Shooting Stars

“COREY!” I shouted towards him as he got off the bus. He smiled and I ran to give him a hug. He was expecting to pick me up at the house, but I instead went with Abby to the arena and met him there.
“Never following the plans, huh?” he asked. I shook my head as we hugged. He stepped back and led me to his car. He threw his stuff in the trunk and opened my door for me. From there we went and had a quiet dinner to celebrate his shut-out.
“You played amazingly tonight, Corey.”
“Thanks, Soph. How have you been feeling?” he asked in reference to my baby.
“Morning sickness doesn’t help, but that’s all.”
“I’m glad.” He smiled at me and was going to kiss me when the waiter came over. I was a little glad that the waiter came because I don’t know what I would’ve done had Corey actually kissed me. He is ten years older than me.
We ate dinner talking about the game and the team. Before long he was making me promise him that I would learn to play hockey just so he could kick my butt. I couldn’t turn down the challenge and so it was set for me to learn the next day.

“Sophie, you know better than to talk trash with my team,” Coach Q said as I showed up for my lesson on how to play hockey.
“This should be fun, Coach Q.”
“I wish you luck,” he replied with a laugh. I met up with Jon in the hallway that gave me some gear and told me how to put it on before he shoved me into the bathroom to put it all on. I did as told and walked awkwardly to the ice in the skates Jon had given me.
“About time you showed up, Soph. We didn’t think you would end up coming,”
“Now you all know me better than that. I don’t give up a challenge. Especially to Crawford over there.”
The team showed me the techniques to puck handling after I got used to the ice and than it was on. Two on two with separate goalies. I was against Corey. Jon and Sharpie were on my time while Bolland, Frolik and Johnson were against us.
“You want faceoff?” Jon asked. I nodded and went against Ryan Johnson. He was relatively new and I wanted to kick his ass.
“Alright, when the puck drops, it’s all stick,” Patrick Kane said. I just nodded and watched the puck. It dropped and I was a second faster than Johnson. I sailed it to Jon who broke away from Bolland and headed towards Corey. I skated to the left side of the ice right past the blue line and Jon passed it up to me since I was wide open. I took the chance and shot it past Corey who turned to look at the puck as it went in and than back at me. I shrugged and smiled as he gave me an evil look.
“Damn, Soph. No one on our team can make that shot on old Crawf over there,” Sharpie said. I smirked and we reset. Jon took this faceoff and lost it to Frolik. They took it down towards Turco, but as the puck was being passed from Johnson to Bolland, I stole it and broke away down the ice. It was one on one, me versus Corey, and I went top shelf without any faking. He went down as the puck went up and I won yet again!
“Too bad you’re with child, Soph. We’d recruit you on the spot otherwise,” Jon told me. I smiled knowing that I could out play Corey. We played once more and Johnson scored on Turco before the game was called.
“Don’t let me ever challenge you to a game of hockey again,” Corey said coming towards me. I stole his water bottle and drank from it.
“Sounds good,” I replied and went to sit on the bench. I caught my breath and than went to change again.