21 Guys, 1 Girl

Today was the day of our first game. I woke up at nine, and I felt a lot better than I thought I would. I didn't really feel nervous at all, I was mostly just excited to start what I hoped and thought was going to be an incredible season.
I spent most of the day watching movies with Connie and just trying to not think about the game. I knew that I needed to be really calm and relaxed for the game tonight. 
At 4:15, I got all my things ready and told Connie I'd see her later. She promised she'd come to the game to cheer me on. As I drove to the rink, I just kept getting more and more excited. I went over just about every single play we had done in practice in my head and hoped that Eli wouldn't pick today to stop passing to me again. 
When I got to the rink, I was about five minutes early. I got dressed as fast as I could and went to the locker room. As fate would have it, the only people in the locker room were Eli, Nash, and Coach Valairy. 
It was pretty tense in the room but Coach V seemed oblivious to it. He looked up when I came in and said, "You look well rested." I nodded lightly and gave him a small smile. 
I looked at Eli and Nash and it was like their opinions of me had switched. Eli gave me a shy smile and Nash glared at me like I was the devil. I have to say, I think I prefer it this way. I was now open to the fact that I would much rather have Eli's affection than Nash's.
"You can just have a seat until everybody gets here." Coach said, then he walked off in the direction of his office. 
With Coach gone the tension doubled. Nash looked at me distastefully and mumbled something about going to the bathroom before quickly exiting the room. I looked over at Eli and saw that he was still smiling at me. 
"Did you find out about Alicia?" he asked quietly. 
"Yeah." 
"That's really great." he said. He was speaking kind of uninterestedly, but I could see in his eyes that he was barely containing his excitement. 
"Not for Nash." I said giggling a little.
Eli's eyes still held a look of pure joy and excitement but his smile dropped when he said, "You better play like this is the most important game of your career, Patlack. Losing the first game of the season is unacceptable on this team." 
"No worries, Captain." I said sarcastically. "I play like that every game. I just hope you can keep up with me." 
He looked like he was going to say something back to me, but he stopped when the rest of the guys came through the door.
I sat out in the hall while the guys got dressed, and came back in when Coach came out to get me. Everything that happened in the next 30 minutes went by in blur. Coach talked about remembering our plays and working together, but nothing he said really registered with me, and the next thing I knew I was sitting on the bench in between Eli and Sam. There was about four minutes until puck drop and my heart wouldn't stop pounding. 
The first game of the season was always one of my favorites. I always firmly believed it was one of the most important games to win, because starting out strong is essential to me. I always try to start out playing my hardest no matter what. And now playing as the only female in NCAA men's hockey it was even more vital to me.
The four minutes seemed like four seconds and coach told my line to get on the ice. Eli stood in the face-off circle and put on a look of intimidation.
The player I was standing next to was about three inches taller than me and he was probably 40 pounds heavier. He nudged me a little with his shoulder. "Being a chick, you'll fit in with the rest of the pussies on your team perfectly." He sneered. 
"Shitface." I muttered before giving him a firm shove with my shoulder. He shoved me back a little harder and then the ref dropped the puck. Eli won it easily and Matt got it on his stick and passed it to Sam who carried it up into the zone. The first period flew by with nothing substantial happening. Although I did check just about every opposing player that came within three feet of me.
In the locker room Coach said a few words about keeping possession of the puck and watching the offsides and then we were back on the bench ready for the second period. 
About ten minutes in, my line was on the ice and I was in their zone, facing the boards, trying to get the puck. There was a player next to me who was shoving his stick in with mine to try to get the puck away from me when suddenly I felt someone's arm between my shoulder blades. It shoved me into the boards harder than I'd ever been hit before. I wanted desperately to keep my composure but there was an intense pain shooting through my collar bone and I couldn't stop myself from collapsing onto the ice. The ref blew his whistle and I stood up slowly turning toward the bench. When I turned around, my mouth flew open. I had thought the whistle had been blown due to my evident injury but it was actually blown because Eli was holding an opposing player's jersey with a death grip and beating him ruthlessly.  The player seemed delirious from one too many punches to the head but Eli appeared to be holding him up to keep hitting him. I was too stunned to skate anywhere let alone the 30 feet to the bench so I just watched stupidly as Eli fought. It quickly registered with me that this must be the guy who had hit me. The refs pulled Eli away a moment later and told him to calm down and to get to the penalty box. 
When they said this, Eli looked furious. "What the fuck?" he shouted. He gestured to the man he'd been fighting, who was being helped by a teammate to his bench, and then to me before saying, "That was the most blatant boarding I've ever seen! She could barely stand up! Are you fucking blind?"
The refs just started leading him to the box. He shrugged them off violently and skated there by himself. 
I then quickly skated to the bench where I was led down to the locker room by our trainer. I was protesting, I wanted to stay on the bench. The initial pain I felt when I'd been hit was fading and I knew there was nothing wrong with me. He insisted I come down so he could take a look though and said if I was okay, I would be able to come back in the third period. 
After the second period ended and the guys filed into the locker room there were mixed looks of happiness and anger. Half of the guys came up and asked me if I was okay, which I was and the other half told me Eli had scored almost ten seconds after he was out of the box. They said he had come out, slammed his stick onto the ice repeatedly demanding the puck, and charged through four players to the goalie where he shot the puck right over his glove. They all kept saying it was a highlight goal and slapping Eli on the back. We were now leading 1-0 going into the third period.
Our trainer had done a quick check of my collar bone to make sure nothing was broken, and after a thorough inspection he deemed me well enough to return for the third period. 
The third period passed by quickly with no more scoring and we all came onto the ice to celebrate and congratulate Nash on his shut out. 
Everyone on the team came up to me and gave me a hug or a high five and a grin and I couldn't help but feel that I was a little more accepted by the team now. I felt more like I belonged. 

