Billet

Later in the week, after an easy (finally)! afternoon skate, my team gathered in the dressing room. We were changing out of hockey gear and into street clothes before going out for dinner together. As captain, one of my responsibilities was to coordinate team bonding activities. We were going to go to one of the best local diners before spending the evening at my house.

“I have four open seats in my car if any of your girls don’t have a way there!” I called out, “Also, if you need the address, let me know!”

After some organizing, the team was pretty much ready to head out. I walked to the parking lot, making some small talk with two rookies and another two of our sophomore players who I would be driving.

The ride to the diner was reasonably short and we were eagerly greeted by Patricia, who owned the restaurant. Pattie’s Diner was frequented by my team and had become our own little spot. Although they served some of the best food around (it was like the Chéri’s of the meal world), it was always a little quiet. There wasn’t a moment that Pattie wasn’t working and the service was great.

“Oh hello there, Tierney! Aren’t you looking fabulous today!”
“Thank you so much Pattie! You’re looking great yourself,” I smiled at the older lady.

She must have been about 70, I had assumed due to her history in our town, but she had more energy than anyone I knew. Not much could reveal her age; with her upbeat attitude, great fashion sense and eye-catching charm, Pattie could pass for much younger.

“And who are these young ladies?” She looked behind me to see a couple of new faces.
The rookies introduced themselves and the other players voiced their hellos. As we were about to sit down, the rest of the team made their way into the restaurant.

Although there were booths along one of the walls, all of the other tables inside were pulled together to make one long table.

Alexa, Lucy, Karly and I grabbed seats together and everyone else spread around. This was normal. The older players were typically closer with those their age, or seniority, while the younger players became attached at the hip, going through the same career changes together. Don’t get me wrong, the team was always close, practically a family, but within our family, other tighter bonds formed as well.

After a few minutes of chatting, and the rookies browsing through the menu, Pattie and one of her teenage employees approached the table to take our orders. Pattie took our side.

“Are you ladies getting your normal?” We all nodded.

Karly always ordered a grilled cheese sandwich on whole wheat with fries.
Alexa was known for her mac and cheese order, with a garden salad on the side.
Lucy got chicken noodle soup with a white bun and coleslaw.
And I ordered my classic caesar wrap with fries.

Within minutes our food was ready; another trademark of Pattie’s Diner. Somehow between bites we were able to keep a conversation going.

“How’s school been for you guys?” I asked.
The three girls around me nodded, giving the silent sign for “Okay.”

All of us attended different schools due to the areas were lived in. We were, though, all the same age, being seniors, and had big decisions ahead of us.

“Let’s just say it’s a lot better with my boyfriend in all my classes,” Lucy sighed.
But all of us squealed. Lucy and her perfect English boyfriend made the cutest couple. He had moved here just before freshman year and they started dating that fall. They had nearly no arguments and his, still present, accent was enough to charm all of us.
“That bad, eh?” Karly asked.
Lucy nodded, “I have 3 math classes and a business class. Someone just decided to fuck me over because I won’t be getting early acceptance anywhere.”
All of our eyes widened at Lucy’s horrible schedule, but Alexa was the one to reply, “You’re making my semester look like a joke.”

“So Lex, what have you even been up to this summer? Obviously not working out or studying...” I winked at my best friend on the team.
“Fuck off Tier,” she laughed, “Not all of us have a hot workout buddy like you do.”
“He’s been around for like I dunno, 3 weeks or something? What’s your excuse for the rest of the summer then,” my eyebrows shot up.
“Well, I’ll have you know that I was at the cottage most of the summer. So I was busy, like swimming and jetskiing and wakesurfing and making out and stuff.”
“Uhm, what was the last one?!” Karly shouted, drawing the rest of the table’s attention to us. “Don’t worry about it guys,” she called, before quieting her voice and turning back to us. “Can we have some more details?”
A blush appeared on her face, something that wasn’t normal for Alexa. “Had a little fling with a boy from town,” she spoke, referring to the town nearby her cottage, “Lasted for most of the summer, but I told him on my last night there that it just wouldn’t work.”
All of us who were listening, even some of the rookies, gave an “Ooooooh.”
He blush grew deeper as she realized that nearly half the team was listening. “It was just fun for me, I didn’t know he wanted to pursue something. It wouldn’t have worked out anyways; he lived a few hours away.” Quickly, she decided to change the subject, “How’s Cory doing, Tier?”

