Notbroken

“Hey hey Miss. Buffalo Sabre!” My dad called as I strode down the stairs into our living room. I was the last to wake up so everyone else was already sitting in the room with cereal bowls watching the local morning news.

“Gooooood morning fellow Jenos!” I yelled as I entered the kitchen, I was awake and ready to go, even though it was only 10 am.

“Jesus someone’s awake…” I heard Junior mumble from the couch.

I shook my head while snatching a bowl and flipping on the my iPod speaker I kept in the kitchen. The Victorious theme song started playing, That show was my guilty pleasure, Lex and I would watch it before every game. I began singing along with it as I poured my cereal and milk while my family had all got up and headed into the kitchen to watch me.

“Nice moves and voice weird-o,” Dom said as he scooted past me to shut off the speakers. The music abruptly stopped, I quit dancing and stared at Dom with my evil stare.

“My song wasn’t over.”

“It’s over now,” He chuckled and walked away while my parents started cleaning dishes. I sat down on the counter and devoured my cereal. It was 10:30 by the time I finished so I figured I’d go hang out with the boys for a few hours.

**Bobby Ryan's POV **

“What the fuck?” I heard Getzlaf shout from the player lounge across the hallway, “Silver get your ass over here now!” I ran over to see him staring at the TV watching the NHL network, then I saw what he was yelling about.

Shauna. She was on the screen at the HSBC Arena gleaming up at the fans. The camera then cut to the fans that had started a chant, “Prove them wrong, Prove them wrong.”

“Wh-Wh-Wh,” I couldn’t get words out I just stared at the TV, What was going on? I thought she quit.

Truthfully I didn’t want her to quit, I hated what the Penguins were doing but because they were in the hierarchy of the NHL there was nothing I could do. I wanted to help her so bad, She didn’t deserve that, She spilled her heart to me and I tore it into pieces.

“Dude you had better call her or something.” With that Getzlaf got up and left, leaving me looking at the one girl who seemed to get me that I had broken.

*****

**Jon and Pat’s POV **

“TAZER! COME HERE! IT’S SHAUNA!!!” I heard Pat yelling from our living room. If our neighbors didn’t hear that they must be deaf.

“What?!” I ran into the room and looked at Pat smiling towards the TV, he pointed to the screen and I sat next to him. The geico commerical stopped and the screen went the into of the NHL network, the Buffalo Sabres logo and Flyers logo’s showed up to recap their game last night but it started with their new owner standing in the middle of the ice.

“And it is my pleasure to introduce to you, the newest addition to hockey heaven, Shauna Jeno!” The owner boosted through the microphone and Shauna walked towards him in a Sabres jersey.
Pat and I turned towards each other and smiled, We knew she’d come back, No matter what those fuck-head Penguins did. It was still hard to believe Sidney and the Anaheim asshole did to her, The whole league was up in arms about it, Shay deserved to be in the league and those douche bags tried taking it from her.

She looked so happy and yet you could see the fire in her eyes, it was actually a bit scary and out of the corner of my eye I saw Pat tense up.

“She’s ready.” I nodded to Pat while he spoke. She was always ready but now she had a reason. “Think we should call her? She’s playing tonight right?”

I pulled out my phone, We had tried calling and texting her so many times, it was almost like she cut everyone from hockey out of her life.

“Yeah I’m calling now… What times it in Buffalo? 11 am-ish? We’ll find out.”

****

“Dom fuck you! That’s my guy! Don’t kill him!” I shouted as Dom shot my guy on the stupid PS2 game. Junior then rolled off the couch from laughing before I felt my phone vibrate. I paused the game, which earned yelps from the boys, ‘Unknown Caller,’ the screen read and I guessed it was Lex so I picked up… wrong.

“SHAY! BOOM-BOOM!” I heard Jon yell followed by, “SHAAAUUNAA!” from Pat, God had I missed them.

I laughed and left the room, the bros didn’t need to hear this conversation, “Hi boys!”

“You finally picked up, after all these months.” My smile turned to a frown, I shouldn’t of ignore everyone, they didn’t do anything bad to me.

“I’m sorry, I just… I needed a break from the hockey world.” I heard Pat let out a sigh as he took over the phone.

“We understand Shauna… But now you’re back!”

“That I am! I just hope I see the ice once.”

I heard a scuffle, probably a phone change from Pat back to Jon, “Shauna, This league can be yours if you play like we know you can.”

