Billet

I slowly opened my eyes, but the pounding in my head caused me to close them once again. I was definitely hungover. I had only been hungover once previously (my friends decided to mix harder liquor into my drinks than I had known), but this felt worse. I lay in bed, piecing together the night before. From what I remembered, it seemed to be a pretty tame night and that I didn’t embarrass myself too much. But then it clicked. I kissed Easton. I shot up in bed, forgetting about my pounding head, until I was leaning over the side of bed throwing up. Thankfully, Easton must have put a bucket beside my bed once we got home. After I had emptied my stomach, I went back to lying in bed. I was definitely not as sober as I had thought last night. Sober Tierney would not have kissed Easton no matter what the situation was (although it wouldn’t get much worse than Chelsea). Even though Easton and I had made a truce in the cab, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of regret wash over me. Easton was likely living with us for the next 8 months, minimum. He could even be here for the next three years if he returned for an overage season.

“What did I get myself into?” I grumbled, with my face shoved into my pillow.

A few moments later, I heard a knock on my door.

I knew I must have looked like a mess, but at this point I didn’t care. “Come in,” my voiced sounded.
When the door opened, I saw a concerned looking Easton in my doorway. “It sounded like you were sick?”
I nodded, “I never drink that much. I’m so embarrassed.” I could feel my cheeks flush.
He walked over and sat down on the edge of my bed. “That’s partially, fuck, more than partially, my fault. I shouldn’t have made you do all those shots.”
I shook my head softly, “No, I shouldn’t just stopped. It’s all on me.”

An awkward silence filled the air as we avoided the elephant in the room.

“I was being completely honest last night.” I broke the silence. “No, drunken Tierney didn’t make the best decision but I swear, it was the only thing I could think of to get her to leave quickly. I know what Chelsea’s like and I didn’t want you to be hurt or get a bad reputation.”
He nodded. “You know, I was honest last night too. It’s cool. I get that you were trying to help me out.”

Again, silence greeted us, but this time Easton was the one to break it.

“Bros?” He stuck out his hand.
I shook it, “Bros,” before wrapping him in a bear-hug.

Sober deals always meant so much more than slurred words.

After our talk this morning, the worry, for the most part, left my mind. I’m glad we discussed it, but it still lingered over me. When Amanda called just a little while later, I dove into the story. Luckily Easton was out so I didn’t have to worry about him overhearing my gossiping.

“You did what?!” Amanda screamed.
I instantly took her off speaker phone before she drew a crowd, my parents, to the room. “I’m completely serious.”
“Damn, girl,” she laughed, “I thought I’d be the first to hook up with him, not you.” I could see her smirk through the phone.
“It was an innocent kiss. We’re cool. I just wanted to tell you.”
“Sooooo....he’s still on the market in that case.”
“Not for you.” I shot back, knowing Amanda’s way with boys.

The rest of the day was spent hiding my hangover from my parents and preparing myself for school, which started in a few days. I ran a few errands and gathered my old belongings from around the house.

On Tuesday, the first day of school, I wasn’t filled with as much dread as I typically was. I think that was largely in part to my new partner in crime.

I walked into Easton’s room, seeing him throwing what must be the final few things in his school bag.

“Oh my God, this is too precious.” He turned around, curious. “You’re getting all ready for your first day of school and it’s like you’re a little kid,” I rambled. “Can I take your picture?!”
“No!” He shot.
“Aw, but Easton.”
The next time he turned around to speak I took a quick picture on my phone.
I laughed, “Got’cha!” I turned my phone to show him the picture. “Look at you...you’re adorable!”
He tried to grab the phone from my hand but I made sure he missed. “Ugh, fuck you, he grumbled.
“I’m going to Instagram this!”
“I swear to God, Tierney, I’ll kill you.”
I walked up to him, pinching his cheek, “You’re too much of a softie for that.”

I waited downstairs for him to be ready, and as I did I uploaded the picture to Instagram as promised. I captioned it:

@TierneyyWill: Look at this little munchkin getting ready for his first day of school #precious @EParksy19

By the time he met me downstairs, I already had 10 likes, with a few from his teammates. I had even received a couple of comments as well:

@AmandaGracexo (Amanda): D’awwwe! Can’t wait to see you two cuties today #adorbs
@LBolt65 (Levi): Look at that beauty #notaschmelt #rocket
@ChadGreenz (Chad): #rookiemove

I laughed, showing Easton my phone as he joined me on the main floor. “You’re a popular kid, eh?!”
He scoffed, shaking his head at my antics.

As Easton grabbed his lunch and put on his shoes, I went out onto driveway and hoped into the driver’s seat of my car.

When Easton joined me, I attempted a straight face saying, “Get in loser, we’re going shopping.” He just stared at me, confused. “Mean Girls?” I hinted. But there was still no reply. “Have you not seen it?”
He shook his head. “Is that the one with that druggie girl?”
“Lindsay Lohan?” He nodded. “Can I ask you one thing?” He nodded again, “How the Hell have you never seen Mean Girls?! We’re having a movie night and watching that!”

