my head and shimmied into my warm-up pants. I threw my gross, sweaty hair up in a ponytail and shrugged on my jacket. I pulled my hockey bag up onto my shoulder and grabbed my stick.

“I’ll see you guys at the bus,” I mumbled to no one in particular.

Only a few people acknowledged that I was leaving, but I didn’t really care. Instead, I just hurried out of the locker room.

I nodded at Coach Hannover and Coach Marshall, who were standing outside the locker room, talking with the other team’s coach about the game, and then I walked over to the stairs that led to the lobby. I hurried through the lobby, past the booths that were selling hockey cards and tournament t-shirts, and I exited the ice arena.

Wind blasted me in the face, and I shivered as I groaned. I caught sight of the team’s bus down parked at the curb, and I waved at the bus driver as I approached. He was standing just outside the bus door with his hands in his jeans, and when he saw me, he opened the underneath compartments.

“Let me get that for you, little lady,” he said in a gruff voice, and I was too tired to protest as he took my bag and hefted it into the compartment.

“Thanks,” I replied, and he just tipped the brim of his ball cap at me.

“Hey Kelsey!”

I turned around to see Tony waving at me from the door to the ice arena. I squinted at him and waved back. “What?” I yelled, and Tony motioned for me to come over to him. I hesitated and then walked over to Tony with my hands shoved into my pockets.

“What’s up?” I asked, and Tony gestured towards the arena.

“Coach told me to get you to help me grab some tournament gift bags,” he said simply, “It’ll only take a couple minutes, and then you’re free to go be annoyed with Dane on the bus.”

“Fine,” I replied, trying unsuccessfully to hide my smile.

“Great,” Tony said as he opened the door to the arena, “Thanks for the help.”

“No problem,” I murmured as I walked back into the ice arena.

I followed Tony through the lobby and then down the stairs. We passed a couple teams who were warming up for their upcoming games, and pretty soon, Tony was leading me down a mostly empty hallway. We turned a corner and I saw Owen, Alec, and a couple other teammates standing around a door.

“Hey guys,” I said slowly, and I glanced at Tony in confusion. He just shrugged and reached for the door.

“They’re in here,” he stated, and then I turned the knob and pulled the door open.

“Okay,” I replied and I walked around him and took one step into the room, which turned out to be a closet. The first thing I saw was Dane, standing in the room, looking as confused as I was beginning to feel.

“Dane?”

“Kelsey?”

Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind me, and both Dane and I jumped. I whipped around just in time to hear what I thought was the door locking. “What?” I breathed, and I reached for the door handle. When I tried to move it, the metal handle barely moved.

“What the hell?” I yelled, and I started banding my fists on the heavy metal door. That’s when I realized what was going on. “Tony, this isn’t a fucking rom-com! Let me out!”

“Not until you and Dane sort your shit out,” Tony replied smugly. “The tension and anger between you guys is getting toxic for the team, and we aren’t going to deal with it.”

“Couldn’t we do this in, oh, I don’t know, something other than a utility closet?” I demanded, and I stomped my foot like a petulant child. That’s when I heard a snort coming from behind me. I turned around and glared at Duke.

He was leaning against the far wall of the closet with his hands across his chest. His mouth was curled up in a slight smirk that I would’ve found attractive if I wasn’t so mad at him and the situation. His eyes had a sort of amused light to them, as if I was entertaining him by trying to get Tony and the others to let us out.

“You know, you could help me instead of just standing there,” I growled as my eyes narrowed at Dane.

“Why?” he replied with a shrug. “Tony’s not gonna let us out. I’ve known him for years, and I know he’s not going to back down.”

“How fantastic,” I muttered sarcastically, “I admire his resolve.”

The corners of Dane’s mouth twitched, as if he was going to smile or laugh. However, an uncomfortable silence quickly descended in the closet. As much as I wanted to, I refused to look down at the floor, and Dane seemed to have the same idea. So, we ended up just staring at each other, which made the awkward atmosphere worse.

“I don’t hear talking,” Tony called in a sing-song voice.

