From Trailer to Ice

Chapter 27

 

                I sat at home wrapped in a blanket. I stared blankly at the television screen that wasn’t turned on. Nobody was around me, but they were all staring at me from a different room. I hadn’t said a word since I got home and neither did anyone else. I didn’t know if Tyson and I were still broken up and I was afraid of what we were. I have feelings for him and nothing would change that. But that’s the bad part about me having feelings for him; if he were to ever be happy with someone else, I would let him. I put his feelings before mine even if it hurts me.

 

                Roy told everyone that it was time for dinner. I got up keeping the blanket wrapped around me and walked to the table. My plate of food sat in front of me and I just looked at it. I didn’t mean to be rude but I had no appetite.

 

                I skated out onto the ice for a practice. It was no surprise what had happened to Dylan and I. Everybody knew. The guys were nice to me and said that if they ever saw him again, they would beat the shit out of him and shove something very large up his asshole if it hadn’t been done already. The girls’ team, on the other hand, wasn’t as nice. The only person who was nice and understanding to me was Alexis. But the others whispered behind my back, called me some horrible names, and laughed at me whenever I walked by.

 

                Thomas, our goaltender, was going very easy on me and letting easy shots go in.

 

“Don’t go easy on me!” I shouted.

 

“I’m not!” He lied.

 

“Come on, you are probably going to be the first drafted because you are so good. Don’t go easy on me!”

 

“Listen, you need to take it easy, so I’m not letting you work hard.”

 

“How do you expect me to get better if you don’t challenge me?”

 

“God dammit, Max, you just got raped!” He said immediately covering his mouth.

 

“I may have been raped, but at least I don’t take it easy on people who I think needs it!” I replied trying to make him feel better. I was also trying to make a joke out of what had happened to me so it didn’t seem so bad… So it didn’t seem so real. Maybe, just maybe, I could joke my way out of the feeling.

 

                I got out of practice to see Tyson awaiting me. He grabbed my duffle bag full of gear and threw it into the back of his car. I got into the passenger seat and Tyson gave me a blindfold.

 

“What’s this?” I inquired.

 

“Are you okay with putting it on? Or will it give you anxiety?”

 

“I’m fine with wearing it around you… I trust you.”

 

“Good.” He said with a large grin.

 

                He helped me to put it on and I sat listening to the sound of the car on the pavement. He turned on Eminem’s song Rap God and we rapped along. We both were laughing as we tried to rap the fastest part and failed miserably at doing so.

 

                It was nice to be with him again. Though I couldn’t see him, he was there. He was with me, and I was with him. That’s all that I could ask for. He’s all I could ask for.

 

“I don’t understand it.” I laughed.

 

“Understand what?”

 

“How you can deal with me.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I mean that I have broken your heart so many times… Everything bad that could happen… It happens to me. I just don’t get how you can put up with me.”

 

“Well, your stepdad is kinda my coach.”

 

“You know what I mean!”

 

“Yeah, yeah I do.” He sighed resting his hand on top of mine, patting it twice, and moving it away.

 

                About thirty minutes later the car had stopped. I heard Tyson’s door open and close behind him. He opened my door telling me to keep my blindfold on. I held onto his arm as he guided me around. I felt his arm leave mine and I felt him fiddling with my blindfold. When it finally came off I kept my eyes closed.

 

“Open them.” He whispered as he went to stand next to me again.

“Oh my god, Tyson.” I half whispered and half sobbed as I opened my eyes.