One of the things that Charlotte Rose Johnston loved the most, besides lacrosse and hockey, was her privacy.
It was time for her new adventure, and being that she received her first Division 1 athletic offer to play men's ice hockey at the Universit...
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The puck was dropped and Michigan won it, possessing back in their end. Luke and Charlotte shifted backwards, marking defensively.
Charlotte was hyper aware of the empty net that stood behind her, knowing that if any shot went through that it would be her responsibility to stop it. Eventually Estapa was able to pin a player to the wall and Luke picked it up, advancing the puck.
He snapped a shot on and it was blockered by the Michigan State goaltender who sent the rebound spiralling towards Charlotte. She pumped her legs under her and drug the puck on the toe of her stick, shooting it from by the dot.
The red light shined bright across the arenas ice once again as the puck nailed a Michigan State player's skate before changing direction and sailing right into the goal.
Charlotte skated forward, dropping a knee and pumping her arms while cheering wildly. Her teammates swarmed her as the final buzzer sounded.
It was time for overtime in Ann Harbor.
"Fuck yeah, Rose!" Luke shouted nasally, slapping the girl on her shoulder. She turned to him and grinned wide, lifting her water bottle from the bench. She squirted a stream of water past her lips as her coaches planned out the overtime lines.
She would begin on the bench, which bummed her, but at least she would be in the second shift alongside Luke. She just hoped they were able to last that long.
Luke plopped himself on the bench next to her and sighed heavily. His chest rose and fell at a rapid pace, and his lips were parted in breath. With a glance, he caught her staring and leaned into her, nudging her shoulder.
She spun back towards the ice just in time to hide her furiously scarlet blush.
Within minutes, they were throwing themselves over the board and switching out with Seamus and Ethan.
Charlotte eyed the clock for a moment as she held the puck behind her goaltenders net. Breaking out of the zone, she dished the puck over to Luke who advanced through the neutral zone by dodging a Michigan State attacker.
The energy in the arena seemingly jumped to life and the sound of brass instruments in the distance encouraged them to speed their pace up. Rutger was trailing just ahead of the pair, as overtime only required three players, and he set himself in front of the net as a diversion.
Luke skated up the ice, eyes locked on the net in front of him. Charlotte mirrored his stride, going all out on their final push towards the net. She skated two strides for every one of his on the opposite wing.
The crowd went from screaming to holding their breath just a moment later as their anticipation built.
The pair of high-level defenders effortlessly wove through another defender, leaving just one in the zone and two on the chase.
With about a minute left, Luke passed the puck over to Charlotte. Spinning like a bey-blade, Charlotte masterfully avoided the last defender and forced him to over commit. He slid out towards the boards and let out a frustrated grunt.
Charlotte glanced across the ice for a heart-stopping moment, locking eyes with her roommate. In that moment, what would happen next was obvious.
Charlotte threw the puck back over to Luke, causing the goaltender to shift over quickly and begin to pressure him. He skipped it back over to Charlotte, and with one masterful swipe, she snapped it back towards her defensive partner.
By now, Rutger had positioned himself in the perfect deflecting zone to allow for the most shooting space.
Luke finally took the shot, dragging the toe of his stick dramatically. The puck hit the back of the net with an all too satisfying thud and wshhhhhh of the thin netting.
The arena leapt to their feet, screaming, partying, and cheering. The lights dimmed and bright strobes of red flashed down onto the ice. The room was crowded beyond measure, but although there were thousands of pairs of eyes observing their celebration, they only had eyes for each other.
Skating towards him, he spread his arms wide, careful to keep his stick out of the way. She did the same, holding hers higher than usual. The excitement was apparent on both of their faces as their smiles beamed in the celebratory strobe lights.
Luke tossed her off the ice in a joyous embrace, spinning her as he tightened his grip across her back. She laughed loudly, crying out for all to hear. Half the team had begun to swarm them while the other half tackled their goalie to the ground in celebration.
The crowd roared in approval and chanted to their victory song.
As they eventually slowed to a stop, Luke set his line-mate back onto the ice and braced her so she caught her footing again. She punched him in the chest, hard.
"You did it!" She yelled.
"We did it, loser!" He added excitedly, still high on adrenaline. Jokingly rolling her eyes, Charlotte dropped her smile slightly.
"Always so cheesy," she complained, stifling a laugh and shoving him in the direction of the mass of players who were still celebrating behind him.
"Just admit you fucking love it already," he smirked with one half of his smile. His tone was teasing. Cocky bastard.
Charlotte shook her head.
"I can't fucking stand you," she mouthed just loud enough for him to hear. Arms were thrown around her shoulders, interrupting their moment.
"Hey-" Luke caught her eyes one final time, "-you know you love my shit,"
"In your damn dreams, jerk," she whispered. He shrugged, a sly smile pulled at his lips.
"You're right about that, Rose," he agreed nonchalantly before turning his back and disappearing into his teammates that had been waiting patiently to embrace him.
Charlotte stood dumbfounded- something that had been happening all too recently lately. She felt the weight of an arm around her shoulder and looked up to find none other than Rutger McGroarty fake crying.
"My babies all grown up," he whined, rubbing his eyes with his opposite glove. Charlotte shrugged him away.
"I think I hate all of you dorks."
Charlotte watched the forty three vanish into a gold and navy blue wave of jerseys and couldn't help but to feel a familiar fuzzy feeling in her chest.
