I yawn. “I don’t know.”
Another loud noise. It sounds like someone’s pounding on his bedroom door.
“Nick, you gotta see this,” Travis says from the other side of the door.
Gently, Nick moves me off of him and onto the bed. I sit up and glance around for my phone. When I check the time, it’s late morning. Wow. We passed out hard the last few hours.
Nick stands up and grabs his jersey from the floor, then helps me put it on.
“Gimme a sec,” he hollers at Travis. He yawns, pulls on a pair of joggers, tugs a hand through his hair, then opens the door.
He glares at Travis. “This better be good.”
Travis holds up his phone. “Have you seen this?”
Nick’s eyes go wide as he looks at the phone screen. “Holy shit…”
“What happened?” I hop off the bed and walk over to him. He shows me the phone. I gasp.
The screen is flooded with social media posts supporting Nick for running into the stands and protecting me. I scroll and scroll. It’s endless. There are thousands of comments defending him. I skim a handful of them.
Beyond messed up that Nick St. George got suspended from Hollis U for defending a woman being attacked. I won’t be going to anymore games until he’s back.
So this guy gets suspended for doing the right thing? Fucked up. Let him play!!
That guy is a hero. He defended his girlfriend against some scumbag, and they’re punishing him with suspension? WTF, @HollisU? What is wrong with you?
I get it, no fighting allowed in college hockey. But this wasn’t against a player. This was against a douchebag who was assaulting a woman. Nick St. George should be getting praise, not suspended.
Where the hell was arena security to help this poor girl?
I would have done the same. No one puts their hands on my girl.
“People are threatening to boycott Hollis U men’s hockey because of your suspension,” Travis says.
Nick blinks at him, then at the phone screen, clearly in shock. “I can’t believe it,” he says.
I grab his hand. “I can. They support what you did. They support you.”
“Yeah. Everyone is behind you, man. We are, too,” Travis says. “Leo, Blake, and I sent emails to Coach Sawyer this morning. We said we’re not gonna play if you’re suspended.”
Nick’s brow hits his hairline. “Dude, no. You guys can’t do that. You could lose your standing on the team.”
Travis’s determined expression doesn’t budge. “We don’t care. We don’t wanna play for a team that’s punishing you for doing the right thing. It’s fucked up.”
Emotion surges through me as I watch Nick and Travis. Nick blinks quickly, like he’s trying not to cry.
“Remember in high school when you went to bat for me?” Travis says.
Nick pulls Travis into a hug.
“Thanks, man,” Nick says.
I step out of the room to give them a moment. I head into the bathroom to pee and wash up. When I walk back into the bedroom, Travis is gone. Nick is sitting on the edge of his bed, scrolling through his phone.
“This is insane,” he says. “So many people care about this.”
I sit next to him and rest my head on his shoulder as he scrolls through more comments.
