let the light in | jack hughes

Chapter 57

[November 2, 2023]

Beatrice 

Ever since Halloween, things between Harry and me have been a bit rocky. He was not on board with my friendship with Nico no matter how many times I tried explaining the bond we have. To a certain point, it began to really frustrate me that he was only choosing to look at one side of Nico's behavior. I might not be a boy and understand a boy's mind but I know very well that Nico is truly like my older brother. 

Harry asked me to please keep my distance from Nico when he wasn't there because he still wasn't sure of what he was and wasn't capable of. That alone made me feel sick, but a wrong gut feeling from someone who doesn't know him isn't going to pull me away from my best friend. I hate to break it to him. Maybe he meant Jack, keep my space from Jack. The man that has sent me flowers, kissed me and flirted with me from the moment he found out I forgave him. 

This is all just super backward but I intend on patching up this little bump in the road. Tonight he's taking me to a hockey game because I've never been to one. And not even to a game where I work, he's taking me to Boston to watch his favorite team play. I agreed to go because you can never go wrong with hockey and because I want to move past the small argument we had. 

Perhaps a night away, far from Newark, far from Nico, and far from Jack would be good for us. A night to reconnect with each other, and who knows maybe after tonight I'll kind of like the Bruins. My beef with the Boston Bruins leads back to my Dad, who said one bad thing about them and I ran with it because what Lennon says goes!

So that's where we're currently headed, I was able to take the day off to drive to Boston with him. The drive there is about four and a half hours, so by the time we get to TD Garden we'll be right on time for the game. I haven't even checked who they're playing tonight, for all I know it's some other team I hate so I'm going to avoid finding out and just be open to the surprise. 

To my luck, Harry likes 'Evermore' by Taylor Swift so for an hour and nine minutes she's all we listen to. We go into Bon Iver, The National, and some Billy Joel after Evermore is all done. I look out the window, just in time to take a picture of the 'Massachusetts welcomes you' sign. I roll my window down taking a picture of the sign, this part of entering a new state makes me excited. 

The sun starts to set once we enter the next available parking lot. Harry hands his cash to the man, the man hands Harry a ticket then we look for a spot. Loads of Bruins fans are pouring out of their cars. "Wait before we go, I have a gift for you," Harry says, pulling a big gift bag out from the backseat. I pull the yellow tissue paper out of the bag revealing a Bruins jersey with the last name 'Pastranak' on the back. "Thank you," I say as excited as I can be.

"Put it on, I bought it for the game," he says, watching me put it on over my long sleeve shirt. I thank him one more time for good measure, then get out of the car. We walk towards the entrance and it gives me a different perspective of hockey games. I forgot what it was like to actually attend one and not work during one. This is going to be fun, I appreciate all the time and money Harry put into this night. I'm glad he thought of it. 

I will admit though, being in this jersey feels so criminally wrong. I feel like I'm betraying my team and my whole entire belief system when it's just a jersey. But maybe his sweet smile can make me forget how I've always looked better in red. 

As we take our seats not too far from the glass the lights get dark, and all of a sudden yellow and white spotlights start shining around as the Bruins get on the ice. Harry sits down beside me joining all the fans in the room cheering for their team. As the opposing team gets on the ice, I don't even look at their jerseys to know who's playing. I see Jamie and Trevor on the ice and immediately pull my phone out to tell Devon about it.