Love Misconduct

Chapter Ten

The clock is ticking. The days on my calendar are passing by quicker than I anticipated. Soon the buzzer will go off, and the game will end; revealing one winner and one loser.

The time is coming, the time to choose. The time I've dreaded for the past couple weeks. It's like pregame jitters, except a thousand times worse. It's a feeling I thought would never come over me, but I was wrong. Anything is possible, even if you don't expect it to be.

I sit on a rock on top of the nearest mountain, looking down at my surroundings. Below me I see the dock on the lake, and just past that I see the house that has been my home for the past couple weeks. The reflection of the house shines off of the water, sending ripples of liquid through the mirrored vision. The sun shines down on me and causes me to break out into a sweat, though I wear only a tank top and jogging shorts. Beyond the lake, I see two male figures stretching and running in place. I get a closer glance and see that the two men are the ones that are fighting for my heart: Gabriel Landeskog and Jeff Skinner.

My heart races at the sight of the two, knowing that both of them are madly in love with me, and I feel the same about them. The problem is, I can only choose one. The past couple days I have kept my distance from both of them, hiking through the woods of Canada to clear my head, while they go train for the upcoming season. Just when I feel like I've made up my mind on who to choose, reality hits me like a slap shot. I am about to break someones heart, and that's the last thing I want to do.

My deadline is coming up at the end of the week; and honestly, I hope it's the longest week of my life. Due to the fact I still need to figure out which boy to choose, but how I break it to the one whose heart I'm ripping apart. Do I tell them together? Or one at a time? I've never done this before, and I pray to God it never happens again.

I finally decide to take in one last look for the day on top of the mountain, taking in my surroundings. Being on top of this mountain reminds me of being back home in Colorado, where there was no drama concerning relationships. The peacefulness of nature could take away all of your troubles, because you know that it will get better, even if things are dark at the moment.

As I make my way down the mountain, I see the two men running laps across the lake. Both of them have a smile on their face as the approach me, letting the sweat drip off their muscular bodies. Both of them are out of breath, so I offer them my water bottle that I had carried with me on my mini adventure. Without hesitation, both of them took turns cleaning my water bottle dry. 

"Thanks for leaving me some, guys." I say as I shake my water bottle, seeing no liquid drip out as I point it towards the ground. I look up and see both Gabe and Jeff laughing. I guess this is amusing to them.

"Sorry," both boys sang at the same time, leaving it impossible for me to give them a death glare.

"Just don't let it happen again." I wink as I slowly push myself past them, only to turn back to see them following me.

"So, we know you've had a lot on your plate lately." Jeff says with a smile.

"We just want to let you know that whoever you choose, it's going to be okay." Gabe adds, running his fingers through his sweaty, blond hair.

"And that we support you in your decision." Jeff concludes, still wearing his dimple filled smile across his face.

I take a deep breath before replying, "That means so much, guys. But I'm still going to feel bad for the one I don't choose. Because the last thing I want to do is break one of your hearts."

"We'll get over it." Gabe scoffs. "Because in the end, it's all about who makes you happy."

"I agree one hundred percent." Jeff chimes, scratching the back of his neck.