Double Trouble

A loud knock woke me up, I groaned and brought the covers over my head, trying to block out the sound and light, before there was more knocking.

“Stupid people knocking loudly at some ungodly hour in the morning when I don’t have practice till later.” I grumbled as I walked out of my room, running a hand through my messy hair. I opened the door and glared at the man standing on the other side.

“Hey Ave.”

“Hello Daddy dearest. How are you at this ungodly hour in the morning when I don’t have practice? And where are Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum?” My dad chuckled and walked into the house.

“I forgot that you’re not a morning person now that you don’t live with me anymore. And your brothers should be arriving any time now.” He said and on cue, the doorbell began ringing obnoxiously. I opened the door and glared at my two brothers.

“CAN’T YOU TWO BE NORMAL? REALLY? EXCESSIVELY RINGING MY DOORBELL? AT THIS UNGODLY HOUR WHEN I DON’T HAVE PRACTICE? GO AWAY.” I yelled at them as they brushed past me and joined Daddy in the living room. Alina walked out of her room all bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready for her day at work.

“Oh, hello Daddy, and Idiots. How are you? Did you all wake Avery? Don’t you know that she has a late practice today?” She scolded them, giving Daddy a kiss on the cheek and punching Matt and Mike.

“We thought you’d open the door so we wouldn’t deal with her wrath.” Mikey admitted.

“I just knocked. She happened to open the door.” Daddy said in defense.

“Because it was loud! Now, I’m going back to bed. I hear one loud noise, and I’ll shove my stick up your asses.” I said before going back to my room and plopping down on my bed.

“Avery wake up,” Lina yelled out. I jumped up from the sound and fell off the bed. I groaned, opening my eyes and looked up to see a laughing Sharpie, Daddy, and my idiot brothers.

“Why did you yell?” I asked her, staying on the floor.

“Because you need to get up. You have practice in an hour.” I groaned again and sat up.

“You suck. And now my butt hurts. And someone help me up.” I said reaching both my hands up in a childish manner. Daddy came and lifted me up. I squealed and wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist, placing my head against his shoulder.

“Hey there sweetie.” He said.

“Hi Daddy. I love you.” I kissed his cheek and hopped out of his arms. “Ok, so I need to get ready. Thank god we have a game tomorrow.”

“Good. We need to talk to those boys.” Daddy said. I groaned and marched up to Sharpie.

“Why” hit “did” hit “you” hit “call them” hit.

“Ouch. You hit hard. And your Dad told me to keep him up to date. I’d want the same thing for my kid.” he replied.

“Ugh. Well, out of my room. I need to change.” I said kicking them all out before putting on a pair of sweats and hawks t-shirt. I opened the door and waltzed out, picking up my bag.

“Here is your coffee, and here’s a bagel.” Lina said handing me the breakfast food.

“Thanks sweetie. Sharpie are you taking me?” I called out.

“Oh, Sharpie left. He said that Leddy called him saying his car won’t run. I’ll give you a ride.” Daddy said I nodded and we headed towards the door.

“Oh, Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum, don’t destroy the house once Lina leaves.” I said as I walked out the door.

Daddy and I climbed into my car and he turned onto the road.

“I can’t believe that you still have this car in tip top shape.” He said grinning at the smooth ride.

“Of course I did Daddy! I did everything you taught me to keep it running smoothly, and when it doesn’t, I pop the hood and take a look.” I replied to him.

“Thats good. Now, tell me the truth, how are you?”

“I feel great. I have fans Daddy. Like actual, people wanting to come see me play. There was this teenage boy that asked for my autograph the other day. And the little kids that Lina teaches adore me, especially cute little Jack. I feel like I’m on top of the world, that nothing can stop me, and that I’m going to go down in history.”

“I’m so proud of you sweetie. Now, tell me about this boy, Patrick Kane.” I groaned.

“Daddy, there’s not much to tell. We like each other, he treats me perfectly, and he is adorable, but we’re not together.” I said to him.

“Are you sure he’s treating you right?”

