Page 39 of Hitting the Goal Line
“I saw that,” he nods, looking back toward the ice, probably noticing things that the everyday fan won’t, but that comes from being a former player.
My dad grew up in Seattle and spent the majority of his childhood playing hockey. He had a dream to go pro, and he was heading in that direction until he got hurt around the time that I was born. That injury ended his hockey career. So when we moved to Montana, and I started taking figure skating lessons at the rink where I met Blake, he decided that he wanted to try his hand at coaching. He’s pretty good at it if I do say so myself. Apart from Blake, he’s had two other players get drafted by the NHL, one is off playing in Europe and a handful of them are playing at the college level.
Isaac Martinez is good at what he does, and I honestly think he can go a lot further than coaching kids in Montana, but he will never try. He’s too happy where he is.
“Blakie looks distracted,” he states, as his eyes moving with the game. “Did he break up with his girlfriend or something?”
My jaw locks at the word girlfriend.
For the past seven months, Blake has been with this girl from the cheer team and I wish he would break up with her. Not because I want him to be with me or anything, but because she is such a bitch.
Don’t get me wrong, in the beginning, this girl was so sweet and kind, that even I had a crush on her. I spent hours picturing the awesome friendship that the two of us could have had if she and Blake went the distance. But maybe three or so months ago, things in her switched or something. She became a complete bitch, throwing me the stink eye at every time she sees me.
And I’m pretty sure she blocks me on his phone a few times a week because his phone calls and text come through to me, but he apparently never sees any my calls or text messages if he happens to be with her. I don’t think he has put two and two together, on that one, though.
I understand she is trying to put boundaries between me and her boyfriend, but I’m not going to steal him. Yes, we were together once, and yes, occasionally I get reminded that I have feelings for my best friend, but I don’t do anything about said feelings. I stay in my lane and Blake stays in his. At this point in our lives, we are strictly friends, nothing else, no matter how much it hurts. But that is life.
His girlfriend, Gwen, apparently doesn’t see that, and finds it weird at just how close Blake and I are. Something that she has told Blake.
I’ve tried to give them space, I tried to not talk to the man for a few days at a time. No calls, no text, no nothing, but every time I do that, he shows up at my door wanting to know what’s wrong. And every time, I make up an excuse because I can’t find it in me to tell him that his girlfriend is a bitch and a half.
“Nope,” I say, putting a little bit too much emphasis on the p. “They are still very much together.” My eyes move down to where Gwen is sitting with her friends. All of them wearing a number on their back and done up to absolute perfection.
“Then why else is would he be distracted?” Dad looks at me like I always have the answers when it comes to Blake.
He’s lucky that I actually do have the answers this time, because ever since we came to Montana State, hell, ever since we spent the night together, that hasn’t been the case.
I look at the ice for a long minute contemplating if I want to share with my dad what Blake shared with me. Eventually I decided to share. It’s my dad, Blake would want me to tell my dad.
I turn in my seat and look at him. “This stays between us, because he hasn’t even talked to his mom about it.”
My dad gives me a nod. Looking at his face, he probably thinks that I’m about to tell him something bad. It’s the opposite actually.
“He wants to graduate early, or dropout if he has to, and start the process of signing with the Knights next season.” I can’t help but to smile a little as I say the words.
Blake has done so much to get to this point, he’s just a few steps away from everything paying off. Sure, dropping out of school to do it, isn’t the brightest idea, but maybe years from now, he can come back and get his degree.
“Three-year rookie contract?” my dad asks, raising his eyebrows at me.
I nod. “Yeah, as soon as he’s done with the hockey season, he wants to call his agent and see what they can do.”
My dad gives me a nod. “I’m guess that he probably swore you to secrecy, so why are you telling me this and not him?”
Why indeed.
I have no reason to be doing this. No reason to go against the best friend swear that Blake and I have. No reason to go to my dad and ask him if he would pick up extra training sessions with Blake. No reason other than he’s my best friend. I want him to be able to achieve his dreams, so I’m going to do everything that I can to help with that.
“Because he would do the same for me. If I wanted to achieve something he would do everything in his power to help me get there. So this is me helping.” And it’s true. No matter if our friendship is strained or not, he would do everything he can to watch me succeed.
“I’ll think about it.”
He’ll think about it?
“Dad, he’s like your second kid. You used to get up at five in the morning to drag him out of bed and make sure he was getting ice time. What is there to think about?”
“Maybe I have things to do and don’t have time to deal with a pain in the ass kid. Especially if he has a loud best friend screaming at him whenever he does something wrong.”
I let out a gasp. “I’m not loud and I don’t scream at him when he does something wrong.” The man has the audacity to raise an eyebrow at me, calling my bluff. “I give him suggestions, that’s it.”
