Off The Ice | NHL Imagines

Not Your Fault

855 words
Jeremy Swayman
Not requested
PT 2 of His Sister

"What the hell are you doing with my sister?"

Jeremy thinks this next moment is about to play out like a rom-com. Jeremy would drop Lelia onto the ice and quickly skate away from her, acting like she fell and he was going to help her up.

That didn't happen. Jeremy froze upon hearing Charlie's voice and Lelia did too. She was the first to snap back to her senses. She pushed away from Jeremy, leading him to set her gently down on the ice and prepare for a scolding.

Charlie stepped onto the ice, his skates gliding along it. He was coming to the rink for a free skate and didn't expect to see his sister and teammate on, what seemed to be, a date.

Charlie stood face to face with Jeremy, glaring at him like they were about to face off and both of them were on rival teams. Lelia tugged at Charlie's arm to try and get him to back away. Surprise, he didn't. It took everything in Jeremy to try not to start shaking under Charlie's gaze.

He wasn't scared of him, he just... was scared of him, at that moment only.

"Charlie. Back away from Jeremy and talk to me." Leila demanded. Charlie spared her a glance but didn't back away.

"If you care about her so much, do what she says." The words spilled from Jeremy's mouth unexpectedly. He wasn't about to gaslight Charlie McAvoy. Jeremy's eyes widened at Charlie got closer to him, clearly about to yell in his face, but then he stopped. His eyes trailed to his sister, and they softened. She was upset. At Jeremy for getting them caught, or at Charlie for making it a big deal?

Jeremy wanted to make his way over to Leila, but he didn't. Charlie was there, trying to get her to talk to him.

"Why are you so angry, Charlie?" Lelia whispered so only her brother could hear. Charlie's frown only went down farther.

"Why are you on a date with Jeremy?" Charlie asked back. Lelia shook her head.

"It's not a date. We went out for coffee and we both wanted to hang out more and we came here. It just happened to be a bit more romantic than we thought. He's really a nice guy, Charlie. Let me be happy with him, just this once." Lelia pleaded. Charlie shook his head.

"He's my teammate, Lelia." Charlie stresses.

"I know, Charlie. But, what if I like him? He's not exclusive to hockey is he?" Leila asks. She made a good point, but Charlie didn't budge.

"What if he breaks your heart? Not only yours, but Bentley's also." Charlie knew that bringing up her child was the worst way to go about this, but he did it anyway.

"You know him better than I do, Charlie. If he was a bad guy, you wouldn't have introduced us." Leila said sternly. Charlie sighed. She was right again. Charlie was the reason why this happened.

"I don't want to see you get hurt, Lelia." Charlie admits. Lelia sighs.

"This whole, protective-brother thing does not suit you very well. I'm 23. I don't need you to watch out for me. I've got this." Lelia says with a smirk. Charlie smiles at his sister.

"Bring it in." Charlie says. As much as Lelia would rather talk to the boy standing awkwardly to the side, she's all too excited to have won an argument against her brother. She hugs Charlie tightly.

"Now, leave Charlie." Lelia demands as she pulls away from her brother. He groans and rolls his eyes.

"I guess I'll go. I'll see you guys later." Charlie skates away and quickly disappears from her and Jeremy's view.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken you here. It's my fault he caught-" Lelia hugged Jeremy tightly, her arms wrapped around his neck. Jeremy's arms quickly wrapped around her waist in response.

"It's not your fault. He was bound to know we were hanging out eventually. Bentley would tell him after I'd tell him all about this great guy I want him to meet." Lelia pulls away from Jeremy with a smile on her face. Jeremy's eyes are wide and a smile adorns his features.

"You think I'm great? You want me to meet Bentley?" Jeremy's eyes shine with every word he says.

"I'd love for you to meet Bentley. I have a feeling you and him would get along great." Lelia says with a smile. Unknowingly, her eyes sparkle as she looks at the boy in front of her.

"Does it feel like we've known each other forever?" Jeremy asks. Lelia nodded.

"I've seen all of your interviews and been to all of the home games for the past couple of seasons, so we pretty much have." Leila says with a smile. Jeremy hums.

"So you know so much about me, but yet you're such a mystery to me. I guess we'll have to hang out even more to change that. Maybe go on a few dates while we're at it?" Jeremy says with a hopeful smile.

"I guess we will."