Notbroken

Don’t worry ‘bout me and who I fire, I get what I desire it’s my empire
And yes I call the shots, I am the umpire.

‘Whaaaat the hell?’ I asked myself as my alarm went off and I pulled the covers off of me. It had been a week since my first game with the Sabres and things were going smoothly. We were up in Boston for the first time since I joined the team and I could only hope I wouldn’t run into any of my BC teammates.

In the past week we had gone to Long Island, lost to them, and came home to beat Montreal in over-time. I roomed with no one, seeing as though coach thought it was a bad idea, obviously he didn’t get the memo I was completely over hockey guys in that sense.

We had gotten into Boston around 1:30am on Thursday morning because some of the guys wanted to tour the city before our game, I on the other hand planned on staying in my hotel all day until I realized Tyler had actually made the Bruins and hadn’t been sent down to the OHL or AHL. I called Tyler and we settled on having a brunch together at one of the bayside cafes, somewhere thankfully far away from Chesnutt Hill and BC.

I packed only a pair of shorts, a pencil skirt, 2 v-necks, jeans and a pair of Old Navy flip flops seeing as though we were only there for a day but now I was feeling a bit un-easily about that decision. I didn’t really feel like I had to impress Tyler but I still didn’t like looking bad and in Boston everyone, especially at the ritzy cafes on the bay, everyone looked good. I really didn’t have much of a choice of what to wear so I went with my jeans, flip flops and a v-neck, I would need my skirt for the press conference after the game and such.

“Hi ya Shauna!” Tyler waved me over as I walked through the countless tables at the café. He stood up and pulled me into a hug before kissing the top of my head. I had called a cab seeing as though I wasn’t allowed to use the bus our team had from the hotel to the rink. The cab must have been an eye swore because everyone was staring at me, or maybe it was just Tyler they were looking at.

“Nice to see you too Seggy,” I replied as he pulled out my chair and we sat.

“So let’s cut to the chase shall we? What the hell happened with you and Pittsburgh?”

“Uhm, well they basically told me I was just a media point, They never wanted me on the team they just wanted the publicity.”

He gave me a smirk and shake of his head as the waitress came over. I ordered a simple Caesar salad and ice water while Tyler got chicken parmesan and a bottle of coke. The waitress nodded and winked at Tyler, who nodded in return, before she exited our table letting us get back to our conversation.

“That’s such shit, I would of cried or something then complained to the league. Weren’t other teams legitimately interested in you though?”

I nodded and explained to him that the other teams had said they’d take me 2nd round but none would go 1st round and that I did in-fact cry after the Penguins released me.

“Shauna never cries,” He winked and took a sip of his newly arrived coke, “I don’t get it, you’re far better than me.”

“Well Ty, you always were a bit slow,” I gave him a mischievous smirk and before he could reply the waitress arrived with our food.

For the next 10 minutes we sat in silence while we wolfed down our food. It was about 1 when we finished and Tyler needed to be back at his apartment by 2 because his parents were coming in for the game. We said our goodbyes and exchanged chirps towards the game tonight as I headed back to my car.

Against my better judgment I decided to have the cab cruise around Boston and visit BC. It took the cab about 10 minutes to drive through the whole campus until I reached the hockey office. I never did apologize to my coach before leaving, I just sent him an email saying the NHL is what I wanted to do, no other reasons.

As I enter the offices I saw him sitting in his glass cubical surrounded by BC jerseys and our NCAA trophy. I knocked on the glass and smiled as his eyes meet mine with the same fatherly look they always had. He was the reason I originally liked BC, He didn’t care that I was a girl, all he cared about was the fact that I could benefit his team. He waved me in and pulled up a chair on the opposite side of his desk for me.

“Hi coach,” I said as I shook his hand and sat down.

“Nice to see you Shauna, Hear you’re up here with the Sabres, Way to go!” His smile seemed so genuine unlike Mario Lemiuex.

“Thanks! Hopefully I can beat your B’s tonight.” I smiled towards him as he looked behind me at the secretary knocking on the glass and shooed her away. “Coach, honestly I came here to apologize. I left BC really without telling you any good reason…”

“Shauna I know why you left, The team didn’t accept you. I really wanted you on this team but I guess the boys didn’t, that’s why I’m so happy you’re in the NHL, you deserve it.”

I smiled and a tear started to form at the corner of my eye, It meant something coming from him that I deserved to be in the league.

“Thank you coach,” I smiled as we both stood up and shook hands again before I left for my hotel.

I feel asleep as soon as I got into my room, It was about 3 o’clock and didn’t have to be at the till 5 which was only 2 hours before game-time, just enough for me.

*****

“They fucking walked all fucking over you guys! If we ever play like this shit again I will just pull up the Portland Pirates, you guys looked like a fucking AHL team out there.” And with that coach walked out of our locker room. We had lost 4-2 to the Bruins but played even worse. It seemed like no bounce went our way and no one was skating full speed. Ryan was even pissed off at himself for letting in a somewhat weak goal.

The plane ride home was even worse, No one talked and coach made us all watch the game the whole way back. All we could hope was that we never had another game like this.