Breaking The Ice

Dropped The Gloves

Harry's POV

The energy in the room was electric as we waited for them to roll the carpet onto the ice for the ceremonial puck drop, and I couldn't stop looking around at all the people who had come to support the cause. Not a single person looked remotely unhappy, entire families had come, older couples and crowds of friends, and it felt very representative of the mood I was trying to promote.

A loud banging against the glass followed by some very boisterous yelling prompted me to turn my head toward where my parents were sitting, and I instantly started laughing as I saw Rich and Dan Tomlinson pounding their fists and yelling at me before pressing their faces up into the glass when they saw they'd got my attention. Their father stood behind them, shaking his head, before he smiled over at me and gave me a wave.

I waved back, happy to see them, always amused by the antics of TJ's brothers. It was nice that they'd all showed up, I don't know why I was surprised since they'd told me they would, but I guess it was just another form of support I didn't know I needed until I saw them all take their seats next to my family. I liked that we'd been able to spend Christmas together, that everyone got along, and that it felt like I had a little extra family being so far away from home.

"Who invited those losers?" I heard Teej say as she came to stand beside me, laughing to herself. "Cause it wasn't me."

"I did." I smiled. "I thought it would be nice."

"Careful what you wish for." She chuckled. "Although, I now realized I may have a chance to pie them in the face later so yes, good call."

I laughed as I turned to look at her, seeing everyone warming up over her shoulder and thinking we should probably be doing the same. I motioned toward the ice and she turned to step out onto it, the two of us joining our team as we skated around and warmed up our legs. I didn't miss the way Hughes kept glancing toward us, so I figured I should at least check in with her and see how she was feeling about it.

"You alright with this Hughes thing?" I asked as we skated circles around our end of the rink.

"Yep." She sighed.

"You sure?"

"Well, he hasn't said a word to me, so let's hope he keeps it that way. I'm not in the mood for his shit."

"Fair enough." I agreed. "Let's just try to have some fun."

"That's the idea." She nodded. "And hey, if I have to slam him up against the boards in your sister's honor I will gladly do that."

"I have no doubt." I laughed.

The buzzer sounded to signal the end of warm up, and we all took our places for the puck drop. I skated over to the ceremonial carpet where Wayne was standing to face off against Tyler Palmer, who was selected as Captain of the opposing team, and took my place.

"Alright guys, let's have some good, clean fun." Wayne smiled before he dropped the puck and officially started the game.

There was a brief intermission while they rolled up the carpet and quickly cleaned the ice, before both teams put out their first line for the game to really start. I skated out to my position, flanked by Teej and Rex, with Niall and Liam behind us on defence. I watched closely as Teej skated into the centre for the face off, where she was face to face with none other than Cole Hughes.

"Fuck." I heard Rex mumble under his breath, both of us knowing that if they were both first line centres they'd be covering each other for most of the game.

Still, I had faith that it was a charity game and wouldn't be that intense, but I was quickly proved wrong when the referee dropped the puck and Teej practically shoved Cole out of the way to get to it. I instantly took off down the ice as she made her way toward their goal, passing it to Rex as she deked around their defensemen like it was nothing.