NHL Imagines

Jake Virtanen (Utica Comets)

I sat with my bottom lip tucked between my teeth. I had a thousand thoughts racing through my mind and I just wanted to run from them, but... I couldn't. I wanted answers.

"Jake, I just want to know why," I felt tears well up in my eyes.

"It's so hard to explain," his voice cracked "I don't want to call it this, but you're just... you're a distraction."

"That's your reason for doing this? I'm distracting you? We've been together since eighth grade, Jake. You should be able to come up with a better reason for breaking up with me," I spat.

"I can't, (Y/N). I've been doing so bad on the ice lately and I... I think it's because of you," his eyes were emotionless, the once bright blue irises now dull.

"There's something else and I want to know now," I ordered.

"There's nothing else," he said, way too quickly to be believable.

"Look, I know that you're hurt from Worlds, okay? I know that you blame yourself for that loss. I get it, I really do, so I'm gonna do this. I'll give you time, Jake. We'll spend some time away from each other and when we see each other again, I want a real answer," I seethed, standing up and angrily wiping the fallen tears from my cheeks.

"I'm sorry," he rasped.

I stopped, hand on the front door knob. "If you were actually sorry, you would tell me why you're really doing this."

My answer was silence. Complete silence. I let out a huff of disbelief and flung the door open, slamming it shut on my way out.

||Four months later||

It had been too long, way too long since the last time I had seen him. The longer I looked at him, the more unfamiliar he seemed. His hair was sticking out in every direction and his face was pale, his usual confident and happy structure was now masked by something depressing and negative.

"Jake," my voice came out much quieter than I wanted it to.

He looked up from the sidewalk. I gazed into his eyes and shivered. They were just so... so lifeless. No bright color was seen, just like the night that he gave up on us.

"(Y/N)," he whimpered "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

I stood, looking down at my feet, not knowing how to respond to the man who broke my heart four months prior. The frigid Vancouver wind suddenly blew, making me lose my train of thought and pull my thin jacket tighter to me, hoping to hide my cold hands within the sleeves.

"Oh, sorry. Here," Jake started slipping off his jacket.

"No, Jake- you don't have to-" I started protesting, but he was already in front of me, placing the heavier material around my shoulders.

I looked up at him while he did it, my breath hitching in my throat.

"I miss you," I whispered, going against every thought I had mustered up in the months away from him.

He eyes flickered down to mine, a glint of something within them. "I miss you more than you'd think after what I did to you,"

"Don't... don't bring that up, okay? If you're willing to try this again, I'm all for it, but if you ever feel like I'm 'distracting you' again, please tell me. I'll stay with my parents or at (Y/F/N)'s house for a bit so you can get your mind back on track. Or I'll-"

"I didn't break up with you because you were distracting me," he interrupted. "Well, I didn't do it because I thought you were distracting me. My coach- he thought that I wasn't playing well because of you. I was just going through a tough time then. When you left, it got even worse. He told me it's like I wasn't even on the ice anymore. I thought that he was right, so I went through with it. I broke up with you over something that I didn't even actually agree with. I know that this is such a cliche thing to say in a situation like this, but breaking up with you was the worst mistake I've ever made. I'm only hoping that you're willing to be with me again."

"Why would you go against how you felt? Did you really think that running from it would help you? I'd like to think that I'm a lot more help than just running from your problems. I've been with you through everything, Jake. I would've understood if you had just told me that in the first place,"

He shook his head and ran a hand over his face. "I know and I'm sorry. I should've come to you. I should've told you about it instead of avoiding it and breaking up with you. I'm an idiot and there's not enough words in the world to tell you how much I regret doing what I did that night."

"Yeah, you are an idiot, but- forgive me for how cheesy this is- you're my idiot," I grinned, taking a step closer to him and wrapping my arms around his waist.

He sighed and hugged me back, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of my head. "God, you will never understand how much I love you."

Requested by habsflames04 :)