Saying as Cory came out to the majority of my team’s games, the girls loved that he was one of our biggest fans.

“Good! He’s really liking Belleview,” I smiled.
“Is he going to be around to cheer us on soon? I think he was our good luck charm last season!” Lucy laughed.
“They have a game here in a few weeks so I’m hoping he can pull some strings and stick around for an extra day or two.”

The girls expressed their excitement, but it couldn’t even compare to mine. I missed my best friend.

After we had finished our meals and paid our bills, we loaded into our cars and made our way to my house. When I started hockey, my parents knew that they’d have to commit a lot of time and money. When I was chosen as captain, they realized they’d have to deal with a whole hockey team in their house on a regular basis too.

Moments after we all got comfortable in my basement, sprawled out on the couch, chairs and floor, my mom came down the stairs with two huge platefuls of her infamous cookies. She set them down on the table, said a quick hi to my team and made her way back to the main floor. The team had only started digging into the snacks for a minute or two before pounding sounded above us. Before we could question what it was, three hockey players had made it down the stairs. I wasn’t surprised to see Easton, he lived here after all, but he must have invited Levi and Jeremy over as well.

“Are those the cookies?!” Easton shouted. They must have been able to smell them.
Jeremy nodded, before calling out to us, “Hey ladies!” The girls who knew him said hello, while the other girls remained quiet.

The boys grabbed a handful of cookies each, despite our protests and sat down on the floor to munch away.

“You assholes, I’m trying to host some team bonding over here.” I laughed.
“But we’re practically the boys’ team to your girls’ team, so this is essentially team bonding, right?” Levi exclaimed while I just shook my head.
“Can we please have inter-team bonding, like for real?!” Jeremy exclaimed.
I shrugged, “Talk to Chad. I would be cool with it,” I could see the rookies celebrating quietly out of the corner of my eye as Jeremy pulled out his phone, presumably to ask Chad. “But no teamcest, please!” I called out.
“Friday night after our home opener?” he asked, getting a quick reply back.
“We have our opener Saturday. What about that night?”
A few moments later he nodded, “Good with our boys!” And everyone let out a little “Whooop!” This could either go great and help bring more awareness to girls hockey around here, or could completely screw up chemistry. I was hoping for the former.

Everyone grew quiet as we munched away the cookies in front of us. Despite my team filling themselves up at the diner, we managed to eat at least a couple of cookies each. The boys must have eaten 10. I was thankful that my mom always baked several dozen whenever she had a chance to bake.

“Boys, you can leave anytime now,” I hinted.
“But Tier, hanging out with 25 beautiful ladies is more fun that video games in my room,” Easton whined in return. I swear half the team swooned and I tried not to gag.
“Fine. Stay for a bit, but then it’s girl time.” The boys nodded in agreement.
“Can we play truth or dare, please!” Jeremy exclaimed.
“Are we 5 years old?” Lucy groaned.
“Well those boys are,” Alexa winked.

After a little bit of contemplation, we decided to play the game.

“I’ll start!” Jeremy shouted, “Tierney, truth or dare?”
“Truth.” May as well play it safe to start.
“Who’s the hottest guy on the team?”
I sat for a moment, trying to think of the new roster, before replying, “That Swedish import is smoking!” Everyone laughed. “Karly, truth or dare.”
“Dare,” She replied.
Lucy, Alexa and I got into a little huddle to pick a dare, before I announced our decision, “Imitate any three people in this room for 30 seconds each.” She shrugged, realizing it wasn’t too bad of a dare. “Oh, and don’t tell us who it is so we can guess!”

She stood up and walked into the middle of the room, but she had a weird bounce in her step like she was trying, and failing, at being cool. She flipped her hair and ran her fingers through it before sitting super close to one of the girls and pretending to have a conversation. She was obviously pretending to flirt.

