NHL Short Stories

enough for you - seth jarvis

WC: 2449

As the final horn sounded at PNC Arena, capping off an exciting and nail-biter of a game between the Hurricanes and Metropolitan Division rival New Jersey Devils, I got up and cheered for the winning team I've been rooting for since my boyfriend got drafted by them in 2020.

After the players of the Hurricanes gathered at centre ice to do their choreographed "Storm Surge" after each home win, they went down the tunnel to get undressed and head home after such a well-fought and tough game.

"Got any plans tonight?" Nelli, who was Jesperi Kotkaniemi's girlfriend, asked as she picked up her purse from the ground of the suite we were in.

I shrugged with a smile on my face. "Probably get back to the hotel and pack up for my flight tomorrow afternoon. I'm sure you've got to get back to Minnesota," I responded with a soft chuckle. My eyes widened with realization. "Oh, nice win over Michigan the other night!"

Nelli chuckled as her cheeks reddened. "Thanks! Hopefully we keep playing strong. We've been struggling a bit," she said.

I chuckled in response. Nelli was such a nice person to talk to, although I never really get the chance to talk to her in person as I reside in Winnipeg and she plays hockey for the University of Minnesota women's hockey team. Not to mention she's a student at the university as well; that's got to be a lot for her. Especially with her also dating Jesperi, who works on the other side of the country.

"How was cookie baking with Seth yesterday? I heard he burnt them," she said with another giggle.

I laughed as I rolled my eyes. "Right. So, he read the time the cookies were supposed to be in for wrong. While he's outside talking on the phone, I smelt a burning smell in the house and when I checked up on our delicious cookies, I saw that the cookies were blackened to a crisp!" I exclaimed.

Nelli's eyes widened as she made an O shape with her mouth. "What?" she gasped.

I nodded my head. "Yup. Then he blames it on me when he's the one who read the box and set the timer," I continued.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh goodness," she said.

"Mhm. I dunno, Seth hasn't been all that talkative to me like he normally is," I told her as we walked out of the row and walked out of the suite.

Nelli stopped in front of the door leading into our suite we had shared with some of the other girlfriends and wives to the Hurricanes. She looked at me in confusion as she grasped onto her little black Chanel purse. "Huh. Maybe he feels bad he burnt your cookies," she chuckled as we continued walking, making our journey to the wives' room that was by the locker room downstairs.

I shrugged. "I'm not sure. He's been acting weird ever since he picked me up from Raleigh-Durham on Thursday," I said as I tucked my hands into the pockets to my black romper.

Nelli and I looked at each other again. She frowned, then looked back ahead to the concourse we were walking on. "Like...how weird?" she questioned as we looked at each other again.

I shrugged again. "I dunno...like he doesn't seem interested in me anymore. Whenever I'm telling him I'm excited to watch him play or that I'm thinking about moving down to Raleigh to be close to him, he just seems to ignore it and switch the subject," I told her.

She looked even more confused. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. I feel bad, Nelli. What did I do for him to act this way to me?" I asked her, even though I knew she didn't know the answer to that question. Jesperi might, as him and Seth were practically best friends.