Billet

The next morning, it was my mother who woke me up.

“Morning, Tier.” She spoke as I rubbed my eyes, shaking the slumber from them.
“Mornin’,” I mumbled.
“Your dad and I are just heading off to work. He said he’ll drive me since Easton needs to get to training camp somehow. Is there any way you could give him a lift?”
I sat up in my bed before responding, “What time does he need to be there?”
“I’m pretty sure it’s 10:30, but you’ll have to check with him.” She replied. “I’m really sorry to throw this on you, but it’s his first day and I don’t want him to have to try and find his way by himself. Plus I can’t take off work today. You know I tried that already,” My mother rambled.
“Honestly,” I spoke, “It’s fine.” Feeling more awake now, I continued, “Have a good day at work.”
She nodded and gave me a smile, “Thanks again, Tierney.” I just shrugged as she exited the room.

I reached over onto my nightstand and grabbed my cell phone. It was only 9:00, but I figured I should get up solely out of the worry of oversleeping. Making Easton late for his first day of training camp wasn’t something I wanted to do.

Stepping out of my bed, I put on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt before making my way downstairs. I brushed my hand through my hair as I thought of options for breakfast. In deciding that I was pretty hungry I thought eggs would be a good idea.

I was just finishing cooking the eggs when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I turned around, after making sure the eggs were still fine, to see Easton walk into the kitchen. I could tell he’d just woken up; his hair was sticking up and the sleep was still noticeable in his eyes.

“Morning,” He mumbled, only furthering my assumption. “Where are your parents?”
I took the eggs off the frying pan and turned off the oven before replying, “They both had to head to work. So I’ll drive you to camp this morning.” He nodded, “My mom thought it was 10:30, is that right?”
“Yeah, but it would probably be better for me to get there a little closer to 10:15 if that isn’t a problem.”
I waved my hand in a no big deal fashion. “Do you know what time you’ll be done at?”
“I’m pretty sure noon. But I can always see if I can get a ride back from someone else so I don’t completely screw up your day or anything.” He spoke genuinely.
“It’s no problem. I’ll probably just go to one of the other ice pads and skate a bit myself,” I replied as I finished making up the breakfast. I figured he’d want some too, so I made more than enough, “What would you like to drink?”
Easton was now sitting at the breakfast bar, “Uh, orange juice would be good, if you have any. Thanks.”

I poured the drinks and made two trips over to the breakfast bar to bring everything over before I sat down on the stool beside him.

Easton downed his food quickly and I finished shortly after. He headed up stairs to get himself and his equipment ready as I cleaned up the kitchen, after turning down his offer to help. After washing off the dirty dishes and putting them into the dishwasher, I headed upstairs myself. I put on a dry fit t-shirt and a pair of shorts, making sure to grab my team’s jacket and pants since I was going to be in a rink after all. I quickly pulled my hair back into a ponytail and added just a tinge of makeup to my face before leaving my room. I walked over to Easton’s room and leaned on the door frame, as the door was open. He was standing over his bed, looking into his hockey bag which was seated in front of him.

“Are you almost ready? We should be leaving in about five.” I asked.
He jumped a bit, not realizing I was there previously before turning around and replying, “Yeah, I’m about ready; just doubling checking to make sure I’ve got everything here.”
“Kay, just come on downstairs once you’re set.” Easton nodded, acknowledging that he heard me.

I went back downstairs and grabbed my keys off the counter. I was just slipping on my shoes when Easton made his way down. He too, put on his shoes and we were both headed to the car a few moments later. I popped the trunk and moved my skates –which were often kept in the car in case of spontaneous trips to the rink- over to the side as to make room for Easton’s bag. He voiced his appreciation as I closed the trunk and hopped into the driver’s seat with him being shotgun.

We got to the rink at about ten after ten. I made sure Easton knew where he was going before we split off and I headed to one of the other ice pads.

When other events were going on in the rink –such as training camp today- the other rinks were always open but often empty. They management knew all of us regulars well and never minded if we went onto the ice on days like this.

I walked down the stairs to the ice pad and made my way to bench to get ready. I pulled on my team clothes as I felt the chill from the ice, and then put each skate on.

Right to left.
Always right to left.

As soon as I stepped onto the ice I felt like I was flying. Being here always did it to me, especially days like today when I had the ice to myself. I let my blades sink into the ice before pushing myself, slowly at first before gaining speed. I whipped around the surface; gliding nearly effortlessly. As I approached a corner, I decided to spin around and start going backwards. My pace slowed as I reached into my pocket and pulled out my iPod. I stuffed my ear buds into my ears and pressed play. I soon got caught up in the music and the ice and the time went rushing by.