I smiled and we small talked for another half hour about me playing at UB, the all-star game they invited me to go with them to, and the new divide in the league because of me and Sidney. I smiled at the last one when they told me who all were on my side, Guys I never played against or with were on my side.

The boys said their goodbyes and wished me luck in my game which I thanked them for. Jon also said he’d be sending me plane tickets tomorrow for Raleigh, He didn’t want me paying for anything, kind of like that asshole Bobby. Jon wasn’t Bobby and never would be, He would never do anything to hurt me, him or Patrick.

I set the phone down and headed into the bathroom. The guys told me not to bother dressing up as much as they did, as in don’t wear a dress, because the media would eat me alive. I was ready to face the media though, unlike before, the hiatus had taught me something about football media that I was sure would carry over to hockey, they only hate you if you either suck or hate them. Not saying I was the biggest fan of media, because some times they were ridiculous to my brothers but I knew it was there job and now it was my job to produce in Buffalo.

My outfit decision finish out to be black skinny jeans, black short Uggs, a white v-neck t-shirt and a cashmere-wool jacket. I pulled my hair back into a straight ponytail and put on a small bit of blush, there was no need to put make-up on when my team had already seen me sweating like a man at the few practices I went to.

It was 11:40 by the time I got downstairs and finished my yogurt, I would be having pasta at the rink with Kaleta once I arrived but I was still dying of hunger. My family and now Danielle were all waiting around the kitchen table for me to say something, obviously a goodbye but all I did was smile and say thank you as I strode out the door, I already gave them and Lex their box seat tickets yesterday.

Out the door, Into the car, and driving down to HSBC I was, The Goo Goo Dolls blasted on my radio until it changed to ‘No Love’ by Lil Wayne. I’m not that big of a fan of rap but that song, at that point pumped me up beyond belief. The chorus started blaring as I was pulling into HSBC and I began singing along as I parked the car next to whom I’d later realize was Jason Pominville’s.

Bitch you get no love
You showed me nothing but hate
You ran me into the ground
But what comes around goes around
I don't need you don't hurt me
You don't hurt me no more
That's right, and I don't need you, don't want to see you
You get no love
Bitch you get no love
And I don't need you
Get em

I turned off the car and headed into the rink, wrapping my arms around my body to keep the heat inside. The only negative about Buffalo was that our winters were winters. It didn’t matter how long you lived here you could never get used to the snow. I wondered how the visiting Carolina Hurricane players would like this weather, maybe it’d throw them off their game a bit.

“Shauna! Leggo! It’s pasta time!” Pat yelled as I sat down on in my stall and began prying off my Uggs.

“Let me change real quick?” He nodded, I smiled, pulled off my jacket and grabbed my gym bag full of pre-game clothing. I found Pominville, Roy and Vanek all in the bathroom talking, which was werid but I still gave them all fist pumps before heading further into the bathroom stalls. As I realized when I was getting dressed I was going to look extremely jock-ish with my under-armor tank, sports bra, shorts, nike shoes and spandex shorts but I guess it didn’t matter. The 3 all gave me head nods again with winks when I walked past which I shook my head at, I found Pat back in the actual locker room on my PSP I had left out. That thing, the PSP, got me through everything boring, as in car, plane, bus rides for the UB team.

“Pat…It’s food time.” I smiled and pulled the PSP out of his hands as he looked up at me with his puppy-dog eyes, “Don’t give me that, you were hungry 5 seconds ago!”

Before I could step back Pat had swung me over his shoulder and was running through the rink. I laughed along with him as the employees gave us weird looks and we entered the elevator that would bring us to the players dinning room/restaurants. He set me down as the doors opened and I stepped in before he could, I frantically pressed the door close button but Pat wasn’t stupid and just shook his head while laughing at my failed attempt.

The doors closed and I moved closer to Pat, He embraced me into a bear hug as the we went up and then the doors open to our destination. “Lead the way my fair lady!” he said as he led me out of the elevator.
I grabbed a hold of his hand and we walked into the kitchen area. The cooks must have been notified by Pat because our plates were waiting for us with tall glasses of blue liquid. We went and sat down in the dinning area that was empty. We stayed there for 2 hours small talking, eating and chirping at each other before heading back to our locker room.

Out of all of my new teammates I had a feeling Pat would always be my favorite. He had took me under his wing from the first practice, teaching me the one thing I never had been taught, How to fight. Pat never hit me or anything obviously but showed exactly what to do, from then on we became inseparable. He reminded me so much of Junior and Dom, I guess that’s why we got along so much, I could take his chirps.

