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"Will do, love"

They left and I closed the door, turning and leaning against it I was about to give in to the nasty feeling in the pit of ain when my back pocket vibrated

A text

From Brody!

B: HEY I’M DEFINITELY CONFUSED AND PRETTY PISSED I NEED SOME SPACE TO THINK I’M HEADING OUT OF TOWN WITH THE TEAM TONIGHT BUT WILL BE BACK IN A FEW DAYS I’LL CALL YOU IN THE MEANTIME, I’D APPRECIATE IF YOU DIDN’T HANG OUT AT THE PARK WITH ZACH

Shit The park How did he know about that?

My stomach flipped and I suddenly felt worse than I did two minutes before

I UNDERSTAND I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU SO MUCH PLEASE DON’T FORGET THAT

I waited and waited, staring at my phone

He never answered

"What the fuck?" Viper skated up to undy jerseys fro and celebrating their goal againsteye contact with him, I lifted my helmet up and rested it on top of lass, so me off, as I set th within me not to flip them off in return My eyes panned over to Coach Collins as pacing the bench with his ar at oal

"You’re playing like shit tonight Get it together," Viper snarled atto answer hi from my Gatorade water bottle and pulled my helmet back on

Four ratulated each other

Four a fans as I skated off the ice

"Fuck you, Murphy!"

"Don’t look like an MVP to et the whole "Win as a team, lose as a team" bullshit, but this was all onits way across the line and sounding the alarht

Five ti alarht and annoying horn signaled failure to aaame that, at the end of the season, wouldn’t ame did matter They all mattered More tiaoal in your whole entire seasonon the ice for play-offs and sitting at hoot to the locker roo by my locker

"You okay?" heto tell my coach that my world had collapsed in more ways than one over the last few days

He nodded and scanned the bustling locker roo hio up for interviews?"

"No Not tonight"

He pattedI needed was a bunch of bloodthirsty sports reporters askingto knohy I’d missed so many shots Who the hell even knew the answer to that?

I pulledlanced at me out of the corner of his eye before he turned the TV in the locker rooaht It was also no secret I was pissed off at aht, I didn’t want to talk to anyone

Well, except for one person, but I wasn’t ready to talk to her just yet

I sat on the bench and sighed, leaning forward on h that I could hear the interview; I didn’t want to see it too The reporters started firing out questions about ht away