“He is Daddy. And if he doesn’t, you can go kick his ass, along with Sharpie and all the other older guys on the team.” He just chuckled and shook his head. The rest of the drive to the ice rink seemed like a fairly short one especially since Daddy and I were singing along to the radio like we used to back in highschool. I giggled as he parked my car and we both got out.

“So, I’m going to stay and watch your practice like the good ol’ days. I’ll be sure to yell obnoxiously at everything you do incorrectly, and tell you to man up.” I laughed and hugged him.

“That’ll be great. I’ll be sure to yell back an exasperated ‘Dad’ every once in a while, telling you to shut up.”

“That’s the best thing I’ve heard so far, now lets go in.” Daddy and I walked into the rink, separating ways when it came time for him to go sit in the stands. I quickly changed out and got onto the ice with the boys. Sharpie skated over to me and patted my head.

“Nice to see you. Did you have fun with your dad?” I nodded.

“Yeah, it was good, then got to my relationships, or lack-thereof, and then went back to the good.” I replied. He chuckled and we lined up waiting for Coach to tell us what to do. We did some drills and some more passing and puck handling, and true to his word, Daddy would yell at me whenever I did something that wasn’t at full potential.

“AVE, WHAT WAS THAT? YOU CAN PASS BETTER THAN THAT!” Daddy yelled at me.

“I GET IT DAD! I’M A HORRIBLE PLAYER. I CAN’T PASS LIKE A BOSS. I’LL FIX IT LATER.” I yelled back, shooting a puck right at the glass, hitting the exact spot in front where dad was sitting. Everyone around us laughed, even Coach Q. A few minutes later, dad did it again. I shot a puck straight at the glass again, causing a loud bang to be heard.

“Whoa, Ave, calm down!” Mikey called out.

“Shut it Twiddle Dee! Don’t make me shoot a puck at you!” I threatened my brother. He held his hands up in surrender while Lina and Mattie laughed. Coach blew his whistle and we all gathered around him.

“Ok, now I want Suicides until you all drop. Get on the line.” We all lined up at the end of the rink and began skating when he blew the whistle.

We all began skating, it was almost like that first day of practice but instead there was my family cheering me on, I could feel the pressure and it was taking over my mind, I was not going to let Tazer win this one. I don’t know how many suicides I did before I heard a whistle.
“It seems that both Addison and Toews are the only ones left,” Coach Q. said impressed. “Now, off to the lockers.”

“Wait Coach!” Daddy yelled out. “I wanted to settle a matter with a few of your boys and I want the whole team to witness it.”

I looked over at Alina and she had the same expression as I did, both Mattie and Mike were smirking. Oh shit.

“What is it Mr. Addison?” Coach asked curious.

“I would like to challenge my daughters, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane to a hockey match. I want to see if those boys deserve my two angels.”

“Daddy, why-” Lina was cut off.

“Because if they care about you, then they’ll have to deal with us.” Mike said.

“And also, it’ll be fun. You do know that we’re deadly right?” Mattie said to the guys.

Every player was howling and laughing. Kaner and Tazer visibly paled.
“If it settles it and doesn’t interfere with any of my players then go ahead grab as many players as you need.”

“Thank you, but we only need Jonathan and both Patricks. Sharp will be on my team alongside my boys and I. The girls will be teaming up with....the other two.” Daddy said trying to figure out how to address our boys.

“Daddy, what about Goalies? You can’t not have a goalie.” I said to him.

“And where are we supposed to get equipment?” Lina asked.

“We got Ave’s extras in this bag for you, and we brought a bag with our equipment.” Mikey said pointing to the bags.

“As for goalies, I will be goalie and Alina will be your goalie,” Daddy said.

I knew we were fucked over and so did Alina. The boys grinned and high-fived each other, while Sharpie looked confused until they quietly explained to him what just happened. The grin on his face made us shake our heads.

“This is your fault Sharpie. If we get fucked over, I’m holding this against you.” I said to him.

“LANGUAGE!” Daddy yelled out as he walked towards the locker room.

