Hockey Book

Chapter 3: Captain's Orders

Reece

The walk through Kingston University is absolutely beautiful. The trees are swaying in the gentle breeze that wafts through the campus which is tattered with picnic tables and lounging students.

A group of girls wearing dangerously short skirts walk past us on the sidewalk, and Chris nudges me in the arm. "What about any of those girls? Are they your type?" He interrogates me.

I roll my eyes and throw my head back. "Chris, those girls look like they would fuck the entire team twice over and not bat an eye. No, they're not my type." But I dare a glance over my shoulder at their swaying asses.

"Uh-huh, right. Well, let me know when you're willing to be honest. How am I supposed to hook you up if you're not willing to tell me what your type is?"

"Um, I never asked you to hook me up."

"I know. I just think it's time you found someone good."

I throw him a suspicious glare. "This is all just because you're still dating Ashley. You know, just because you're happy in a relationship doesn't mean I will be. You might as well drop– oh shit."

I feel Chris falter as I look up ahead of us. Then his hand darts to my arm where he holds me still as he spots what I spotted, or rather who. Dylan struts over to us and I can literally feel my blood rising to its boiling point. If he says so much as one wrong word, I might snap.

Turns out Chris had no persuasive powers over Coach and I'm still not scheduled to start on Saturday which is probably the second biggest game we'll have of the season, the first being the championship... if we make it there.

"Yo, what's up guys?" Dylan greets us as he approaches. He pulls me into a bro hug, then moves on to Chris and I swear my eye is twitching. "You guys think we're ready for the Hornets?" he asks.

I can't help it. I let my insult fly. "Yeah, if you can keep your gloves on."

Chris nudges me in the arm discouragingly, but it's too late. A frown creases Dylan's hideously sharp face. "What does that mean, Ellis?"

I only chuckle in disgust. "It's pretty clear."

Chris steps between us as Dylan takes what he thinks is a threatening step toward me.

"What the hell are you talking about? You're the one that got all jacked up over nothing."

"Me! Oh, I'm the one that got jacked up over nothing? You can't be serious? How dumb can you be?"

"Guys, guys, it's not worth it–" Chris attempts to settle us but to no avail. Dylan takes another step toward me as he spouts some more mindless nonsense. He beats me by a good two inches and at least twenty pounds, but I don't care. I'd fight him if I knew we wouldn't be a decent player down on Saturday. He's not that good, but his sub is worse so turns out we need him. That's the worst part of it all.

Somehow Chris manages to pull me away and we continue walking down the sidewalk to our classes. Today is my Microeconomics class which sucks because of how hard I have to focus to pull through in that class.

"So Ashley's coming to the game." Chris continues as if we haven't missed a beat. "We've been going out all this time and you haven't even met her yet. Oh, and I think she's bringing a friend. I forget her name, but she showed me a picture and, dude, she's hot. Trust me on this one."

"Ugh, what is it with you lately? Like I get this whole wingman thing, but it's like constantly nowadays." I nudge him to the right in the direction of the business building.

"Okay, listen. Ashley was being all secretive about this whole thing because she says her friend is... bitter or something, but we're kinda trying to set you two up. We've been talking a lot about you two and we think you'll get along really well."

My eyebrows raise in surprise at this. I didn't realize that Chris and this girl were close enough to be keeping secrets now. "What do you mean she's bitter?" I decided to get that question out of the way before I ask about the hot aspect.

"Well, Ash was really hesitant to elaborate when I asked, but she said she can be pretty brutal sometimes, especially around new people." I open my mouth to respond, but he rushes through. "But she also said that she can be really caring, honest and fun." His tone hangs in the air with the last word as if he's trying to bait me.

I only sigh. We've made it up to the entrance of my building and my class starts in five minutes. Maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to just meet her, but I hate how pushy and secretive Chris has been about this whole thing. It seems like there's a little too much pressure for things to go well by him and his girlfriend who I haven't even met yet. "So what do you want from me?" I throw out at him as we stand on the steps to my building.

He tilts his head and draws the corner of his mouth up slyly. "Just meet her. Then we'll see what you think."

I shake my head as a laugh slips through my lips. "Alright, I can do that, but if I feel any pressure from either you or Ashley, I'm jetting out of there."

"Okay, deal. See ya, Reece." He throws a hand into my shoulder and clambers down the stairs.

If it isn't already obvious, Chris is my best friend. We've grown up playing together, both as defensemen, and we make a pretty strong defensive line. We both had our hearts set on going pro, but the talent we're up against makes that dream feel farther and farther away every day. Chris got an offer his senior year of high school, actually, but his parents begged him to get his degree before he decided to "waste his career on hockey"-- direct quote. So that's why he's at Kingston U.

I am here because I don't think I'm nearly as good as I need to be to make it. I took the safe route– go to college so that I have something to fall back on if I can't make it in the pros. Afterall, I haven't gotten any offers. But it's fine if my dream is too far out of reach... or at least I'm working on making it fine. Damn, I just wish I had grown up in Canada, or even Florida would have been better as odd as it sounds. The South Carolina hockey programs have not given me any leg-ups on the competition, so if I want to go pro, I gotta figure it out on my own.

I've looked into personal trainers, but I don't have the money for that. I spent all my mom's college savings on my dream car, and I pay for my college classes with the money I make when I work on holidays. Even though it sounds crazy, I do rake in quite the load from my landscaping job in the summer and that at least is enough to cover the fall semester and a little bit of the spring. Then when Christmas comes around, I add decorating houses to my service list and scrape together buckets more by hitting all the rich neighborhoods.

I don't really know how Chris pays for college and hockey. I mean his parents aren't divorced and he only has one sibling, but I've never heard him mention his parents chipping in. I've also never asked about it.

I take my usual seat in my economics class and rub my temple, readying my brain to process everything this professor is about to throw at me. It's only the second week of class and already I'm struggling. And it doesn't help any when a flash of blonde catches my attention and I see Kendall strutting over to her seat.

I roll my eyes and pull them off her, but not in time for her to shoot a look my way. Of course, she can't just pass it off as a coincidence that our eyes just happened to meet, because a second later I hear her and her friends jump into a chorus of laughter. And Chris wonders why I'm not interested in getting another one of those.