S C O T T

There were five more practices until we found out who made the team.

Five.

Currently, it was a half-hour into practice. My legs already ached and I was drenched in sweat; with only a few more practices left, I had to work as hard as I could. Even though part of me kept wondering why Elle hadn't shown up to this pratice. (Thinking about her caused me to get checked into the wall a few times).

Jay skated up to me, an easy smile on his face. I grinned back and leaned on my stick, seeing Coach Monroe trying to get everyone's attentions from the bleachers. No one was paying attention, though, and I figured I had a couple of minutes before I actually had to skate over towards him.

"Where's Elle?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow. I chocked and quirked my eyebrow; why was he asking me where she was?

I shrugged, glad my helmet covered the flush that undoubtedly covered my cheeks, "No idea," I mumbled, meeting Jay's brown eyes. His grin widened and I flushed even darker, "she's probably, like, busy."

"Busy," Jay nodded, eyes twinkling. I glared and slapped the side of his helmet, making him bust out in laughter, "you'll know why she wasn't here by tomorrow, though, won't you?"

"What?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. I slowly started skating over towards Coach Monroe, who was waving his arms and beckoning everyone towards him. Jay skated beside me and I turned towards him, cocking my head to the side, "Why would I know by tomorrow?"

"Because you guys hang out everyday, dumbass."

I didn't get a chance to say anything to Jay after that, because he skated off. I scoffed under my breath and stopped, watching as everyone skated into a circle. Jay was wrong - Elle and I didn't hang out everyday. Only when we were practicing, or the occasional day when we went golfing or out to eat.

I shook my head and sighed, trying to focus on what Coach Monroe was saying. I blinked and looked up, but he was already backing up. I cursed, realizing I had missed whatever short speech he had said. Cursing Jay for getting my so distracted, I turned and slowly followed everyone as they skated towards the middle.

Everyone stood around and I bit my lip, looking at everyone's faces. Nobody said anything for a minute, and then Jay skated towards the middle, clapping despite the gloves on his hands. I snickered but leaned forward, wanting to know what we were doing.

"All right, teams of four!" Jay stated, and I nodded - Coach Monroe wanted to see how we played together, but in smaller teams. That way he could analyze us better, "Eight go on for seven minutes at a time."

Everyone turned to each other, seeing who they wanted on their teams. I looked at Jay and he raised an eyebrow; he just grinned in response, and I knew that, at least, I'd have one person I trusted on my team. (Not that I didn't trust the other guys, though).

Fifteen minutes later the whole team had split into teams of four each. I had gotten Jay, Jake (who, of course, coincidentally asked if we knew where Elle was), and another guy named Edi. I hadn't talked to him that much, but he was a really great defenseman. Plus, he didn't seem that fond of Jake, so that was a plus to me.

Jay skated towards the middle, signifying that our team would be the first to compete. No one questioned, though. Jay was a natural leader, and everyone knew he was going to make the team. He was practically already the captain.

Greg - the guy on the other team we were going against - skated up to the middle and shot Jay a questioning look, "No goalies?"

"Guess not," I piped up, standing next to Jay. I shot Greg a cocky smile, my blood pumping with adrenaline at the thought of playing a game - even if it wasn't a real, proper one, "think you guys will be okay?"

Greg glared, "We'll be fine."

Jay grinned at me and I laughed, skating up to the middle for the face-off. Jay would be playing offense with me, leaving Jake and Edi to handle the goalie position. But I was fine with that - this was the time to show Coach Monroe what we could do, and I didn't plan on letting the puck get anywhere close to our goal.

I slapped sticks with Greg and dropped my stick, slamming it against the side of the puck. Jay skated forward and hit the puck, skating forward with it. I pushed myself forward, bumping shoulders with Greg lightly as I skated closer to Jay.

My blood pumped, heart hammering in my chest. But not out of fear. I felt absolutely excited. Aside from the practices with Elle, normal practices, and playing hockey with a tennis ball in the hallways with Connor, I hadn't played any proper games in awhile. And playing - skating as fast as I could, eyes focused on the dark puck - it just got me so pumped.

