21 Guys, 1 Girl

The next few practices before our first game went by fairly uneventfully. It was relatively normal, as in before Eli's violent outburst. He just watched Nash and me a lot and gave us an occasional glare when Nash would brush my hair out of my face or give me a quick kiss on the cheek.
I often wondered how Nash could be so oblivious to Eli's hatred of our relationship while it seemed incredibly noticeable to me. After a couple more practices though I began to realize that Nash did notice Eli, he was just avoiding the situation. He would see Eli looking at me while I would sit at the bench fixing my skates and come over to me and gently stroke my face and neck and say really sweet things to me like how beautiful I look even though I knew for sure that my hair was sticking to my face with sweat and my face was pink and flushed from skating. After a while I noticed that he seemed to be doing all these things only when in the presence of our captain. We didn't talk much outside of practice, but at practice he acted as though we'd been dating for weeks. It made me question if he really liked me, or if he was just doing it to have something that his captain appeared to want more than anything.
I was walking into the locker room after our final practice before the first game of the season because Coach had asked me to come in so he could say a few words. I was beyond excited for the game. I could barely contain myself. I bounced a little too happily into the locker room carrying my things and sat down on a chair that was by the door.
"Wonderful," Coach said when he saw me, clapping his hands together. "now I can get started. As you all should know, our very first game of the season is tomorrow at 5:30. I just wanted to say a few words that you can all think about overnight. It's nice to see you all have started working as more of team. On our first day of practice, I'm not going to hesitate in saying, you were all awful. The lack of teamwork was astounding and with the way you were acting I don't think we could have won a single game. But I've seen incredible promise in the last few weeks, and I think with the way you've been playing there's a slight chance that we could win this. And I know that all of you want this win more than anything and you'll do whatever it takes to get it. I believe there's enough talent in this room to win, but you all have to work together to utilize each and every individual player's talent. So all of you, go home, get a good night's rest, and come back tomorrow ready to kick some ass."
While that speech was fantastic, everyone knew that no one was going to do as he suggested and go right home to get a good night's rest. Most of the guys were going out together to a bar close to campus. And the rest were going out with other friends to relax and let loose before the game. I myself had plans to go out dancing with Connie.
I was already set to leave and so were most of the guys. I stood up and turned towards the door.
"Hey, Anna wait!" Nash called. I turned back around and made my way to where he was standing. Nash hadn't really done anything flirtatious today so I wondered what he was going to do now. I had an idea that this was more for Eli's benefit than my own because before Nash kissed me gently on the lips his eyes darted to Warrenville who was standing a few feet to Nash's left.
"See ya tomorrow." Nash said, turning back to his bag. I looked over at Eli quickly to check his reaction. What I saw was the most furious look I had ever seen on anyone. I didn't understand what it was about this kiss that made him so upset. But then his eyes caught mine and he gave me this sad look, like he felt sorry for me and he wanted to help. I had no idea what had prompted this look, and I wasn't exactly sure I wanted to know so I just walked out of the locker room with as much dignity as I could muster.

After I got home and had recounted this story to Connie, thinking she would know exactly why it had happened, she said, "Eli probably thinks you're going to get hurt. I mean I'm sure he knows Nash a little better than you do. Maybe he's had trouble with girls before."
I pondered this for a moment. I knew that they had been on the team together for three years so I was sure Eli knew some things about Nash that I didn't, but to be perfectly honest Eli doesn't seem like the kind of guy to really get involved with a teammate's girlfriend because he thinks she'll get hurt. But then again, Eli had shown me twice now that he liked me a little more than I thought he did, so maybe he really was worried I would get my heart broken by a seemingly kind-hearted goaltender.
"You know what?" Connie said suddenly.
"What?" I asked.
"You need to stop worrying about your countless man problems and relax before your game. This stress is not helping you contemplate the trajectory of your slapshot. But you know what will? Some dancing." And with that Connie dragged me out of our apartment and tossed me into her car. But as Connie turned the radio on and sang happily along to a pop song I'd never heard, I couldn't help but feel like something bad was going to happen tonight.

