Summers, Sunsets and Shoulder Surgeries

Lauren was pretty excited to get back on the ice, she hadn't skated for a few years and she could feel some nerves building in her stomach. She had quickly changed and rushed out to Taylor's truck. {http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/ea/58/f7/ea58f78c011e34cdf3d53ba6fd0cb552.jpg http://www.freerun2sshoes.com/images/nike/nike_free_run_2_womens_shoes_4.jpg http://fansedge.frgimages.com/FFImage/thumb.aspx?i=/productImages/_1465000/ff_1465641_xl.jpg&w=180 } On the way to the arena Lauren kinda zoned out watching all the buildings pass by them. Before she knew it they were pulling into a parking spot at Rexall. She had been surprised to find out there was still ice in and that they guys could just show up and use it whenever they wanted. As they got out of the car and headed for a back entrance it dawned on Lauren that she didn't have skates...

"uh Taylor?"

"Yeah?" he answered turning from his conversation with Ryan to look back at his cousin.

"How am I supposed to skate without any skates?"

"Haha obviously I'll get you skates Lauren" This caused Ryan to start laughing which in-turn made Lauren's cheeks turn a bright shade of pink.

"Whatever" she hissed as she stuck her tongue out at Ryan.

Ryan led Lauren to the locker room while Taylor headed off in search of some small skates. Ryan went to his stall and sat down, Lauren walked over and sat beside him as he begun trying to pull on his skates. He had left his sling at home but Lauren knew he still wasn't supposed to exert weight or pressure on his shoulder. At first she thought it was slightly comical, the serious face Ryan had with his tongue slightly sticking out as he struggled to pull on his skates, then she noticed how aggravated he was getting. He sighed loudly and dropped his arms from his skates.

"Want some help Ryan?" Lauren posed quietly. His eyes came up to meet hers and she could tell he was embarrassed. He just stared at her as she got up and went to stand in front of him where she first took his right leg and lifted his right skate between her knees and she started pulling the laces. It made her smile as she remembered her dad having to do the same thing for her when she was so young that she wasn't strong enough to do it herself.

"Lauren you don't have to do that" Ryan tried to get her to stop, he was already embarrassed enough.

"Would you rather have Taylor do it?" she quipped back with a smirk on her face.

"Fine" he groaned. Lauren quickly finished his right skate and moved on to his left skate.

"Sorry if they aren't all that tight" she added quietly after she finished and she walked over to regain her seat on the bench next to Ryan.

"No they're good thanks" Ryan added his eyes still glued to the ground and his cheeks still flushed. An ensuing silent awkwardness was interrupted when Taylor barged into the room with a pair of hockey skates for Lauren. He sat them down next to her as he grabbed his own and laced them up. He grabbed a pair of gloves and a stick as he followed behind Ryan who had already headed out to the ice. Lauren lagged behind but eventually she made it to the ice where she stopped just short of getting on. She let her eyes travel around the rink and she realized just how big the arena really was. She imagined what it was like for the guys when the place was filled with thousands of screaming fans. Lauren was pulled back to reality when there was a big bang erupting from the boards in front of her. Her head snapped to the ice where she saw Taylor with a mischievous grin on his face.

"You coming or what" he yelled from across the ice.

With that Lauren stepped onto the ice and pushed off. At first it was weird being back on skates after so long but eventually she got re-acclimated to it. She was taking her second lap around the ice, watching Taylor shooting pucks into an empty net, when Ryan came up from behind her and grabbed her waist scaring her. She lost her balance for a moment and almost wiped out when Ryan reached out his right arm to keep her upright and save her the embarrassment.

"Thanks" she croaked out as she turned her face to see him smiling back at her.

"Hey no problem" he added as he took his arm away and the two began skating again, this time side by side. Taylor seemed pretty content just practicing drills by himself so Lauren and Ryan just skated around talking.

"How can you not like Timmies?" Ryan was shocked.

"Well in AMERICA we 'run on dunkin'" Lauren stuck her tongue out for added effect.

"Gross" Ryan shook his head.

"So how's your arm?" Lauren changed the subject.

"It's getting better. I actually have a doctors appointment tomorrow. They are gonna check it and probably give me the all clear to start training again"

"That's exciting" Lauren was happy that Ryan could start working out again, she figured Taylor was pretty lonely doing it all by himself and she knew it probably killed Ryan to not use his arm.

"Race ya" Ryan shouted as he had already started his sprint.

