NHL Short Stories

twenty reasons why - sebastian aho

WC: 1762

"That was one helluva game, boys!" exclaimed our beloved and very respected captain Jordan Staal.

We were all piled in the Hurricanes' locker room after a huge division win over the Philadelphia Flyers, Canes on top 5-2. Of course, like he always does, Frederik Andersen was on top of his game. Not to mention defenseman Brady Skjei had a fantastic night, scoring two goals of the five and made amazing plays to keep the score at a minimum for the Flyers.

We all cheered as we continued to take our equipment off from the game.

"I heard you and Mabel broke up," Michael Bunting mentioned as I slipped off my right skate.

I glanced over at him, who was also taking off his skates. "Are you talking to me?" I asked him for clarification, and I didn't want to be rude and barge myself into his conversation if it wasn't directed at me. Though I wasn't aware of anyone dating, or was dating, someone by the name of Mabel, who was my now ex-girlfriend since Monday.

He chuckled. "Don't you have a girlfriend named Mabel? I don't think anyone else on the team has a girlfriend with the same name," he responded, our eyes meeting at a shared gaze.

I sighed, slipping off my other skate. "I had a girlfriend named Mabel, yes. Why, what's it to you?" I questioned him, standing up and setting my skates on the shelf next to my black helmet above my hanging practice and game jerseys.

"What happened?" Michael asked as I sat back down to start taking my pads off.

I really didn't feel like explaining why Mabel wanted to break up with me, even though I was the one who actually wanted to call the relationship off, especially to a new member to the Hurricanes like Michael, who had just came to the team from free agency granted by the Toronto Maple Leafs. If it was Jaccob Slavin or Jordan Martinook, both of whom have been on the Hurricanes for a while, then I would probably explain my reasoning. But since it was Michael that was asking, I was hesitant to provide him the answer.

"It was just..." I started, feeling my muscles tense up at the thought of what Mabel had said to me after I broke up with her. My fingers froze on the black right shin guard, and I could feel a tear well up in my right eye. Great, I was now in the stage of denial after my breakup.

I sighed, hopefully gathering myself together again. "She didn't want to be in the spotlight anymore," I finished, which was a complete and bullshit lie. I didn't want to be with her anymore because I lost complete feelings for her. I didn't think she was who I was attracted to anymore.

Granted, she is a beautiful woman. A beautiful woman from Montana, who grew up in the mountains of the Rockies and owned a lot of horses. A lot of horses.

It was just that...I didn't see what exactly I was attracted to in her anymore. She was nice, she was caring, she was affectionate, but there was something I didn't see inside of her anymore: that being organized when it came to all of the stuff she had going on.

It would almost be like she would prioritize herself over me, which was fine to some extent. An example, she didn't attend any Hurricanes home games since the season opener, and we are midway through the month of December. I would understand this if she still lived in Montana, but since she moved to Raleigh since graduating from the University of North Carolina last spring, I really haven't seen why she hasn't came to any home games, considering she also doesn't have a job and has been living off of my income from playing hockey.

"Everything okay, Seb?" another teammate, Teuvo Teräväinen, who was a fellow Finnish player like me, asked as he shot a glance at me from the middle of the locker room.