Breaking Through the Barriers

A Close Call

January 6. 2012—9:30 PM

“Pass the puck to Tyler!” Assistant coach Houda yelled. 

“He wasn’t open!” I screamed back. 

“Yes I was. You just won’t pass the puck to me.” Tyler said. 

I rolled my eyes and turned to Tyler “Maybe because you can’t keep your ass up with me.” 

Tyler and I continued to argue, as the team stood and stared at us. “Stop it you two!” Houda yelled. Tyler and I both stopped and looked at him “What is wrong with you two?” 

“I need to be placed in a different line because I cannot work with him.”

“Why not? You , Segs, and Marchy made a perfect line.” 

“Well not anymore. Either you place me in a different line or else we will not be scoring any goals tomorrow.” 

Houda sighed “Fine, Army you are now in the Horton-Lucic line. You’ll play center.” 

I smiled “Thank you Coach Houda.” 

“Yeah, now get back to practice.” 

~

~

Practice had just ended and after taking a shower I headed back to my locker room. As soon as I walked in, I saw Horty, Looch, Marchand and McQuaid sitting down. 

“What are you guys doing here?” 

Horton stood up “We know about you and Tyler.” 

I felt my face getting red. They know, but how did they find out? I sighed  “You do?” 

Lucic nodded his head “We know that you are jealous at the fact that Tyler is seeing other women.” 

I looked up at them “What?” 

“It’s alright. That explains the reason why you’ve been giving Tyler the cold shoulder.” 

I chuckled a little “You guys have it all wrong, I’m not jealous.” 

The guys all gave me a confused look. “If that’s not the reason then what is?” Adam asked. 

Great! Now I don’t know what to say, I should have just agreed with what they said. As I was thinking I heard Lucic say “Oh my god. You were the girl?” 

Horton’s jaw dropped “You slept with Tyler.” 

Brad and Adam gasped. I just decided to act offended, so I put a disgusted look on my face “Ewwww. Hell no! Why the fuck would you think that? I’ve been giving Tyler the cold shoulder because he slept with some puckbunny and I think that’s just disgusting.” I lied

Horton and Looch let out a breath “Geez. Thank god you didn’t or else I’d have to go beat Tyler up.” Lucic stated. 

To stay in character, I crossed my arms “Do you guys really think that I’d do something that stupid?” 

McQuaid walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder “No because you’re smart enough to know to not do something as dumb as sleeping with your own teammate. “ 

I looked down on the floor. I was starting to feel a bit upset after Adam’s comment. Maybe I really was stupid. 

I forced myself to chuckle “Yeah you got that right.” 

Lucic looked down at his watch “We should head out, tomorrow is going to be a brutal game.” 

Brad agreed “It sure in hell will. Are you ready for tomorrow Army?” 

I nodded “Yeah, I mean it’s going to probably be one of the most anticipated games to see us play against the team you guys stole the Stanley Cup from.” 

The guys chuckled and Horton went on to say “There is going to be a lot of tension between us and the Canucks tomorrow, but we’ll bring our A-game.” 

I smiled “You guys always do.” 

Adam smiled “Just get some rest tonight.” He walked over to the locker room door and before leaving he said “Goodnight night fellas.” 

We all answered back with goodnight and as Lucic and Horton walked over to the door, Lucic asked “Do you need a ride home still?” 

I nodded “Yeah I do.” 

“We’ll Horty and I will wait out front for you.” 

“Alright. I’ll be out in five minutes.” 

Milan and Nathan gave me a nod before leaving the room. As I walked over to grab my gym bag, I looked up and saw Marchy was still in the room. 

“What’s up Brad?” 

Brad rubbed the back of his neck before looking up at me “Lauren, I know the truth about you and Tyler.” 

“What are you talking about?” 

He walked closer to me “I know that you two slept together.” 

I chuckled nervously “No we didn’t.” 

Brad gave me the ‘I’m not stupid look.’ “Look when Brianna came over to the suite she asked me why your bra was there. Now it’s not hard to put the clues together.” 

I sighed and caved in “Okay, Tyler and I did sleep together but please promise me that you won’t tell any of the guys.” 

“I won’t tell them but what happened with you and Tyler?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean Tyler has not been himself the last few days and every time the guys ask him what’s wrong he just shrugs and says nothing.” Brad paused for a moment before looking at me “Whatever you two got in an argument about is affecting Tyler and his playing skills.” 

“So. You expect me to go and apologize to Tyler after he called me a puckslut?”

Brad sighed “No but you shouldn’t be treating him like shit.” 

I started to get angry “Whose side are you even on?” 

“Nobody’s, I’m just the mediator.”

I scoffed “Seems like you’re on Tyler side.” 

“I’m not. I just don’t like to see my teammates fall apart.” 

I put my gym bag over my shoulder. “I should get going; Looch and Horton are waiting for me.” 

I walked over to the door and before leaving I turned to Brad “Thanks for caring but I’m not going to forgive Tyler any time soon.” 

“I understand.” 

“Go home and get some rest. You’re going to need it for tomorrow’s game.” 

Brad nodded “I will.” 

I smiled a bit “Goodnight Marchy.” 

“Night Army.” 

I smiled once more before leaving the locker room. Not only did I have to worry about the game tomorrow, I was also worried about Tyler. 

Eh, sorry for this boring / short chapter. It is just that I wanted to make the next chapter solely about the game against the Canucks. And that chapter shall be up by tomorrow hopefully :)  As always thanks for those of you who commented on the last chapter & thank you for reading : ) Fan / Vote / Comment <33 ~XOXO Lau