Page 104 of Rise Above

TALON

Sweat poured down my face, making its way into

my eyes. The last two periods had been tough. The Otters were playing rougher than I thought they were capable of; they were playing to win.

So far, I had only scored one goal. In a move

completely unlike myself, I had dedicated my goal to Aife. I was never one for public displays, not even with Melody, especially not with Melody. For some reason, I wanted to publicly stake my claim on Aife. Despite what we had told my family, there was obviously a spark there. I knew I liked her, a lot. Love… maybe I could admit that to myself.

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The buzzer sounded, pulling me from my thoughts.

The Otters were up by one, and we needed to win this game to even have a chance in the playoffs. All my focus went to the puck. The second it dropped to the ice, I was battling for it. Chris quickly did a crossover pass to me, and I flew down the rink toward the goal. Winding my arm back, I aimed for the upper right corner. The puck hit the back of the net as the crowd roared. Smiling, I held up two fingers as I skated by Aife. Her face flamed red as she shyly waved at me.

One more goal, and we would win this game. The

next seventeen minutes were tense. Sweat continued to coat my face and hair. I could feel the bruises forming on my ribs from being slammed into the boards so often. None of that mattered though. We had roughly two minutes left to score.

Jumping over the boards, I took over from my

fourth shift guy. The puck came flying my way, and I took off toward the goal. Chris jumped over the boards, and I angled a pass to him. He reeled back for a massive slapshot that narrowly got through the goalie’s gloves. With a holler, I skated over to my captain, slamming him into the boards. Shortly after, I felt my teammates hit my back as well. We had won!

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Cheers erupted in the locker room as we stripped

and showered. Several teammates slapped my back, congratulating me for a successful return. Once I no longer smelled like the inside of a gym bag, I put on my dark green suit.

Chris approached me, rolling up the sleeves of his

button down. “Great game, Walker.”

“Thanks, man. Couldn’t have done it without you.”

I offered him a rare smile.

“So, Aife?”

Shit. They were already starting with the questions.

I didn’t know how to define our relationship. We were so much more than friends, but there was nothing sexual about it. Did I think Aife was insanely attractive? Yes, but I didn’t act on those feelings. What if she didn’t feel the same? I was fairly confident that all she wanted was friendship.

“What about her?” I carefully packed my gear into

my locker before standing.

“You pretty clearly dedicated your goals to her. She

a WAG now?” Chris asked, pulling on his jacket.

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