Given Time

♡48♡

Thankfully, the rest of the game goes relatively smoothly as Tanner and Shawn keep their distance on the ice. It seems Tanner has taken his coach's warning earlier literally as he's playing the best he's ever played and scores two goals within ten minutes of each other. Though it doesn't stop my heart from being in my mouth the entire time as I watch them play, worrying that something may happen again.

When the final buzzer sounds, I sigh in relief while the mass of people around me erupt into hysterical cheering as Berkeley thrashes Stanford five to one. Toby and Zara immediately stand on top of their seats, whistling and punching the air while Jake high-fives Ben. I try to get into the spirit with them and clap along with the rest of the crowd, but my mind is on getting Tanner out of here before Shawn and him can have it out with each other off the ice.

As soon as the room dies down and the players exit the rink, I motion for the others to leave, and they follow behind me as we weave through the mass of people leaving the venue.

Once we make it into the crisp night air, we head around the side of the building to where the players will be leaving the venue. When we arrive at the doors, it seems we're not the only ones waiting on the players as a few groups of people are huddling together near the doors, including Chloe and a couple of her friends. Her hard eyes narrow as soon as she notices me, and it looks like she wants to come over and say something, but when she realizes I'm not alone, she thinks better of it and throws her silver hair over her shoulder and turns her back to me. Perhaps having Zara, Ben, and Tanner acting as bodyguards has been useful after all.

I keep my distance from her and pace the wet tarmac as I anxiously wait for Tanner to make it outside.

The time seems to stretch out as we wait, and I check my watch every few minutes, wondering how much longer he will be. After another five minutes of waiting, the red doors finally open, and a few Stanford players trickle out and head straight for their bus with glum expressions on their faces as they wallow in their loss of the game. I look through the gap of the door to see if I can spot Tanner, but the lights are too dim to make out any of the players in the background. Sighing, I turn away and begin pacing again when a familiar voice calls out my name behind me. A shiver runs down my spine, and my heart speeds up. No, no, no. Not now.

Shawn appears in front of me with a beaming smile on his face. He drops his sports bag to the ground, and he picks me up and spins me around. "I thought that was you in there."

"Put me down!" I shout, pushing against his chest.

Shawn is oblivious to my irritation at seeing him and laughs joyfully as he continues to spin. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I step out of his embrace.

I then cross my arms protectively over my chest and glower at him. Still clueless to my hostile reaction, he continues to smile and not so subtly checks me out. "It's so good to see you after all these months." He chuckles and throws his thumb over his shoulder.

"I see you were giving Tanner shit for attacking me again." He shakes his head. "That prick sure has a problem with me."

Hmm. So he thinks I was sticking up for him. If only he knew what was really going on.

"I wonder why," I respond dryly, my anger brewing inside me.

My response takes him by surprise, and as he tilts his head to the side and assesses me, all four of my friends walk up to us and stand by my side in a protective stance.

"Are you okay, Leah?" Zara asks as she shoots daggers at Shawn.

Jake stands taller and puffs his chest out. "If he's bothering you, I'll gladly get rid of him for you."