One in 2330 ~ Connor Bedard Love Story

44. Workouts and Interrogations

Friday, February 2, 2024. 

All-Star Skills day.

When I say I was excited, that would be the understatement of the century. I had woken up incredibly early that morning, put on some roller skates and practiced out on the driveway. Brady had to stop me about two hours in, as I apparently needed to eat. 

I knew I really wanted to win the games, but I knew I was up against some tough competition, especially with Connor McDavid competing. Which meant that I had to be perfect. 

I didn't need to be at the stadium for another four hours, but I had already gone over each of the challenges, or variations of them at least, about twenty times by now. 

"Soph! Let's go!" Quinn shouted at me from the car he just pulled up in. Not gonna lie, I kind of forgot that I had agreed to workout with Q, J.T and Petey before the games, but whatever. 

"Just a sec!" I called back. "Let me just frab my stuff real quick."

I rushed back inside the house, unlaced my roller skates, threw on my running shoes, grabbed my gym back and bolted back outside.

"Sophie!" Q yelled. "You have ten seconds!"

"Oh, my God, bro! Calm down!" I yelled back, laughing as I exited the front door and made my way to their car.

"Soph, you sure you'll be able to keep up with us?" Petey asked, smirking as I hopped into the backseat beside him since J.T was driving and Q was in the passenger's seat.

"Yeah, Soph, you sure you want to do this?" J.T added. "Our gym workout is pretty intense."

"Millsy, Petey, don't underestimate Soph." Q advised, me nodding in agreement. 

"Why?" Petey wondered. "You gotta admit, Q, that even you would be shocked if Soph's able to bench as much as us."

"Just trust me."

*  *  *

Turns out that Q was indeed correct. 

After we put our stuff in our lockers and did a few stretches, we immediately went into bench-presses. For a normal 18 year old girl of only 120 pounds, to be able to bench 180 pounds sounds absurd, but for me, it was kind of easy.

"Damn, Soph," Petey said in awe as I finished my fiftieth rep. "Not gonna lie, never thought you'd be able to bench that much."

"Definitely," J.T agreed, nodding.

"Yeah. How the hell did you manage that? You have such skinny arms!" Q teased, holding my arm up and squeezing my to be honest, small bicep. "Since when did you manage to bench so much?"

"Dude." I said, completely deadpanned. "You do realise that I've been working out with you and the rest of the guys since I was little, right? When I was four, you guys got me to curl twenty pounds weights. Also, you know how hockey work-outs are. And besides, I've got a good gym buddy."

"And who exactly is this, 'buddy'?" Q asked suspiciously. 

"A teammate." I replied, knowing exactly where this conversation was going.

"Which teammate?" Petey pressed.

"Connor."

"Murphy or Bedard?" Q questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Bedard." I stated. "It would be weird if I worked out with Murph. The guy's eight years older than me."

"But still. Why are you hanging out with Bedard exactly?" J.T wondered and I simply sighed. They were clearly not going to let this go, but I refused to crack.