Forever and Always | Adam Banks

You Can't Bench Me!

Now that the old Coach Bombay had returned, it was time to practice. He even had Jan helping out, which meant they were back to having fun practices. Captain Blood was no more. "We've got a lot of work to do. We've gotta study our opponents and study ourselves. We have to learn from our mistakes. You all have special skills. Now, we have to refine them. We need to get back to the basics."

Jan had just finished setting up a stack of cans, and no one on the team understood what they were for. "Luis, your speed is a great weapon. Now, you must learn to harness it. Let's do it." Jan was right. Luis' speed was great for the team, but it was a struggle when he didn't know how to stop. His first attempt at stopping had failed, and he knocked over the pile of cans. Ellie felt bad that Jan was going to have to restack them every time Luis knocked them over.

"That's it. C'mon Dwayne, hustle." The team was practically bear crawling across the ice. Knees to the ice, stick on the ice. It was harder than what they had expected. "C'mon, Fulton, move that big butt. Let's go." 

Next, was practicing the accuracy of their shots. Goldberg was in goal, doing his best to stop the shots that were coming at him. "Banks! Show me something, now!" Adam lined up his shot, the puck sailing past Goldberg and into the net. "That's it! Good. Good." 

Once they had finished their on ice practice, it was time for conditioning. However, today's conditioning was taking place at the gym. Ellie was unsure why coach had them running on the treadmills so much, but this was one conditioning practice she actually didn't mind. If she wasn't playing hockey, she would probably be on the track and field team. 

With practice over, the team was showered and heading out of the locker room. Ellie stayed behind, waiting for Adam, who was last to finish getting ready. The preppy boy always had to look his best. "Hey, Banks, let's go!" Portman calls out to him. Ellie shooed him on, letting them know that they would be right behind them. 

"Comin. I'll be right there," Adam responds, walking out of the showers, a towel in his hand to dry off his hair. He was expecting to walk into an empty locker room, but instead his girlfriend was there waiting. The wrap he used for his wrist was in her hands. Ever since the Iceland game, she had asked every day if his wrist was okay and his response was always yes. He lied, not wanting her to worry about him. He was still able to play. 

"Your wrist isn't okay, is it?" Ellie asks, tears brimming in her eyes. She couldn't believe he had been lying to her all this time. The two had never lied to each other, so this felt like a massive stab to the heart.

"I'm fine, Ellie. Trust me." He didn't want to see her cry, but he didn't want to tell her the truth either. She would make him tell coach, and that was the last thing he wanted to do. If coach new, he would be sitting out of games. He needed to play, the scouts were here watching. 

"Don't lie to me, Adam." Her lips starting to quiver, she didn't want to believe that Adam had been lying to her all this time. He needed to see a doctor. If he continued to play, his wrist could be permanently damaged. She understood how badly he wanted to play, but permanent damage wasn't going to help him get into the NHL. "You need to tell Coach Bombay. Adam, you could permanently damage your hand." 

"Just leave it alone, Ellie!" He didn't mean to shout, never once had he raised her voice at her. He was frustrated with himself and the possibility of having to sit out of a game. He couldn't let his dad down. Instead, he let down the one person he cared about most. The look on her face was close to bringing him to tears. He knew she was only doing this because she cared about him.

"Fine." With that, Ellie left him alone in the locker room. Their first big fight since they started dating. It was bound to happen at some point, but neither of them were expecting it to happen like that. 

Adam sat alone in the locker room, alone with his thoughts. He was pissed at how he had treated Ellie; she didn't deserve to be yelled at like that. He just couldn't face the reality of dealing with his wrist injury. 

"Now just think how you'd play with two good wrists." The silence he was once sitting in, was now joined by Coach Bombay. He wasn't sure if Ellie had told him once she left the locker room, or he just happened to walk in here when Adam was trying to move his injured wrist. 

"Coach. It's just a little sore. I'm okay." He had been lying this long, so there wasn't a point in stopping now. If he was able to convince coach he was fine to play, that's all he needed. 

"I should have spotted this sooner. Sorry, man. I wasn't doing my job." Coach Bombay approached his injured player, disappointed in himself that he didn't notice Adam's injury sooner. 

"Coach, I'm fine. I can play, I swear." Adam was trying his best to be believable while grabbing his stuff out of his locker. He couldn't get caught lying to coach, and he needed to find Ellie to apologize for what happened. 

"Okay. Here. Let's find out." Adam goes to grab the hockey stick with his good hand, wanting to get whatever Coach Bombay was doing over with. "The other hand." With watery eyes, he grabbed the stick with his other hand. He knew he was about to get caught in his lie. "Now rotate it." That wasn't going to be possible, so he just let the stick drop. "I have to bench you."

"No! You can't do that."

"Adam, you could injure yourself permanently." This was his second time hearing that, and he still refused to believe it. This was his shot at impressing the scouts. How could he do that by sitting on the bench?

"You can't bench me. I gotta play. All the scouts are here watching me. This is my shot." All he could do was hope Bombay let's him finish the tournament. He had the rest of the summer to get his wrist looked at. 

"You're young and you're gonna have plenty of shots, believe me." Gordon knew how talented of a player Adam was. He was always going above and beyond, wanting to work on his skills, wanting to be better. Sitting out for a few games wasn't going to ruin his chance with the scouts. The kid was talented. 

"But my dad's counting on me." He and his dad had been talking about playing in front of scouts for years now. This tournament finally gave him the chance they were waiting for. He got to prove that he was the best in front of the largest audience, going up against the best teams in the world. 

"I'm sorry." Adam sat down in defeat, a tear rolling down his face. He knew he wasn't going to be able to talk coach out of benching him. "Hey. My dad worked a lot when I was a kid. So when he made it to a game, I wanted so bad to score one hundred goals for him. I spent half the game a nervous wreck, my stomach in knots."

"That's how I feel." It was nice to hear that coach had similar story to him. It felt like no one else really understood what he was going through. His dad worked hard to be able to provide him every opportunity he could need to make it into the NHL. 

"Before he died, my dad told me that his happiest times were watching me skate on this pond we had behind our house. He didn't need me to score one hundred goals for him. He was proud of me 'cause I was his son... and I did my best. I'm sure that's how your dad feels. I know it is."

"Thanks, coach." Adam knew he put a lot of pressure on his self, just wanting to please his dad. He felt like he owed him so much, but maybe he didn't need to do that to himself. After hearing Bombay's speech, he just hoped that he was right. His dad would be proud of him, no matter what happened. 

"Alright. Let's go get that wrist x-rayed. Come on." Adam was prepared to hear the worst news of his life when it came to the x-rays, but he just had to believe that everything was going to be okay. 

Author's Note:

DRAMAAAAA between Adam and Ellie! Also Adam is the king of but you can't do that. It makes me laugh every time. The conversation between Adam and Bombay gets me every time!! Like dude just wants to play hockey to impress his dad