Pre-game came and went, I kicked a soccer ball around with Roy, Miller, Timmy C, Staffy, jammed to Areosmith with Pat and eventually went off on my own to walk around the area. Little did I know a Carolina Hurricane and his girlfriend were near by. I had rounded most of the arena, luckily for me the ground was all matted so I could walk around with my skates. It was near the visitor’s locker room I heard my self step on concrete so I stopped to feel the blade.

“Shit…” I said to myself as I felt a nick in the blade.

“Shauna?” The voice was quiet and familiar but it wasn’t one of my Sabres. I shook my head, figuring it was my imagination and began walking back towards my locker room when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked at it realizing it was red and turned around to see Jeff Skinner half-smiling at me.

“Jeff!”

“Shauna… I’m sorry.” He whispered into my ear as he pulled me into a warm hug. He dropped his gloves and wrapped his hands around mine. “You didn’t deserve that, I was worried about you.”

I smiled and let my hands fall from his, He didn’t need to be saying any of this, it wasn’t him that did it. “I’m fine, I’ll be fine, I’ll get my revenge, Don’t worry about me.” I heard a snicker come from behind us and I turned to see one of the Staal brothers staring at us.

“Jeff, Let’s go no fraternizing with the enemy.” He said giving me a stone cold look. I glared back at him, giving Jeff’s hand one last reassuring squeeze before he headed to Staal.

“See you on the ice Jeff.” I said with a smirk as I turned my heel and continued back to my locker room.

The locker room was silent when I walked in, Everyone’s heads were down and I mimicked them as I took my seat. You could feel something in the air, I had no idea what it was because it felt different then tension but then Coach came in breaking the silence.

“Alright…Boys, girls, Let’s GO.” Coach said as he tapped goose as we all stood up. The boys all began jumping up and down and huddling in the center around the Sabre logo. Pominville pulled me into the circle and Vanek began giving us a speech. I couldn’t catch most of it except for ‘Fuck’ and ‘Kick some ass’ but I knew it had pumped up the team.

The minute the puck had dropped we had already won the game, Carolina had no idea what hit them. We owned the first three minutes controlling the puck in their zone and at least 5 shots off. Our forwards were dangling everyone and the defense’s passing was crisp. Miller had yet to see a shot until Coach tapped me on the shoulder telling me to step on the ice as Tyler Ennis came for a change. I looked back and him, made eye contact with Kaleta and Ty-My before jumping over the boards into my first NHL game.

I watched as the puck exited their zone on the other side of the ice and headed into our defensive zone. My wingers, Gaustad and Gerbe, were back checking as hard a possible but I was still 3 strides ahead of them so I forced my way across ice to the Hurricane carrying the puck. Mike Weber was D on that side and attempted to block the Hurricane but it didn’t work, The Hurricane banked the puck off the boards around Mike but I got to it before him. I looked over my shoulder to see another Hurricane coming in fairly quick, I had one second to make a play so I sent the puck behind the net around to the other side. The Hurricane player didn’t stop though and plowed me into the boards. My legs gave out and I feel on the ice with him landing on top of me, I looked over at the play on the opposite boards as he got up, Then I caught his face in my vision and saw him smirk and send me a wink. I shook my head and got up skating close enough by the crease that Miller tapped me with his stick as I went by. Gerbe eventually won the puck on the boards and sent it up the ice.

I found an open lane as I sprinted up the ice to get the puck. I grabbed it but was head to head with a Hurricanes defense, I looked up from the puck into the opposing players eyes and raised my eye-brows as if to say ‘want the puck? Come get it.’ He feel for it and tried to poke check me and take my body but I avoided it by ducking underneath his check sending him in the air as I skated into another one on one above the left face-off circle.

The new dense man didn’t respect my speed so I easily blew by him towards the net. The goalie came out to challenge but yet again didn’t think I had the quickness to pull right and shoot left but he was proven wrong. The buzzer went off and HSBC exploded with cheers as Gerbe latched onto my hips and Gaustad came crashing into us.

“Fuck yeah Shauna!” Nate and Goose both yelled as two more set of arms pushed us into the boards. I felt gloves onto off my helmet and I looked up to see smoke coming out of the jumbotron. Cheers erupted again as we skated over to the bench and gave fist pumps to all the guys. Kaleta pulled me into a hug only we separated by the boards and we both laughed at it’s awkward feel.

