and we scored

Scene 8

CADEN

"Is something wrong?" Coach Banks pulls me to the side after training. I'm still wearing my skates on and already wish I were in the changing room right now, since Coach never talks to anyone in private unless something happened. In this case, me. And my low game today. I knew I shouldn't get drunk during the season, yet I did, last night, as I came back home from Tessa's. I had so much going on, I popped a beer. And then one more. Til I couldn't anymore. Which leaves me to being hangover today. And it sucks.

I make a note to never do this again and answer: "No, Coach. Everything fine."

"I hope it is. For the sake of the team. You know they need you, Caden."

This is another sign of how bad I played today. He never calls me Caden. Only by my last name, West. So, seeing he actually called me like that, it shows something...

"I know..." I answer and make my way to the changing room. There are very few guys left, only Gade, our right defenseman; Harris, the left winger and James, our center. As he sees me, James stands up and comes next to me, handing me a bottle with a weird looking smoothie inside.

I look at it with an eyebrow raised and he chuckles: "Drink it. It will help with the hangover."

I give him a confused stare, wondering how he knew, yet I do as he says and drink the thing. It tastes like shit. I have to cough a few times afterwards and drink some water.

"What the fuck was in it?!" I ask him, even considering food-poisoning now.

"Basil", he answers smirking, knowing how much I hate it. "But it helps. At least you won't look like a complete loser after this."

I flip him off, then ask: "How did you know?"

"You missed the puck. Three times. You never do."

I nod, since his answer makes sense. Then I feel guilty. I took my messed up life out on the team. As a captain, it's my duty to be the best I can be. However bad things are with Tessa and the whole situation, they didn't deserve my screwup.

"Sorry", I whisper, yet he gives me a slow hit with the elbow in my ribcage.

"It's fine. We all have our bad days. Just promise this won't become a habit." James replies. Although I am the captain, he is the soul of the team. Always helping everybody and making us feel like a family. However, one can't be fooled. He might be nice and all, yet he's brutal on the ice. Already broke a few of our opponents' ribs. All with a smile on his face.

"It won't." I reply and give him an assuring look. He nods and stands up to walk away. I remain on the bench and change from my jersey in my gym clothes. I have one goal in mind: Finding a solution to my problem. It's clearly affecting my performance on the ice. And hockey is my life. I can't have that.

So I have to stick with this deal and find a way to date Nina.

~

"You want what?!" my best friend asks me, almost choking on his food. I roll my eyes annoyed, yet I'm partly amused.

"I need a sit at that table." I say that, pointing with my eyes to the table Nina and her friends are sitting at. She is talking to Sofia, laughing at something she said.

"You still haven't dropped this?! Man, what part of Alec-will-kill-you didn't you get?" Jacob asks, clearly questioning my mental health.

"It's not the princess I'm interested in", I reply dry. It sounds weird. Changing girls daily. Yet Nina is here to stay. She's my new goal.

"Then who?" Jacob continues, a bit worried really, making me wonder if he has a crush for one of the girls. I look past it however, since I have a mission for us and we have to get started on it as soon as possible.

"The redhead." I answer. He checks her out and says: "She seems nice. You sure you want to break her heart?"

I snap: "Fuck you! You know I have to do this."

"You don't." He mumbles, coming out as a whisper yet loud enough for me to hear. I swallow hard knowing he's right. Then I think about last night. And about Tessa. I want her. So I have to do this.

"I need a sit at that table." I repeat, more confident this time.

Jacob looks at me as if I were dumb: "You know those two things people have, called eyes? Do you ever use them?"

"What now?" I ask him, slightly annoyed.

"It's a table for eight. There are already nine people sitting there." He points out the obvious. He's right. It is a table for eight. Nina and her four best friends are there, so five seats are already taken. Two other seats belong to the boyfriends of the black-haired girl and the brunette with the headphones on all the time. Which makes seven seats gone. Adam and Alec moved there, making it nine people. Adam has his own chair, while Alec is always holding Sofia on his lap, to kiss her and protect her or whatever. Making all eight seats gone.

"We could kick out the guys." I propose which makes Jacob chuckle.

"Under what excuse? That you need to fake date someone so you can get laid?"

I look again past his comment and continue: "Or we can just go there."

"And what? Hold them on our laps. Dude, I hardly believe there will be a time in which we all have one of them five to hold on our lap."

"We are five guys," I remind him of the Fab Five. He chuckles.

"Yeah, right. Dream on."

I wonder if he meant it to me or if he was talking about his potential crush from the girls.

"What are you doing?" Coin joins the conversation, obviously uninvited.

"Nothing..." I reply, yet Jacob's mouth works without his brain: "We need to sit at that table." He answers, pointing with his eyes at our target. Coin gives me a questioning look, still thinking Sofia is who I am after. I shake my head to make it clear to him I'm not. He raises his shoulders and then looks at me and my best friend as if we were idiots: "Why don't you just move our table?"

Jacob and I share a look, realizing we're idiots.

"Let's move our table." I say and we all stand up, ready to get the plan going.