“That’s Jeremy!” Alexa laughed and Karly nodded in response.
“I don’t act like that!” He shot back. The few of us that knew him gave him a knowing look and he just laughed.

“Okay next one!” Karly called.

She pretended to paint her nails and then freak out as her invisible phone started ringing it, since her nails were wet so she couldn’t answer. Eventually she managed to answer and told the person on the other line that she couldn’t go out because she was going shopping with her girlfriends this afternoon.

“Tianna!” I shouted and the girlest girl on the team laughed knowingly.

“Last one,” Karly spoke in a regular voice before making it louder and upbeat. “Don’t worry y’all, we’re just skating suicides for an hour today! And then we’ll probably run a marathon, but that’s okay! You guys are so fucking fantastic and you’ll kill it!”

All heads turned to me and I burst out laughing.

After I calmed down to a giggle, Karly made her choice. “Rookie!” She nodded over to a girl with wavy brown hair. “Sorry, I’ll get these names down soon enough. Truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
“Most embarrassing moment?”
A blush appeared on her cheeks rapidly, “At the end of last school year, I was called up on stage for an award and I tripped. I fell, nearly flat on my face, in front of my entire high school. I was wearing a dress so I probably flashed them all too,” she cringed and we expressed our sympathies. “I pick Easton?” She asked, making sure to get his name right.
He nodded, “Dare.”
She thought for a moment, before one of the other girls whispered something in here ear which caused her to snort in laughter. “Confess your ‘love’ to someone in this room for a minute.”
“Can I split it up between two people? Please?” She shrugged at his request.

He stood up and got down on one knee in front of Levi. “Hey man. I just wanted to tell you something. Those fucking beautiful passes you made out there tonight, it really turned me on. You’re just like the coolest guy I’ve ever met and if you grew a flow I think we could really have something going. Man, you’re just such a fucking beauty.” He winked at Levi as he got up and tried not to burst out laughing. Levi looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but here. Everyone in the basement was nearly crying from laughing so hard.

“Cutest bromance!” Alexa shouted.

Before I could process what was happening, Easton was sitting right beside me. “Hey girl,” He winked at me and I burst into another fit of laughter, not being able to handle this already. “You know when we go on runs together? Yeah, it really helps with my cardio, but I think we should be doing a little something else to work on that cardio too,” the whole room burst into laughter and cat calls. “I don’t know babe, there’s just one thing I’ve got to say: my eyes are the only thing I don’t want to take off of you.” And that did it. The entire basement grew so loud with laughter that I thought a picture or two would fall off of the walls.

I gave Easton a little shove and he wrapped me in a hug in return.

“You’re such a loser,” I laughed.
“But you love me!” He replied.

After he walked back to his own seat, he called on Alexa who said she wanted a dare.

“I dare you to tell the story of your last kiss.”

All of the girls who had heard her talk about her summer at the diner burst into laughter as she turned bright red.

“Can I pass?” She begged.
“If you do, you’ll just get asked a truth along the same lines anyways” Lucy explained.
Alexa said before nodding and going into her story, “Well most of you know the background story by now and for the few who don’t, I had this summer fling. Anyways, I told the guy that I wanted to end things before I came back here and he protested saying we could make it work. So anyways, I kissed him and we ended up making out for a while before I just left him there on the beach.”
The room all went “Ohhhhhh!” together as she grew an even deeper shade of red.
“Not my proudest moment to say the least.” She cringed.
“This one over here is a fucking heartbreaker!” Jeremy shouted.

Our game went on for a few more hours until it hit the early morning hours. Someone ended up attempting to eat 2 jalapeño peppers, while another made a prank call. We also had some stories about bad relationships, hidden talents and weird pet-peeves. The boys never followed through with their promise of letting us have girl time, but they helped in driving the girls home who needed a ride.

When I finally got into bed, I couldn’t sleep. Being back around my team and finishing our first week of practice made my heart race. Even though our first game was a week away, I couldn’t get the excitement and nervousness off my mind. This season was going to either make it or break it for me and I knew I was going to do the former.

Let’s get this thing underway.