The Wall Between

American Airlines Center wasn’t nearly as cold as Clarke thought it was going to be. She was still glad she wore a dark green sweater and leggings, but she was even happier to find that she wasn’t dying of freezing temperatures. She hopped down the steps that was filling in with people in kelly-green jerseys and white jerseys and pretty much a bunch of other colors, the more she looked around. Collin was also in green, his date Vienna the only one of them in an actual Stars shirt.

Seeing the row on the ticket, Clarke marched down the row, pausing to let people pull their legs in and let them walk by. They had amazing seats, Clarke was pretty sure. They were behind the goal where Tyler said the Stars would shoot twice, and they were only a few rows up so she could see the entire length of the ice. She wasn’t educated enough to know, but she was pretty sure he had given them amazing seats.

On cue, Vienna let out an appreciative sound. “These are great seats.”

Clarke smiled, more to herself than anything. “Yeah, they are pretty amazing. He wanted to give us something in the box but I felt weird agreeing to box seats.”

“Yeah,” Collin grumbled. “What’s weird about amazing service and extra accommodations.”

Clarke gave him a look. “I don’t like to be arrogant and ask for a lot. These were the first seats he offered before he doubled back and said he could put me in a box. I don’t want him to think I expect tickets all the time or boxes or whatever else. I just want to watch the game.”

“Yeah Collin,” Vienna agreed with Clarke. “We just want to watch hockey.”

Rolling his eyes but smiling, Collin didn’t disagree. Clarke liked Vienna. She had long, dark hair and green eyes that could knock anyone on their ass. She was also incredibly intelligent- far smarter than Clarke considered herself to be- and she had an air about her that was always happy and up for anything.

Vienna would be good for Collin.

Leaning back in her seat, Clarke looked around. She hadn’t been to a hockey game since she was a little kid, and she couldn’t really remember what it was like. Now, she watched thousands of people fill into their seats around all levels of the bowl. People from a distance looked like colored ants, scurrying around the aisles.

The air was cool, but not uncomfortable. The arena was at a dull roar as music played softly around the bowl. The giant screen over the ice had different advertisements and spots going, as well as a giant clock counting down until warmups started. Clarke sipped her beer, feeling excited to watch the game.

It was weird. Clarke had gone to plenty of sporting events before but she had to say she was incredibly excited to watch Tyler play. She had, of course, seen him play on TV. That had been so weird for her, trying to watch someone that she saw all the time on her television. It was definitely something that she wasn’t used to, but tried not to act weird about whenever she was around him. Now she was going to watch him play in person, which didn’t feel nearly as odd.

Warmups started and people flooded around the glass. Clarke was only mildly disappointed that the Stars were warming up on the other side of the rink. She wasn’t really hoping to catch Tyler’s eye or anything. She didn’t want to bother him while he was in the zone, even if it was just warmups. Whenever people tried to be super social with Clarke while she was stretching people out or going through a treatment, she hated when people sought out her attention.

The players left the ice and the Zambonis came on to get it ready. Clarke busied herself talking to her brother and Vienna. It felt like only a few minutes had even gone by before the lights in the arena were dimmed and the Stars were shown lining up in their hallway on screen. The dull roar had turned into a steady crescendo of thunder.

Clarke stood up like everyone else as music began to rattle her rib cages. A hologram went out over the ice and the scoreboard when black momentarily as a pregame intro displayed over the smooth, freshly cut ice. Clarke’s heart beat a bit wildly as it finished and lights went out, before coming to a dull glow, the screen turning on again.

Clapping her hands as the announcements began, Clarke watched the screen. She wasn’t sure where else to look. With the announcement of the Tampa Bay Lightning take the ice, the entire arena filled with boos and cat calls momentarily. Clarke gave her brother a wide-eyed look but he shrugged and joined in, yelling ridiculous insults that were at the level of a toddler.

Once the music for the home team began, everyone was screaming so loudly that Clarke thought she’d go deaf. She still managed to clap and cheer, though as they went through the starting lineup and announced Tyler’s name, she let out a savage war scream that nearly startled Collin over a seat and down a couple rows. She grinned widely at him.

After the pregame ritual was over and the lights were back on, Clarke settled into a few minutes of anxious leaning forward in her seat as the puck was put into play. It lasted for a good ten minutes until she relaxed a bit and really paid attention to the game instead of just trying to find Tyler on the ice, which, was difficult sometimes.

