Brothers Forever

Michael let out a small sigh as he heard Coach Lucia blow the whistle signaling the end of practice. It had been a little over a week since the Gopher’s victory over St. Cloud State and the team had been steadily preparing for the Frozen Four Semi-final game against their longtime rivals, University of North Dakota. Slowly the entire team skated to center ice, sweat dripping down each of their faces. “Alrighty boys, good practice. The energy felt good. Remember we fly out tomorrow afternoon after practice so come with your bags to the arena. Alright captains?”

Nate Condon floated into the middle of the circle, “Good Practice boys, make sure you talk to teachers about this weekend. Stay hydrated” The boys all huddled a little closer sticking their hands into the middle. “Gophers on three, one, two three”

“Gophers” the team chorused before breaking apart, some heading to the locker room others looking to play with the puck a little more. Michael took a couple of laps around the ice shooting some pucks against the boards before he made his way to the locker room. As he took off his gloves, he glanced down at his wrist that had been bothering him throughout practice.

“You should get that looked at” Ben, his D-partner said as he sat down in his stall.

“I was planning on it”

“Is that the same one you broke earlier?”

“Yeah, I think, I don’t know I felt it warming up today.” Michael sighed making his way towards the trainers’ room.
Connor was sitting out on one of the trainer’s table bags of ice surrounding both of his knees. The trainer, Anthony turned around as Michael walked in.

“Hey Michael what can I do for ya?”

“Umm. My wrist is kinda bothering me?” Michael said holding out his arm the deep bruising and swelling starting to surface more, now that he had stopped using it.

“Let’s take a look” Anthony motioned to the table. Michael took a seat letting his legs dangle off the end. Anthony gently took the wrist in his hands. “Can you feel all of your fingers?” Michael nodded, slightly grimacing as Anthony began pressing down. “Did you feel any pops?”

“No? It was kind of like a stretched out, it got worse as practice went on”

“alright, hold your hand out” Anthony demonstrated placing hand out with is fingers out stretched. Michael complied. “Okay don’t let me bend your wrist” Anthony began to place gentle pressure on the top of his hand, before switching to pushing underneath the hand.

Anthony mumbled somethings to himself before carefully flipping Michael’s wrist over so that the palm of his hand was facing the ceiling. Michael gently pulled his hand back as Anthony hit a tender spot. “tender there?”

Michael gave a weak smile, his cheeks flushing at his pained reaction. “yeah a little bit”

Anthony slid away in his roller chair, leaning his back against the counter, “It looks like you strained some of the tendons in your wrist. So let’s ice it and I’m going to wrap it to help with the swelling.”

Michael made himself comfortable on the trainer’s table before he reluctantly accepted the bag of ice Anthony had just filled.

Meanwhile, Jonny stared at the power point that his Marketing class teacher was running through. He wasn’t quite sure if he was lost from missing a week of classes or if his concussion was still causing him to be unable to focus so he was only picking up half of the material. Tapping the end of his pencil a few times against the desk he tried to figure out the seemingly simple calculations the teacher was presenting in the waning minutes of the class.
As class was dismissed, Jonny left his materials on his desk stiffly making his way over to the teacher before she scurried out of the classroom.

“Mrs. Jackson?” Jonny tentatively said, standing in front of the computer that hooked up to the projector.

When she looked up she smiled, “It was nice having you back in class today” She seemed to be looking over him for visible signs of the aftermath of the hit. Fortunately for Jonny, he had gone back to an orthopedist during the week, and was given a much less bulky back brace that simply encased his entire abdomen. It was barely visible underneath a baggy sweatshirt, save for his rigid posture. “How are you feeling?”

“Better, but I’ve been better” Jonny sighed, “So I know I was emailing you about that make up work and test that I missed.”

“Right, so I am willing to let you take it when you are ready” Mrs. Johnson smiled, “I understand the whole workings of a concussion with my two sons so I get that you may not be ready to take within my typical class guidelines.”

“Thanks” Jonny said. “I’ll keep emailing you on my plans”

“Okay, get better we need you on the ice next year.” She smiled.

Jonny nodded slowly, making sure that he didn’t start any new headaches before turning to head back to clean up his stuff. Still not able to carry a backpack for another 5 or 6 weeks, he simply piled his books and carried them in his hands and as normally as possible made his back towards his apartment.

“Where do you think you are going?” A person, who Jonny realized to be Andrew, said behind him as he walked out of the room.

“To the rink for locker clean out” Jonny said innocently, Andrew easily keeping up with Jonny’s slow gait.

“Right, carrying a pile of books” Andrew clued in, “In front of Brian the trainer.” Jonny nodded picking up on his hint. Andrew pulled his backpack on his shoulder, stopping at a nearby bench,

“Come on Brodzy, just put them in my backpack, we’ll figure out a better system for the upcoming weeks.”
Begrudgingly Jonny placed his laptop and various class materials into Andrew’s backpack before they continued to the arena. After he went to locker clean out, which ended up being him watching the boys clean out their lockers because Brian nor any of the boys would let him do anything he found his stomach longing for food.

Unlocking his apartment door, he could smell something being made in the kitchen. Although he couldn’t figure out what, his mouth was watering and his body, almost robotically, took him to the kitchen. To his surprise, standing in front of the stove wasn’t one of his roommates, but his girlfriend Lauren.

A smile grew on his face, considering he hadn’t seen her since, well, before the accident; sure, they had face-timed and texted, but even that was limited because of his concussion. “Whatcha making?”

He swore he saw Lauren’s smile quadruple in size as he gently hung his arms over her shoulders, resting his chin on top of hers. “Hey you” she said, turning in his embrace to give him a soft kiss on his cheek. Jonny smiled as Lauren turned back to the stove to fix what she’s making, “Some chicken picatta. I hope you’re hungry because I made a lot”

“I’m always hungry” Jonny smiled, “Especially after being in class all morning”

“Which reminds me, you should be off you feet mister” Lauren said, setting something, most likely the sauce, off the side.

“Not you too” Jonny said putting his hands up and Lauren playfully guided him towards the couch.

“Sorry Jonny” She smirked, “You’re mom actually called me. She was pretty concerned you were gonna make your situation worse by going to class so soon”

Jonny stiffly plopped down on the couch, secretly relieved that Lauren was making him rest, being in class all day had taken a toll on him, “So she gave you that talk did she”

“Yes, and I promised her that I would coddle you until you were back to full strength” Lauren said nestling her head onto Jonny’s lap, careful not to hurt him more than he already was. Immediately Jonny began to stroke through her blond hair, staring into her blue eyes. “Even if it means forcing those pain killers down your throat” She said in a somewhat evil tone.

Jonny’s eyes widened, “so that why you made the food, so that I could take my pain meds”

Lauren laughed, “Well that and you need to eat, and I wanted to spend time with you before you leave me again”

“Right. Do you have plans for the weekend?”

“Nah, probably watch the games on TV, I need to catch up on some homework” Lauren said sitting up on the couch, fixing her hair that she had messed up. “Which reminds me. I am supposed to help you pack. Your mom doesn’t want you bending over”

“Of course she doesn’t” Jonny rolled his eyes, as he heard the timer go off in the kitchen.

Lauren sighed, “That’s my calling. Now don’t move, I will be right back with food”