That's Hockey Baby

CH. 4: "How you gonna laugh at me Patrick?"

 I heard Ava cackling behind me and when I turned to glare at her, my eyes go wide when I see Nolan standing at the edge of the ice, walking toward us slowly.
  "You ok?" he asked when he reaches me, I nod and bury my head in my hands groaning in embarassment. He reaches down to help me up and I glare towards Ava who is still laughing. I look up to see Nolan trying to supress a smile and pretend to be offended.
  "How you gonna laugh at me Patrick?" his cheeks grow red before finally his face breaks out into the most adorable smile I'd ever seen.
  "I at least waited until I knew you were okay, unlike some people." he said playfully pushing Ava's shoulder as he wrapped his arm around my waist and helped me to the bench. I would gladly fall 100 times to get to be this close to him again. When we get to the bench Travis is walking out of the hallway looking confused as to why Nolan's arm is around my waist helping me to the bench.
  "What happened, you okay Jaz?" he asked, concern taking place of the earlier confusion.
  "Yeah, just lost my footing and fell."
  "But you're okay? How hard did you land?" he pushed his way in between me and Nolan and looked me over to make sure I wasn't bleeding anywhere.
  "My back hurts a little, I landed on my ass. I'm fine. Hot shower and some pain meds and I'll be fine by morning." I smiled brightly. He bent down to untie my skates and slid them off, before helping my up and walking me to the car.
  "Did I do something wrong? He seemed real pissed at me." I heard Nolan whisper to Ava as they slowly followed behind us to the car.
  "He's real protective of her. Not your fault, just how he is." she patted him on the shoulder as    Travis helped me into the car and Ava slid in after me, Nolan climbing into the front with Travis.   They drove me home and when we pulled up I was sad to see my mom's car missing from the driveway, I was hurting more than I wanted to admit and I really didn't want to be alone. I climbed out and tried to put on a brave face as I walked slowly to the front door and typed in the code. Travis, Ava and Nolan followed close behind and I waved them toward to living room as I walked into the kitchen to find some pain medicine. I was getting frustrated and tears were pooling in my eyes as I checked every drawer and couldn't find any medicine to take. I slammed the last drawer shut in frustration and leaned my head down on the counter. I stiffend slightly when a hand lightly touched my arm. I looked up to see Nolan looking so concerned it made my heart melt.
  "What can I do?" he asked, his voice low. I shook my head and wiped the tears from my face with the back of my hand.
  "I just can't seem to find where she puts her pain meds, I'll just text her and find out. I think Travis has my phone can you go get it for me." he nodded and left the room long enough for me to stop crying and get my head on straight. I called my mom who picked up on the 4th ring and sounded out of breath.
  "Hey honey, I'm kind of busy what do ya need?"
  "Uhm, I was looking for some pain meds, kinda got a headache after being in the arena lights too long." I lie.
  "Oh, I'm not sure I have any. Burt might have taken the last one. Also, honey I'm sorry but I'm going to be stuck here late again, the rush is just crazy this time of the year." I nod, knowing she can't see me. I tell her it's fine and hang up the phone.
  "She doesn't have anything." I say sadly before slowly walking back towards the living room.
  "Hey, my mom is kind of out of pain meds so I think I'm just going to try the bath and then lay down. Thank you guys for today, I'll see you at the rink tomorrow." They all looked at each other before Ava asked the question.
  "We can chill til your mom gets home. You really shouldn't be alone like that." she said coming over to me to help me up the stairs.
  "She said she has to work late, I don't know when she'll be home and they have an early practice." I nodded towards the boys as I slowly took the stairs one at a time with Ava helping.
  "Then we'll just stay over," Travis piped in before grabbing Nolan by his shirt and pulling him towards the door. "We're also going to get you some pain meds. Enjoy your bath, Ava take care of her." he said as he shut the door before I could protest. I sighed and looked at Ava with a small grin.
  "Still so bossy." she laughs and helps me to the guest room bathroom with the garden tub.
Ava turned the water on for me and got it as hot as I could stand before pouring in half a bag of Epsom Salts and some bubbles. She then looked at me as if to ask me if I needed help undressing.
  "Prolly just the shirt." I answered before she could even ask and she helped me out of my shirt and walked towards the door.
  "Yell if you need anything, I'll just chill on your bed til you're done." she waved as she closed the door behind her, not all the way though, so she could hear me if I yelled. I smiled. I had missed my friends so much, I don't know how I managed to stay away from them for so long. I had plenty of friends in Colorado, but the only one who ever even came close to my friendship with the Konecny's was Tyson. He had been there for me in some of the roughest patches over the last few years, he was the only one besides Travis that knew about the 'incident' that had kept me off the ice for so many years. I sighed and sunk lower into the tub, wincing a little as the movement pulled a little on the sore spot. When I finally got comfortable in the tub, I turned on my music low and closed my eyes.
 I'm not sure how long I had fallen asleep for but I woke up to Travis gently knocking on the bathroom door saying they were back and had some medicine for me when I was ready to get out. I yelled thank you and that I would be out in a minute. I struggled quietly trying to get out of the tub myself. Wincing and groaning the whole way before I finally stood on the tile floor and smiled a little to myself in victory before grabbing a towel and wrapping it around myself. I expected it to be only Ava in my room when I walked in wrapped in a towel to grab clothes, but to my surprise it was Nolan. Both of our cheeks suddenly burned bright red.
  "Uh..sorry. Ava went to get you some water and asked if I'd wait here so I could get her if you needed help out of the tub." he studdered, which was adorable by the way, and turned to walk out of the room.
  "It's okay, Nolan." you smiled at his shyness. "I'm covered anyway. Can you help me out though. My clothes are in the bag on the floor and I can't bend down to pick it up." he nodded and without facing me, picked the bag off the floor and placed it on the bed before walking out quickly. I chuckled to myself and grabbed some shorts and a tank top when Ava walked back in.
  "Why was Nolan so red?" she giggled. I shrugged and we both laughed a little as she helped me into my shorts and then walked out so I could put the tank top on myself. Once I was dressed I walked slowly to the hallway where Ava was waiting to help me down the stairs.