I stopped as I rounded the corner nearest to the zamboni entrance, throwing snow in front of me. Despite the blasting music coming from my iPod I thought I heard a noise. Looking up, I saw Easton with another person in toe, making their way down towards the bench. I made my way over to the bench and came to a quick stop in front of it.

“Hey Tierney, this is Levi. He’s one of the guys I met at rookie camp.” I nodded, “I kinda got lost trying to find this rink so he helped me get here.” Easton let out a nervous laugh while rubbing the back of his neck.
I glanced over at the clock, seeing it was 12:20 already. “Shit, sorry. I didn’t realize how late it was, otherwise I would’ve been waiting out in the concourse for you.” I said to Easton. Turning to what was likely his future teammate, I said, “Nice to meet you.” I stuck out my hand and he shook it. “Anyways, I’ll get these off,” I nodded down to my skates, “And we can head out of here, unless you have some other plans for the day, Easton.”
“Naah, that sounds fine with me.” He spoke.
“Yeah, and I have to get out of here anyways. I’ll see you guys around!” Levi spoke, before turning and headed back up to the concourse.
We both voiced our goodbyes before I sat myself on the bench to get my skates off.
“So,” I began, “I don’t know about you but I’m kind of hungry,” I laughed, “Want to go out and get something for lunch?”
He nodded, “I was just thinking the same thing.”

I switched my skates for sandals and peeled off my team clothes, revealing an outfit appropriate for the weather outside. We walked together out into the concourse and eventually outside. We were approaching the car when I broke the comfortable silence, “Anywhere in particular you want to go?”
Easton shrugged. “I don’t really know what’s around here yet.” There was a pause before he continued, “How about sushi?”
My eyes lit up, “I love sushi and there’s a great place a few minutes away from here!”
“Awesome.” He smiled.

Lunch went well. As always, the sushi was great and it gave Easton and I more time to get to know each other. I learned about his family life: the fact that he’s close with both his direct family and extended and how he has a seven year old sister named Brooklyn. I attempted to pay for both of our lunches, especially since I was the one who suggested we go out to start with and the pay for junior hockey wasn’t great, but Easton stepped in. Claiming that he needed to make up for me driving him around for the first while he was here (his parents would be bringing his car down in a few weeks) he paid for both of our meals. Afterwards, we headed home and split off into our separate rooms.

The evening was a fairly normal one in my household. We ate dinner at around 5:30 and watched a little bit of television together before going along with our own business. We planned to have a campfire at 9:30. When it was nearing that time, I switched out of my current clothes and put on a pair of jeans and a light sweater. Despite the warm afternoons as of late, the evenings were chilly.

I made my way into the backyard, seeing that my father already had the fire started. It wasn’t much yet, just a small flame burning its way through some papers and small pieces of wood in the fire pit. The larger pieces of wood were set to the side until they would be needed. My mother was sitting in one of the chairs around the fire, sorting out all of the food that was brought outside. It was the typical fireside treats: hotdogs, chips, all the ingredients for the perfect smore as well as a few sugary beverages. I sat in the chair to the right of my mom, leaving the one between my father and I vacant for Easton. He made his way down only a few moments after.

Bonfires were a tradition at our household. Since I can remember, I’ve always spent a vast majority of my summer nights sitting in front of the fire. This time around, it was a small group of us (only my parents, Easton and myself) but often times there’d be more. My extended family would often be invited as well as my parent’s friends and some of my own. Tonight, we thought it would be better for it to be just us and not throw Easton into that kind of situation when he just moved in.

As expected, it was a little chilly outside, but with the warmth of the heavier clothes I put on and the heat radiating from the fire it was perfect. My mother asked everyone what they wanted as a drink and I was eager to grab a Sprite while Easton took a Rootbeer and both of my parents had a Pepsi. We passed around the bags of chips and quickly distributed the sticks to roast food on. Passing over the hotdogs, I grabbed a marshmallow and roasted it to what I deemed perfect before pairing it with chocolate and graham crackers. I spent the next few minutes making another smore for myself while everyone else made their hotdogs. We sat around the fire for a couple hours. Some of that was spent making and eating food but the majority was talking; sharing anecdotes and such.

The slick calmness of the night was perfect. We all took as much of it in as possible as we knew what was coming. Soon, with school starting up as well as hockey nights like this would slowly dwindle.

That was just one of the minor sacrifices we made for the game we loved.