Page 18 of One Shot

I nervously scratch and crack my knuckles, hoping her interest is on more than just getting the content she needs for articles.

“I think even when I was younger, I liked the challenge of needing to learn more than one core set of skills. When my mom started signing me up for the usual young kid sports like soccer or gymnastics, Irefused to go until she signed me up for hockey and skating lessons. I started skating lessons when I was three. When I was four, I asked her to sign me up for skating lessons and hockey. Not the ‘learn to skate hockey,’ I could already do the basics. I got to do more of an intro to hockey with older kids. I wanted to try to play with my older cousins as soon as possible, even though I couldn’t at that age.”

Laur asks me about my time freshmen and sophomore years playing. I realize I’ve never been so comfortable opening up to someone about my life—my past, my future, even things not related to hockey—but with Laur, it comes easily. I can’t put my finger on quite on why, but Laur gives me a sense of calm and ease that I have never experienced around anyone. I feel like I can tell this girl almost anything. I reluctantly tell her about my girlfriend freshman year. I try not to tell a lot of people, but she made me choose between her and hockey. She always complained I was too busy to spend time with her and wanted me to just be a college kid.

Laur snorts after I tell her this story. I look at her puzzled.

“What?” Laur says.

“What was that for? I had to put hockey first. I had worked—”

Laur cuts me off. “You don’t have to explain yourself, but I’d love to meet this girl so she can. Hockey is clearly more to you than just a sport. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess it was a dream for you to play for the Wyverns. To ask someone to give up their dreams for you is selfish. When you’re with someone, you still chase your own dreams, but you support your person’s dreams too. They don’t compete or envelop each other, but you just start to dream and grow together instead of by yourself.”

Laur quickly averts her gaze, shifting in her chair. She’s fidgeting with her notebook as her cheeks start to glow with embarrassment. “Sorry, I don’t know why I said that. It’s none of my business.”

Laur gets it. Dreaming and growing together sounds like something I need. I’ve never met the right person to do that with, but it seems like I might have just met that person.

“Let’s move on.” Her cheeks are now fully flushed scarlet. Seeing her unintentionally open up pulls on my heart strings. I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels how naturally it comes when the two of us are talking. I don’t want to move on from this conversation. I want to pull her chair as close to me as possible. I pull my hand back, running it through my hair instead as I see a girl typing furiously in the corner and suddenly remember we are not the only two people in the room.

She asks me more about my first few years on the team and what it means to be captain now. I leave out one story from freshman year. I don’t want to talk about Nick in front of her and make her hate me more. It’s a memory I will cherish forever. Someday, when the time is right, I’ll tell her the story.

Chapter eleven

Laur

The interview with Lucas went much smoother than I expected. I’m not sure if it was my self-induced release minutes before or if it is because he’s a decent human. I couldn’t shake the feeling that Lucas was holding back though. He didn’t tell me why he specifically chose to come play at West Michigan and talked minimally about his freshmen year. He surprisingly talked about his sophomore year so much more. I wonder if he’s hiding something. Maybe he just really sucked freshman year because of that dumb girlfriend of his telling him hockey wasn’t as important as he made it out to be.

I couldn’t imagine if someone told my brother that; he would instantly dump them. He wouldn’t want to even be friends let alone date someone who didn’t support his dreams. I can’t imagine someone telling me that, and I don’t even play the sport! At least I have nothing to be jealous of when it comes to his ex-girlfriend. Lucas’ sour tone showed he didn’t have any interest in her anymore.

A few days after my interviews, Bren, Suz, and I attend a practice to watch the team play. I haven’t spent much time watching their skills on the ice aside from old footage. The team is only on warmups, but I remember how this is my favorite place to be: the chill in the arena air, the sound of scraping skates on the ice, watching the players smoothly dance across it. Of course, I live for the thrill of being in the arena on game day, but there is nothing like watching a player who is determined, concentrating on honing their skills.

If you look hard enough, you can see the players focused on the attention to detail making small adjustments to improve their shots orpasses. You can see the dedication some of the guys have to trying to consistently enhance their game. You can see their commitment to being a better version of themselves. You can also see their love for hockey. Witnessing that when they think no one is noticing is the best part.

“Hey, Bren,” I ask, “Can I come to more practices? I’d love to take some rookie photographer shots with my camera and get some raw footage for the socials and articles.” I’m far from a professional photographer, but I do love messing around with a camera and pretending I am.

“Of course! Just don’t get it into your head that you’re going to capture the calendar content. We need a skilled professional with a keen eye to capture the sex appeal so we can sell those babies!”

“No kidding. I would probably instantly be uncomfortable and leave the shoot if I had to do that anyways.” I roll my eyes. “I’ll come back tomorrow to take some shots.”

“Just don’t forget to get ready for the Beer Olympics at 6pm tomorrow night! It’s the last hurrah every year before the guys really kick it into gear and turn the partying down a notch.” She laughs to herself. “Well, most of the guys and most days. They are college guys after all.”

Beer Olympics? This is the first I’m hearing of it. What are the Beer Olympics? Shit. I am not athletic enough for this. I am going to make a fool of myself in front of the entire team. Bren must sense my unease.

“I told you, right? I’m sure I did! Don’t worry, it will be easy-breezy. Teams are already picked, and you’re with me and Liam so you’ll be fine! It’s mostly just drinking games. You won’t have to use those keen athletic abilities of yours. Just don’t wear leggings, dress cute for pictures please!”

Bren and Suz get up to leave. Dress cute? I’ll have to ask Bren or Jaylin to pick out my outfit tonight, or Amazon Next Day Shipping might have to be my saving grace. What are these teams? It shouldn’t be too bad if I’m with Bren and Liam.

Chapter twelve

Laur

Iwake up at the crack of dawn and get ready for a run. I’m slowly getting used to being a morning human. Nick had ten different running routes mapped in his notebook up to twelve miles. I’ve decided I’ll try them all out, gradually working up to the twelve-mile routes. The shortest is five miles so I suppose that’s my run for today. Maybe I’ll eventually reach that anxiety-free runner’s high. But not today. I barely make it the five miles as it is. I doubt I’ll be able to make the twelve-mile loop by the end of the year.

After I shower and have breakfast, I head down to the rink an hour and half before the team starts practice. I want to take some practice photos and make sure to adjust the camera settings while no one is watching. I spent three hours last night refreshing my memory with YouTube tutorials. Once I’m alongside the ice, I start to take some shots to adjust the lighting settings.

“Taking photos of ice ghosts?” someone calls from behind me. I whirl around, my feet shooting under me and land flat on my ass. The cool surface of the ice seeps through my leggings. My heart is pounding in my chest. I had no idea someone was in here. The rink was empty when I got in here twenty minutes ago.

“Shit! Are you okay?” the mystery person asks.

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