Stupid Love

26

This week went by so quickly, then again the tryout was on a Wednesday of all days.

I brushed my teeth and just got done packing up my things for my trip. I already figured out the whole moving situation, that in itself was a hassle. I hear a knock on the door. I walk out of the bathroom and towards the door. The fear and anxiety is all kicking in, moving to a different state and being deemed a franchise player with so many responsibilities.

I open the door to see Ron there. "Why the fuck are you so tall?" I thought to myself.

"Are you ready Corbin?" He looks and smiles at me.

I nod my head yes, going back into the living room and grabbing my bag.

"I was thinking when we get there we'll find you a place first then we'll go ahead and take you to the facility, oh also here's your jersey." He says handing it to me.

It was teal and blue on the front with the logo and on the back it had my last name and the big number 17 on it.

"That is the number you wanted right?" He asks.

I smile, "Yeah, it's going to look so good on me." I say.

"Now you can't advertise it yet. We haven't released the jerseys yet and we want to keep it a surprise but you can put it on since we'll be on my plane." Ron says.

I put it on and feel this rush of energy. I wanted to get on the ice right away, I didn't care about rehabbing. "I can play on one leg it'll be fine" I thought to myself.

"Alright let's get going." Ron says.

I nod my head yes and shut the door behind me. We walk out of my little crack house of an apartment complex and into the hot sun. The temperature was about 101 degrees but with the jersey on it felt like it was 110.

I look towards the road and see a black suv and two cop cars, one in front of it and one behind it.

"A police escort?" I asked Ron.

"Yeah, until you hire some security you'll get this." He says, walking towards the Suv and opening the trunk.

I throw my stuff inside the trunk and hop into the back of the suv. As soon as I opened it a blast of cold air hits me, causing a little bit of cold sweat.

Ron gets in the row with me and says "alright Corbin, this is gonna be your head coach. Coach Hackli meet Corbin."

The coach was in the first row and he turns around to shake my hand. I shake his back and say "Hey, how's it goin?"

"Pretty good, let's get into business real quick Corbin." He says.

I'm a little shocked he wanted to talk business already, "We'll I've been doing some homework on you already."

He smiles " Oh, is that so?" he says.

"I rewatched every game you coached in Philly in 2017-2018. I learned what went well and didn't and I'm ready to help you out."

He laughs, "Boy I've been in the league for longer than you've been alive. I know what I'm doing."

"If you knew what you were doing you'd win a playoff series." I thought to myself.

"You're missing a strong first line who can forecheck good, the second line was average at best. Your third line took too many penalties and the fourth line was never even out so they couldn't contribute much. If you could get me a tall and big winger and one a little bit smaller, but knows how to set up something we could get you at least 2 points a game." I said.

"Why, don't you focus on rehabbing first and then worry about that?" He snarls back.

"I'm just trying to hel-" I get cut off.

"If I needed your help, you'd be on the coaching staff." He snaps and starts laughing.

"Now I figured out why your players hated you so fucking much." I thought to myself.

I shake my head and pull out my phone. I open it and go to text Joey, "Later loser, I'm out this bish," I smile and then go to text Katie, "This coach is something already."

I put my phone down and look outside, I see the city start to fade away as I drift to sleep.