Breaking The Ice [bxb]

Chapter Four [Eli]

"I know I'm late."

Elliott just stares at me blankly. I rush past him around the counter and through the staff room door. Inside, I drop my backpack on the floor beneath the peg rail, where I leave my parka. The door opens as I walk over to the employees' lockers on the opposite wall.

Elliott clears his throat. "You're lucky your brother's your boss."

I look over my shoulder to see him crossed-armed, shoulder leaning against the door frame, watching as I open my locker to take out my uniform. I take off my sweater and reach for the black button-up.

"Hockey practice ran late."

I fumble with the buttons, with the hurry to get dressed quickly, and Elliott stays put and quiet until I have my silver bow-tie around the collar. I take my phone from my jeans' pocket and leave it inside the closed locker, along with my beanie. My brother follows me back out of the staff room to the bar.

"Hannah's been alone in the dining room since your shift started. I need you to go help her."

I nod wordlessly. 

It's not common for Coach Hansen to schedule two practices a day, and it definitely doesn't usually happen twice in the same week. And when we do have a morning practice before classes and another after school, Coach doesn't usually hold us past the scheduled time.

But I guess Owen got in his head.

Owen's been obsessed with this year's season. He seems to have convinced himself that this is the one that counts. And that the performance of the whole team will determine his success as a captain and, therefore, his value as a prospect student.

Basically, he's stressed. All the effort, time and dedication he's put into classes, hockey, work and getting into college, for the past three years, culminates into senior year. Of course he's stressed. And Owen only knows one way to deal with stress. Well, two. Hockey and stressing others.

So, he convinced Coach Hansen we need to start out strong this season. Go for the two-a-days and the long practices now. Make sure those new 'green players' get into the swing of things from the start. Which is fine. Unless it makes me late for work.

"Addison quit yesterday, so we have a lot of shifts to cover with extra hours until I find a replacement," Elliott tells me as I tie a black apron with The Lodge's tiny logo around my waist.

"I'll check my schedule," I say.

"Might wanna talk to Owen too. I know he had to quit this year to have time for his AP classes, but he might want the extra pay for a couple of hours," my brother suggests. 

"I'll talk to him."

Doubt he'll have the time, though. I don't think he even remembered to include time to sleep and eat in his schedule this year.

"You could talk to Dean too," Elliott adds.

"He's helping out his dad this year."

"How's that going?"

I shrug. "You said Hannah's alone in the dining room?"

Elliott leans against the bar counter, with a neutral expression. Clear grey eyes stare back at me, all too familiar. He looks a lot like our dad. Same brown-blonde hair, same hooded eyes, same sharp jawline covered in reddish stubble, same tall lean figure, same voice. He even has those same thin smiling lines around the contour of his eyes, although I think dad smiled more.

"Yeah," my brother says. "But it's not too busy."

I nod again and turn around to walk through the wide open double doorway that leads into the dining room.