The Hockey Boy

Chapter 19

EASTON

December 25

"Why are you so cheerful? It's four-thirty in the morning," grumbled Darcy when he saw my grin as I entered the locker room.

"Aw, didn't Santa bring you any presents, Kuemps?" I provoked him.

"Shut up," he grumbled, and I did while I started getting my hockey gear on.

The team was having a four-thirty practice on Christmas morning. It seemed crazy to all of the guys and me, but we knew that we had to have practice today. We had a game tomorrow, and Yeo thought that it would be best to have practice in the morning so we could all spend the rest of our day with our families.

"Hey, it Suter here yet?" I asked Parise.

"I think he's already out on the ice," Zach replied.

"Thanks," I smiled before heading out onto the Ex's ice. As soon as I stepped out onto the ice, I saw Ryan. "Hey, Suter!" I called, skating over to him.

"Yeah, West?" he replied.

"I just wanted to thank you. You were right about Ty. I left her alone, and she came back to me," I rushed out with a smile.

"Good for you. I'm glad. I'm not so stupid after all, huh?" Ryan smirked.

"I never called you stupid," I scoffed as I rolled my eyes, but Ryan just gave me a look. "Okay, fine, I'm sorry if I called you stupid. You actually know what you're talking about some of the time."

"Some of the time," he said skeptically.

"Thanks, Ryan," I said, skating away.

"You'd better watch your back, West. I don't think you realize that you still have a whole practice to go through with me."

"You're all talk, Suter," I scoffed.

"We'll see about that," Ryan replied with a mischievious grin.

***

An hour and a half later, I was sweaty and beyond sore. Ryan hadn't been kidding. Throughout the entire practice, he checked me into the boards with such force that I thought the glass was going to break.

"Nice enthusiasm, Suter!" Yeo had called out whenever he checked me. "West, look alive out there!"

"I hate you," I grumbled to Suter as I took my gear off in the locker room.

"No, you don't. Without me, you wouldn't have a girlfriend," Suter laughed.

"I don't have a girlfriend," I snapped.

"Well, what is Ty, then?" he questioned.

"I don't know. I don't know if we're dating, or if we're somewhere inbetween dating or what. I just don't know," I sighed.

"Well, you should probably figure that out before she goes back to that Zac Efron guy you were talking about."

"I know. I'll figure it out. I think I'm going to call Ty when I get home," I stated.

"That's probably a good idea," Ryan agreed.

"All right, Merry Christmas, Suter. Have fun with your family," I said as I threw my hockey bag over my shoulder. "Merry Christmas, guys!"

"Merry Christmas!" they all called back.

***

Ty

I woke to the sound of my phone ringing. I groaned before answering it, "Hello?"

"Merry Christmas, babe!" Easton sang on the other end.

"Okay, first of all, don't call me babe. Second of all, don't ever call me in the morning and wake me up," I yawned. "Merry Christmas, Easton."

"Sorry for waking you up," he said sheepishly. "I just remembered I forgot to wish you a merry Christmas last night, so I decided to do it now. The team had really early morning practice, so I've been awake for a while now."

"It's okay, I forgive you," I smiled. "So what are you going to do today?"

"Well, the team had early morning practice so everyone would be able to spend the day with their families, but my family has always gotten together on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day. I was with my family before I was going to go shoot at the X. I called you before I was going to go shoot, and, well, you know the rest."

"So you're just going to sit at home all day?" I asked.

"Yup. Watch movies, maybe some basketball," he said nonchalantly.

"That sounds interesting," I said sarcastically.

"Yup," he replied. "Hey, I never got to ask you, how's your knee?"

"It's better," I replied. "I just tweaked a ligament, no big deal. I was supposed to be wearing a brace for the past few days, but I think my knee is better."

"Wait, you mean you were supposed to be wearing a knee brace last night but you weren't," Easton said, suddenly sounding worried.

"Maybe," I replied sheepishly.

"Ty! You could've hurt your knee again!" Easton shouted. "Are you wearing it now?"

"No, but I'm putting it on as we speak," I scoffed as I rolled my eyes. If it made Easton happy, I guess I would wear the stupid thing for the day.

"Thank you. I care about you too much for you to be getting hurt because of something stupid like a knee brace."

"So, Easton," I started, changing the subject. "If you're not actually doing anything productive today, would you like to come over to my house and celebrate Christmas with my family? Everyone in my family is going to be here. My aunts, my uncles, cousins, and everyone. You'd get to meet my uncle that used to be an NHL player!"

"Yeah, I'd love to come over. What time?" he asked, and I could tell that he was smiling.

"How about in three hours? You know, a time where decent people are awake, not a time when everyone's supposed to be sleeping," I said, hinting that I still wasn't too happy about being woken up.

"All right, sounds good. See you in three hours," Easton confirmed, about to hang up.

"Wait," I stopped him. "Do you even know where my house is?"

"Oh, uh, no. I kinda forgot about that," said Easton sheepishly. I gave him my address, and we hung up. Then I started freaking out. Easton was coming over to my house in three hours, and I had no Christmas present for him.

"Ugh," I groaned, getting out of my bed. Even though it was six-thirty in the morning on Christmas Day, I knew that I would have to get up now if I wanted to get everything I had to do done.

All right, I thought. I have to clean my room, get Christmas lunch ready, and get Easton a Christmas present in the next three hours. Let's just hope I can actually make this happen.

***

Easton

"Three hours," I groaned after I hung up with Ty. "I only have three hours to make myself look presentable for Ty's family and buy her a present? This is going to be almost impossible!"

I took a quick shower and jumped into some comfy clothes. I would change before I went over to Ty's house, of course, but I wanted to be in something comfy when I went out to shop for Ty's Christmas present.

"Two and a half hours," I muttered to myself. I just hoped that I could make this happen.