Stupid Love

27

I don't remember how I got onto the plane. When I opened my eyes, I saw the Emerald city becoming bigger and bigger.

"Welcome to Seattle, Corbin." Ron says.

I kept my eyes glued to the city. It was so beautiful, the ocean in the background and the city was a lot bigger than I expected. It looked a lot bigger than Denver. It looked so alive, the grass was so green around the city.

After about five minutes we finally touched down. We stopped on the runway since it was a much smaller airport. I assumed it was a private one that the athletes got to use. The airlock doors open and the bright sun filled the plane. Coach and Ron grabbed their stuff quickly and made their way over to the door while I was still trying to grasp everything.

"Corbin! Are you coming?" Coach yells.

I grab my stuff and walk over to the door. I look down to see another black SUV just like the one they picked me up in, and another 4 cop cars. I glance over to the right and see a couple of fans taking pictures of the plane and the Coach/Ron. I didn't think much of it as I walked down the stairs and into the SUV.

I open the hot door handled and hop inside where this time it wasn't blasting the AC. I did notice that my breathing was a lot easier, I was a little relieved since we were at a lower elevation than Cheyenne. I put my stuff on the ground in front of me when I hear a girls voice behind me.

"Are you Corbin?" She says.

I jumped a little, I didn't notice her when I got in.

"Yeah," I reply.

"I'm Julie, I'm Coach Ds daughter." She says.

I had have a mind to tell her that her dad needed a snickers. "Nice to meet you." I reply.

"Dad, are we going back to the facility?" Julie asks.

"Yes honey." He says.

"Oh goodie, I get to watch Corbin skate?!" She asks.

I look over at Coach and he looks at me. "Sure, you can help me practice." I say with a smile.

He rolls his eyes at me and shakes his head. Meanwhile I hear, "Really? That'll be fun!" Julie says.

I look back to her, She looks 20-23 years old. She's got Dark brownish hair, and a neck tattoo. She was wearing blue shaded sunglasses. She gave me the biggest smile, as I smiled back and turned back around.

I pull out my headphones and turn them on, I turn on my phone and see 10 texts from Joey and 2 from Katie. I go to see the messages from Katie first.

"What do you mean?" was the first text and the second text was, "This place is kind of boring without you here, I'm not gonna lie."

I smile, I did miss all my friends, but I'm hoping to see them when we go to play Colorado this year. I have the date saved on my phone. "January 10 2022"

I go to the music app and just press play, not looking at it Harry Styles' "Watermelon Sugar" started playing. I wanted to change it, but this sudden feeling hit me. I couldn't tell if I missed Joey or just wanted to think about her. I kept it on and went to go see what she texted me.

The first text was "Well just tell him to just stop." I rolled my eyes and smiled as I read the second through eight texts were "Hey," consecutively. The last two said, "Oh my god I hate it here," and "Do you want to FT whenever you land?"

I replied with "let me get situated and we can." I smiled even bigger when she said that, with Harry Styles playing in the background it felt like old times until the smile just faded.

I heard "Oh you idiot,"

I took off my headphones and looked around the car, the driver was focused on the road and Ron and Coach were glued to their phones. I look back at Julie and she was asleep.

"Don't you see you don't belong here?" I heard.

I was getting annoyed, I glanced over to the Coach and he still was looking at his phone. He looks like he hasn't said a word since the Julie conversation happened.

I put my headphones back in and heard once more "You idiot I'm in your head." I froze, "Oh now I've got your attention, let's get a few things clear. You don't belong here." I rolled my eyes and looked out the window.

"Joey is not yours either. Don't go believing she loves you still." I rolled my eyes, I bit the inside of my lip to try and make the pain distract me from it.

"You think everything is sunshine and fucking rainbows now. Just you wait, you're not good enough to play in the NHL and you're definitely not good enough for Joey. Your friends hate you and wish they never met you."

I closed my eyes and opened them again. I started thinking about how I wanna help out the city with the money I'll be making.

"Just know I'm always here,"

I rolled my eyes again and looked out. I've noticed lot more Children's hospitals and adoption centers out here. I already came up with a plan for donations, every goal I scored I'd make a 1000 dollar donation to the hospitals and every assist I make would be a 1000 dollar donation to the orphanages.

"Corbin, we're here." Ron says.

I look over and see the arena, It looked nice. The outside was really just concrete with a couple of posters. Of course this wasn't really the arena we'd be playing in, as that one was still in the works.

We stop in the front and all get out. I grab my stuff and start my way over to the door, following Ron and the Coach. Security was waiting for us, we all got check out by those metal detectors they hold.

When it was my turn the damn thing kept beeping, I then realized my belt was still on.

"My bad," I say. The security guard just looks at it and points me past him. "Very through" I thought to myself as I caught up with Ron.

He started giving me a small tour, nothing too special. Just a bunch of bathrooms, a small gym and rehab center, and then the office and the ice rink.

"Where's the locker room?" I ask.

"Oh it's just down the hallway, but Cor" Ron says.

I walked towards them without letting him finish his sentence. I wanted to prove myself wrong, that I do belong here.

// juicy stuff incoming within the next 10 chapters, i'm sorry about not posting as much, been working 12+ hours each shift and working on some youtube videos. thanks for sticking with me i appreciate it.