𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 | 𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬

"i'll consider your happiness"

The next two months went according to this schedule -- school Monday through Friday, Friday night hockey games, and Saturday morning skating competitions.

It was Friday, November 19th, 1992 -- a hockey night. The Hawks were meant to play the District 5 team. The usual group of 4 was chatting about the game on the walk home and how McGill was so sure they would cream D-5.

"God, it's so cold, and for what?" Rowan complained, never quite getting used to the winter temperatures of Minnesota.

"I would offer you another jacket, but they all somehow seem to be disappearing..." Adam said, trailing off at the end as he nudged her shoulder.

"Huh, yeah. That's weird," Rowan replied.

Adam was still yet to tell Rowan of his feelings, and he had no desire to do it anytime soon. He thought that Larson and McGill's secret-keeping abilities were doing well, besides the occasional comments, but for the boys to not say those things would be out of character and far more suspicious.

Rowan slightly laughed, keeping her gaze down. Adam watched her as they continued to walk up the streets of Edina. Sometimes, he wasn't even aware that he was staring at her, it just kind of happened. He would get so lost in thought and focus on every little detail of her face before realizing how long his eyes rested upon her. He then snapped his vision in front of him -- hoping that nobody had caught him. 

"You know, I wonder, am I ever gonna see my sweatshirts again?" He asked once they had split up from Larson and McGill.

"I think you mean our sweatshirts."

"What are you doing Saturday night?" He questioned, completely changing the subject.

"Uh, nothing I think. Why?"

"We should do a sleepover movie night. We haven't done one of those in forever," Adam suggested.

"Yeah, we really should," she smiled at him.

God, that smile. It had to be the smile that pulled right at his heartstrings.

"Okay, great. We'll talk about it after the game," He said, walking her to the door.

"Yeah, I'll see you in a bit," Rowan agreed, entering her house. "Bye, Adam."

"Bye, Ro."

It was just before game time, Rowan was sitting in the bleachers listening to music as always. She observed as Larson and McGill skated up to the bench of the District 5 team. They must have said something because one of the kids lunged at them, but was held back as McGill and Larson skated away laughing. The girl's eyes shifted over to Adam as he skated towards her, motioning for her to come closer.

"Can you go find Coach? He just walked away like 10 minutes ago and the Refs need him right now," Adam asked.

"Yeah, of course," She said, getting up before walking towards the lobby. She searched for a minute or two before finding him in front of the overlooking glass of the hockey rink. Reilly was talking to a man, much younger than him. She didn't mean to eavesdrop, but her ears perked at the sound of Adam's name.

"Got a kid named Banks, might go all the way. Not quite as good as you were, but he wants it more. Kid won't give up," Reilly informed the mysterious man.

"Uh, hi. Sorry Coach Reilly, but Adam sent me to get you, the Refs need you for something, I guess," She said approaching Reilly.

"Oh, thank you, Rowan, I'm coming now," He replied. She just nodded as he ended the conversation with the man. "Good luck, you're gonna need it."

Rowan pieced together that this had to be the District 5 coach. She followed after Reilly down towards to rink to return to her usual spot on the bleachers. She watched as the Hawks did warm-ups and cheer while the district 5 team did nothing. Their coach tried to get them to do a similar chant, but it was weak. Clearly, the team was new to this coach.

The first period had started and within 15 seconds, Adam had already scored. Rowan cheered loudly for him until he skated up to a D-5 player and knocked the helmet off his head. Her smile faded.

The rest of the game went this way -- they played very well but were extremely cocky. It was the last few minutes of the third and D-5 had their first breakaway. Rowan nearly prayed they would score so the boys would drop their obnoxious pride, but they didn't. The kid completely missed the puck and crashed into the wall. She winced as Adam rammed into the player from behind as he pulled himself up. "That's okay, Charlie!"

The final score was 17-0. A new Hawks record. 

The boys decided to have a sleepover of their own that night. Back at McGill's house, the three resided in the basement, playing air hockey and music. Larson and McGill had plotted their own ideas in addition to this. They looked at each other and then at Adam, McGill nudging Larson to start the topic. 

"So Adam -- Rowan," Was all Larson was able to come up with on the spot. McGill rolled his eyes at the pathetic attempt.

"Oh, you know her too?" Adam joked. He continued when they didn't laugh. "What about her?"

"You know what about her," McGill groaned.

"I really don't, you're gonna need to be more specific," Adam dully answered, keeping his gaze on the television in front of him.

The two exchanged glances, deciding that they weren't dropping it this easily. McGill paused the movie, finally getting Adam to look at them.

"Hey, I was watching that."

"And we've been watching you stare at Rowan for the past two months," Larson said.

"Are you gonna do something or not?" McGill continued off of Larson.

"What am I supposed to do?" Adam asked, conflicted.

"I don't know, maybe make a move."

"I don't know how to even make a move on her."

"Neither do we. But, we're just saying, Rowan is not the type of girl who's going to stay on the market for very long once the rest of the grade decides to get over the 'reading is for weirdos' phase."

"What's that supposed to mean?" 

"She is going to be liked by boys. And you won't be able to do anything about it if you sit in silence now."

"Think of it this way," Larson started. "If you make some sort of move on Rowan, McGill and I will be over the moon happy. Don't you want us to be happy?"

"I'll consider your happiness," Adam quietly said after a moment of processing everything they told him.