21 Guys, 1 Girl

When I woke up in the morning, the last thing I wanted to do was go to practice. I was beyond nervous about how the guys would treat me even after what Valairy said. I couldn't help but feel anxious as I got dressed in the girls bathroom. When I finished dressing and lacing my skates up, I made my way to the ice. 
The guys were already stretching. I stepped carefully out onto the ice with them and stayed as far away from everybody as possible. I tried not to make eye contact with any of the guys, but when we started to do our drills, I met Nash's eyes and he smiled so widely I couldn't stop myself from smiling back. He looked so genuinely happy to see me that I felt more comfortable skating with the team. 
But then I looked to the left and my eyes met Eli's. He glared at me instantly, then nodded to Sam who was skating next to me. 
Sam suddenly reached his stick out to try and trip me, but I skated around it and moved away from him. When we started to go through some plays, I was on the first line with Captain Spectacular and Matt. For the play, Eli was supposed to pass to me the puck, but instead he passed in the other direction to Matt who shot at Nash, who gloved the puck easily. 
"What play were you doing because for the play everyone else was doing, you were supposed to pass this way?" I said to Eli gesturing to myself. 
"I'll pass to whoever the fuck I want. I'm the captain of this team. I know you expect everyone to kiss your ass 'cause your some amazing player, but you won't get any of that shit from me."
"I never asked for anything like that, just a pass every once in a while would be nice." I yelled back at him. 
"Patlack, Warrenville! Get over here now." We both skated slowly towards Valairy and stopped directly in front of him. 
"I don't know what you two have against each other, but whatever it is, you better get over it fast. You two are both great players, but if you cant work together on this line, you'll both be healthy scratches for game one. Now get out of here, and don't come back tomorrow unless you're best friends, and can play together like a team." 
I and I stepped off the ice. I went straight to the girl's bathroom. I'd left my clothes in there, but my bag was still in the locker room. I took my time getting dressed hoping that Eli would be gone by the time I went in there. Unfortunately, when I walked into the locker room, Eli was sitting on the bench rubbing his short brown hair with a towel. He was wearing a pair of black basketball shorts and a red T-shirt. That was clinging to his still damp body, accentuating his muscles. 
When the door closed behind me, Eli's snapped up. I avoided his eyes and practically jogged over to my bag. I threw my things into it and was about to leave when I felt Eli's hand on my shoulder. 
He spun me around and I'm not proud to admit this, but I was scared. He was glaring at me and he hadn't spoken since I'd come in the room. He pushed me back into the wall of the locker room and moved closer to me until his body was almost touching mine. His hands held my arms tightly and his face was only inches from mine. I honestly had no idea what was happening. Maybe he was going to hit me, or tell me to stay away from his team. But what he actually did, I never could have expected. He put his fingers under my chin and tilted my head up so our eyes could meet. 
Something in his eyes was different. They'd softened somehow and then he leaned forward and just barely pressed his lips to mine. I didn't know what was happening and I couldn't move. I just stood there and let Eli kiss me. Eli; someone who I was sure hated me. Or I guess I thought I was sure. After a few seconds he must have realized that I wasn't fighting this because he moved his hands to my waist and pressed his body into mine. He kissed me with more desire and need and I could feel myself becoming breathless. He started stroking my hips and he brought his hands around to my ass, then he pulled me in even closer to him. He groaned loudly and moved his hands up to my back back and under my shirt. His hands were hot and I couldn't help but moan into his mouth. 
He suddenly pulled his lips away from mine and moved them to my neck. He kissed down my neck ferociously as if he couldn't control himself. 
I was enjoying this more than I could even begin to explain, but then I realized that this was Eli and I said, "What the hell are we doing?" 
"Please don't make me stop." Eli said in between kisses. He brought his hands around to my stomach and moved them up so they were dangerously close to my breasts. 
Then suddenly we heard voices outside the locker room. Eli pulled away from me faster than he skates on a breakaway. He walked as quickly as he could without actually running to the other side of the room. 
Before the guys got too close, Eli turned towards me and growled, "Don't say anything about this to anyone."
His voice sounded angry, like what just happened was my fault, but his voice didn't match his eyes which still had a softness in them. 
As the guys all poured in, I grabbed my bag and was about to leave when I was stopped again, this time by Nash. He grabbed my hand. "Hey." he said quietly. "Are you okay?" 
"Yeah, I'm fine." I said giving his hand a squeeze. "I'll see you tomorrow." I tried to pull away and leave, but Nash had a firm grip on my hand. He pulled me towards him and pressed his lips gently to my cheek. 
As Nash kissed me goodbye, I couldn't stop myself from glancing over at Eli, although the second I saw him, I wished I hadn't. He was staring at me and Nash with the angriest look on his face I'd ever seen on anyone. 
The second Nash pulled away, I said a quick goodbye and headed towards door.

When I got home, Connie was was taking some advil and holding her head. 
"A little too much drinking last night, huh?" I said loudly. 
"God, do you always talk this loudly or are you just trying to be mean to me?" 
"Umm, the second one." I said innocently. 
"Oh, Anna, did you just get back from practice? How did it go? What went down with Nash, and did Captain Jealous do anything to conform how right I am?" Connie asked quickly. 
"Oh, he did something alright." I muttered. 
"Oh my god, what happened?" Connie said while gesturing for me to follow her into the living room where we both plopped down on the couch. 
"Well practice was going pretty...normal. As in no one really spoke to me or looked at me. Well except for Nash. He smiled at me while we were warming up.
"And as for Captain Jealous," I said sarcastically. "well, he looked like he wanted to kill me. And then we were practicing a play and I was on a line with Eli. He was supposed to pass to me, but he didn't, so I tried to talk to him about it. Then he said he wasn't gonna kiss my ass like I wanted everyone to and he could pass to whoever he wanted because he's the captain."
"That's moronic." Connie interjected. 
 "That's not even the most moronic part. So after that happens, coach gets pissed and he tells us to leave, so I go to get dressed in the bathroom, and when I'm finished I go to the locker room and of course, Eli's still in there. So I go in and I try to be quick, you know, grab my bag and get out as fast as I can. But Eli comes up to me, pushes me against the wall and he kisses me." I finished quickly. 
I looked at Connie and her mouth was hanging open. 
"He kissed you." She shouted. 
"Yeah, and then we heard the guys coming and before they came in he told me not to mention the kiss to anyone. Oh and then Nash missed me on the cheek and Eli looked he was going to kill us both." 
"Oh my god. That was a really eventful practice." Connie said still looking a little shaken up. 
"Eventful! That's the understatement of the year." 
"Well," Connie said starting to look smug. "Maybe next time you'll listen to me when I tell you something about a man." 
"Yeah, I should, you know a hell of a lot more about men than I do." 
"That's for sure." Connie said, and I pushed her shoulder playfully. 
"Don't brag." I said. 
"So what are you gonna do about this? Eli's into you, that's for sure. But what about Nash?" Connie asked. 
"I have no idea. That's why you're my friend. You know stuff about guys. I don't. You're supposed to help me and tell me what to do." 
"I can't tell you who to like, Anna." Connie said quietly. "I'm going out with this guy I met at the party yesterday. I'll he back in a few hours probably. You just relax sweetie and when I get home we can talk some more about this." Connie stood up, gave me a hug, grabbed her purse, and left.
When I heard the door close, I lay down on the couch and closed my eyes. Maybe if I took a nap, I'd wake up and everything would be make sense.