The rest of the game was nail-biting, every time we scored they scored. I was on the ice only twice with Staal and nothing came of it but when he saw Jeff and I smiling after a whistle he flipped out on Jeff. My team and I all watched as Jeff was getting tore up one side and down the other by Staal and we were all laughing. I felt bad for Jeff but I could see in his eyes he wasn’t taking what the asshole was saying to heart.

We ended up winning the game 3-2 thanks to Cody McCormick. Not only had Cody scored the game winner but he also had gotten in a fight with one of the Hurricanes that decided calling me a ‘whore,’ was a nice name. At first it was me and the Hurricane player, Troy Bodie, pushing each other and then Cody came in and pushed me away. Kaleta then joined in and pulled me back to the bench but also had to deal with my temper going off.

“Let me fucking at him Pat, He called me a whore, the bitch doesn’t even know me!” I screamed as I tried to get out of his strong arms.

He chuckled before opening the door to the bench and pushing me in, “Take a seat spitfire.” The guys all laughed as I sat down in a huff and gave them all pissed off looks. “Let Cody handle it rookie,” Ty-My said as he sat down on the defense man side of me.

Cody handled it all right by knocking the Troy out. I blew Cody a kiss as he sat in the penalty box across the rink and he returned it by shooting a thumbs up and toothy grin towards me.

The game ended and we headed into the locker room, The boys all gave me high fives and hugs and we got ready to hear coach talk. Coach yet again had nothing much to say but good win and to keep going, the only thing different than the other game was that he flipped me the game puck. I smiled up at him and to my teammates before shoving it into my coat pocket.

I got un-changed and sat in my stall in just a sports bra and spandex shorts waiting for the guys to all be done showering when I heard a knock at the main door. It was me, Cody, Marc-Andre, Miller, and Steve Mantador all sitting around, They all seemed to be doing something so I figured I’d get the door.

As I opened it I saw his sweaty, matted down brown hair and I immediately pushed through the door, shutting it so that no one could see I was talking to him. Some of my teammates weren’t very happy with him after the game.

“Hi.” I said as I pulled him into a hug.

“Nice goal” He said as he wrapped his arms around my waist, It was then I remembered Miranda.

“Miranda, Jeff, Don’t hug me like this.” I said as I pulled away and looked into his eyes. It was the look he gave me that broke my heart, He looked so sad, Like a puppy that had just been yelled at.

“She left me…” He said and looked back down at his feet. I pulled him back into a hug and told him we needed to talk, there was something behind his voice.

“Let me change real quick and we can go to Mighty Taco or something.” He nodded and told me to meet him by the players exit.

I changed relatively quickly back into my black skinny jean outfit and headed out. Coach had took mercy on me and hadn’t scheduled me for any media things till after all star break so I was free to leave. I said goodbye to all the guys and thanked Cody with a hug. The next time I’d see my boys would be Saturday morning at the airport.

“Jeff” I called as I saw him leaning against the wall. He smiled and I led him over to my car, hopefully he had told his team I’d drive him back to the hotel.

We made it to a Mighty Taco around 12 and went through the drive-thru. I had no desire to go inside and have to face a few fans right now, I wanted to know what was wrong with Jeff.

“Put your taco down and talk Skinner.” I said as I set down my LoganBerry shake.

“I..uh… Miranda left me once I was drafted to Carolina.” His smiled faded and he looked out the front window, “She said distance wouldn’t work for her.”

“Aw, Jeff, I’m sorry, You don’t deserve that.” I pulled him into a hug and kissed his forehead, How could anyone break his heart.

“It’s okay…I think…I have hockey now so I don’t need to think about her.”

“Be honest, when you saw me did I bring back her?” I felt so bad, the poor kid.

“No, you brought back you.” He turned to me and frowned, I knew what he meant, I was his first love and he’d never forget me I just wished I could feel the same for him.

We sat in silence for 5 minutes, I had nothing to say back but I could feel each minute felt like another knife to Jeff’s heart.

“I’m sorry…” I whispered as I turned on the car.

“Don’t be, I had my shot at you and blew it.” He smiled back at me, grabbed my hand and gave it a light reassuring squeeze.

“What hotel?”

“The Mansion on Delaware Ave.”

We small talked for the rest of the 45 minute ride until we reached the hotel. I dropped him off and kissed him goodbye. We’d be seeing each other at the All-Star weekend he said after I told him I’d be going with Kaner and Tazer.

I got home around 2am and collapsed as soon as I hit my bed. I struggled to get off all my clothes but eventually did and feel into a deep sleep. Everything that night was perfect even the whole Jeff thing ended up fine, things were looking way up from where they were a few months ago.