[WAITLISTED] you were never mine // matthew boldy

8

It's been a few days, and Matt and the rest of the Wild were back in Minnesota after the Anaheim and San Jose games, which they both unfortunately lost. Even though both teams suck, at least Matt got to feel good about his former USA Hockey buddy Trevor Zegras getting a hat trick.

I have started to notice that Matt really hasn't been texting or calling me, which I was fine with since he was practically with the team the entire time. Though he did send some texts here and there.

Tonight they had a game at home against the current Metropolitan Division leader Carolina Hurricanes, which I was called into work to capture some epic shots from the upcoming game filled with excitement. Both Carolina and Minnesota are fast-paced teams on the ice, and both teams also have some huge bodies.

"Y'all, I got Carolina beating the Wild 5-2," Ryan blabbed as I started editing the pictures from when the players were walking in.

I rolled my eyes. "Ryan, will you stop being such a party pooper for once? I get that Carolina is 22-13-3, but that doesn't mean the Wild don't really have a chance," I responded.

He chuckled. "Tell me the Wild win against the Canes when Bill somehow gets Aho and Svechnikov. The only sniper we have is Kaprizov," he told me.

"Damn...," chirped Isaiah, who was another one of our coworkers in the public relations department.

"What? Tell me I'm wrong," Ryan responded.

I sighed and exported some of the finished photos into the folder that would later be sent to the social media team. "You know, a team doesn't just rely on one or two players to be great. Hockey is a team sport," I told him, spinning around in my chair to face him eating a slice of celery.

He smirked. "Yeah, you could say that when Kirill Kaprizov was literally the only one scoring on the Wild's offense for the last few games. Other than Boldy, but I'm not exactly sure why we brought him up permanently. San Jose was a train wreck for him," he responded, folding his arms after he finished eating his celery.

I frowned at the comment about Matt. He was still developing, and it seemed like Ryan didn't have much patience when it came to younger players with little experience.

"Matt is still adjusting to the big leagues, Ryan. For the few games he was up the first time, he did extremely well for a rookie," I said. "He's not going to be superstar worthy right away. It just takes time to develop those attributes,"

"Sure," Ryan responded, probably ignoring everything that I had just said. "Anyways, have y'all got the update on Fiala's injury?"

I looked at Ryan in confusion after I dropped some more photos into the folder. "Wait, what?" I asked. "What happened to Kevin?"

He sighed and sat back into his chair. "Kevin broke his finger during the morning skate this morning. Poor guy, I hope he gets better," he told me.

"Oof, I hope for the same thing. We need him on the offensive line," I responded, finishing up some of the acute details on the photos.

Ryan nodded his head. "Yeah,"

I glanced at my phone to see a text from Matt. I hid my smile when I saw the message from my coworkers, then I thought of a response to send back.

matthew <3

wanna see something that my friend jack sent?

uh like jack hughes? the one you always tell stories about from your developmental days?

Yeah. Anyways it made my day

"when you got more than one mcdonald's large fries in the mcorder"

lmao what 😭

Random, but that's jack for ya

Anyways after the game do you wanna maybe hang out or something because I have to talk to you

Can't you just tell me now?

I'd rather not jeopardize this relationship through texting. It's something that should be talked about face to face.

Jeopardizing the relationship??? Matt what is going on?

—

I stared at my phone in confusion.

Matt never responded, probably because he was busy getting ready for the upcoming hockey game. But that still didn't stop me from being confused and in a daze.

I could feel a knot form and tighten in my throat. Was he wanting to break up with me? Is that why he's been so distant from me during the last few games on the road?

I sighed and sent the folder to the social media team before heading to the bathroom to process everything that had just occurred within a few minutes.

—

Five minutes until game time.

The Xcel Energy Center sounded electric already from the locker room, probably because these were two teams that were at the top or near the top of their respective divisions, hopefully resulting in a game full of exciting hockey.

I have always hated the Carolina Hurricanes. No reason, probably because they were conference rivals with the Boston Bruins. I was excited to play against them, earning a spot on the third line with Nico Sturm and Brandon Duhaime and having defensive partners in Dmitri Kulikov and Matt Dumba. I was perfectly fine playing on the third line, considering I've been put on the fourth for the entirety of the road trip out west.

"Is Peyton working tonight?" Marcus Foligno asked, and I tried my best to ignore his comment. All for being a supportive alternate captain to Jared Spurgeon, he was just trying to get his nose into some unnecessary drama. Not like the entire team knows I'm dating the assistant Minnesota Wild photographer, which is why I've been trying to distance myself away from her.

I felt like I let Peyton down, breaking a promise that I had made to her when we first began dating.

Which is why I sent her a message hopefully asking to talk about it. Maybe I shouldn't have said "jeopardize the relationship". That probably rolled off of my tongue in the wrong way and I haven't been able to respond to Peyton's message asking what I meant by what I said about the relationship.

"Yeah, she's working, why?" I responded to Marcus. He smiled and chuckled as he clipped his strap to the other side of the helmet.

"Oh, I dunno. You guys are cute together," he said, then adjusting his gloves.

I rolled my eyes. "Considering y'all aren't supposed to know about this relationship," I muttered.

"That makes everything better!" chirped Brandon.

I sighed, jabbing the end of my hockey stick to the ground. "She can get fired if her bosses find out that her and a Wild player are in a relationship!" I exclaimed in retaliation, which obviously brought all eyes on me, including the coaches. Dean's stare was always cold; I hated every single time he looked at me like that even for a line change.

I lowered my head and stared at my skates and the ground.

The time ticked down, and eventually we made our way out to the bench for the upcoming game.

—

Short chapter, I know. I'm sorry for the extremely long wait for this, and I'll immediately start writing chapter nine (maybe not because it's like 11pm) after I publish this one. I really wasn't clicking with anything for some reason, so hopefully this chapter will help me expand onto the plot and my goal for this story.

Anywaysssss I'll get chapter nine out as soon as I can get it. Hopefully I'll be enjoying writing this one and having the same feelings for it as my Andrei Svechnikov book that I am currently working on as well. By the way, you should read that one too ;)

Lol I'll stop talking. Buh byeeeee :)