“Fuck off, mate,” Dane replied in an equally cheerful voice, looking past me towards the door. We heard Tony laugh, and then Dane looked straight at me. “We should probably figure this out,” he said emotionlessly. “I wouldn’t put it past Tony to try and leave us here until we hashed things out, and I don’t like small spaces.”

“What, are you claustrophobic?” I asked dryly, and Dane hesitated, which answered my question. “Okay, we’ll do this quickly,” I stated, and I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Thanks,” Dane said genuinely, and he shifted on his feet. “Where do we start?”

“Oh, I have an idea,” I replied instantly, and I arched an eyebrow. “Why the hell are you being such an ass all of the sudden?”

“What?”

“Oh don’t play dumb,” I said with an annoyed sigh, “You know what I’m talking about; that moment on the bus, during the game when you totally jilted me. You’ve been treating me like crap ever since we got here, and I want to know why!”

“What do you mean during the game?” Dane asked, and I laughed loudly.

“Don’t bullshit me,” I snorted, “You know exactly what I’m talking about. This whole thing will go much faster if you’re just honest with me. Then, we can get to the bottom of this and I don’t have to be stuck in this closet with you any longer.”

“Fine,” Dane replied, and his eyes narrowed. “Fine, I’ll be honest with you, Kelsey. I really liked you; I still really like you. But you seem to have this thing in your head that it’s you against everyone else, and just because you’re a girl on a guy’s team, you can’t let anyone stand up for you. You don’t have to prove yourself! I mean, you’ve done that already. Christ, Kelsey, I don’t know how you’re not exhausted by spending all your time fighting!”

“Dane, I—”

“I’m not done yet,” Dane said, cutting me off. “You are a phenomenal hockey player, Kels, and you’re a great girl. However, you have to get it through your stubborn attitude that a team stands up for one another. Yeah, I might’ve kicked Julian’s ass mostly because you’re my girlfriend and
I wasn’t going to let him do that to you. But even if we hadn’t been dating, I would’ve done the same thing because you’re my teammate.”

“Why were you so mean to me?” I asked, but it came out more like a whisper.

“I dunno,” Dane sighed, and he ran a hand through his hair. “I guess I was trying to convince myself that I didn’t like you anymore because it would take away the sting of the things you said to me. You just kind of dumped me out of the blue and then left. It hurt, Kelsey. It hurt a lot. I shouldn’t have been so awful, I know that, but I wasn’t exactly feeling the greatest myself.”

I processed Dane’s words without saying anything. I’d already said all that I was feeling and mad about, and this had been Dane’s moment to respond. Pretty much everything he said sounded valid, and it was only after we’d been apart and Penny had yelled at me that I was actually starting to see it.

God, I felt like a jerk.

“I’m sorry,” I said finally. “I was kind of a cold bitch, and you’re right. A team looks out for each other, which means you and I have to look out for each other. I’m not alone, and it took way to long for me to figure that out and be okay with. Again, Dane, I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too,” Dane replied, “I was an ass.”

I chuckled and nodded, while Dane smiled. After a moment, I rolled back on the balls of my feet and asked, “So… are we good?”

“Yeah,” Dane said, “Yeah, I think we’re good.”

Suddenly, the door to the closet swung open, and I jumped forward to avoid it. Dane and I looked out of the door to see pretty much the entire team standing behind Tony. He had his hands on his hips and a triumphant smirk on his face.

“So we’re good then?” Tony asked.

“Yes sir,” I replied with a mock salute.

“Awesome,” Tony said, and he pointed down the hallway. “We better head out since we’ve got tape review and then dinner. Also, some of us need showers badly.”

Dane and I glanced at each other before I followed him out of the closet. I closed the door behind me and I walked behind my teammates. As I did, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen between me and Dane. We were friends now, but was that all we were going to be?

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What's it been, like two months? Sorry about that but I had a lot going on. Lent started today, and instead of giving something up, I'm determined to write a lot more! Hopefully that will translate into updates!

So, Kelsey and Dane are friends again. What next?

Three chapters (including the epilogue) are left!

All of y'all should look up the band The Virginmarys because they are freaking awesome!

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