The Hockey Boy

Chapter 15

EASTON

December 9

"Good game, guys. Now shower up and grab all your stuff. Our plane leaves in an hour and a half," Coach Yeo said as he left the locker room after our 5-0 shutout against the Buffalo Sabres.

I smiled as I took my hockey gear off. I had had an amazing game, both offensively and defensively. I had gotten two assists and a goal in the game, and when a Buffalo player got on a fast break, I was able to stop him. I was on Cloud 9, and nothing could bring me down.

"Good game, West. Your defense has improved," complimented Koivu as he slapped my back.

"Thanks, Koivu. I couldn't have done it without your help," I replied, but Koivu left without saying another word to me.

"Well, he really is a cheery fellow," I muttered to myself. Forty-five minutes later, I had all my hockey gear packed up and ready to go. I climbed onto the coach bus that would take us to the airport and sat down next to Jonas.

"Is everybody here?" Yeo asked us a half-hour later.

"Yup," we all replied.

"Okay, we're going to leave a little early then," he said before sitting down in the front seat.

"Nice game, Jonas," I said. "That goal of yours was pretty sweet."

"Thanks," he replied. "I couldn't have scored without your awesome assist. You didn't have a bad game yourself, Easton."

"Thanks," I smiled. Ten minutes later, we arrived at the airport. We loaded onto the plane, and I took my usual seat next to Darcy.

"Good game, Easton," he said as I sat down next to him.

"Thanks, Kuemps, you had a nice shutout. Some of your saves were amazing!" I replied in awe.

"Thanks, I try my best," Kuemper laughed. For the rest of the ride, the plane was pretty much quiet except for a few sentences here and there and the sound of Koivu and Yeo's snores.

Two hours later, I awoke with a start after the plane landed with a huge bump. I hadn't even realized that I had fallen asleep. Man, that game must've tired me out, I thought to myself with a chuckle. This NHL schedule was really tiring me out. Road trips were especially tiring.

"See you later, West," said Kuemper after we got off of the plane.

"See ya, Kuemps," I replied. I turned to leave, but I heard someone call my name.

"West! West, wait up!" Ryan called.

"Hey, Ryan, what's up?" I asked as Ryan fell into step with me.

"What did Koivu say to you after the game? I saw him talk to you, but I didn't hear what he said," said Ryan.

"He just told me I had a good game and that my defense has improved. It was nothing special," I shrugged.

"Dude, that is special. Koivu hardly ever compliments anyone, let alone rookies. You should be proud."

"Thanks, Ryan. That's kind-of cool, actually."

"Kind-of cool? Man, you don't even know what you're saying," said Ryan as he shook his head.

"I'm sorry, I'm just really tired. That's all," I replied with a yawn.

"We should probably get home. At least we don't have practice tomorrow. I'm so glad Yeo's giving us the day off."

"Yeah, me too. What are you gonna do tomorrow?"

"I think I'm going to stay home with my family. It's hard to spend much time with them during hockey season, so I take what I can get," concluded Ryan. "What are you going to do tomorrow?"

"No idea," I replied. "I guess I'll just see what happens. Maybe I'll call up Kuemps, Haula, and some others and see what they want to do."

"Has Ty texted you or anything?" Ryan asked cautiously.

"Nope," I replied without emotion. "She seemed really, really mad at me the last time we talked, you know, so I'm sure I won't be hearing from her for a long, long, time, if ever again."

"I'm really sorry, Easton. It's rough when the person you love doesn't love you back."

"You know, you're a good friend, Suter, even though you're way older than me. I can always look to you for advice," I said with a smile.

"No problem, West. You're a pretty good friend, too, for being a youngster," he laughed.

"Hey, I'm not that young," I defended as I punched Ryan on the arm.

"Easy there, West. No need to beat me up," Ryan joked.

I laughed, "You shouldn't be playing hockey if you think that was bad."

"I'm just joking. Oh well, I should really get home. See you later, West."

"Bye, Suter," I said as he headed towards his car. I started walking in the opposite direction of Ryan towards my car. I climbed into my Lexus and quickly started the engine. I cranked up the heat and hoped my car would warm up quickly. Minnesota winters were brutal.

I took my phone out of my pocket to check my messages before I left the parking lot. I never text and drive. I just think it's too risky. I had one message. It was from Ty.

***

Ty

December 9

"Cal, what should I do? I still feel really bad about yelling at him after the game the other night," I groaned after the Wild game was over.

"Maybe you should just text him that you're sorry," suggested Cal.

"Yeah, I guess that'd work, but I don't think he cares, honestly," I sighed.

"Why do you say that?" questioned Cal.

"Well, look at how good of a game he had tonight. Normally, if someone is upset about something, they don't do things well," I pointed out.

"Ty, when you saw Easton at our first game of the season, you were stressing about him being there, but you didn't have a bad game at all. Just because someone is worried about something, doesn't mean they'll do things badly, whatever those things are."

"I guess you're right. I think I'll just text him. Hopefully he'll forgive me. If he doesn't, then whatever, I guess. I've only known him for what, a month? I think I can live without him as a friend," I decided. I pulled out my phone and texted Easton, Hey, I'm sorry about what I said to you the other night. It was really mean of me, and I shouldn't have said the things I did. You came to support me, and I was totally rude. I'm sorry. I'm also sorry I didn't tell you about Jake. I shouldn't have kept that from you. If we're going to be friends, we need to be more honest with each other. I hope you'll accept my apology and that we can still be friends.

"So, how's Jake?" asked Cal.

"He's good. I think we're going out on Friday, but I'm not sure what we're doing. He hasn't told me yet," I replied. "How are you and Molly?"

"We're good. I think she and I are going to go to a movie on Saturday. I still need to find out what's playing, and then actually ask her out," laughed Cal hastily. "I suppose I should ask her if she's actually free before I go making plans, huh?"

"Yeah, that'd probably be a good idea," I laughed in reply. "Oh, Easton texted me back."

"What did he say?"

"He said that he forgives me and that he still wants to be friends. Wow, that was easier than I thought."

"See, I told you so," smirked Cal.

"Oh, shut up," I jokingly snapped. "Well, I'm going to bed. You can either stay in the guest bedroom or head home, I guess."

"Eh, I'll probably stay, if you don't mind," replied Cal casually.

"Does Molly mind that you stay at my house?" I asked.

"No, she doesn't care. She knows that we just have a brother-sister relationship and nothing more."

"Well that's good that she understands," I said.

"Yeah, she's really understanding. That's one of the reasons I love her," smiled Cal.

"Aww, that's so sweet," I gushed. "Well, good night."

"'Night, Ty. See you in the morning," he replied.

***

Easton

December 9

"Ugh, I got friend-zoned. I got freaking friend-zoned!" I groaned after I read Ty's text. I typed some reply about forgiving her and still wanting to be her friend, but inside, I secretly wished that she wanted to be more than friends.

She has a boyfriend, you know, I thought to myself.

"Ugh," I groaned out loud once more, then pulled out of the parking lot and headed home. At least I would rest well knowing that Ty and I were still friends at least.