That's Hockey Baby

CH. 3: "Well that's one way to do it."

                                                                                                   Me:Ava! I got the job!
                          AvaMae: YAY! I'll be right there so we can go tell the guys DONT TELL TK YET
I smiled down at my phone and found a bench to sit down at to wait for her. She only kept me waiting a few minutes before I heard her squeal and her running down the hallway.
  "I'm so excited you're going to staayyyyyy." she yelled jumping on me and almost knocking me to the ground.
  "You're going to have to stop doing that or I'm going to be broken before I can even get started." I giggled as I set her back down on her feet.
  "Come on we have to go find Travis. He's going to be so happy!" she grabbed my hand and lead me through a maze of hallways to the locker rooms. She knocked a couple times on the door, waited a couple seconds and then opened the door and walked in.
  "The locker room is around the corner, I usually knock to make sure nobody is naked," she made a face which told me there was a reason that was a thing now. "The showers are over there, the stalls are around the corner here and down that hall is a workout room. The boys are still on the ice but they should be wrapping up soon, so lets go get you some skates and go out and join them." sudden fear flashed across my face.
  "Ava I haven't skated in a long time. Tyson got me out a couple times, but that was usually just hanging on the wall or him to get to the penalty box to get different angles for pictures. I'm going to embarass myself in front of all these guys."
  "Jazzi you'll be fine, we'll wait til practice is over to get on the ice, but you're going to have to get out there sometime, because if Travis knows you're embarassed to skate..he's going to give you so much shit. You used to be better than him." I smiled fondly at the memories of us three friends skating on the ice back home and having competitions to see who was the faster skater or who could do the best tricks. The only one Travis beat me at was fastest skater, but I blame that on my short legs.
 We walked down the hallway to the ice where I could see all the boys on the ice, wrapping up their practice. Nolan was sitting on the bench a ways down, Ava waved to him as the boys skated over to us.
  "Sup girls, didja get the job?" Travis asked, leaning over the boards to get a water bottle.
  "I...DID!" I squealed loudly as all 23 boys on the ice suddenly doused me with the water from their bottles while jumping up and down.
  "Oh my GOD!" I laughed loudly.
  "We just wanted to welcome you to the team." laughed Carter, the goalie.
  "Well that's one way to do it." I said shaking the water out of my hair and wiping it off my face, my grin showing how happy I was to be welcomed so easily. The coach skated over just then and introduced himself to me and welcomed me to the family which made my heart soar. One of my favorite parts of working in hockey was the family that was built around it, it's why I could never work anywhere else again. I had been spoiled.
  "Okay boys go get changed, we have a team meeting in 20 minutes." AV, which is what he asked me to call him, said to the boys. "You girls are welcome to stay and skate around, Nolan will be out here but he'll be taking it easy so you won't bother him I'm sure." AV smiled at us and patted Nolan on the shoulder as he walked passed, which made me notice he had walked over to us.
  "Congrats on the job." he smiled before jumping on the ice and skating over to their trainer.
  "I'm going to grab us some skates, I'll be right back." Ava said quickly and rushed off before I could stop her. She wanted me to get on the ice and embarass myself in front of Nolan? I thought we were friends. I sat and watched Nolan working with the trainer while I waited for Ava, who was taking alot longer than I would have expected. I looked down at my watch and realized it had been about a half hour when I heard a groan of frustration and looked back up to see Nolan skating towards me with the trainer who seemed to be trying to calm him down.
  "Pat, it's your first time back on the ice, you knew it was a long shot that you'd be back to normal yet. Give it time, we'll take it slow but I promise you we'll get you back out there as soon as we can." the trainer slapped him on the shoulder and got off the ice and walked passed me. Nolan seemed to just notice I was sitting there and skated up to the boards in front of me.
  "Weren't you and Ava going to go out there too?" he asked leaning against the boards and grabbing a water bottle.
  "Yeah, I'm not sure where she went. She said she was going to get us some skates and then never came back. You looked good out there though." I tried for reassuring but his face crumpled into sadness.
  "I was hoping the treatment would have worked better. 30 minutes and no contact and my migraine is back again." he hung his head slightly and I could see how much it was tearing him up to not be able to do what he loved.
  "I'm sorry Nolan, I can see how much you want to be out there." we talked for a little bit longer before an out of breath Ava suddenly burst out of the hallway.
  "I'm..sorry..had..go..home." she puffed, holding up 2 pairs of skates. I busted out laughing to the point I almost fell backwards off the bench.
  "You wanted to get me out there so bad you drove all the way home to get the skates instead of just putting it off til another day." I shook my head and grabbed a pair of skates from her. "You're crazy, but for that I guess I will embarass myself for you and get on the ice."
  "You don't skate?" Nolan asked looking over as I slipped on my skates and tied them.
  "Not much anymore. I used to."
  "She was better than TK, if you wanna have something to hold over his head later." Ava giggled, giving me a wink.
  "I mean, I don't really need more ammo to chirp him with, but I will take what I can get." Nolan smiled at me as he walked by to go change in the locker room.
  "You guys looked cozy." Ava teased as I slowly stepped onto the ice holding on tightly to the boards.
  "We were just talking, since you left me stranded." I glared at her playfully.
  "Pssh, you loved that I left you here so you could watch him."
  "I enjoyed watching him, you can tell hes good. I feel bad for him though, you can tell he really hates not being with the team." she nodded slowly as she skated next to me as I stuck to the wall.
  "He does, but he makes sure to come watch every home game and its amazing watching him actually watch a game on tv or whatever you can tell he's learning so much just by watching. I can't wait to see him back on his game." I stopped skating and grabbed my phone from my back pocket because I felt it vibrate. I smiled. It was a text from Tyson.
                   Josty: did you get the job? do i have to confine myself to my bedroom for a week?
                                                                           Me: i did get the job :) but you can't confine yourself to your                                                                                    bedroom the avs play flyers this weekend and you are                                                                                        gonna have to come see me
                   Josty: what am i gonna do without you telling me my schedule im gonna be so lost
                                                                           Me: miss you too Josty. ill see you this weekend.
                   Josty: :*
Ava skated up behind me and read the texts over my shoulder.
  "Are you sure you guys are better off as besties? You guys would make the cutest couple. I've always thought so." I shook my head and smiled then took a deep breath.
  "Ok, lets try and get off the wall. I'm going to try and skate to the net." my face set with determination, I pushed myself off the wall and...
                                                                                                                   fell on my ass.