Wildest Dreams OCxAdam Banks

3. The Win

After school, Adam and Flora walked home to get ready for their game. They each grabbed their large hockey bags and got into Mr. Banks' car. The game was at four o'clock but both tweens wanted to be there early for extra warm-ups. They pulled into the parking lot of the rink and began to gather their things.

"Good luck out there." Philip Banks said to the kids. "Not that you'll need it. That District 5 team is a joke." The three of them laughed. District 5 was probably the worst hockey team anyone had ever seen. They didn't have real uniforms or good equipment. Their team didn't even have an actual name.

Adam and Flora walked into the rink and headed for the locker room. They were the first ones there as none of the other Hawks cared about being early. Once they had geared up, Adam and Flora went out onto the ice. The boy and girl started with basic passes until the rest of the team arrived. Coach Reilly led warmups on their side of the rink while District 5 just stood and watched. Reilly brought the team over to the bench and gave them a pep talk.

"Alright, Hawks. You guys have defeated District 5 a million times. One more will be easy. They may have a new coach and he may be a former player of mine but it seems like he hasn't helped them too much. Just keep your heads up, alright team?" The Hawks nodded and put their sticks in the middle for their chant.

"Win! Win! Win!" Reilly sent the starters out onto the ice. He put Adam in first line center with Flora on his right and Larson on his left. Adam had the face-off with Jesse Hall. He easily got the puck from Jesse and started skating toward the goal. Flora skated around the players in her way and made it a few feet in front of Adam. She turned around and put her stick out the get the puck.

Once the puck was hers, Flora flew to the goal. The District 5 goalie looked terrified. Flora shot the puck right into the center of the goal. District 5 looked disappointed but the Hawks were ecstatic. Adam skated over to Flora to congratulate her with a high five. Both teams went back to starting positions to do the whole thing again.

The entire game went just like that. Flora scored three points, Adam scored four, and Larson scored one. The goalie looked bored out of his mind the entire game. The team did a group hug on the ice then headed back to the locker room. As Flora walked by the District 5 locker room, she heard their new coach yelling at them. She kind of felt bad. The coach had done absolutely nothing to help them. Flora was shocked that he was ever a player on the Hawks.

Her mood lightened upon entering the Hawks locker room. Everyone was cheering for their win. Flora started to pack up her bag when she felt three sets of arms around her. She turned around to see Adam, Larson, and McGill who were always her biggest cheerleaders no matter what.

"You were amazing out there!" McGill told the girl. She blushed. As much as she hated having attention on herself, it felt nice sometimes. 

"You guys were incredible, too! Adam, you almost beat your record." She said to the boy. The most goals Adam had ever scored in one game was four. She knew that he was upset with himself for not beating his record. Or rather, he wasn't upset with himself, he was upset thinking about what his father would say.

The four tweens walked out of the locker room and headed toward the parking lot. Flora would usually leave with Adam, but her Mom decided to take her to get ice cream to congratulate the girl on her win. Before the two split up, Adam pulled Flora into a tight hug.

"I'm really proud of you." He whispered in her ear. "You just continue to amaze me every time we play." Flora had butterflies in her stomach. Adam's soft words gave her a feeling of warmth inside. She didn't want it to go away.

"Thank you, Adam." She whispered back. They both let go from the hug and walked in her separate directions. Adam walked to Philip Banks's car while Flora headed to Mary Jackson's car. Flora's mom congratulated her and they drove downtown to Mickey's Diner. The mother and daughter had only been sitting at the counter for a few minutes when a familiar face walked in. It was Charlie Conway, #96 from District 5. 

Charlie sat down at the counter a few seats away from Flora and Mary. He looked like he was ready to burst into tears. A woman came from behind the counter and gave Charlie a hug. Flora assumed it was his mom. She instantly felt bad again but was taken out of her thoughts by her mom's voice.

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on with you and Adam?" She asked, smirking. Flora was caught off guard. She had absolutely no idea what her mom was talking about.

"What do you mean? There's nothing going on with us." Mary looked at her daughter like she was crazy. 

"I've seen the way you look at him. He looks at you the exact same way." Her mom replied.

"He's just my best friend." The girl told her mother. "That's all there is to it."

"So that hug he gave you after the game was nothing?" Flora's cheeks reddened. She wasn't sure how she was getting out of this one. The hug wasn't completely nothing but it didn't mean either of them had feelings for the other. Right?

"He was just congratulating me. It's no big deal." Mary Jackson wasn't buying it but she let it go knowing if she kept prying Flora would just get pissed off. They finished their ice cream in silence.