Break Myself

Natalia sat in the skybox, waiting on the game to start. She looked at the clock to see there was still forty-five minutes until the guys came out for their pre-game skate. She sighed to herself, wondering why she had gotten there so early. She was excited to see Marty’s first game back after his injury, but at the same time, she was nervous for him. What happened if something happened during the game? Everyone knew that he had just recovered from shoulder surgery, and what happened if they used that to their advantage?

She shook her head, trying to get the thought out of her head. She heard her cell phone beep, indicating she had just received a text, and she quickly opened it to see who it was from. As soon as she saw it was Marty, she hit the button to read the text. Stop worrying. I’m going to be fine. was all it said, and Natalia smiled to herself at how well Marty knew her.

She turned her attention back to the clock, tapping her foot impatiently as she watched the seconds go by. As the time finally came for the guys to come out, Natalia found herself smiling as she watched Marty skate out, right behind Patrick Kane. She could hear the crowd yell loudly when he stepped onto the ice. She knew that the fans were happy to have him coming back after his injury, but she never expected them to react like this.

Her eyes stayed glued to Marty the entire time, checking to see if he showed any signs of pain. He kept telling her that he felt one hundred percent, but part of her didn’t believe him and thought he was just saying that so he could get back onto the ice faster. But, she had to keep telling herself that the doctors wouldn’t have cleared him to play if he wasn’t ready.

Fifteen minutes later, the boys were going back inside the tunnel, and Natalia sat back in her seat. She heard a noise behind her, and she quickly spun around to see Olivia and Summer walking through the door.

“Hey!” Natalia exclaimed, standing up and running over to them. “What are you guys doing here?” she asked. “Not that I don’t want you here. I just figured you’d still be in the locker room right now.”

“Oh, no, we’re usually in our seats right now, but we thought we’d come up here and keep you company, if that’s alright,” Olivia answered.

“Yeah, I’ll have to leave a little bit early so I can be back down in the locker room in time for interviews, but we were hoping to watch the game up here with you,” Summer told her.

“Why?” Natalia asked. “Like I said, I love having you guys up here, but you always sit down in the seats,” she told them.

“Um,” Olivia began, trailing off, and looking at Summer for some help.

“Well,” Summer tried.

“What is it guys?” Natalia asked, and then all of a sudden, a light bulb went off in her head, and she knew exactly why they were there with her. “Marty sent you, didn’t he?” she asked. Olivia and Summer remained quiet, and Natalia started laughing. “Guys, I’m not mad,” she told them, and they both let out a sigh of relief.

“Yeah, he sent us,” Olivia admitted. “But, he only did it because he said he didn’t want you to be up here by yourself during a game. He was going to have us bring you a ticket so you could come sit with us, but he knew you wouldn’t want to do that.”

“No, I wouldn’t,” Natalia admitted. “But, I like sitting up here. I’ve been doing it for a long time. But, that doesn’t mean that you have to come up here and sit with me like I’m some little kid,” she laughed.

“Oh, we’re not up here to do that. We wanted to be up here with you,” Summer assured her.

“If you say so,” Natalia said, walking back to her seat at the edge of the box, looking over at the ice.

“So, Marty said you’re freaking out a bit,” Summer told her. “Why?”

“Yeah, I am,” Natalia said. “And, I don’t really know why. I just have this feeling that something bad is going to happen tonight, and I have no idea what it is or why I have this feeling.”

“Nothing’s going to happen,” Olivia told her.

“You don’t know that,” Natalia countered. “And, I just keep thinking that maybe Marty went back to soon. Maybe he’s not ready to go back yet. I mean, what happens if he gets hit into the boards again and something goes wrong with his shoulder?”

“Nat,” Olivia began. “The doctors wouldn’t have let him come back if they didn’t think he was ready,” she said.

“I know,” Natalia sighed. “And, I keep telling myself that. But, I can’t shake this bad feeling.”

“Nothing’s going to happen,” Summer told her as the team once again came out onto the ice, ready to start the game. “Seriously, Natalia, you need to stop worrying before you give yourself an ulcer.”

“I’ll try,” Natalia told her as she stood for the start of the National Anthem. She still couldn’t get over the feeling that overcame her when she heard the anthem at the United Center. She had been to too many games to count, and yet, she still got chills when she heard the cheers and screams during the anthem.

“Calm down,” Olivia ordered, pulling on Natalia’s arm to get her to sit down.

“I’ll try,” Natalia promised as she watched Marty line up for the faceoff. Dave Bolland won the puck, and he passed it directly to Marty, who skated down the ice before passing it along to Andrew Ladd. They began what appeared to Natalia as a game of keep away before Marty blasted the puck towards the net, hitting the post.

“It appears his shoulder is just fine if he can shoot like that,” Summer observed.

“No kidding,” Olivia laughed. “That was a missile. See, his shoulder is just fine,” she said, looking over at Natalia who kept her focus on the game ahead of her.

“Yeah, well let’s just wait until he takes his first hit,” she muttered as Marty skated off the ice and jumped over the boards for a line change.

By the second intermission, Natalia seemed to have calmed down a bit. Marty had taken a few hits from the St. Louis Blues defensemen, and he had continued playing just fine.

Right off the faceoff, Dave Bolland passed the puck to Marty again. He pushed the puck to the net, but one of the Blues defensemen went down to block the shot. The puck bounced right back to Marty, though, and he shot the puck towards the net, with it going right over the goalie’s right shoulder. Marty’s four teammates immediately engulfed him in a group hug, as they celebrated the go-ahead goal.

Natalia jumped up out of her seat, screaming at the top of her lungs. Summer and Olivia both cheered along, hugging her. Natalia screamed one last time, and she swore Marty looked up at her, a smile on his face. She smiled back, even though she knew there was no way he was going to be able to see her in a skybox while he was on the ice.

Forty-five minutes later, Natalia and Olivia made their way down to the locker room after the Blackhawks won three against two. “I told you he’d be fine,” Olivia said, jokingly hitting her in the shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m pretty sure that’s not going to be the last time I hear that tonight,” Natalia told her, and Olivia laughed at her as the security guard let them in.

Olivia walked over to Jonathan’s stall, waiting on him to finish his interviews, as Natalia did the same for Marty. She watched as he finished his last interview, smiling as he walked over to Natalia. “Hey,” he smiled, giving her a kiss.

“Nice game tonight,” Natalia commented. “A goal and an assist in your first game back!”

“So, how much were you freaking out up in the box?” Marty asked, throwing things into his locker.

“Just a little bit,” Natalia smiled. “But, Summer and Olivia were up there with me, calming me down. I don’t know how they knew to come up there, but I’m glad they did. Do you have any idea why they decided to pick today’s game to start watching from a box?” she asked, tilting her head to one side.

“No idea,” Marty said, shaking his head. “You ready to go?”

“Yep,” she told him, turning around to Olivia. “I’ll see you later. Thanks for keeping me company today. Tell Summer the same thing for me, will you?”

“Sure,” Olivia said, waving goodbye as Marty and Natalia left.