Slapshot

Chapter 14: Break-up

Taylor's POV

"They're so gross." Braden spits, and when I look up at him his eyes are focused on Jonathan and Maria laughing from across the rink.

"They're not gross, they're cute." I defend. The two of them were standing across the ice from us. We were all waiting for our practice to start. Coach moved our practice this week from Wednesday to Thursday because he had an appointment to attend, but our Monday practice, today's, remained the same.

"I should just tell Coach about them. See how 'cute' they'll be then." he says.

"It'll just come back to bite us in the butt." I sigh. "Why are you so angry at them anyway? They didn't do anything to you."

Braden shakes his head. "I don't know. I really don't like Jonathan. He's a real creep, and he has to learn to mind his own business."

"Did he do something?" I ask quietly. Braden told me to stay away from Jonathan, yet just on Saturday I spent a few hours with him. Braden didn't know this, and I hoped it'd stay that way.

"Other than talk to you at lunch? No, nothing else." he says, not meeting my eyes.

I sigh, taking his hands. "Braden, c'mon. Don't be jealous, alright? I'm not going anywhere."

He's still staring at Maria and Jonathan, so I sigh again, dragging him away. "Who cares? Don't be so obsessed, babe." I say with a smile.

"I'm not, I'm not." he says, annoyed. "Only obsessed with you." he says, staring back down at me with a smile on his face.

"That's more like it." I grin, but let go of his hands as I hear a booming voice, our coach.

"C'mon guys, gather in." Coach calls, and we all bunch into the middle to hear him. "The Royal Lions are a good team. We can't let them get to our heads, though."

"We lost against them a lot last year." Monroe speaks up.

"I know, but it's not happening this year. New season, new team." Coach reminds us, and we all nod.

"We've just got to practice lots, keep focused, we'll be fine." Coach says, continuing.

Jonathan sneaks over to me, unnoticed, standing on the side opposite Braden, who gives him a dirty look.

"Hey," he says to me.

"Hey." I reply. Braden glares at him. Jonathan gives me a humorous look. "How good are they?" I ask him.

"They're good," he nods with a frown. "They won a lot, but we beat them in the semis. They're rough too."

"I guess I probably should've taken your advice to bulk up." I say.

Jonathan nods. "It's important. But I'll help protect you." he says, and Braden whips around to face him.

"What?" Braden asks Jonathan.

"Nothing, I was just talking to Taylor." Jonathan says.

"Alright. Fine." Braden looked as if he was trying to be intimidating, but Jonathan wasn't phased.

"Come to the gym with me." Jonathan suggests.

"I'm always busy." I reply.

"Don't you do your homework, like, weeks in advance? You're not busy." he chuckles.

I send him off as Coach gives us a look, and as we start the practice, I let Jonathan know that I'll consider coming. We practiced shoot outs again, and I was getting a bit better at puck handling, but I still wasn't the greatest.