bounce back

6

"hey what do you know about jack hughes?" i asked way as we watched tv in his living room.

"like trevors best friend jack hughes?"

"yes." i sighed

"ive never really met him. he seems like a great guy, why?"

"oh he slid into my dms." i said.

he raised his eye brows, "did he now?"

"weve been talking to a week now. and when we first started talking he said that he wanted to meet me and i was like woah bro weve talked for 13 seconds. then we made a deal that if he had 1 goal he could get my number & if he had a hat trick we could meet. so guess who got their first nhl hat trick?"

"i saw that." he nodded.

"so thats where you come in to this-"

"woah woah woah, i dont know if i feel comfortable with you meeting him, like does he want you to go to jersey?" he asked.

"thats why im here. jack plays you december 20th. he flys in december 19th and can meet either that evening or december 20th. now im not giving him my address because 1 i dont need him knowing where i live & 2 i dont want him on campus and this big whole rumor starting. i was wondering of he could come over here?"

"are you sure this is the real jack hughes?" he asked.

"yes. weve been talking on insta and we send pictures back & forth."

he made a face.

"not those pictures, gosh waylyn, no." i laughed.

"so the real jack?" he asked.

"yes."

he made a face and i knew he was thinking about it, a long moment of silence.

"do i get to meet him too?"

"if thats what you want, sure!" i said.

"yeah, just let me know when he is coming over and you better be here. no backing out." he pointed.

"sir yes sir!" i saluted him.

"if he comes over the 19th do you want to have dinner?"

"i can do that." i nodded.

"you do know that his best friend is trevor, right?" he asked.

"yeah."

there was a moment of silence between us.

"i wish you would of just flat out told me no, because all you said that you didn't want us to date and i thought you where just being a protective brother."

"do you blame me?" he asked.

"no, i dont blame you. you didn't cause an eating disorder. you didn't cause me to hate myself. if you weren't here, theres no telling what state my body would of been in."

way noticed that i wasn't eating first. we try to get together once and week and eat lunch or dinner, depending on our schedules, plus i was usually at his house stealing his salads. so when i missed a couple dinners and the salads he gets me where going bad in his fridge, he came to my apartment.

way found out and somehow got ahold of my coaches. i was placed on a meal plan, everyday i had to check into the trainers & coaches offices and eat 2-3 meals a day, plus the shakes & smoothies our nutrition team makes for us. those shakes & smoothies really helped. the first week was rough, i cried in one of my coaches offices trying to eat. they never left my side though, neither did way. way worked with the coaches to get me to eat. so when i ate meals at ways house, he would let coach know. i lost muscle and weight during that season, which i had to build back. im very thankful of the coaching staff and brother i have.

"i dont know...what if jack is just like trevor?" i stressed.

"i dont know liv, ive never met him."

"would you care if we dated? i mean we haven't talked about it but im sure we will."

"i knew trevor and thats why i didn't want you dating him. i knew he was getting with girls while we where at the program, i just didn't want to control your relationship. if you guys where in love at the time, i can't do anything to stop that. did i see what he did to you coming? yes. i guess a small part of me had hope that he was different."

i wiped my tears, "you know that im not mad at you right?"

"yeah." he answered

"im mad at you for having trevor over the other night though."

he rolled his eyes.

"i cant hate him forever. were buds liv." he said.

"i can hate him forever." i chuckled.

"im not going to force you to be around him. if he is ever over again, ill let you know immediately. you usually dont come by on wednesdays so i didn't text." he said.

"it was just a shock, like i thought i was seeing things. even 2 years later and i still dont want to see him."

"yeah, im sorry. that ones on me." he apologized.

"yeah, you best apologize."

-

liv: you still want to meet me?

jack: id be honored to meet you livvy

liv: my brother agreed to letting you come over when you come to town to play.

jack: really?

liv: yeah. will you be able to join us for dinner?

jack: yeah i can do that

liv: chipotle? thats ways suggestion, but if you want something else i will tell him

jack: chipotles great

jack: you aren't going to back out right?

liv: a deals a deal

jack: you promise? because if i tell coach that im going to meet up with some friends and you dont show up, ill look like a goon, man.

liv: ill be there, promise

jack: so just dinner?

liv: what do you want us to do, rob the bank?

jack: maybe not that, i wouldn't be able to play anymore

jack: idk movie?

liv: nothing says our first date like a movie with my triple brother😂

jack: so what im hearing is i need to take you on an actual date?

liv: no

jack: yes

jack: michigan this summer?

liv: boy we haven't even met in person, im not going to michigan with you

jack: ill get you a plane ticket in a heart beat livvy

jack: you just say the words

liv: its late jack and ive got class tomorrow. good night

jack: ❤️