After I had gotten dressed, I left the locker room to meet up with Connie. She ran up to me and gave me a hug. "God, you scared the shit out of me when you got hit! And that was a bullshit call. That bastard boarded you and none of the fucking refs even noticed! That should have been a game misconduct! But you should've seen Eli when he came out of the box, he was like a man possessed. None of the players could even touch him."
"Well he's not captain for nothing I guess." 
"Yeah that's for sure." 
When we got home Connie said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you, I'm going out in about 10 minutes with this guy I met at the game. I gotta go get ready." She ran into her room and came out a few minutes later in a mini skirt and a sparkly tank top. "I'll catch ya later." She said walking towards the door, but when she reached it, she turned around and jogged back to me and gave me a quick hug. "You were awesome." 
I smiled and said thanks and she went to the door again this time actually leaving. 
I went to the coach and plopped down on it. I closed my eyes slowly and felt myself start to fall asleep, but then I was rudely interrupted by someone knocking loudly on the door.
I groaned quietly and sat up. I walked slowly to the door and pulled it open. 
Eli was standing there scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "Umm, hey." he said giving me a quick smile. "I just wanted to.. make sure you were all right and everything."
I looked up at him and said, "I'm good, but I appreciate you coming here to check on me." I reached my hand up and brushed my hair back. When I did I could feel the small tank top I was wearing come up a bit exposing a sliver of my stomach. Eli's eyes flashed down to see my stomach then brought his eyes back up to mine shown me a look of lust and affection. He stepped inside and grasped my hips possessively, using his thumbs to push my shirt up and stroke my sides.
"I came because I wanted to touch you." he whispered. Then he brought his head down next to my ear and said, "I want to feel you." he muttered. Then he pushed his lips roughly against mine and kicked the door shut behind him. He lead me backwards to the couch and pushed me down on it. Before he laid down on top of me he quickly pulled my shirt off.
Eli started kissing and nipping at my neck making his way down to my chest. He stopped at my breasts and kissed and sucked each of them through my bra. He moved further down kissing my stomach. When he kissed just above the pair of jeans I was wearing he came back up and kissed my lips sucking on my bottom lip. His hands then moved down and he started to unbutton my pants. 
When he started to pull my pants down, I got a bit nervous. I really didn't know that he wanted more than sex from me. I was never a one-night stand kind of girl and I didn't want to be. Even for Eli. I knew he liked me, but I had no idea what the extent of his feelings were. 
"Eli?" I said quietly. He grunted against my neck but continued kissing me. "Eli?" I said I little more firmly.
"What?" he asked quickly moving back up to my mouth. I pushed him gently and said "Eli stop."
He pulled back a little and said, "What?" This time a little more frustrated. He was looking at me hungrily. "I-" 
He started to kiss my neck again and I moaned quietly. He mumbled, "I know you don't really want me to stop, so what's wrong?"
I pushed him away again. "I just want to know if this," I said gesturing between us. "is all that's going to happen." I said quietly. 
"I really fucking hope not." Eli said brushing some of my hair behind my ear. "I've waited a long time for Nash to get his hands off you, and now that he has, I'm not letting you go. I really.. I really care about you. More than any other girl I've ever met, and I really want this," he gestured between us like I had. "to be something more."
I smiled shyly. "Me too." 
He grinned and pulled my face toward his to kiss me again.

A few hours later, I lay my head on Eli's chest. He was sleeping peacefully. I realized this was the first time I knew exactly how he felt about me, and it felt incredible. Knowing Eli cared about me like I cared about him was the greatest feeling in the world. 
I didn't know where our relationship would go or how the team would do this season. But what I did know, was that I was happy and hopeful, and I had this feeling that what I had with Eli was real and that it's going to last. And knowing that is enough for right now.