𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 | 𝐣. 𝐡𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐬

𝟐𝟕

New Jersey

Hours later, the girls gathered in Charlotte and Emilie's living room. A large assortment of snacks was laid out on the table as Gabi scrolled through Netflix looking for a movie for them to watch. Before ending up on the couch in the living room, they'd all agreed to do face masks and paint each other's nails. Although Charlotte was still upset about the events of the previous night and the morning, she tried her hardest to be present and in the moment with the girls she was leaning on. For Em, Nicole, and Gabi, the ultimate goal for the night was to spend time with Charlotte and help her forget about all the noise around her.

"Okay, so what do we feel like watching?" Gabi turns to look around at each of the girls. Looking over at Charlotte, Gabi saw that she seemed to be off in her thoughts. "How about we try to find a crappy movie? Those in itself are pretty entertaining to watch because no matter what they're super cringy and funny." Once Nicole spoke up, Char snapped out of her thoughts, landing back into the conversation. Nodding their heads, the girls all agreed and set off on a mission to find a crappy movie. After twenty minutes of endless scrolling, they'd found and agreed on a strong contender, pressing play.

During one of the more ridiculous scenes, laughter erupts from the far end of the sofa. Turning their heads collectively, the girls look over, seeing Charlotte laughing hysterically at what'd just happened to one of the characters. Nicole, Gabi, and Emilie all smile to themselves, happy to see Charlotte finally laughing. Since they'd arrived earlier in the afternoon, it had been difficult to even get her to crack a smile, let alone laugh.

After waking up from a long nap earlier, after finding out about everything, Charlotte had seen a few missed calls from Jack and even a few frantic messages asking to talk. Due to the frantic messages and multiple missed calls, she knew that Jack had probably been told that she knew about the events from the night before. He'd been trying to reach out to talk to her, but deep down, she didn't feel ready to talk about it. She knew that eventually, the conversation with Jack would have to happen, but for now, she wanted to be in the company of her girls and no one else. Charlotte made sure to make a mental note to talk to him once she was ready.

Unbeknownst to Charlotte and the girls, the game in Vegas wasn't going well for the guys.

Las Vegas

The Devils were down three goals by the halfway point of the first period. Jack was essentially playing the worst hockey he'd ever played since he'd started the sport. Jack was frustrated with himself. He was frustrated that he was losing possession of the puck too often, missing passes, and constantly getting shoved into the boards. Jack couldn't get himself to think straight and focus on the game. In the hours leading up to the game, while getting dressed, he was constantly checking his phone. Every time he checked, he hoped he would hear something, anything, back from Charlotte, but alas nothing ever came.

There was hope that by the end of this period, back in the locker room, he'd have a message waiting from Charlotte. He knew that thinking that was just wishful thinking on his part. Skating back to the bench for a line change, Jack is approached by the coach. Whispering in his ear, he informs Jack that he's being moved from the second line down to the fourth line. Despite wanting to let out his frustration at the change, Jack holds his tongue, looking back at the game in front of him, and letting out a huff.

By the second period, Jack hasn't seen any ice time since the end of the first. Now Jack was finding himself frustrated. Being called out to switch out onto the ice, he gets up and joins in on the current gameplay happening. He manages to get the puck on the end of his stick, but when he passes it, hoping to connect the pass to Nico, Jesper, or Luke, in a miscalculation, the puck finds the stick of one of the players of the Golden Knights. This failed pass has him being called off the ice and straight to the bench. In a sign of anger and frustration, Jack repeatedly hits his stick on the half wall separating the bench from the ice, eventually breaking his stick.

Nico, Jesper, and Luke look on from the ice as they skate to the next face-off zone. They look at each other feeling a mutual amount of worry for Jack and his behavior. They know that it's been a long day with everything going on and they hoped sitting out would calm him down. Before thinking too much about what they're going to do about Jack, they get their head back into the game and focus on the rest of the period.

Being sat out for the rest of the game, Jack now had free reign to think about Charlotte. He wants to talk to her and sort everything out. He knows that he made a grave mistake by cozying up to that girl and kissing her, but he wants to apologize to the girl he loves. Even though any kind of apology, large or small, will never be enough. Determination fills him, telling him to do whatever he has to to apologize to Lotte. She didn't deserve what he did to her and he knows that.

He doesn't expect Charlotte to forgive him and he knows that if she does, he'll be extremely lucky. He knows he hurt her badly and even if she didn't text or call him tonight, he was hopeful to hear an update about Charlotte from the girls who would most likely update Nico, Luke, or Jesper. For him, just knowing she was okay would be enough to ease his mind slightly. As much as he'd like to hear from her directly, it was probably impossible due to how recently everything had happened.

~
𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞
I apologize for how short this was, but it's just a little filler. This pretty much takes place the same day Charlotte finds out about what happened. I wanted to let you guys in on how both Charlotte and Jack are doing after what I think has probably been a long day for them both.

hope y'all have a great day or night wherever you are!

stay safe ♡