Oh! Justin gives a little tap in front of Alabama’s net that leads to confusion. Everyone’s battling for it, and when they pull themselves together, the away team’s goaltender comes up with a couple of good saves.
By the end of the first, the Raccoons are up by two. I’ve never seen any of the de la Peña brothers play so well. Never.
Ares is standing on his head, Artemis is crushing everything that moves, and my prince of darkness? He got his stick to both of those goals for two assists and counting. He’s lighter on his skates, too. Like a weight has been taken off his shoulders.
He’s picked his head up and is skating like the ice is an extension of his body, like he was born to play, and it’s about fucking time, too. Because he was.
Athena bounces in her seat during the period break but claims she doesn’t need to pee. “You know, I stopped coming to games for so long. It’s only really since Ares got together with Eloise that I’ve started to come back more than a game here and there.”
The temptation to lean into her and sniff her hair is overwhelming. But that’s weird, right?
She sees me staring and lifts her hand to her hair. “What? Did I get something in my hair?”
I giggle, shaking my head. “You’ve been my hero since we were kids. Part of me can’t believe we’re sitting here, side by side watching your brothers play.”
She arches a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “And the other part?”
“Really wants to smell your hair.”
Tori and Savannah burst out laughing. Eloise stands to go to the bathroom. And by the time the second period starts we all have refills and fresh snacks.
That doesn’t last long, because within the first ten seconds of the second period, Raffi gets his stick to a messy rebound and bags a bar down goal. Athena launches herself out of her seat, screaming, and proceeds to knock her large tub of popcorn everywhere and kick over two cups of soda at the same time.
For someone so epically put together, you really can’t take her anywhere. I can’t help but laugh.
When play restarts, Alabama dumps the puck. Scott Raine picks up the puck to the blueline. He blasts it through for Apollo who takes a right-handed shot on the left side, trying to catch the netminder off the post, but the over-sized netminder is somehow quick to get back.
Apollo is pissed. I’ve seen it so many times over the years. Once he goes to the effort of bringing the biscuit to the basket and misses a great scoring opportunity, he does what he can to make it right.
He doesn’t owe this game anything. He’s already collecting points like Mario collects gold coins, but the hunger on his face is clear, from the way he smacks the stick on the ice calling for the pass, to how he carries himself on his skates. Apollo is here to win.
And it’s so fucking hot.
The line has barely changed when Apollo mounts the boards on the bench, pleading to go back on the ice. He’s poised like a lion, ready to strike when Coach gives him the nod.
My stomach clenches as the shift changes. If he gets called for too many men, he’s gonna lose his shit. But my anxiety is unnecessary as he handles the changeover seamlessly.
My muscles don’t relax though. Justin hammers the puck off the cuff of the Alabama goalie’s glove. He has no business making that save, but he totally robs our captain of what would have been a beaut.
I can’t breathe.
By the end of the second, we’re up by three. While Alabama didn’t score during that last twenty minutes, they also didn’t let one in either. It feels like damage control, but I’m not naive enough to think the game is over.
Hockey games can turn on a dime.
Athena grabs my hand with freakish strength. “I need more snacks.”
Hopefully this time she won’t launch them all over the fucking stands. “Athena?”
“Sí amiga?”
“I already broke my arm once this year. Could you... you know...?” As tempting as it is to let Athena break my arm for fun, I really am done with fucking casts. I hope to every god I can think of that they’ll let me get this cast off my leg soon. Surely a boot would be better than this thing... right?
Athena gasps, then strokes my hand.“Lo siento,”she coos.
It’s not long before the game restarts. A couple minutes in, there’s a little bit of back and forth in the Raccoons offensive zone that finishes up in their defensive zone.
“They tried to get it in deep there.”
