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“Hockey is life here,” my cousin responds. The twins glance at us over their shoulders, nodding in agreement.
“It’s true. You know how towns in the South shut down when there’s a football game? That’s how we are when the Fire plays. It’s like a religion,” Maeve says with a little shrug.
“Really?” I don’t get it. I mean, hockey isn’t my thing, granted, but…I don’t get it. Maybe I’m just bitter because hockey is, in fact, Levi’s thing. Looking around, I see that they’re not exaggerating. People are dressed in head-to-toe Fire paraphernalia. Painted faces, big foam #1 fingers in red or black, hats with flames sprouting from the top, and more than one shirt with Sexton across the back. Bewildered, I turn back to Rae. “They know it’s just hockey, right?” The horrified look on her face causes me to sputter a laugh.
“You bite your damn tongue, Saffron Briggs. Just wait. You’ll see once you get in there,” she tells me confidently.
Whatever. I’d rather be watching Landon play golf, which is literally the most boring sport to watch. Raegan links arms with me, dragging me along as the line finally starts moving. “No worries, cousin, you’ll get used to things here. And these hockey boys are pretty to look at.” She bumps my shoulder and smiles when I make a little gagging noise. “Come on, wait till you see our seats. They’re wicked!” Rae says excitedly. “Mr. Sexton likes to sit right on the glass. He has season tickets for us plus a couple extra for when Levi’s agent or whoever is in town. You see everything up close.” She’s practically bouncing, and as much as she says it’s about the pretty hockey boys, I know it’s her love for the game. She’s played since she was little and is here at FU on a full hockey scholarship. She loves hockey as much as I love softball. I can’t help but grin at her excitement.
After about thirty minutes, we make it to our seats. Raegan wasn’t kidding. Even I can admit that they’re amazing. We move along the glass, stopping when we hit our designated chairs. Once there, none of us sits, though. Our gazes focus on the players on the ice, whizzing by us in a red, white, and black blur. Raegan leans into me, her arm extended. “There’s Levi, number thirty-one.”
I shove her arm down. “Oh my god, Rae. Don’t point.” She looks at me and bursts out laughing.
“My bad.” Her tone is amused as she looks at me like I’m half crazy. I am. I don’t know why. It’s him. He makes me stupid. I hate it. I also hate how good he looks on the ice in his uniform. He’s tall as it is, but on skates…he’s a giant. A broad-shouldered giant with sand-colored hair licking at the back of his helmet. Not that I noticed. As if he can feel my eyes on him, he glances in our direction. Even through the cage covering his face, I can see the flash of white teeth and disarming dimples. Of their own accord, my eyes roll and then narrow. At this rate, I’ll be dizzy from all this damn eye-rolling. It’s completely involuntary. Millie leans across Raegan, bringing my attention to her instead of the pain in the ass on the ice.
“We’re going to go grab drinks and snacks. You stay here in case we aren’t back before the game starts. You don’t want to miss the intro! It’s wicked cool.” Motioning for Raegan to follow, the trio goes off leaving me to watch the skaters as they take shots at their goalie who I think is Murphy, though I’m not positive. It’s super hard to tell with all of the equipment.
Coach Sexton doesn’t sit. He stands at the glass, arms folded across his chest watching Levi intently. It gives me a little pang, reminding me of my dad. He never missed a single one of my games. He was die hard. A baseball player himself most of his life, he never had a son to follow in his footsteps, but I was happy to fill the space as best I could with softball. He loved it. Loved me. With tears pricking, I shake off the emotions and swing my gaze back to the players. I’ve seen Raegan play around in the yard with her dad, but we moved away before she started playing on an actual team or anything. The way these guys move is crazy. They’re like fluid motion. They make it look so effortless. I’m kind of impressed. I wouldn’t think that guys this big could be so graceful.
A horn blares, and the players file off the ice into a tunnel, the lights dimming as they do. People scurry onto the ice they just vacated, pushing huge…things. I have no clue what they are or what purpose they serve. Minutes tick by as more and more people shuffle onto the ice pushing large equipment into place in front of the doorway that the players had disappeared through just moments ago. I glance questioningly over at Coach, who still hasn’t sat down. He smiles.
“Flame throwers.”
At my startled expression, he laughs. “You’ll see.” As he says this, the arena goes completely black seconds before the jumbotron lights up in a countdown. The crowd chants along.
