Off Ice.

Chapter Twenty-One.

Finn

It's going to be pretty hard to get me down from this high.

I don't really understand how everything with Avery feels like it's long awaited yet like it all happened so fast. I guess since Christmas was only a little over a week ago and we weren't even close to making up, I feel like it happened quickly. But who am I kidding? This has been in the works since I saw her at that Kings game in early November. And it's not like it hasn't been brewing in me since literally the day we broke up.

Our time together here is coming to an end, though. She can't just stay in San Jose for weeks, if she could we really wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. She has a life back in LA and responsibilities. I never want to hold her back from that.

I'm on the ice for warmups at the game we have against the Kings right now as I stand by the center blue line at center ice with a puck cradled in my stick. I do this every game, just getting my hands warmed up by practicing some stick handling. It's probably one of the strongest assets I have and now that I'm sort of known for it, I really try to perfect it.

I'm not surprised when I see Casey skate over from his side and stand next to me, a puck on his stick as well. "Hey, lover boy."

I laugh lightly as I look over at him, shaking my head as I glance up in the direction of the box Grace and Avery are in. "Hey, buddy."

"You're chipper," he observes, glancing over at me before looking back down at his puck. I chuckle again and raise my shoulders just to bring them back down. "Kind of hard not to be."

Casey is about to respond when someone else on his team skates over to him and interrupts us. "We're going over plays, Kally."

I don't bother to look and see who it is but I catch a glimpse of them out of the corner of my eye. Nate.

I act without thinking and look over at him, not even bothering to give him any kind of polite greeting. It's not like he's doing it either, though. Casey nods once, "I'll be over in a minute."

I'm getting a very hostile vibe from Fossi, which is a bit of a new development because he's always been nice towards me. I mean, I have some negative feelings for him because he's been hitting on my girl, but I don't think he knows that she's with me.

He gives me one last glare before he turns away and skates back deeper into their end, which makes me scoff. "What's up with him?"

"He saw my post of you and Avery last night," Case says honestly, which makes a satisfied smirk come to my lips. I know it seems trivial but it makes me just the tiniest bit happy.

Suck on that, Fossi.

"But they never had a thing, eh? Like an actual thing - so why are his panties in a twist?" I question. Sure, I probably wouldn't love the guy that was with the girl I was crushing on, but I'm not sure I'd really take it out on him.

"I don't know, Nate's just a bit.. overzealous," he sighs. I glance over at Fossi, but only briefly so that it doesn't seem like I am. He's still glaring me down, though. "He was telling me that he really liked her and when I told him to pull the reins in a bit, he got defensive. I tried telling him that she was in a complicated situation but I never said it was with you.. So he wasn't too pleased today when he confronted me about the video."

"Yikes, that's awkward," I laugh. You know what would be really fun? Throwing a couple of hits on him during the game - just to rough him up a bit. Let him know that he really needs to back off Avery before he starts to get himself in too deep.

"Get that look off your face, you shitbird."

I turn back to Casey with my brows furrowed. He just gives me a dead stare as he warns, "Don't go after him, Finny. It's not worth it."