On Thin Ice

Carey Price’s Point of View

My life hasn’t been the same since Marissa left me. I’ve been lacking in my professional career, and my once full-time party house, has been empty. There isn’t any late night knocking on my patio door in the winter, or the smell of Marissa’s perfume on my pillow. These times have long faded away.

I finally scavenged enough courage to call her, but I panicked, and hung up. I got to hear her voice though. Pacioretty…he’s been depressed that his sister-figure moved far away from, and he blames me. Wiz was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets, and P.K, P.K Subban was all I had left; but only because he is optimistic and knows that although she moved to Vancouver, Marissa will never forget me.

The ice rink she used to play at had her old team practicing. Her captain, Blake Kielczynski; Skiis she’d call him, gave me cold icy glares. He blamed me because they had to try and find a goalie better of equal skill as Mac, and they never found one to replace her, so they had to settle for one of lesser skill. Somehow, I was going to make it up to her. Someday, I’ll have the balls to be upfront with her again, and tell her the truth about that night on the yacht.
End. P.O.V.

Mac’s P.o.v

Alex took me into a small, casual restaurant to fill me in on what happened while I was in the hospital. He had told me that Carey and I had been separated for almost 3 years now, and that we had actually made up already. He explained that the concussion I got in the accident jumbled up what I remembered, and that’s why it only felt like a couple months instead of years since Carey had cheated on me. Alex also told me that he wasn’t supposed to tell me about my amnesia until I started to remember something that was right.

I concentrated hard on the glass of water in front of me, “So…we are…together? Like, a couple together?”

Alex nodded his, “We’ve actually been together for about two years now, and basically out-of-the-blue you came to Vancouver a couple months ago. I didn’t know why, because I didn’t know you had that dream.”

I leaned back in my chair, “It wasn’t fair to you that the doctor’s wouldn’t let you by me. I think we both should know we were together. Especially since I had to start over and try to figure out what was going on.”

Burrows smiled, “Yeah, well, you still ended up falling for a Canuck.” He moved from across from me, to next to me.

I looked at him and smiled back, “I didn’t know I’d fall in love with a Can’tyuck, I mean after all, they are mean, and brutal, and heartless and a bunch of tryhards that rely too much on their not-so-good-under-pressure goalie, Luongo.”

Burrows laughed, “Is that what you thought about us? And you say we are brutal!”

“It’s how I felt about you guys before I met you. It’s different now. I know you better, but, I’m still kinda wary of…” My eyes drifted out the window, and they locked onto a familiar face. “…Carey Price…”

“Price? What…” He followed my eyes, and saw what I did. “What is he doing here?”

I shook my head, “I don’t know…” As Alex and I were starting out the door to confront Price, I noticed someone else familiar. I stopped and made my way towards the other familiar face, “Olesz! Rostislav Olesz!”

--Olesz’s P.O.V--
I turned my head instinctively at the sound of my name. Of course this drove my teammate, Alexander Salak, crazy, because he was talking to me.

“Ahoj!! Mluvil jsem s tebou, Olz, co se díváš?” (Hey, I was talking to you, Olz, what are you looking at?) Obviously nobody around could understand what we were saying because we were both speak Czech. Spotting a woman with soft brown curls walking towards us, he understood why I had stopped, “Krásný, ne?” (Beautiful, no?)

“Ona má přítele, Salak. Podívejte se na muže za ní. Ale určitě přijde k nám.” (She has boyfriend, Salak. It’s the man behind her. But she is coming to us.) I studied the woman’s face closer.

Then it hit me, she was the Czechoslovakian with the American name. Holy shit, it was Marissa Collins; Our little Machete from Junior B hockey. “Hej, Salak pamatujete z junioři mačetou?” (Hey, Salak, you remember Machete from Juniors?)

“Samozřejmě donutila mě hrát znovu k ní. To je ji?” (Of course, she made me play back up to her. Is that her?) Salak gazed at Marissa as she finally reached us with the infamous grin on her face. After a couple seconds, I took notice of the man with her, who seemed on edge about something. Her boyfriend was shorter than me, and slightly slimmer, dark hair, dark eyes, hockey player. I could tell, since I was a hockey player as well. He reeked of confidence, so he was an NHL player. I knew all the Blackhawks, so he was a Canuck.

