You Never Know

20. Practice or play

"Go, Cara, go!" Nic called from the bench.

Practice had been optional that morning but with Cara in town most of the team had showed up at the rink. 
The boys had decided to play a pick up game and had split onto two teams. Cara was playing on Geno's team with Nic, Sidney, Paul and the new guy James Neal. 
Max, Kris, Cookie, Duper and Jordan were on the other team and tied 1-1. 

"Here!"

Cara deked Jordan to passed off to Sidney. He dropped the puck to Pauly who sent it to Geno. 
"Pass! Pass!" Cara called for the puck just as Jordan caught up to Geno. Geno placed the puck beautifully onto Cara's stick. GOAL!

"YEAH!"
"That'ta Baby Cara!" Nic called. 
"You score." 
"Hell yeah I did!"
"Lucky Shot," called Flower who was in goal. 
"That's game guys. Ice crew wants to clean up and go home," Coach called from the bench.
 
Everyone exited the ice and when back to the locker room. 

"You still move pretty good Care Bear."
"Thanks, Snick. It was great to play again." 
"Why did you stop?" Tanger asked as he laced his shoes. 
"Tweaked my shoulder and it never felt right again." 
"Tweaked!?" Nicole exclaimed, " she was boarded by two goons. They broke her shoulder, collarbone, fractured three ribs, and damn near broke her back." 

They guys were stunned. They had all seen injuries, it came with the territory, but most players walk away except for the few who broke a major bone or were concussed, but even they came back after a while.

Sidney spoke up, "What happened to the players?" 
"Before or after we kicked their asses?"
"After obviously," Marc asked with an eye roll. 
"They were suspended an eventually kicked off their team. Last I heard no one would allow them to play anywhere," Cara told the room.

Geno put an arm around Cara to show support.
The guys really didn't know what to tell Cara. An 'I'm sorry' seemed pointless so the boys stayed quiet. 

"How about we go get some food?" Pascal said from his locker. 
"Let's go."
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We ended up going to our favorite sub shop close to the rink. Everyone ordered at the counter then moved to the back of the store where the booths were more private. Geno grabbed the seat next to Nicole with Sidney and Duper to her right. Cookie was at the end of the table next to James. Max was across from Geno with Cara to his left and Jordan next to her. The silence was kind of strained until Flower spoke up.

"Soooo..... Snick?"

Cara burst out laughing and Nicole groaned, putting her hands over her face.

"It's short for Snickers," Cara answered when she regained her composure.
"Like the Candy Bar?" James asked from his spot near the end of the table.
"More like Webster's version," She answered.
"She means the actual definition of the word, you know a half covered or suppressed laugh," Nic clarified.
"Why did you guys call her that?" Max asked, even though he had a pretty good idea why.
"Our dear Nicole always had a bad habit of laughing at inappropriate times. Apparently it was worse when she was younger," Cara answered him.
"Had?'' Sidney says cracking up.
"OhDearGod," Nic mumbles, her head is now resting on the table.
Sidney ignored her, "Coach was reading her the riot act at the last practice and the started 'Snickering'. He made all of us do Herbie's because she couldn't stop."
"Sounds about right," Cara commented.
"Kill me now, please," Nicole said, her face was bright red and she was trying to hide from the group.

The guys were cracking up as the food arrived. Everyone seemed to like Cara much to Nicole's delight, even if they were all ganging up on her. It was good for her to see her old life and new life come together successfully. It made her feel like she was in the right place and made the right decisions. Ones that took her miles from home but were worth it. She had her friends, old and new, she was living her dream, playing hockey for a living, and she had the man of her dreams whom she loved whole heartedly. She couldn't be happier.

Max smiled over at Nicole as she was having this revelation and wondered what was going through his girlfriend's head. He knew she got home sick like the rest of the guys did but she tried to hide it from them. The life of a Hockey player can be extremely lonely at times, that's when they needed their team the most. He wanted Nicole to always be happy and seeing her smile was one of the most important parts of his day. Unfortunately, he may have made a huge mistake. One that will cost him his team and most importantly, his heart.