Jay swerved around one of the players, and, even from across the rink, I locked eyes with him. I nodded and he hit the puck. I skated forward, easily hitting it forward. All of the other teams guys had been following Jay, leaving me wide open. Grinning, I skated forward and slammed the stick against the puck, watching in satisfaction as it flew into the net.

"Hell yeah!" I cheered, spitting out my mouth-guard and doing a lap around the rink.

The rest of practice went easy. Our team one, Jay and I stacking up a total of eighteen points between the two of us.

Sitting on the bench, I pulled off my helmet and ran a hand through my wavy, sweat-matted hair. My blood was still pumping and I grinned, un-lacing my skates and shoving them in my bag. I was exhausted, so I quickly stuffed my practice jersey in my bag, pulled on proper shoes, and called a goodbye to the guys.

The drive back to the apartment was quick, and I had to force myself to stay awake behind the wheel. I knew Connor was at work, and I just couldn't wait to go home and pass out. I didn't have practice for the next two days, and that meant one thing: two days of just sleeping.

I pulled into the parking lot and got out, opting to leave my hockey bag in the car. I sprinted across the lot, into the lobby, and slipped into the elevator. Getting out onto my floor, I trudged across the carpet, pulling my keys out of my pocket and shoving them into the lock. I yawned and pushed the door open, kicking it shut lazily behind me.

I turned and shouted, seeing someone on the coach. But I instantly recognized the pushed up brown hair and pale skin. I sighed and glared at Connor, who was laying on the couch, all the pillows tucked under him. He was laying on my napping couch.

I pouted and poked him in the leg with the tip of my shoe. Connor sighed and I realized he wasn't asleep, "What're you doing? I thought you were at work."

"It's so glad to see you're happy I'm home," I scoffed and Connor shot me a tired smirk. Rolling my eyes, I sat down beside the couch and wrapped my arms around my knees, "I was gonna go in, but, you know, I'm feeling pretty sick."

I was surprised Connor still had a job. He always seemed to get 'sick' and called out, taking off way more days than he was probably supposed to. He had even done that with high school. (I'm still pretty sure he only graduated because the school couldn't stand to have him any longer than they needed to).

"You're always sick," I smirked and kicked off my shoes, laying back on the couch, "how the fuck do you even have a job?"

Connor rolled over, propping himself up on his elbow, "How do you even have a - " Con cut himself off, biting his lip. My smirk widened and Connor rolled his eyes, "how was practice today? Or did you skip to hangout with good 'ol Elle?"

For the second time in a span of a few hours, my cheeks flushed and I ducked my head down. I don't know why everyone thought we spent so much time together; we really didn't. We were just friends, and most of our time was spent playing hockey, anyway. It wasn't like we really hung out. (Usually. Excluding the times we did hangout.)

"No, I had practice." I grinned, remembering how amazing it had gone, "How was your day? Did napping on the couch do you well, lazy shit?"

"Is this your subtle way of trying to insinuate that you'd like to sit on the couch with me?" Connor wiggled his eyebrows and I snorted, lips breaking out into a grin.

Connor stood up, though, stretching and running a hand through his messy hair, reminding me of how sweat-matted mine was. I sighed and threw myself on the couch though, promising that I would take a shower when I woke up. I groaned and cuddled into the pillows, grabbing a blanket and pulling it around me.

"When you wake up, I do expect to hear all about the last times Elle and you hung out," Connor smirked, leaning against the wall, "I've been out of the loop of your fresh romance."

"It's not a romance," I grumbled, ignoring how pink my cheeks were. I groaned again and turned over, stuffing my face into my pillow.

Elle and I really weren't a romance. We only got along on our good days and those didn't happen all the time. We argued a lot, and she always had a sarcastic comment. Half the time, I didn't even know if we were friends.

But - despite the fact that she was sarcastic and got on my nerves easily - I did consider her a friend. Even if I didn't want to admit it, she had helped me a lot with hockey and was there when I needed her. She had slowly become someone I trusted and was happy to have.

But that was it.

Elle was just a friend. A very irritable, annoying, and sarcastic friend. But regardless, she was a good friend.