Breaking The Ice

This One's For You

Harry's POV

"Don't sweat it, bro. We still have lots of time." Liam said as he clapped me on the shoulder while the two of us hurried home, doing his best to reassure me that I was somehow on top of the ten thousand things running through my mind.

I'd spent the entire month trying to organize the charity game, and for the most part things had gone smoothly. The amount of people who had volunteered to help, donated things for prizes, and promoted the game was more than I ever could have hoped for, and most of the things seemed to take care of themselves. I didn't have to waste time finding a venue since we had the arena available to us, and guys were lining up to play in the actual game. It felt like a lot of it had just fallen into place, but now that the day had arrived it felt like I'd spent the last 72 hours running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I'd somehow managed to keep up with school and hockey commitments in the midst of it all, and didn't even start to feel any kind of pressure until the days leading up to it.

I'd designated certain people to take care of different areas of the event, thinking it would take some of the pressure off, but it seemed that every little thing that popped up required some kind of answer from me that I didn't seem to have. I was trying to be supportive of all the people who had been kind enough to volunteer their time, but I had seriously underestimated just how much time and effort it takes to plan something like that. It suddenly felt like a lot was riding on my shoulders, and I felt pressure not to let anyone down or waste the time they'd been kind enough to offer me.

I think I'd originally thought it wouldn't be much more than a simple game, but between my announcement at the awards and TJ's promotion after her interview the whole thing seemed to take on a life of its own. I wanted it to be special. I wanted to raise as much money as possible, so that I could donate it to people like my sister and get them the help they needed before they ended up like her. I wanted to raise awareness and promote change, and it was important to me that things ran smoothly. As time seemed to race by leading up to it, my list of things to do seemed to get bigger, which was why Liam and I had been down at the arena at 6am that morning making sure it was open for everyone to set up.

"Did we give that list to my uncle?" I asked, trying to mentally check things off in my head as we walked.

"Yeah, it's taken care of bro." Liam laughed. "Just take some deep breaths. You've done everything you can at this point. In a few hours we'll be out there on the ice doing our thing, and all this stress from organizing this will be nothing but a memory."

"Let's hope." I sighed. "I just hope I didn't forget anything too big."

"Even if you did, it'll be fine."

I looked over at him and nodded, just trying to accept that I'd done everything I could do, before we finally reached our building and headed upstairs to the dorm.

I was a little surprised to see the lights on in the hallway so early on a Saturday, but I knew that everyone was aware how stressed I'd been and assumed they'd probably gotten up to get ready to help. Liam and I turned the corner to find Teej standing in the kitchen, explaining something while Chase, Timmons, Louis and Mac sat in front of her at the kitchen table, seeming to hang on her every word.

I smiled to myself at the sight, knowing exactly why they were there and feeling like a proud father when I saw them all sitting there.

"Hey, Cap." Chase said, nodding his head toward me without looking up from the notes he was jotting down.

"We're just finishing up, then we'll be free to help." Teej smiled as I walked over to her and kissed her cheek, before turning her attention back to them.