Though no one scored in the first period, Clarke was excited. There had already been close calls, a lot of puck movement, and a couple of scrums were she embarrassingly encouraged them to fight. As long as it wasn’t her friend getting his teeth knocked out, Clarke was always up for a little gratuitous violence.

During intermission, she darted out to the concourse and stood in line, bouncing her foot up and down impatiently. she thankfully made it back as the second period started and plopped down in her seat with fresh beer and focused in on the game. She was glad she made it back soon because only three minutes into the second, Jamie Benn scored off a pass from Tyler. She leapt out of her seat, cheering as Jamie’s face exploded onto the scoreboard as the goa, followed by Tyler for the primary assist.

“That was amazing,” Collin said, clapping his hands before sitting down with the rest of the crowd. “At least, I think it was.”

The entire game was filled with a mix of any normal sports game. People taunted the ref, the screamed for penalties, they cussed when they didn’t think the penalty was legit, they yelled instructions to the team, and they generally had a good time. It was the same atmosphere that you could find at most any sport.

Clarke had to admit she enjoyed it more than sitting in a very hot football stadium, though she wasn’t quite as sure what was going on during play.

The Stars win was sealed late in the third period when Tampa Bay pulled their goalie. Clarke, despite not cheering for them, felt sudden anxiety. She hated it on TV when they pulled the goalie and she hated it even more now, cringing when Dallas couldn’t get possession and get across the ice.

In a tizzy of motion, Tyler broke away from the group, two Tampa players blazing after him. It didn’t matter. All he needed was a clean shot from center ice to send the puck shooting right towards the net, passing through no barrier as it hit the back of the net hard, the light going off and the crowd jumping up again as the guitar riff began to play with the goal horn.

Knowing that they were going to win, people began filing out of the arena. Clarke thought it a bit rude, but could understand trying to escape the parking lot madness. She remained in her seat, watching as the clock ran down and people stood up, a roar coming back to life as the play winded down until it was over. Clarke whistled and hollered as the team gathered around their goalie, clapping him on the head and celebrating overall.

Gathering their things, they filtered out of the arena in high spirits. Collin asked Clarke to go out for a drink with them, but Clarke declined. She had classes tomorrow and she had done the whole get a terrible hangover while in class thing before. It wasn’t up to her fancy so instead, she drove back to her house where Collin had left his car.

Clarke said her goodbyes and took down Vienna’s number, promising to go to a lunch date soon. She genuinely liked the girl and Clarke was always up for new friends in her life. Piper and Jonah were amazing people, but they were just as busy as she was. Sometimes she wanted friends when they weren’t available.

About two hours after the game, Clarke was in her kitchen stirring her green tea, just about to go climb into her bed when there was a soft knock on the door. She wandered down the hall and looked through the hole, but she already knew who was going to be standing on the other side.

Tyler looked tired, his hair freshly washed and gelled back, still in a suit. Clarke leaned against the door frame, not carrying that she was in just a big t-shirt and lose boxers. She reached out and tugged as his tie a little. “Look at you,” she mused. “You clean up nice.”

“And you…” He looked her up and down. Something briefly passed his face before he shrugged and found her eyes again. “Dress down nice, I guess.”

“Want to come in?”

“Nah, you look like you were about to go to bed. I just wanted to ask how- "

“Amazing,” she blurted cutting him off. “So much better than it is on TV. It’s so exciting, especially when the pregame is going and there’s music and all that. I thought I was going to explode.”

Tyler was chuckling lightly through her entire tirade. He looked genuinely happy at her reaction, the corners of his mouth turned up, his tired eyes dancing with some liveliness. He nodded, absently running a hand through his hair. “Good,” he said. “Good.”

A single strand of damp hair fell against his forehead. Clarke absently reached forward and brushed her fingers across his skin lightly, putting the hair back in place. Tyler leaned into the touch a little bit, his eyes falling closed lightly, making Clarke grin. She remembered when she was young and her mom used to brush her hair when she was tired. It almost always put her to sleep.

When he opened his eyes, Tyler’s warm irises had gone to charcoal. Silence filled the space between them, but Clarke wasn’t uncomfortable. She sipped the tea in her hand. Tyler’s eyes went to it. She held it up as a gesture and he finally nodded. She stepped to the side and let him slip into her apartment, loosening his tie.

Shutting the door quietly behind him, Clarke made Tyler hot tea as he settled tiredly with Dixie on her couch. It was as it always was between them: easy, comfortable, natural.