Slapshot

Chapter 25: Cleared

Jonathan's POV

It seemed as though the closer I became with Maria, the closer Taylor got with Cameron. I noticed every bit of it, the constant talking, the giggling, the secrets. It confused me, it really did. Wasn't she just saying that she was sketched out by him? And now they're buddy-buddy?

I guess one of the only good things that came out of it was that Braden still wouldn't go near her. Maybe his dumb friend Cameron was doing all the dirty work for him.

It was lunch, and Taylor and Cam were sitting across from me, a few seats down. He had his elbow resting on the table, his head in his hand as he just listened to her with admiration. She seemed to be telling a story.

I turned to my right to see Maria, carefully biting into her sandwich. "Can we go somewhere else?" I say to her quietly.

"Where?" She looks confused.

"The rink. It's too loud in here... Hurting my head." I lie. Frankly, my head has been feeling better over the last few days. It wasn't feeling better two days ago when our team had lost, again, though. I had what may be my last appointment tonight, thankfully. Hopefully I could finally get cleared of this bullshit.

"Of course." She says. She packs up her stuff, standing up quickly. She leaves the table first, and I follow after, not looking back at the table.

"Is everything okay?" She asks, taking my hand loosely as we walked through the halls.

"Yeah. I just like the rink better." I smile.

I was happy when I opened the door to find nobody else in there. People never used to stay in here, but apparently that had changed with the addition of Taylor and her new dumb friend. I hated him.

"I have an appointment tonight for my head." I tell Maria as we climb the bleachers. "Do you want to come? After practice?"

"Of course." She says. "Maybe if I come, you'll have good luck." She grins, taking out her sandwich again.

"I need this to be good, Maria. I'm dying without hockey." I frown, staring at the rink.

"The team's dying without you, too, Jon." She says. Ever since the day I was injured, our team's already lost three games, giving us more losses than wins. That wasn't great, considering we won the championship last year.

I sigh. "I think Coach's lines are stupid." I tell her.

"Me too." She agrees. See, this is why we understood each other so well. "He keeps playing me on the right, I feel like an idiot because I cannot shoot right."

"You're doing fine, babe, trust me." I assure her. "You're not the one on the team who has to worry about your playing." I say, rolling my eyes just thinking about people like Braden and Cameron.

Maria's still frowning. "You're fine, don't worry about it." I say again. I use my hand to take her chin, kissing her lots.

Maria and I had a great relationship. We were both happy, we shared common interests, I loved talking to her,... But I still felt like I was cheating myself. I hated this.

"How's this?" She started. "If everything is okay at your appointment, we celebrate?" She asks.

I smiled, a small chuckle escaping my mouth. "Of course."

——

I was sitting on a chair in the office, Maria lightly holding my hand. I had just been tested by the doctor, and she would come back any minute with the results.

"Even if everything isn't okay, can we still celebrate?" Maria asks.

I look over at her. "It's called celebrating for a reason, isn't it?" I ask.

"I think being with me is enough of a reason to celebrate." She laughs.

I smile too, right as the doctor walks in with a few sheets of paper. "You're doing well, Jonathan. Thank you for obeying my orders this time." She says. I hope my eye roll wasn't too obvious.

"I'm going to give you one more bottle of medication, the instructions are on the label. You should be okay for a while, but if anything does happen, come in immediately." She says.

"Am I all good?" I ask, standing up. She nods. "I can watch TV, do physical activity, everything?"

She nods again. "Just make sure to take it easy, okay? Make a gradual transition, not everything at once." Sure.

"Great." I had a game in two days, Friday. I would finally be able to play.

Right as we left, Maria gave me a quick peck. "Congrats." She smiles. "I knew you could do it."

"Thanks." I chuckle. Those were two hard weeks, I'm just so grateful it's finally over.

——

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