Sacrifices

The game came and went on Saturday. The Bruins had lost. Tyler was grumpy. He didn’t have a good game at all; he got penalized twice and heard about it from coach Julien afterwards. Tyler had looked for Livia when he came out after each intermission, but he didn’t see her. As he was putting his stuff away in the locker room, he was trying to get out of his funk. He didn’t want to be this way in front of Livia. Hockey had a long season and there was no way to win every game, but he hated losing. As he drove to Cambridge, he tried to think of what they could do together.

He arrived at the rink a little early. The parking lot was empty except for a few cars. He entered the rink. It was bigger than he had expected it to be, it could maybe fit a couple thousand people during a game. All the lights were off in the stands, only the lights above the ice were on. Tyler began making his way through the seats. He saw Livia skating around the rink extremely fast; he was taken aback by how fast. He knew you had to pick up momentum to do a lot of the tricks ice skaters do but he didn’t realize how much speed you had to gain. He made his way closer to the ice but didn’t want to interrupt, so he took a seat in the darkness. Livia’s coach was on the side of the ice. He watched her go in a circle around the ice then clapped his hands repeatedly. “Faster! Faster!” he yelled. “Again! Again!” He seemed to have an accent when he spoke but Tyler couldn’t figure out from where. Livia started again gaining speed as she moved. She flew around the rink twice and then her coach spoke again. “Now! Do it now!” he yelled. Tyler watched as Livia got into a position and flew off her feet into the air and began spinning. It seemed like she was in the air forever. She tucked her body into herself and then prepared to land. She landed on one foot with her other leg stretched out. Tyler thought it was amazing. It’s one thing to watch skaters on Television do it, but to see it in person was something else. When he saw Livia’s expression, she looked upset. He watched as her coach buried his face in his hands. “No, no, no! You can’t skip like that at the end! You’re too wobbly. Are you ever going to get this right!” he screeched. Tyler did not understand what she did wrong. The jump looked flawless to him. Livia didn’t respond to her coach. She looked defeated and tired. “I’ve had enough for today Livia. You need to practice it more. Next time.” Her coach said more softly to her and without anymore words he walked out of the rink.

He watched her as she stood still for a moment on the ice. He was about to get up and make his presence known, but she began skating again. She started slowly on the ice, making fluid movements around the corner. She slowed and paused before picking up speed like she had before. She tried the jump again, this time she fell hard on the ice. Tyler has fallen like that before. He knew it hurt. The only difference was he wore padding. He flinched when she fell; he knew it would leave a bruise. Livia sat on the ice for a second before slamming her fist on the cold surface and propping herself back up.

Tyler couldn’t watch anymore. He got up from where he was sitting and made his way to the ice. He walked up to the wall that separates the seats from the ice and sat on the ledge. Livia saw him and began skating over. He could tell she was visibly distressed but when she saw him she smiled. They said their hellos and were both silent for a few moments. “Rough day?” Tyler said. She smirked at him and cocked her head. “How long have you been here?” she asked him knowing he saw her fall. “I got here a little early” he said. “I couldn’t stay at the garden anymore. You look amazing on the ice.” When he said that her face reddened and she let out a laugh. “You know figure skaters aren’t supposed to fall right?” She said jokingly. “It was a frustration fall happens all the time. What was your coach yelling about the first time? I thought it was perfect what you did out there” he said. She moved over to the edge where Tyler was sitting and jumped up to sit next to him. She winced when she sat and he could tell she was in pain. His first instinct was to reach out and grab her to make sure she was okay, but he refrained. She found a comfortable position and sighed before she spoke. “I can’t land my triple axel cleanly.” She huffed and then looked down at the ice. Tyler could tell she did not want to admit it. “I don’t get enough speed during the actual routine to do it right. I only get enough speed when I circle around the rink and build momentum and even then it’s not 100%.” She kicked her skate against the boards. “I’m sorry.” He said quietly. “I don’t know anything about figure skating but I could help you with speed if you want. Even though you look like you already skate faster than me.” At his words she giggled. “Thanks. I might just take you up on that.” She responded as she finally looked at him.

“How was the game?” she asked him changing the subject completely. “We lost...bad. I had a pretty crappy game.” He said. That’s why He didn’t see her there. “Wait, if you weren’t at the game where you here the whole time?” he asked her. “I’ve been here since 9am. I had to get one of the girls to cover for me last minute.” He couldn’t believe what she just said. It was a little past 5pm. She had been practicing all day. “You’ve been practicing for eight hours?” He said it a little loud. She nodded. “Triple axels all day.” She faked a smile at him. “Livia I am so sorry. We don’t have to do anything tonight. You should go home and get some rest.” He was genuinely concerned. When the Bruins practice, they are on the ice, at the most two hours. Tyler is usually exhausted after that and goes home and passes out for the rest of the day. He couldn’t fathom practicing for eight hours.

“I still want to do something!” She said enthusiastically. “I mean, if you still want to. And besides, I didn’t play a game today that was on national television. I didn’t have huge dudes checking me into the boards and no one was trying to steal my puck from me.” She rambled. Tyler thought it was the cutest thing. “Besides, eight hours is nothing.” She finished. Tyler laughed. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to see you.” He said as he bumped her arm with his. “What should we do?” he asked her. She thought for a moment. “How well do you know Boston?” She asked him.

Tyler didn’t know Boston well. He explained that he moved here so fast and didn’t know many people outside his teammates. He hadn’t explored the area at all. She decided she wanted to take him to Newbury Street. It was one of her favorite streets to go to. It was loaded with fun shops and cool places to explore. They wandered around aimlessly talking about everything. Every now and then she would point out random things to him, but mostly they just talked. Tyler told her how he felt a little out of his element because he was the youngest on his team and knew no one his age in Boston, besides her. Livia told him how when she first moved up here all she did was explore the nightlife and around the city which got her off track in skating. She had a small group of friends in the city but most of her friends were back in Rhode Island.

At one point they just stopped and sat on a bench and just listened to what each other had to say. Livia enjoyed being around him. She was still concerned about Hockey players’ reputations. She always kept that in the back of her mind. Trusting people was hard for her sometimes. After a few hours they decided to head back to the rink. They both had to be up early the next morning. Livia didn’t want the night to end yet, but she needed a full night’s sleep. Tyler walked her to her car. She was extremely nervous about saying goodbye. She wasn’t quite sure if this was a date or not. He opened her car door for her. “I had a really crappy day today, but tonight made up for it.” He said to her. “Me too.” She responded and smiled. He hugged her tight and slowly pulled away. He moved closer to her face and she inhaled deeply. He kissed her on the cheek and said goodnight. He held the door open while she got in and shut it after her. She didn’t know why she was so nervous. They just hung out once. Livia decided she was reading into things way too much. She pushed the silly thoughts out of her head as she drove home to her comfortable bed.