When we got to one of Connie's favorite clubs I was a little hesitant to get out of the car. But then Connie turned to me, grinned and said, "Ready to get your dance on?" and my fears were momentarily forgotten. Until I got inside anyway.
The club had a long line, but Connie walked right to the front like she owned the place pulling me behind her. I didn't understand what she was doing. Sneaking into clubs underage already made me a little uncomfortable, but Connie was practically begging for people to stare at her and speculate on her age. However, when she got to the front of the line and said 'Hey Dennis!' to the big scary looking bouncer, I understood that he must have let Connie into this club before on countless occasions. He stamped our hands quickly and gestured for us to go in, grinning at Connie and turning around to stare at her ass as she walked away.
The club had music blaring and it was packed with people. Connie turned to me and said something that I couldn't make out before she pulled me over to a table a pushed me down into a chair. She walked toward the bar and I hoped she would get me something strong so I could let my hair down a little. I'd been so tense the last couple weeks with practices this is the first time I've really had a night to just hang with Connie and get a little drunk.
While Connie was away, I glanced around the dance floor at all the people grinding up against each other. There were more people dancing than I could even count, but of course I had to see the two people that would make me feel like a disgusting shitface.
On the dance floor I saw Nash dancing with a beautiful petite girl with long blond hair. When I first saw them I felt terrible seeing them because by the way they were dancing, more intimately and gentle than the other gyrating pervs, I could instantly tell that she was his girlfriend. I'm not sure how I knew this exactly, because he could just as well have been trying to be a gentleman and weasel his way into her pants. But there was just something about the way he touched her that told me they were a couple, and that they had probably just started going out. They had that new romance look about them. I felt dirty, like I desperately needed a shower.
And then suddenly I realized why Eli had given me that look today. He probably knew Nash had just started dating this girl and he thought that Nash would lay off of me, but he did just the opposite. I understood the furious look he gave Nash and I felt like, despite the way they'd acted when I'd first met them, the real gentleman was the man who'd tried to kick the crap out of someone who was leading two girls on at the same time.
All of a sudden I desperately needed Connie's advice, and I wanted to get the fuck out of there. Thankfully Connie showed up a second later. She was taking a sip of a martini and she put something that was a violent shade of purple in front of me. "The bartender said this'll help you forget things and just enjoy yourself."
At that moment the idea of forgetting what I'd just seen was indescribably appealing so I picked up the drink and swallowed as much of it as I could.
"Holy shit! Are you okay? What's the matter?"
I didn't say anything, I just pointed shakily to where Nash and his gorgeous girlfriend were dancing. Connie took one look at them and said a little too loudly, "That fucking assface! He's dating a girl and fucking with you every day at practice to annoy Eli!" Connie chugged the rest of her martini and mumble something that sounded like, "This is unacceptable." Then she stood up and made her way over to Nash. When she did this, my heart just about burst open with happiness. There's something about seeing someone sticking up for you in a horrible situation that just gives you this amazing feeling.
Connie walked straight up to Nash and pushed him slightly, then she turned to the girl and talked to her for a moment before she turned and pointed at me. The girl looked like she was listening intently. After a minute or two Connie appeared to have finished her speech and she started to walk back to where I was sitting. The girl turned to Nash said something I couldn't hear and slapped him across the face. Then she came over to our table slowly. She looked a little hesitant.
"I'm Alicia." She said looking at me. "Nash asked me out a couple of days ago. I've known him for a few years and he always seemed like a nice guy. If I had known what he was doing...I would have slapped him a lot sooner."
I smiled and said, "I'm just glad you're not upset. I thought I was like, getting mixed up in a wonderful relationship. I can't even tell you how horrible I felt."
"Don't worry about it. I'm actually really glad I found out about this early in instead of after we'd been dating for like a year. You know?"
I nodded and Alicia said, "I think I'm gonna go now." The conversation had turned suddenly awkward because I didn't know her and she didn't know me and there was clearly nothing else that we needed to say to each other. I waved and said, "See ya." And she walked off in the direction of the bar.
"Connie, I think I want to go back home now."
She looked at me sympathetically and said, "Well fuck. How are you supposed to contemplate the trajectory of your slapshot after that?"