Page 1 of Unrivaled Love
Bryson
From Rink Rat to The Big Show
PROLOGUE
Holy shit. Can you believe this?
It’s almost too much to process.
Almost.
Are your tits tingling in anticipation?
Yeah, you like that don’t you.
Okay, I’ll stop being a tease.
Even though I can tell you’d be into it.
Are you ready?
Here it is.
We won.
The. Fucking. Cup.
Look around with me and soak it all in!
It’s crazy right?
Fuck, I’m tired.
"You did it!" My dad's congratulations are muffled as he smushes his face into my shoulder pads.
That's gotta stink.
But right now my smelly gear is more like a garden of roses than a moldy banana peel stuck to a jock strap because we won The Fucking Cup.
We’re standing around on the ice, surrounded by teammates, family, friends and nothing else in the world matters more than the fourteen wins it took for us to get here. And the eighty-two games before that. And all the training and practices, conditioning, travel, and, fuck, I’m exhausted.
But I can’t stop laughing.
“And the MPV no less!” My dad’s hands bracket my grin as he basically yells in my face. We can expect some exuberance at this moment right? He plants a smooch on my forehead and releases me.
Can you believe this is actually happening?
This is even better than I could have imagined. And, I have dreamed about this moment. I’ve dedicated my life to this sport. I want to fist bump the kid who took countless shots at the garage door, the basement wall, or the playground fence all while pretending to be in a clutch championship game moment.
With a chuckle, I bend down to hug my mom who has tears freely rolling down her cheeks. For years my parents supported me as I learned the game and never once doubted we’d be meeting on the ice to celebrate this victory.
My older brother and sister are next. They complained like all siblings do when we traveled far and wide for tournaments but I know, for a fact, they ate hundreds of Otis Spunkmeyer cookies from concession stands throughout North America and were some of the first kids to own a portable DVD player and then tablets to keep them entertained. Don’t let them fool you, it wasn’t all bad.
My sister’s nose crinkles because, yeah, I smell like old fish that thawed and got thrown back into the freezer a minute ago. I give her some breathing room and I look back to find my mom wiping her eyes. My dad slings his arm around her with glassy eyes too.
We must be something to look at.
I’m not uncomfortable with emotion but I’m unsure what to do with the mix of them coursing through my body right now. I’m on top of the world but could also climb into bed and sleep for a month. Have you ever felt this?
