Love in the Shadows ~ Dean Portman x OC

Ch. 6: It Went In... I Went Down

Pov: Morgan July 3rd, 1994, Los Angeles
I've said it before and I'll say it again, these Iceland guys are huge. The only guy on our team that even compares to them is Portman but 1 vs. 20 is not even close to a fair fight. I honestly wish I had a concert tonight because I don't feel like getting pummeled by these Icelandic giants.

"You ready?" I run up to Julie in the locker room
"If I get any play time sure. I don't know how Goldberg is gonna do against these guys"
"Excuse me!" Goldberg shouts from across the locker room, "I'd like to think my backup would have my back. Plus Team USA is undefeated and that streak is gonna keep going"

Uh huh sure man. Whatever you need to say to yourself

"I'm not so scared, me and Fulton can take all these guys" Dean interjects cracking his knuckles as if it's cool.
"Yea but 2 on 5 is not good odds Popsicle" I add getting my skates laced
"The fuck did you just say?" He bends down to my level
"Popsicle? Oh yea well since I'm a pop artist and you were just begging to go to my show yesterday I decided to give you and Fult some new nicknames" I smile as Portman's eyes widen
"Woah what's my nickname?" Fulton hobbles over trying to secure his shin guards
"Goo goo eyes. Don't think I didn't catch you staring at Julie last night" Fulton's face goes red and he scratches the back of his neck
"I thought I saw a spider on her"
"For 2 hours? Sureee" I smile at Julie as she gets up to leave the conversation
"Back to you Miss Nicknames," Portman flips the conversation, "I was not begging to go. If anything I was begging not to"
"That's not what I heard"
"Oh yea from who"
"None of your stinking business Popsicle"

Portman storms off dragging Fulton with him like an angry toddler and I couldn't help but laugh. I go to meet Julie outside the locker rooms but she's talking to Connie
"Ok so I totally see it now. It's so obvious" Julie says
"Yea but they clearly can't so we have to get them together"
"We need the guys' help. You talk to Guy and I'm pretty sure Fulton and Goldberg are down to help"
"Hey who are we talking about?" I interject
They both turn to me stunned
"Uhh... Ms. Mccay and Bombay" Connie blurts out
"Yea we were just talking about how'd they'd make a great couple.
"Oh yea totally. I'm so down to set them up by the way" I leave to go talk to coach after that. I knew they were lying but who were they covering for?

Portman is on the ice for the puck drop and thank the lord I'm on the bench. For now...

It could've taken me longer to blink than it did for the ref to throw Portman out of the game. The team was livid. Everyone started yelling at the ref. I personally went over to that bonehead
"If you make another shitty call like that I'll have you persecuted by the press!" Now this next bit I'm not too proud of. I never use it unless I absolutely have to but I got in his face and yelled "Do you know who I am? I have to power to make sure you never step foot on ice again!"

Throwing the only dude who stood a chance out of the game in the first 3 seconds. Not cool ref, not cool

To replace Portman, Coach had the genius idea to throw the new guy in who was already standing on the ice. By my luck I was the new guy already standing on the ice. Charlie is up for the puck drop and immediately looses it. Shit

Like SHIT

Because me and Kenny are the only ones not getting battered and bruised, coach keeps us on the ice the whole first period. It isn't until Mr. Untouchable gets absolutely destroyed that he gets pulled. I'm gonna be honest, the only reason I haven't gotten pulverized is because I've just been avoiding them.

Judge me all you want but if a 6'1" 250 lbs unit of a defender charges at you at 20 mph, you're gonna move out of the way too.

But as luck will have it, around mid-way through the second period, Adam passes the puck to the o my open player

Me

Being the only open player who is now in possession of the puck, I have 2 Iceland guys gunning for me. I try to run away but I see my team and the cameras and my performance mode kicks in.

I somehow get on the opposite side of the other team and bolt towards their goal. It's me and goalie mano y mano. I get a good 5 feet away and I take a swing with my eyes closed. Not that smartest idea I'll admit, but as I see my shot pass through the goalie's legs, I feel a heavy force knock me down.

It went in
I went down
The team came over
I couldn't play
My whole body was throbbing
I see Portman
He's climbing over the glass to Iceland
He's climbing over the glass to Iceland
He's climbing over the glass to Iceland

I point and the whole team looks over at Portman just running on the ice, in sneakers might I add, over to the other team. I hear bits and pieces of words but my head was pounding too much to make sense of it. And as I was getting hauled away on a stretcher, thousands of camera flashes pointed my way. But I didn't see them.

I saw him. He was getting dragged off by security for violence. The game was forfeited, Iceland won. He tried to run to me. He was pulled back again.

He saw me. I started to smile through the pain. I stared at him for going the extra mile for me. I thought of his name as my parting thought before I passed out from the pain.

We saw each other. We saw friendship. We saw love. Not romantic love, the type of love where you would do anything for each other. Give up your eyes if it meant your last sight was their smile. Tell a ref he's getting persecuted by the press if he makes one more stupid call. Tackle a team full of nordic killers to avenge them. The kind of love the famous pop singer could write a killer song about (ooohh don't you just love foreshadowing).

WC: 1120