One Pucking Love by Ellie Wade

Author:Ellie Wade [Wade, Ellie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ellie Wade

I feel like death. Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I don’t feel great. Since returning from Barbados three days ago, I’ve caught a bug, a nasty cold of some sort. Half the team has it. Exhaustion paired with excessive drinking, eating like shit, and traveling through germ-infested airports has allowed a dozen of us to pick up the wannabe plague. Come to think of it, this happens every year.

The locker room is quiet as we dress for the game. The usual shit-talking and humor are absent.

Beckett blows his nose. His eyes are bloodshot as he addresses the team. “We need to rally and get our shit together. Coach is going to be pissed if we play like shit because we partied too hard last week. You know how much he hates our bye week vacation. So suck it up and get mad. We’re not losing in Chicago.”

The guys start to yell, grunt, and holler random shit about our opponents.

The Blackhawks are one of our rivals, and a win against them would be ideal.

Our head coach, Marcus Albright, enters the locker room. “That’s what I like to hear!” He claps his clipboard and nods. “First game back. At least you sound ready. But are you ready?” he yells.

“We’re ready, Coach!” the team shouts.

“Alright, get close!” Coach begins his pre-game talk as we all huddle in.

At the back of the huddle, I finish tying my skate. Beckett is right. I need to get my head in the game because it’s definitely not. I can’t stop thinking about Iris.

Things feel unresolved between us. She was asleep before I finished brushing my teeth the last night of vacation. When the alarm went off three hours later, we had to hurry. We had time enough to throw our stuff in our bags and rush to the airport. There have been a few generic texts since—made it home, had a great time, good luck this week—since returning, but nothing of substance. Thanks to her palm tree rule, there was no discussion of anything serious while we were there either.

I don’t like this feeling of uncertainty. It opens up all sorts of long buried insecurities that I haven’t felt in years. Up in the air isn’t something I do well. I work in absolutes. We’re together, or we’re not. Whatever it is we’re doing or did in Barbados doesn’t have set parameters, and that needs to be resolved soon.

Coach finishes his spiel, and everyone gets fired up.

Hurrying to my locker, I pull out my phone and text Iris.

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