"Not fair!" Lauren complained as she pushed off as hard as she could trying to catch up. Two full laps later Lauren was pretty tired as she nearly collided with Ryan at the end. He had stopped suddenly to announce that he had won.

"Okay you cheated" Lauren huffed out in between uneven breaths.

"What how?"

"Well one you are a professional ice hockey player so not fair. Two you got an unfair start and three you are like a foot taller, and therefore you have a longer stride already. There's no way I could have won" Lauren said as they skated off towards the hallway and the locker room.

"Don't be a sore loser Lauren" Taylor quipped in as he high-fived Ryan and headed off the ice.

"I hate you! You're my cousin you should be on my side" Lauren shouted back.

From behind she could see Ryan's shoulders shake with laughter as he got off the ice. She followed the guys and soon the three were back out in the parking lot headed to the car.

"So what now?" Taylor wondered aloud.

"I don't care" Ryan added. They both looked at Lauren expectantly.

"Don't look at me I don't live here I don't know what there is to do"

After some debate the trio decided to just head back to the apartment so they could change out of their sweaty skating clothes. Mostly it was Lauren who complained that she was hot with leggings and a long sleeve t-shirt on. Lauren jumped in the shower when they got back home. When she got out of the shower Lauren piled her hair into a messy bun atop her head and slipped into a clean yet casual dress before she headed back out into the living room. {http://data3.whicdn.com/images/30716070/large.jpg} When she got there she saw Kelsey had joined the group.

"Hi Kelsey" Lauren smiled as she walked over to give the older girl a hug.

"So what are we gonna do?" Kelsey pipped up. To Lauren it seemed like Kelsey always had an abundance of energy, but she liked it.

"What do you wanna do?" Taylor asked her.

"Lets go to the zoo!" Kelsey responded really quickly!

"Awww YES!" Lauren chimed in.

The guys shot glances at one another before Taylor nodded his head.

"Alright let's go"
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"Aww they are so cute. Polar bears are my favorite" Lauren cooed as she and Kelsey had split off from the boys and walked around all day looking at the baby animals. The guys had gotten bored about twenty minutes in and headed to a nearby sports bar where the girls were going to meet them when they had had enough.

"I'm pooped" Kelsey complained as the girls grudgingly trudged on.

"I agree. Do you want to go meet up with the guys?" Lauren stopped and turned to wait for Kelsey's response.

Luckily for Lauren, Kelsey was an Edmonton native and she knew where the guys were and it took the girls about three minutes to walk there from the zoo. When they entered the girls immediately spotted the guys at a table with two empty chairs. They were both nursing bears and watching an intense sports broadcast.

"Hey" Kelsey cooed as she walked up and gave Taylor a kiss before plopping down in the chair beside him.

"Hey guys" Lauren added as she took the last seat.

"How was the zoo" Ryan questioned.

"Amazing" Kelsey responded.

"The animals were so cute" Lauren added.

A few minutes later a waitress arrived at the table. She way too obviously flirting with Ryan and even Taylor though he had his arm wrapped around Kelsey. After everyone placed their order Lauren asked aloud:

"Are people always like that with you guys?"

"Basically" Ryan answered, his eyes still glued to the TV.

"Does it make you jealous?" Taylor raised his eyebrows at his cousin across the table. She stuck her tongue out at him as Ryan released his gaze from the TV to look at Lauren and see her cheeks turn a rosy shade of pink.

"Why would I be jealous?" Lauren quipped back. "You aren't even that cute"

Taylor's jaw dropped as Ryan and Kelsey burst out into giggles.

"I'm taking your birthday present back" Taylor said in all seriousness.

"Fine" Lauren laughed back.

"Wait it's your birthday?" Kelsey asked her eyes wide.

"Well not for a few more days but yeah"

"You're gonna be 18 right?" Ryan asked turning towards Lauren.

"Mhmm" she responded as she took a sip of her water.

"This means we can throw you a party" Kelsey exclaimed all excitedly as she clapped her hands.

"No you really don't have to" Lauren added.

"Oh yeah you'll be legal to drink" Taylor added whilst taking another drink of his beer.

"Partyyyyy" Kelsey added again.

Lauren groaned. "Whatever"

Later that night when Taylor and Kelsey had gone to his room for the night Lauren sat in the living room with Ryan, there was some sports center program playing on the TV in the background. Ryan was looking at it but Lauren was zoned out.

