About You

Chapter Eleven

"Okay, woah, woah, woah, hold the phone" Sara stopped Ivy mid sentence. She looked at her with peering eyes, before continuing. "He asked you to come to Columbus?" Ivy nodded. "And you said no?"

"Well, I didn't say no" Ivy corrected, and Sara rolled her eyes.

"You didn't say yes!" Sara sighed, exasperated. "Girl, why!? Why not go visit him?" She asked her friend, who looked like a bag of nerves. It was the final game of the tournament; the gold medal game. Canada was playing Sweden, and everything was on the line. This was the last day Alex would be around; which meant it was the last day Ivy could figure out what she wanted to do.

There was no question she had feelings for Alex; that was never in question. But was it possible for them to be something more? Was continuing to pursue anything a smart idea? The questions that continued to plague her mind gave her a modest headache.

"It's complicated" Ivy muttered, the players leaving the ice after warmups. She managed to catch Alex's eye and shot him a smile, despite feeling like she was going to vomit.

"What's so complicated about a visit?" Sara shrugged. "I'm going to visit Elias" she played it off like it was nothing.

"How are you so nonchalant about this?" Ivy asked, genuinely curious.

"Life's short, Ivy" Sara mused. "We have one life to live, why not make the most of it?" She asked, a mostly rhetorical question. Ivy pondered on her thoughts for a moment.

"Yes, but nobody likes to get hurt" Ivy pointed out firmly.

"So that's what this is about?" Sara asked, eyebrows raised. "Getting hurt?" Ivy nodded solemnly. "Oh, honey, why?"

"Because I..." she trailed off, not sure if she was ready to admit to it out loud yet. "Because I think I might have feelings for Alex, and what happens when he leaves? What happens tomorrow? What happens if I visit once, and that's it? What if we can't make it work? What if he doesn't want to make it work? What if-"

"Slow the hell down" Sara laughed. "There's a lot of what ifs I hear."

"Because there are a lot of them" Ivy scolded.

"Oh yeah? Well, two can play at that game. What if it works out? What if you two end up happy? What if you fall in love? What if you make it work? What if you take that trip and it turns out to be the best experience of your life?" She rattled off, and Ivy sighed. "Look, I get where you're coming from, I do. And this is completely your choice to make. But I'm just saying,"

"You have one life to live, got it" Ivy finished for her, and Sara smiled.

"See? There may be hope for you yet, kid" she pretended to ruffle her hair.

"You're lucky I like you" Ivy grumbled, now feeling more confused about her feelings than when she first arrived at the game.

"I know" Sara beamed, turning her attention towards the ice. "Think they're gonna do it?" She asked, referring to team Sweden winning it all.

"They've got what it takes" Ivy stated the obvious. "But Canada wont go down without a fight"

"Nah, they've had a pretty flawless tournament" Sara nodded in agreement. "I really hope they can win this, though"

"Me too" Ivy spoke in a whisper. She felt a strange twinge of sadness as she watched the players that had come so familiar skate onto the ice surface, ready to play in the gold medal game; ready to leave it all out on the ice.

**

"So, what did she say?" William asked, and Alex sighed.

"She said no" he frowned.

"What!?" Will asked, quite surprised.

"Well, she didn't say no- she just didn't say yes" Alex reworded his previous statement and William rolled his eyes. "What?"

"Oh, my dear sweet Alex" Will sighed, slinging his arm around his shoulder. "You have much to learn when it comes to love"

"Woah there, nobody said anything about love" Alex quickly defended, and Will grinned mischievously.

"Falling in love, being with someone, whatever, same thing" William waved it off.

"I might have been a little pushy" Alex sighed, feeling incredibly guilty. It hasn't considered it from her perspective, and the more he thought about it, the more he could begin to see her side.

"Why?" William asked simply.

"I don't know- I wanted her to say yes?" Alex threw his hands up in the air. "What if I screwed this up?"

"You didn't" Will assured him.

"And you know this...?"

"She's watching the game. If you really screwed it up, she wouldn't be here"

"She volunteers here" Alex reminded Will.

"Yes, but most of the volunteers don't get to watch games. But her and Sara do a lot more than most, so they're able" William stated, as a matter of fact.

"How did you-?"

"I listen" William defended himself, before turning more serious. "Just talk to her after the game. I'm sure she will be more than willing to smooth things over"

"Maybe" Alex muttered to himself, as the gold medal game was about to begin. He followed his teammates, who were loudly cheering as they made their way onto the ice surface, faces turning more serious as they skated their laps, and took their places on the bench. The feeling of adrenaline was pumping through his veins, and he felt all the cares evaporate from his mind, as he focused on the one goal; on the gold medal.

**

The game started off slowly, each team having only six shots a piece after the first period. In the second is where it began to become more interesting. Sweden scored the ice breaker, off a nice point shot from Elias Lindholm, but the lead was short lived. Not even thirty seconds later, mark Stone Of team Canada scored to tie it up; they were at a stalemate once more.

Nerves began to show as the third period began. Canada took a late penalty, with only three minutes left in the final frame, and with only one minute to go in the game, just at the tail end of their power play, Stone netted his second of the night, putting Canada up 2-1 with only one minute left remaining in the game.

"Fuck..." Ivy trailed off, knowing how bad it stung.

"There's still time" Sara tried to remain positive, though she wasn't sure if they could pull it off.

"William fucking Nylander" Ivy whispered, as Will went in on a breakaway, only seconds left in the game. He skated effortlessly up the centre of the ice, and with only a tenth of a second left in the period and game, put one past the Canadian netminder, sending the game into overtime.

"Holy shit!" Ivy screamed, cheering with a lot of the crowd. "We're headed to overtime!"

**

"Overtime boys, lets go!" William shouted, mostly to himself. He was beyond ecstatic he was able to score the goal that ultimately let them have another chance at winning.

The final period began, tensions high in the building. It didn't take long, though, before the game was over. It seemed like it took him no time at all to put the puck past the goalie, securing his teams victory.

After a terrible playoffs, and abysmal regular season, he was finally proud to say he had an excellent tournament; and scored two goals, the tying goal with not even a second left, and the game winning goal, just two minutes into overtime, to lead team Sweden to a gold medal victory.