As Machete started to speak in our native tongue, my focus went back to her, “Hej, Olz Sal! Ještě jste se učila anglicky?” (Hey Olz, Sal, you guys learn English yet?)

Salak and I exchanged a look and both said, “Yes.”

“Great! Salak, Olesz, this is Burrows. Alex, these are my friends from the Czech Republic, Alexander Salak, and Rostislav Olesz. We played Junior B hockey together when I still lived there. What are you guys doing here?”

I shrugged, “We had nothing better to do since we are on vacation, and Blackhawks play against Canucks in a couple days, we play for their farm team in Rockford, so might as well see who we might be playing with.”

I stole a glance at Alex Burrows, “You guys out on date, no?”

“Actually…” she started out, “We’re together.” Machete looked up at Alex. I could see that they loved each other just by noticing how they look at each other. It was…weird.

Salak cut in, “Aw, bummer, Machete. Olesz here was just gushing about how he wanted to take you out on date!”

“I was not.” I denied. “He’s just upset still that he had to play back up to you.”

“Am not.”

“Are so!”

I notice Burrows shift his weight. “Is everything alright over there, Burrows?”

He shook his head, “No. Her ex is in town, and I need to figure out why. We saw him right as Mac saw you.”

I reached over and patted his shoulder, “Listen, you go find whoever this is, especially if he’s a threat enough to make you uncomfortable.”

Burrows let out a small smile, “Thank you.”

Machete handed me her number, “Here, text me later so we can catch up some more, or sit next to each other at the game.”

I nodded, “No problem.” I turned away from the two as they headed in the other direction to hunt down Machete’s ex. I wonder who it was that made Alexandre Burrows uneasy…

Salak elbowed me in the side and nodded in the direction they were heading, “Look.”

I looked over to what he noticed. Carey Price. But Canucks and Canadiens didn’t have a game against each other until next month. What could he be doing here now?

---End Olesz’s P.O.V---

Alex’s P.O.V

By the time we got away from Rostislav and Salak, Price had made his way to the docks, and was just standing there, staring at the empty space where my dad’s yacht used to be.

As we got closer, Mac started to run towards him, angrily. “Mac, don’t! It’s not safe!!” It was too late, she was already out of ear shot and running up the docks.

All I could do was watch as Carey Price turned to look at the angry ex girlfriend. I watched as he took her hand firmly before it could hit his face, pinned both to her sides, and watch as he took advantage of her helplessness, and to my horror, he kissed her.

I sprinted towards the two, rage taking over; I only hoped Mac could fight him off before he tried anything else before I got there.

I reached the dock within a couple minutes. The stock was rickety, and tossed me side to side, I made enough noise that Carey looked up from his kiss, and he glared at me.

I slowed down, as I noticed Carey turn Mac around, “Beautiful is she not?”

Mac looked scared and angry; she wiggled around in Price’s grip on her shoulders. “Tell her, Burrows. Tell her about that night on the Yacht. Tell her what happened. I bet she’s dying to know why the one time she got on that yacht, it gets blown up.”

“Price, you are crazy. I had nothing to do with the yacht accident, and you know it.” He was trying to pin the blame on me.

“Oh really, Burrows?” He noticed I had taken a couple steps closer and stepped back, closer to the edge of the dock, “Careful, Burrs, you wouldn’t let anything happen to her, would you? It might end up like the night two years ago.”

There was a huge flash of light, and everywhere around us went dark. “You see, Burrs? You just can’t win here.” He was right next to me, but I couldn’t see him, and I couldn’t hear Mac. A sudden pressure in my stomach knocked me down on my ass, breathless. The dock rocked violently, as I felt Carey kneel down next to me, “I have eyes like a cat, I can see in the dark, while you can’t see two inches in front of your face. Now, if you don’t mind. I think I will be taking Mac away from you for a little bit. Maybe when you feel like telling her the truth about the incident on the yacht, maybe then I’ll return her to you.”

Carey punched my nose, and I hit my head on the wooden dock, and darkness surrounded me, the last thing I noticed was a small figure running into Price, and then a splash in the water, before I was completely out.