“Ten…Nine…Eight…Seven…” The numbers flick across the screen in succession. When they hit one, the arena explodes. Literally. Fireworks and flames light up the darkness from the ice to the rafters. Inside. Fireworks and fire. Inside the building. These people are fucking crazy. The flames dance across the shiny surface of the ice at the same time sparks fall from the ceiling, lighting up the space. I’m not sure where to look first. I’m not entirely sure the whole place isn’t going to burn down. I mean, who does this?
Light ’em up starts playing, drawing my attention to the show and the pyrotechnics still happening on the ice. I almost miss the flashing of faces across the jumbotron. I smile a little when I recognize Murphy, who I sort of like. But my smile slips when Levi’s dimpled face appears, bringing with it a rise in cheers and screams from around the arena. And there go my eyes, rolling around in my head like they’re not even attached. Hockey player after hockey player lights up the screen, and while some get a louder response than others, none get the kind of response Levi did.
The flames get higher, the crowd louder, and then the music stops. Everyone stands, whistling and cheering as the announcer starts introducing the players. One by one, he calls their names, and they come flying out of the tunnel through a canopy of flames. I’m waiting for one of them to catch fire.
“Annnnnd last but not least, captain of your Fulton University Fire number thirty onnnneeeeee Levvvviiii Sexxxttonnnn.” He drags it out as the stadium goes absolutely insane. The entire place and everyone in it, including the twins and Raegan, who right this moment is jabbing me with her bony ass elbow, erupts in deafening cheers. I turn to glare at her, but her smile is so bright I can’t bring myself to do it. Does she like him? Oh god no. She can’t. Can she? Deciding that there's no way, I lean in and shout.
“Isn’t this a bit much? I mean, its college, not the NHL.” I’m truly baffled. I mean, flamethrowers?
She moves closer and speaks louder so that I can hear her over the crowd.
“Maybe, but a few of these guys will go on to play in the minors if not the NHL like Levi.”
I guess I didn’t realize he was that big of a deal. Which is silly because since I’ve been here at Fulton, I’ve heard so much talk about him going pro. I must just have blocked it out.
The guys are all lined up on the blue line, except for Murphy who is standing a little ways apart from them and facing his goal. Everyone goes quiet and stands as skaters help a girl onto the ice to sing the national anthem. My cousin hisses “bitch” under her breath and that’s when I notice that the singer is in fact one of the girls who were all over Levi at his party.
“Nora,” Raegan informs me, “or as we like to call her ‘Whore-a. And not because she sleeps around but because she’s so freaking nasty to everyone without a dick.’”
I can’t help but laugh. My cousin isn’t usually so hateful. She must really feel some type of way about this chick. The lighting in the arena changes, and the jumbotron turns into an American flag as Nora belts out a surprisingly beautiful rendition of the anthem. On the way off the ice, she blows a kiss Levi's way. There’s no stopping my eyes from taking a trip around my skull, much the same as the twins can’t stop their gagging noises, I’m guessing. The moment her feet are off the ice, the guys burst from where they were standing, making a circle against the glass before getting into position for the puck drop.
When Levi glides past, he taps a fist to his dad’s through the glass with a little nod. Once he does, Coach sits down for the first time since we entered the stadium. It must be their thing, and I hate to admit it, but it makes me not want to punch Levi quite so much.
Seconds after that, the game starts and just like everyone else in the place, I’m riveted by the players flying around the ice like they run on jet fuel. Sticks clacking against each other as they fight for the puck in one of the corners. I jump a little when one of the guys is slammed into the glass in front of me by a player on the Fire. The twins beat on the glass in encouragement. Tiny little red headed savages. Not that my cousin is any better screaming out “Yeah! Put him into the boards, Fish! Don’t take that shit from him!” Jesus. They’re all a bunch of bloodthirsty animals. I’m not sure if I should be afraid of them or what.
By intermission, my nerves are shot, and I’m having a hard time sitting in my seat. I’m not sure if I love it or hate it. The game is tied. One player from the other team has been evicted for fighting, and Murphy had the wind knocked out of him by some asshat who obviously needs to be wearing figure skates since he doesn’t know how to make a hockey stop, according to Raegan. I must agree because I just yelled at him to get some figure skates.
“This is the last period. They have to pull it together. We can’t lose to this team,” Maeve says, passing her popcorn my way. Her eyes follow her man’s movements as he goes back to the bench.
“We don’t like them?” Three sets of eyes land on me the second the question leaves my mouth.
“We hate them,” Millie says.