“I’M A HOCKEY PLAYER. I’M ALLOWED TO HAVE A VULGAR VOCABULARY!” I yelled back. I looked at Lina.

“Go get changed. And I have your Goalie pads in my locker.” She nodded and walked off to change, followed by my brothers. I groaned and Coach Q and the team looked at me oddly.

“What’s wrong? You’re a great hockey player, and you have Toews and Kaner, you’ll be fine.” Leddy said.

“You guys don’t get it. My brothers are amazing players. As good as the greats. My Daddy, he’s one of the best goalies I know. He’s like a mix of Flower, Neuvy, Lundqvist, and Bryzgalov.” Everyone looked at me wide eyed.

“You’re joking.” Seabrook said. I shook my head no.

“I wish I was. Alina needs to be a steel wall, and we need to step up our game. Sharpie wipe off that grin before I punch you.” I said looking at a grinning Sharp. He just laughed, and Daddy walked out in his Goalie gear. Mattie and Mikey walked out behind him, looking lethal. Lina came out behind them, looking so much smaller, but just as lethal as the first three.

“Well,” Coach said, “let the game begin.” The players hustled to get the ice set up for us, placing the goals on each side of the rink in their correct places.

“Alright, so we know that daddy is going to be absolutely beasting it out there in goal and I’m only subpar when it comes to him,” Alina said. “So here is what I’m thinking, Matt he’s strong and Mike he’s fast so whatever you do make sure that it’s the opposite. And well you guys know Sharpie, protect Avery. They may be family but when it’s hockey that goes flying out the window got it?”

“And when you don’t have the puck, and they are in our zone, I don’t care that you both are forwards. Switch to defense. Take as many shots at the goal, look for the weaknesses. Mattie is a left shooter, while Mikey is a right. Use that to your advantage and when taking the puck from Matt, do it in a way where you will not get slammed into the boards by him. And slam Mikey in the boards for the puck. Just keep your head in the game and play your best.” I added.

“Now there’s only one more thing missing,” Daddy said. “Where is the sound system, let’s play some music in here. I have an ipod full of all our music so it’ll be a variation.”

One of the other players grabbed the ipod and hooked it in and we started playing, whoever made it to fifteen first won. The rest of the team had split up into teams the ones who supported the Addison men and the ones who supported the Addison females.

I skated up and met with Mikey at center ice. The tension between us was thick. You could feel that everyone was on the edge of their seats, waiting for the puck to drop, and someone to win the face off.

“Be prepared to lose, little sister.” He said to me. I smirked.

“In your dreams, older brother.” With that Coach Q let the puck drop. I wrestled with him for the puck, before winning it and passing it to Kaner, who skated off with it towards the other side, Mattie hot on his heels. He almost reached past the blue line, only for Mattie to hit him, causing him to lose control of the puck. I skated off and began to mirror Mattie, watching him pass it to Mikey. I grinned. I could take on Mikey. I was too small and fast for him to get me. I skated past him, stealing the puck, and pushed myself even faster, watching as Sharpie came closer to me. I passed the puck to Toews, who passed it to Kane, who passed it to me right as I shot it at Daddy right at the five-hole. I held my breath, only to see Daddy go down in a perfect split, blocking the shot. I groaned and went for the rebound, only for the puck to be fully stopped by him. Coach Q took the puck, and we had another face off. This time, it was Mattie and Toews. Mattie won the face off, and sent it to Sharpie, he skated down and passed it to Mikey, who Kaner hipchecked into the boards. I took the puck and skated back, only to have Sharpie steal it and pass it to Mattie, who shot at Lina. I held in my breath, letting it out as I saw her catch the puck in her hand. This continued back and forth, neither team able to get a shot in. Multiple songs played across the ice, and eventually Coach Q blew his whistle.

“Alright, let’s take a break. A little so called intermission. And it has come to my attention that the crowd has gotten larger.” He said.