"So why don't you want a party" Ryan seemingly asked out of nowhere.

"I dunno..."

Ryan continued looking at her prompting her to continue.

"I dunno I guess I'm just not the party type. I mean I don't really go to parties back home with my friends. I mean everyone likes to go get drunk and stuff and I'm just not into it I guess. I don't really see the point"

"Well you don't have to get drunk or even drink at all if you don't want to" Ryan told her honestly.

"Yeah but how weird would it be if I didn't?"

Ryan smiled, "Yeah I guess you're right, just don't worry about it"

Lauren nodded her head. As she got up to go grab a cup of water a pain shot up her leg. As she fell back down to the couch she light a small groan escape from her lips.

"Ow. What the heck" she looked down at her left ankle.

"You okay... Oh wow that's pretty swollen" Ryan added as he crossed the room to look at her swollen ankle that was slightly bruised on the outside. "Did that happen today?" Ryan asked worriedly.

"Uh no it's just an old cheer injury" Lauren replied as she tried to stand up again to no avail.

"It doesn't look like an old injury" Ryan added.

"No it's fine I just hurt it this season tumbling and continued cheering anyway. I just think all the skating and walking today caused it to hurt again. It's probably just sprained"

"Lauren you can't even stand, maybe I should take you to see the doctor"

"NO Ryan I'm fine" This time Lauren stood up and hobbled into the kitchen trying her hardest not to show the pain on her face.

Ryan followed her in as she downed two ibuprofen.

"Night" she whispered as she tried to hobble past Ryan.

"Lauren just let me take you to the doctors. If it's not broken at least they will be able to give you some medicine to help the pain" Ryan said as he reached out his arm to stop Lauren.

She leaned against his arm as she took all the weight off her left foot. "Okay but I doubt it can be broken".

Twenty minutes later the duo was hobbling into a local Edmonton emergency room. Thirty minutes later Lauren was getting quizzed about her last period and being asked if there was anyway she could be pregnant. When she assured the tech there was no chance he placed the lead vest on her and left her sitting on the table with her left leg under the lens. In about 15 minutes the on-call ortho doctor walked in, an x-ray in hand. Thanks to Ryan, Lauren had been lucky enough to get a private room in the already pretty packed emergency department.

"Well I have some good news and bad news" Doctor Smith began.

Lauren groaned as she prompted him to just continue.

"Well the bad news is it is broken, but the good news is that it was only the fibula and although it is a through and through you seem like a healthy young woman and you should be able to bounce back from it in no time"

Lauren's eyes began to water as she realized what this meant, no cheer for the whole summer.

"I'm going to give you a walking boot as long as you promise not to put any weight on it for at least 3 weeks"

Lauren nodded her head and shook the Doctors hand as he left the room to find the nurse tech who would bring the crutches and boot.

"Sorry" Ryan apologized as he saw Lauren's eyes glaze over with tears.

"It's fine" she responded rudely as she quickly wiped at her eyes before any tears could fall "It's just frustrating to know I did this to myself. I should have stopped when I first hurt it and I should have stopped skating when it started to hurt a little again today. It sucks to know that now I'm going to be even further behind when I get home and back to the gym. I'm probably gonna lose all my skills"

"I dunno what that means, but I'm sure you will still be a great cheerleader" Ryan attempted to lighten her mood.

Lauren shot him an appreciative smile as the tech walked in and started putting Lauren's foot in the boot. Five minutes later the two were headed back to Ryan's car. Despite Lauren's protests Ryan had payed her bill right on the spot.

"Well Taylor's going to be shocked when I wake up with this on tomorrow"

"He'll probably try to kill me. He's gonna think I hurt you or something"

It was a quiet ride back to the apartment and it wasn't until the two were in the elevator that Ryan spoke. He turned Lauren's shoulders towards him as he spoke

"Lauren I really am sorry"

"Now who's the one saying sorry for no reason?" Lauren flashed him a grin as she gently shoved him in his good arm.

"Guess we're both cripples now" Ryan laughed.

"Except you get cleared tomorrow and I have to wear this thing for like 4 weeks. Oh god I'm gonna get the worst tan lines" Lauren groaned.

Ryan tried not to laugh but he couldn't help it.

"Oh shut it Nugie"

Ryan stared at Lauren when his eyes glanced down to her lips. He thought about it for a second but quickly snapped out of it when the elevator dinged and Lauren started hobbling off on her crutches.