1989 || Luke Hughes

Chapter 3: Style

For the past seven days, my life had revolved around rigorous training and pushing myself to the limit. Every day, I woke up early and went straight to the gym. I would spend hours running, lifting weights, and doing various exercises to build my strength and stamina. By the end of each day, my body was completely drained, and I could barely stand on my feet.

Despite my fatigue, I had stayed after every practice session, not allowing myself enough time to rest. This was something that my old coach had always advised me to do, and I had followed his advice religiously.

Today, as I stayed behind after practice, I felt a sense of anticipation building up inside me. I hoped that Coach Ruff would take notice of my dedication and determination and offer me a chance to sign . The week was almost over, and I knew that many others had already started to sign. I couldn't afford to miss this opportunity.

"Quince, come on. You've been staying after every day either working out or practicing skills. You need to rest," Luke said as he stood up from the bench, already out of his gear.

"No, I need to show them I can push my body to its limit," I replied without realizing what I was saying.

"Who told you that would get you on this team? It definitely wasn't anyone here. They want to see that you're capable of knowing when to stop, Quince. So please, come on. We'll go get lunch," Luke said, practically begging me to get off the ice.

"Fine," I said slowly, putting the pucks in a pile and into a bucket. "I'll be in there in a minute."

Luke slowly leaves the ice and heads towards the locker room while I put the pucks away and head to my own locker room. "Hey Wilkins. Lindy wants to talk to you," a team member tells me before leaving.

Realizing this could be important, I quickly change my clothes and head towards Lindy's office. "Hello?" I say upon entering.

"Wilkins, come on in. I want to talk to you," Coach Ruff waves me into his office. I sit down on one of the two chairs in the room.

The head defensive coach is also present. "So I've been watching you all week and we think you're going to be a perfect fit for the team. You've already been talking with the main core and have made friends with almost every single member of the team, which is a great attribute to add to the team. We need someone who can bring the team together like a glue. We think you're that perfect fit, so we would like to offer you a three-year contract."

"Yes sir. I'd love to sign with you guys. Everyone has been so great," I say, smiling at him and being as polite as possible.

"Call me Lindy. All the boys do. Also, we would like to say that we love how you stay after practice, but we do want you to be getting rest, so try and refrain from staying after maybe three days a week. Ok?"

"Ok."

We kept talking for a bit before I was dismissed. I immediately head to the locker room, where Luke, Jack, and Nico are waiting for me.

Luke stood up, shoving his phone into his pants, and exclaimed, "Wtf took you so long?"

"I'm sorry, I was talking to Lindy about signing a three-year contract," I replied with a grin as they all jumped up. "Congrats Q!" Luke said as he pulled me into a hug.

"Thank you," I said, unable to contain my smile. "I told you that you were going to be signed." Both Nico and Jack hugged me.

"I need to call my friends. Can you guys wait a moment longer?" I asked them while pulling out my phone.

"Sure, take your time," they replied.

Italy was the first to answer the group call, and Sage answered quickly with Maelyn beside her. "Did it happen?" Italy immediately asked.

"What?" I asked her, not knowing how she already knew. "You never just call us out of the blue unless it's good news."

"Right well... I got a three-year contract." Before the words even left my mouth, they were all jumping up and excited.

"Congrats Quinny!" They were all so excited, and I just smiled at them, laughing at how they were more excited than me.

"Wait Quince, I have something to tell you," Sage said, as everyone quieted down a little.

"What? What is it? Did you figure out who you have been assigned?" I asked, knowing that Sage had begun working for the Chicago Blackhawks this week and that she was being assigned someone to document their rookie season.

"Yes. Guess who it is." She said, and I stared at her before figuring out who it was.

"It's him.." I said, not being able to say our childhood best friend's name.

"Who is him?" Italy asked, more confused than ever. Italy was introduced to me when I moved to New Jersey over the summer, and we almost instantly became friends.

"Connor?" Maelyn asked from beside Sage, who was also confused about how we knew him. I met Maelyn while I was in high school after both Sage and I moved away from Canada and into Chicago.

"Yeah, we grew up being best friends with him while we were children. Then we both moved while Connor was left behind." Sage explained to them, and they both just nodded their heads, not knowing what to say.

"So you're gonna have to follow him around now?" I asked her, knowing about their past and both not being on good terms with each other.

"Yeah... During the draft, did Connor and you ever talk about it?" That was another thing. Connor and I had reconnected during the draft and had been talking frequently, but Sage and he were in deep trouble with each other.

"He avoided the conversation most of the time. He knows why we moved, and he understands. You just need to talk to him." I said to her, and she just shook her head.

"I don't think I can ever talk about it ever again," Sage said, and I could feel my mouth go dry thinking about it. "Q, we need to go!" I heard Luke yell from inside the locker room.

"I'm sorry Sage, but I need to go. We can all talk later if you want." I said, grimacing at the fact that I had to leave after a wound had been opened for Sage.

"Yeah, okay." "I'll call you once I'm home. I promise." I said before saying my goodbyes and rushing to where everyone was.

And I should just tell you to leave, 'cause I
Know exactly where it leads, but I
Watch us go 'round and 'round each time

Authors note

I have a feeling this chapter is a lot of repeating

But I did want to say that I will be posting a Connor chapter next and that I kinda want the chapter updates to go with each other so they are kinda like in the same time frame. So here is..

Evermore || Connor Bedard
Dedicated to cbedsy98

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!!

Thank you for reading 🫶🏻
Ily guys