I looked up and my eyes widened as we saw the Penguins sitting on the benches next to the rest of the hawks. We nodded and skated off towards the bench where we placed our water bottles. I took a drink and sat down for a bit. Fifteen minutes passed, and we were once again on the ice. This time the intensity of the game increased. We were hitting each other as much as we could and trying to steal the puck. Mattie took the puck and scored on Lina. I groaned as he cheered and was congratulated by Sharpie and Mikey. I skated up to Lina.

“Hey, you got this. It’s just one goal.” She nodded and put on her game face. Kaner skated up to center ice for the face off.

It was between Sharpie and I, I won the faceoff. I started skating full speed toward the net and I could see both my brothers coming after me, I quickly passed it to Toews who gave it a slapshot and it entered, I cheered. Taze skated around, doing a victory lap, while Kaner came and hugged me, giving me a kiss on the cheek, our helmets making it difficult to do much. The game continued on, and we were slowly getting tired and losing hope. We were playing for well over twenty minutes now, and the score was 9-5, in favor of Daddy and his team. Alina was looking defeated and it seemed that she was losing hope, if there was one thing she could never do was compete against daddy, Taze seemed to notice and he skated up to her, took her helmet off and gave her a small kiss. The benches erupted into aww and ew, my brothers didn’t like it one bit and in our next face off they scored in less than ten seconds.

“That’s what you get when you get involved with my little sisters,” Mattie said.

C’mon you can do this they might be outscoring us but that doesn’t mean they’re going to win, I thought.

There was another face off and it seemed that they were going to score again on us when Kaner hipchecked Mike and what happened after that will haunt me. Mike had crashed into Alina and I could hear her cry of pain and it was then that I knew that history was repeating itself, there was a deafening silence before all hell broke loose. Everyone skated towards her and I could see that she was clutching her side where her injury was and the tears that followed. Taze immediately grabbed her and helped her skate off and a sports medic immediately rushed on. The had her try and skate, but she almost dropped. Luckily, Taze was right there to catch her. They helped her onto a gurney and wheeled her off the ice. I stood there shocked and removed my helmet.

“Come on, we gotta go see if she’s ok.” I heard Mattie say. I couldn’t feel my legs, all I could see was the flashbacks I was getting from high school.

“Ave, Ave, AVE!” I snapped out of my head and looked up at Mikey with tears flowing down my face.

“I can’t... Mikey...” He nodded in understanding and took my hand, leading me off the ice. I quickly rushed to the locker room and stripped down and into just my spandex and sports bra, not caring that there was another team in the stands waiting to see what happened to Lina, and ran out to the medic’s office.

“Whoa, slow down there. Where are you going dressed like that?” The team asked me.

“Fuck off. I’m wearing clothes, and I’m not naked. I just want to see my sister.” I said, tears filling up my eyes. I could sense in the corner of my eyes a group of people gathering. I turned and faced the Penguins.

“Uh.. Hi.” Sidney Crosby said. I gave them all a weak wave.

“Can I please get to my sister.” Tears began to spill down my face once again. Kaner ushered me through with the help of another blond. We rushed through the doors and I quickly grabbed Lina’s hand, sitting next to her, while the doctor checked everything. She whimpered in pain, and I began to stroke her hair.

“It hurts.” She wimpered. I nodded and squeezed her hand.

“I know sweetie, I know. Don’t worry. Everything will get better. And Jonathan is coming right now. And Daddy’s here, and so are Mikey and Mattie. You’ll get through this, and we’ll be there with you.” I said to her, sounding as if I am trying to convince myself. I looked up and was shocked when I saw Jordan Staal standing next to Kaner.

“Uh hi. Thanks for helping me get here guys.” I said to them. They both waved it away.

“I know that if Eric, Marc, or Jared got hurt, I’d want to be there next to them. I gotta get back for practice, I hope she gets well soon.” He said before leaving. A few seconds later, Jonathan, Daddy, Mike and Mattie burst into the doors.

“How is she?” They all asked.

“I don’t know. The doctor said that we might have to send her to the hospital.” Kaner said, after talking with the doctor. We sighed and gathered around her, saying soothing words, trying to lessen her pain.

Hockey Gods, please let her get better. I don’t think I could live or play without her.