Meet Me at the Rink

Chapter 2

~ Austin ~

"Way to go man! That was a beauty!" Alex exclaims tapping me on the helmet as we celebrate the 2-0 goal I just scored. "Thanks buddy!" I reply with a smile. Before skating back to the bench, I turn to the loud cheering crowd behind me. I fist bump a little kid on the glass before turning my gaze over to the girl I tossed a puck to at the end of warmups and wink at her before skating back to the bench.

"Great work out there boys! Let's keep it up!" Coach says before coming over and tapping my helmet. "Nice goal out there White!" He says. " Thanks coach!" I reply before grabbing a water bottle off the bench in front of me and squirting some water into my mouth. I put the bottle back down on the ledge in front of me and put my focus back on the game.

"Bro you're so quiet, what's going on man?" Alex asks snapping me from my thoughts. "Nothing, just thinking up strategies for our next shift out there." I reply before turning my gaze back towards the ice where the play was slowed down in the corner. "No man, for real I'm sensing that something's a little off. What is it?" Alex asks. I look over to where that girl is seated and Alex's gaze follows. "Oh it's about a girl, isn't it?" He asks nudging me. "What? No way!" I exclaim in reply. "White, Wright and Becker your up!" Coach shouts as my line hops over the boards to get into the game. "Totally is!" Alex says to me before skating up the ice.

**Third Period**

The game was tied at two a piece and coach called a time-out with three minutes left in the game to come up with a game plan. "Got it?" He asked as we finished up our time out. Guys nodded while some replied "Yeah" and "Got it." "Alright, let's get out there and finish strong!" Coach exclaims as my line went back out on the ice for the face-off. The ref blows the whistle and drops the puck. Becker wins the face-off and plays the puck back to the defence before we get into formation to break up and out of our zone and down the ice.

When we get into the offensive zone, Alex passes me the puck. I hang on to it for a few seconds before faking a pass and then quickly and smoothly I play it across to Colton. I glance up at the clock and see the numbers change to one minute. "Set it up!" I shout as we move around to try and put as much traffic in front of the net as we possibly can. "Shoot!" Alex yells as Colton took the opportunity and shot on net.

Seconds later, the ref blows the whistle and signals a good goal as the goal light comes on and the goal horn goes off followed by the crowd roaring and cheering in celebration. "Becker saves the day!" I exclaim skating over to Colton to give him a tap on the helmet. "Nice one buddy!" Alex says. "Thanks buddy!" Colton grins.

** After the Game**

"Alright, catch you guys later!" I say slinging my backpack over my shoulder before exiting the locker room. "Bye Austin!" "See ya later!" The guys said as I opened the door. I quickly checked my messages as I walk down the hall and out towards the parking lot to find my truck.

"Watch where you're going man!" I hear someone say. When I look up and see two girls around my age a couple of feet ahead of me. The blond one helping her friend up after some drunk asshole ran into her. "Asshole!" The dark brown haired girl shouts.

They begin to walk away when I notice something fell out of the brunette's pocket. "Hey!" I shout as I walk toward the two who stop and turn around. "What do you want?" The blond girl asks in a rude tone. "Your friend dropped something." I reply picking up a puck. "Thanks." The brunette replied shyly. "No problem. You alright?" I ask as her cheeks go red. "Yeah, I'm fine thank you. Just another drunk asshole not watching where he was going." She replies as I take a second to think. This girl looks super familiar but I can't put my finger on where I've seen her before.