Inevitable (Book One)

Chapter 29

Lyla

"Let's sit over here," I hear my dad comment ahead of my mom as he leads us towards a row with a few empty seats. We are farther up to the top part of the stands then I'd like to be, but I don't argue with my dad as I'm trying my best to keep him in a good mood. We take our seats with my mom sitting in the middle. The ice is empty as we are still a bit early. My mind drifts to earlier when they arrived at my dorm. I was greeted with two warm hugs before I started my tour for them.

They were impressed by the school grounds and asked tons of questions about my classes and track. They picked the restaurant for dinner and we had finished sharing a few appetizers and were waiting for our entrees when I decided to breach the topic of Shawn. I could see my father shift uncomfortably in his chair at the mention of him. My mother was polite and asked me questions as I told them about his family and that he's going to school for engineering.

My father remained quiet throughout dinner and his face was stern and unreadable. On the way to the arena, I changed the topic to hockey in general and was able to get a bit more out my dad. He admitted the last time he had been to a live game was over two years ago and he was looking forward to tonight. I smiled in the backseat hoping that the game would help loosen my dad up more. I had no doubt he would be impressed with Shawn.

"Does anyone want anything to drink or a snack?" I offer as I stand out of my seat. They both shake their heads and smile at me as I head up the stands to the concession. I had a glass of wine at dinner and it helped to ease some of my nervousness but I can feel it wearing off now. I stand in line and when I reach the front I order a beer. It is handed over to me and I turn to make my way back to my seat when I catch Erica standing off to the side of the concession stand with a drink and popcorn filling her hands. She sees me and smirks her evil grin in my direction.

I notice that she is wearing a Lions jersey and when she turns to walk away I almost throw my beer at her. She's wearing Shawn's jersey with his last name and number displayed on the back. I grit me teeth as she disappears into the crowd. I've seen the jerseys before, they sell them in the fan shop at the entry of the arena. You can get majority of the players on the team jerseys there. I've seen Shawn's hanging in one of the display windows. I push the image of Erica in the jersey out of my mind. I have more important things to focus on.

I return to my seat and my parents smile over at me as I hear the familiar music start to play over the speakers. My focus goes down to the ice as I see the players start to skate on one by one. I see Shawn step out and point my finger down as I lean in towards my parents.

"That's him there, number seven," I tell them and can't help but smile proudly. My mom smiles and nods and my dad just continues to stare down at the ice. I turn back and watch Shawn as he warm ups. We are sitting higher up then when I was here last time and I curse my dad for picking these seats as I am not closer to see Shawn. I can still make out his face somewhat through his visor and it's hard to tell but I think he might be angry. I squint my eyes trying to get a better read of his face and when he turns to face our way I find that he does indeed look pissed. Focused, but pissed. I start to worry about what is wrong when the buzzer sounds signaling the end of warm up. Shawn takes his position, lined up at center ice when the puck drops.

"What did you think?" I ask my parents as I turn to them in their seats when the game ends. We won 3-1 and Shawn scored the first and third goal. He was amazing tonight, the other team couldn't keep up with him. I had made sure to look over at my dad multiple times during the game and he seemed to be completely invested as his eyes moved along with the play. I even heard him mutter a few curse words under his breath when we made a bad play or got a penalty.