Although I drove us both to school today, we would alternate driving in the future. Easton still didn’t have is car, but it was coming with his parents this Thursday as they came to watch the Blade’s first pre-season game.

We walked into the building after I parked, and Easton was the first to speak, “You better show me where everything is.”
“Nah,” I waved my hand, “I’ll leave you to look like a niner.”
He hipchecked me slightly, “You’re such a meany.”
“And you’re such a baby,” I winked.
“Pffft, me?! Can I gently remind you of Paranormal Activity?”
“Fine, I’ll leave you to get lost then.” I speed up my walking.
He jogged up to me, grabbing my shoulder. “Come on bestie, show me where homeroom is.”
“I have you whipped,” I laughed much to his dismay.

I showed Easton where his homeroom, Law, was, before heading upstairs to my Biology class.

As I walked into the room, I scanned the seats, looking for someone to sit with. As I was looking, a wave caught my eye. I glanced at the person, seeing it was Levi.

“Hey!” I smiled, pulling out the seat beside him. Lucky for me he was sitting in the middle of the room, my preferred area. “How’s your morning been?”
“Not bad, the school seems easy enough to navigate.”
I nodded, “It’s pretty simple, but if you need any help, give me a shout. Just from this morning, I feel like Easton has no sense of direction and if I can help him, you should be no problem.”
We laughed before continuing to chat for a few minutes until class began.

Our teacher definitely seemed a little dry, but I still felt I’d enjoy the class, because of the content and my seating partner.

We split up after Biology as I headed to my Kinesiology class and Levi went to Business.

Kinesiology was a reasonably small class with a fun teacher who was a little quirky. Saying as this was the course that most closely related to the field I was hoping to study I could tell this would be one of my favourites.

The first day was always pretty boring as it was mainly going over class expectations and the course layout, so I was excited when lunch came around.

I headed into the cafeteria, hoping Easton remembered how to get there. I was one of the first people there, so I walked over to our normal table; the one I had sat at with my friends for the past three years. I had only been sitting for a minute or two before someone crashed down into the seat across from me.

“Hey girl!” Amanda shouted, before quieting her voice drastically, “Where’s the boy?!”
I shrugged, “I showed him where the caf was, so unless I get a frantic text I’m going to assume he’s on his way here.

A few minutes later, Easton sat down beside me and gave me a light smack on my head.

“Thanks for making me look like a niner, asshole.”
I gave him a confused look, “I told you exactly how to get here! You just have a bad sense of direction.
He shook his head, “Nope, you pointed me to the gym.”
I sat quietly for a minute, replaying the morning in my head, realizing that I was texting, not really listening to Easton but I pointed. Oops, I did motion towards the gym on the opposite end of the school. “My bad.” I shrugged.

Easton then realized the other person at our table. “Oh hey, are you Amanda?”
“That’s me!” She beamed, “And you’re the better half of this old married couple I’m assuming,” the girl across from me joked, winking. That was only half a hint at our bickering, I knew she was also discretely mentioning the kiss incident.
“Sadly,” he sighed and I quickly hit him in the side with my elbow.
“Asshole,” I muttered.

Over the next few minutes, several of Amanda and my other friends joined us, as did Levi. It was different having the two newcomers at our table, but they got along with the boys and the girls were overjoyed about them.

After lunch, I went to English class with Easton. Easton led the way and sat us at the back of the classroom. I silently prayed that I would be able to pay attention in class and he wouldn’t be the one to goof off. But as we were dismissed from class, I was impressed that Easton seemed to be pretty attentive.

My final class was physical education, which although appealing, wasn’t as exciting as Easton’s last period spare. The Blades, due to their busy practice and game schedule, were often exempt from classes (notably phys-ed) and were given a credit for being a member of the team. The last period spare, which was the most common, gave them a chance to practice earlier in the day and still have enough time to eat and do homework in the evenings.

Easton was getting a ride with his other teammates, but I told him I would pick him up afterwards as it wasn’t very far out of my way and I never minded killing time at the rink.

The gym was one of my favourite environments, aside from the rink. And being able to get school credits from lifting weights, running and doing yoga was great, although I didn’t mind class-work itself.

After the final bell rung, I walked through the busy hallways and out to the parking lot where my car was. As I drove towards the rink, I reflected on my day. I was reasonably impressed with how it had gone. My classes seemed like they would be enjoyable and the rookies had fit in well.

When I reached the rink, I checked the clock to see that practice was running for another 45 minutes. I pulled out my skates from the trunk, which I had luckily packed, and headed into one of the ice pads I knew would be empty.

Skating on the clear surface, I cleared my head and allowed myself to relax.

7 more days until I was back on the ice with my team. I couldn’t wait.