“Libby, I love you, but you don’t have room to negotiate this,” I laugh. “You’re my second in command and unless we are bringing a non-experienced senior onboard, we need to re-review applications.”
“No, no more!” Libby falls back on the sofa in defeat.
“I should be the one who can negotiate this shit. I don’t even go to school here anymore!” Bren exclaims as she shuffles through papers.
Bren’s not wrong, but I’m quick to remind her she’s being paid a pretty nice stipend by the hockey team to stay onboard for two months.
“I’ll make a deal with you both. We share our top three applicants. Then on our flights there, we review each other’s piles and score everyone, including our own applicants with scores one through five. That way we can make a no pile and start to get interviews on the books.”
“And more wine?” Libby perks up.
“On it!” Bren springs up off the couch and bolts to the kitchen to grab another bottle of red. Once we’ve all been topped off, Libby starts presenting her top three applicants.
A daze falls over me, I’m not fully listening to anything Libby says until she says something about a girl having a unique background in fundraising for fashion companies.
“No hockey ties?” I raise an eyebrow.
“None, but we have that part covered!” Libby hurries to add. “She has extensive experience working with large fashion brands on thefundraising and event planning side. I think she could bring a unique set of skills to the table and be a huge asset. She would come in as a sophomore transfer.”
My eyes widen with intrigue. Libby knows I really want to focus on bigger, better fundraisers this year—a skillset like this could be just what we need to help support my vision. She has my full attention now.
“Tell me more.”
Chapter three
Lucas
Light streams through the windows in the living room where I sit and reminisce about last seasons, which feels like it just ended yesterday, but somehow it’s May. I didn’t take my team to the finals to win it all, but we made it pretty damn far getting to the Frozen Four. We persevered. We pushed ourselves harder than before.Andwe had some unnecessary obstacles like two of our key players getting benched for several games from a stupid, drunken night.
But that was nothing compared to finding out my girlfriend’s abusive ex-boyfriend was on our biggest rival team. I ended up in the penalty box, but his face is still intact, which means I handled myself much better than I should have. Playing East Michigan while he’s on the team will always infuriate me. With what Nathan Kovek did to Lauren . . . he should be in jail. Regardless of all the ups and downs, it’s a season I will always be proud of—proud of myself as a player, proud of myself as a captain, and proud of myself as a man handling unnavigable situations.
Now, it’s summer at West. Summer always takes more of a toll on me than I like to admit. Most people love the sun, the beach, time off and vacations. I was born to be on the ice as much as possible, which doesn’t go hand in hand with any of those things.
Keith Hall, my roommate, best buddy and Wyvern’s goalie, saunters into the living room from upstairs. I’ve got the TV and have been jumping from show to show, trying to find something to watch and relax.
“You excited to leave for the beach?” He asks blooping down next to me.
“I guess so.” I shrug, pausing on the travel channel.
Somehow, Laur still convinced me to take a trip with plenty of sun and sand, but absolutely no ice rink. When she said“It’s our last shot at summer before being in the real world—it’s our summer shot.”I couldn’t argue. I’m not sure how I’m going to survive without ice time, but if anyone is worth it, it’s her.
We agreed I would get at least three hours everyday for what I needed to do and the rest of the time to enjoy vacation. Two of those hours are designated for working out and forcing the rest of the team to join me. The other hour is just for myself to try to unwind without chaos around me.
“Why do you have such a hard time relaxing?” Keith asks.
I release my shoulders, not realizing they were tensed up.
“I’ve got a lot on my plate this season—” I flip through the channels“—you know that.”
“Yeah, but the Wyverns are going to kick ass this season.” Keith gets up to go to the kitchen, grabs himself a beer from the fridge, then sits at the table, scrolling through his phone.
I guess he’s taking summer by the reins. Meanwhile, my stress level seems to rise daily, knowing I need to bring my suggestions on three players for alternative captains this year to Coach the day after we return from this trip. The team takes a vote and the coaching staff weighs in, but Coach Andres made it clear to me my recommendation will have the most weight on his final decision.
Keith is the most obvious choice. Despite his current 11:00 a.m. beer, Keith has always been a leader on the team. Not to mention he’s one of the best goalies in college hockey.
Tyler Barret, one of our other close friends, is another option. Like me, Tyler lives and breathes the sport and will likely play for the NHL after our final season as Wyverns. Laur will deny this until her dying breath—but Tyler is a playboy.
In Laur’s defense, he does hide it well. My number one focus right now is hockey and it should be the main priority for the entire teamif we want to make it to the finals this year. Tyler might love hockey, but I think he’ll put meeting girls and getting laid first on this trip. I’m curious to see how much he focuses on keeping up his workouts and helping me wrangle in the guys who complain about it.
