One in 2330 ~ Connor Bedard Love Story

22. Heartbreaks

~Connor's P.O.V~

"Yo, Bedsy? You know if Soph's gonna be back any time soon?" Taylor Raddysh asked me. 

We had just finished practice for our game later tonight against Nashville and I knew that the only way we would've had a chance to win this game was if Soph was here. But she wasn't, so we just had to make do with what we had. 

With her absence, the entire team and I have realised how much she contributed to the team. She was the glue that kept all of us together. She was the reason that we all got along together, whether we knew it or not. 

I also realised how much I cared about her. A little more than I had originally thought. 

"Nah, man. The last thing she told me was that she was going to Ottawa to spend some time with her brother. Although, if the news is correct, she helped the team in their win against Detroit a couple nights ago." I shrugged, trying to play it cool, but in reality, I missed her. I missed her so much that I wanted to fly down to Sweden myself to try to convince her to come back. Instead, I simply caught the towel that Fliggy had thrown at me and wiped the sweat off my face, sitting down on the bench and started to get my gear off. 

Fliggy and Taylor were really great. The two of them more so than the rest of the team have acted like mine and Soph's mentors and older brother, which was nice knowing that there was someone looking out for us.

"Shame, 'cause we all know that we need her for tonight's game." Alex interjected, saying the one thing that everyone was thinking.

"Yeah, but you and I both know that she won't return until Derek's fired." I pointed out. I was about ready to punch the guy in the face at this point. Ever since Sophie had left, he'd worked all of us even harder than before, also screaming a lot more. Honestly, if it didn't mean that we would lose our jobs, I'm pretty sure we all would've walked out as well. 

Almost a second after I had finished talking, Derek walked through the doors, looking angrier than ever.

"Okay, guys..." he started, but we all knew that he was about to scream his head off. "WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU GUYS THINKING OUT THERE, TODAY?! YOU ALL LOOKED LIKE A WHOLE BUNCH OF TODDLERS! MY SON COULD PLAY BETTER HOCKEY THAN YOU WIMPS!"

Everyone on the team took a deep breath, knowing that the screaming was far from over. Almost after every practice, Derek would tell us how we did almost everything wrong. None of us really knew how Sophie had managed to deal with it for so long, as she was targeted by him quite frequently before she'd left. 

"I WATCHED ALL OF YOU OUT THERE, AND YOU ALL LOOKED LIKED BABIES!" Derek shouted. "BEDARD! I KNOW THAT YOU WERE THE NUMBER ONE DRAFT PICK THIS YEAR, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO SLACK OFF DURING PRACTICE! IF YOU KEEP DOING THIS, I'M GOING TO SEND YOU DOWN TO THE MINOR LEAGUES, YOU'RE DOING SO BAD! FOLIGNO! I KNOW THAT YOU'RE TRYING TO MENTOR A LOT OF THE YOUNG PLAYERS, BUT MAYBE YOU SHOULD TRY TO TEACH YOURSELF HOW TO PLAY HOCKEY FIRST! AND KEVIN-"

I was so mad that I was so thankful my phone went off, stopping me from punching Derek in the face. It was one thing to talk shit about me, but the second you bring my friends into the conversation, it was about to get messy. Also, the ringing interrupted Derek's screaming, causing us all to let out a slight sigh of relief. We had dealt with this enough this week that we knew that when Derek was like this, the only way it would stop was when Derek decided to stop shouting, or if someone interrupted him. 

I looked at the screen and saw the words, 🏒 ~ Soph ~ 🏒 appear on the screen. I picked up my phone and was about to accept the call before Derek started yelling at me again.