Page 72 of Like A Daydream
After two hours of grueling practice and a quick shower, Landry leads Andrew to the press room. He’s missed playing at a high level more than he hadrealized, especially since he had spent almost the entirety of the off-season as far from an ice rink as he could get.
Being back today felt good.
It felt like he was allowed to enjoy himself, playing the sport he loved, with a team he cared about. If it could just be about hockey, and not appeasing fans and answering press questions, posing for social media, and pretending not to be anxious about how he’s playing… it would be so much easier.
He knows he’s a professional, and on some level, he’s grown used to this in the last fourteen years, but walking into that press room, with the cameras flashing and the low buzz of reporters never gets easier.
At least this is just pre-season.
They haven’t won or lost any games yet, so the reporters shouldn’t be hostile.
The hush he expects when people see him enter the room falls, and he takes his seat next to coach. The team’s media manger opens the conference, and about a hundred different voices start yelling his name.
He points at random, and a guy wearing a red and black Carolina quarter-zip, and slacks stands, tape recorder in hand.
“Mike Riley, NHL Network. Everyone is curious to know where you disappeared to during the off-season,” Mike says. “Especially with the way the last season ended. Did you condition or train? Or were you just completely off the grid?”
Starting with the easy questions.
“I thought going off the grid was what was best for everyone,” Andrew says, looking out over the sea of reporters in the press room. Camera shutters go off every half a second, flashes momentarily blinding him each time. “You all saw the fallout from losing the Cup. I didn’t feel safe in my own house, so I left. I kind of thought that it was what everyone wanted from me. And coach basically told me to go soul searching.”
“I did not saysoul searching,” Landry cuts in, rolling his eyes fondly. “I said figure out what’s important.”
“Same thing,” Andrew replies. “When you go through something like what I did, it’s easy to get caught up in it. I needed some space.”
“Where were you?”
“My girlfriend’s, mostly,” he says without thinking. Landry snaps his head in Andrew’s direction sofast, he’s surprised the man doesn’t give himself whiplash. “Next question.”
“Are you ready for the new season?” a reporter asks. Andrew turns his gaze in the reporter’s direction, recognizing the voice as the one that had all but ripped him a new one, consistently, last season.
Darren, from ESPN.
He hates Darren.
“I’m ready,” Andrew confirms with a nod. Short, sweet, to the point. Darren doesn’t deserve more than that.
“How are you going to lead the team to wins, this year?” Darren asks, clearly not going to let any of this go. “Especially after last season, which you brought up yourself.”
“By having fun,” Andrew says, “and not taking myself so seriously. While I was gone, I remembered why I loved hockey so much in the first place.”
“And why is that?”
“Because this game that we love, that we spend our whole lives training for, comes down to our friends and families looking out for one another. On and off the ice. It’s exciting, and fast, and can be such a beautiful game, but at the end of the day I know that my boyshave my back, just like I have theirs. I love my team, I love this game, and I’m excited to get back on the ice.”
“Next question,” Coach says.
Andrew glances over at him, and he’s grinning from ear to ear. This makes Andrew smile, too, and he finally feels like he’s back.
The text comes through as he pulls his suit-jacket over his shoulders.
Opening game day fit on point, this year.
He’s wearing a custom-tailored, deep maroon suit with a white shirt and a gold tie, hair slicked out of his face, and he thinks he could have been a runway model if the hockey thing hadn’t worked out.
His confidence has been off the charts lately, and it feels great. He’s been killing it at practice, has been on fire during interviews, and has done it all with a girl supporting him from Lake Placid New York, where he’d left a piece of his heart.
That piece of his heart was currently getting ready to have an adoption hearing to see if she could keep Harper or not. He thinks that it’s adding to his overall anxiety for the day ahead.
