“Johns won’t get in,” he added, seemingly knowing what I was thinking. “But… Johns got an AHL offer.”
I could practically hear the blood pounding in myears.
That was a big fucking deal.
A huge fucking deal.
That he couldnotpass up.
Coach went on talking about confidentiality after that and a bunch of other shit… but I knew why he was telling me. Nick would completely ignore that offer to go play at school with me- even though he hated school… even though he’d probably fail out after one semester if he somehowwasable to get in… and then he wouldn’t be playing anywhere.
Coach didn’t want him to pass up the AHL. Hell, I didn’t want him to.
Nick was the kind of kid who could afford to bypass school because Nick was the kind of kid who was destined for the NHL. Nick thought that I was too, which was really fucking nice of him. He was a great best friend. He was a great brother… But I knew the truth. I’d maybe, hopefully, possibly be able to get there one day. But I wasn’t going to put all my eggs in one basket. I needed a plan B. I wouldn’t take a gamble with my future. I wanted better for myself. I was a cycle breaker.
I needed to go to school.
Nick needed to go to the AHL.
We officially had to go our separate ways.
As Nick and I walked out of the locker room together, I struggled with how to break the news to him.
“So, what did Coach say? You got an offer?” he asked excitedly with his eyebrows up.
I nodded.
“Yeah buddy!” he yelled out. “Where?” he asked like an eager puppy.
“I’m not tellin’ you,” I said gruffly.
His eyes clouded over as he realized I was serious. “Why the hell not, bud? We’re stickin together. Where you go, I go.”
I sighed. This was going to be hard as fuck.
“Benny’s while we wait for Sav and Duke?” I asked him.
He nodded, still looking confused.
We dropped our bags on the lobby floor outside of Benny’s and slid into a booth.
“So, where are we goin?” he asked again.
I looked at his expectant face and hated that I was about to crush him.
“We have toseparate.”
“What the fuck, man. No,” he laughed like it was the stupidest thing he’d ever heard and began watching a game on one of Benny’s flat screens.
“Nick,” I forced him to look at me. “You got an offer from an AHL team. You can’t pass that up now.”
He looked taken aback. “What do you mean ‘now’?”
“You have Sav you have to worry about. You can’t pass this up. This could be your ticket. Go build a life for her… I’ll make it there one day, maybe. You get there then reach down and help me out,” I smirked. “I’ll befine.”
“Nah, you can’t be serious, man. We’ll make it together. We’ll figure something out. I’ll say I’m only going if they sign you too,” hepushed.
“No. You can’t chance your opportunity by making demands,” I said firmly. “You go make it. Iwantto go to school.”
