Break Myself

Marty rubbed his hands over his face as he walked into the United Center. Why was he doing this again? Why was he going to watch a game just to agonize over the fact that he was most likely going to be out for the entire season? Oh, right, his teammates.

He made his way to one of the family boxes. John McDonough, the Blackhawks president, had told him that Marty would have the box to himself so that people wouldn’t be bothering him the entire time about his injury.

He made his way up to the box, and he stepped inside, noticing someone sitting in the front, looking down at the ice. He walked back outside the box, checking to make sure he was in the right one. When he had verified it, he walked back in.

At that moment, the girl turned around, startled. She gave a quick scream, holding her hand over her heart. “My God!” she exclaimed. “Give me a heart attack, why don’t you?”

“Sorry,” Marty apologized.

“What are you doing in here?” the petite brunette suddenly asked.

“Oh, they told me that I was supposed to have a box to myself,” Marty replied.

“This is supposed to be your box?” the girl asked. “They told me that it’d be mine for the night. Sorry, let me just get out of your way,” she said, grabbing her bag that was sitting in front of her.

“No, stay, please,” Marty said kindly.

The girl looked up at him. “If you’re sure,” she told him.

“Yeah,” Marty said with a nod of his head, and the girl sat back down and looked back at the ice. “Oh, by the way, I’m Marty Havlat,” he told her, sitting down next to her.

The girl laughed a little. “I know,” she smiled. “I mean, I am a fan of the Blackhawks, I should know one of their star players. And, I’m Natalia,” she said, holding her hand out for him to shake, which he immediately took. “So, I heard you injured your shoulder. What exactly happened?” she asked him.

Marty looked over at her, trying to decide whether he wanted to tell her or not. As if knowing his silent debate with himself, Natalia looked over at him. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I’m fine with just knowing that it’s a shoulder injury,” she told him.

“No, it’s fine,” Marty said, making up his mind. “Um, I dislocated my shoulder.”

“Ooh, those hurt!” Natalia exclaimed. “I had one about a year ago, and it hurt like a bitch!”

Marty began laughing at her, and she looked over at him. “What?” she asked. “It does!”

“I know,” Marty told her.

“How bad is it?” she asked him.

“I need surgery,” he confessed, as he just stared out at the ice as his teammates went out for the pre-game skate. He didn’t know why, but for some reason he felt he could trust Natalia, and she wouldn’t tell everyone in the world about him needing surgery.

“I’m sorry,” she said, not knowing what else to say. Marty stayed silent, just staring out at the ice. After a few moments of silence, Natalia looked over at him. “So, are you a person who likes others around you to stay quiet during a game, or do you like it when everyone else really gets into a game?” she asked him.

“Um, I don’t really know. I’m usually out on the ice and not up in a box,” he told her.

“Well, what about when you were injured before? You were up here then, right?” she asked him, as everyone lined up on the ice, ready for the National Anthem to be sung.

“No,” he said quickly before they both went silent for the singing.

After it was finished, Natalia looked over at him. “What do you mean no?” she questioned. “Where were you when you were injured before?”

“I never came to the games,” he admitted.

“What’s different about this time?” she asked.

“My teammates asked me to come,” he said, shrugging his shoulders as they dropped the puck.

“Well, if you don’t care either way, then I think I’m going to be myself and scream at everything. Let me know if I get on your nerves, and I’ll try to tone it down,” Natalia told him with a smile.

Marty looked over at her. How bad could she possibly be? He soon found out when two minutes into the period, Brian Campbell gave the puck away, and Natalia started screaming at the top of her lungs at him. Marty looked at her, and he couldn’t help but start laughing.

“Sorry,” Natalia immediately apologized. “I’ll try to stop,” she said.

“No, no, it’s fine,” Marty said quickly. “It’s just, do you do this every game?”

“Every game I’m here, why?” she asked, not taking her eyes off of the ice. “Get back in net, Khabibulin!” she yelled, and Marty started laughing even harder, shaking his head at Natalia.

“Don’t make fun of me,” Natalia said, trying to sound offended.

“Sorry,” Marty apologized in between laughs. “I’m just surprised that I’ve never heard you when I’m down on the ice. I mean if you scream that loud, I would have swore that I would be able to hear you over everyone else in this place.”

“Ha ha,” Natalia said sarcastically.

During the first intermission, Marty decided to try to get to know Natalia a little bit better. “So,” he began. “What do you do for a living?” Marty asked.

Just as Natalia opened her mouth to answer, they heard a loud bang coming from right outside the door. Marty looked over at Natalia, and he saw her demeanor instantly change. He didn’t know what exactly had happened, but he knew that Natalia wasn’t her normal self.

Marty was about to go outside to see what was going on when someone came running into the room. “Sorry,” the young man said. “I dropped some stuff out there. I didn’t mean to scare the two of you.”

“It’s fine,” Marty said, and the young man left. Marty turned around to look at Natalia, who looked frazzled. “Natalia, are you okay?” he asked.

“I…I got to go,” she stammered out, frantically looking around for her bag. She finally found it and grabbed it, running out the door.

“Wait!” Marty yelled, wanting to make sure she was okay. He ran after her, but she just started sprinting, trying to get away. Marty slowed down, assuming she wanted to be left alone, and he watched as she ran down the stairs.