Strawberry | Hockey Rivalry 1 [Completed]

Nine | Reilly

"Hi Reilly!!" I scrunch my eyebrows at my mom's excited tone on the opposite side of the phone. I'm already at the rink taking in year three. "I'll be watching your game today. You ready for this year?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm excited for this season. Ready to get it going." I sat down in the locker room and leaned back. I held the phone up to my ear, but I wasn't sure how long I wanted the conversation to last.

"That's good. I feel like this is going to be a good year for you."

"Thanks."

"There's a family weekend in November I got an invite in the mail. You have a game that Friday night and then there's a little hockey family banquet the next night. I'll be able to see you then. I've already taken the time off from work."

A family weekend? Shit. I remember the first two years that was supposed to happen. Our games were away so we were never able to make it for that weekend. "Oh, okay. Yeah we'll be in town this year."

"I'm excited! I haven't seen you in such a long time. I miss you, Reilly." We were silent for a while and I felt the silence start to sit on my shoulders. Should I ask how she's doing? "Okay, well I just wanted to wish you good luck on this first game. Bye Reilly." As she hung up I sat with my phone in my hands. It felt heavy.

My teammates started to show up and eventually Coach walked into the locker room with his captain badges. I sat up straighter and looked at the solo C and three A's. Coach has done his leadership like this for years. I know some programs that do multiple captain marks, but coach does one Captain and three assistant cap's. "Alright. The moment some of you have been waiting for. When you receive this," Coach waved the holy grails in the air and looked around at all of us. Last year I wasn't anything. I was one step away from being an assistant, but I was still vengeful on the ice. I know Coach doesn't like that. "Our first assistant cap goes to none other than Benjamin." Coach chuckled, saying his full name. It's some sort of inside joke between them two. Ben got up and snatched his A from coach.

"Thank you. It's my senior year, so I'm not going to let any of you down." Short and sweet. The guys chuckled at his speech and he flipped us all off.

"Second assistant captain is our very own Wren." Wren got some hoopla's and he jumped up to grab it.

"Yessir." Wren kissed his badge and I rolled my eyes.

"Next assistant captain is..." Coach paused after this one and looked around the room. "Whitlock." Brock sat up shocked and quickly got up to accept it. He nodded at Coach and stood by Wren, looking down at his patch.

"Lastly, your Captain for this year. Remember the captain sets the tone for the rest of the team," Coach looked around. Damn I'm fucked. I already tried to get Brock kicked off. "Goldy locks." I blinked over at Coach and accepted the badge.

I looked down at it and around at my teammates. "Game one, day one. We've got a hell of a year ahead."

On the ice I closed my eyes during the national anthem. I felt my dad's influence as the song continued on. When the song was over I skated to the bench and squeezed water into my mouth. I looked over the audience and scanned the crowd. In her usual spot she sat with a USA pom pom hat on her head. I smiled at the thought of her still staying in her favorite spot to watch the sport. I skated out to center ice and fought for the puck.

All I could think about during the game was how my mom reacted when I found out I wasn't my father's son. She just woke up when I left my bathroom and stormed downstairs. She looked horrible, not sleeping and her hair in a huge messy bun.