Page 119 of Puck It!

"If I remember correctly, two lights were broken that night."

He snorts, "Yeah, but I didn’t get caught."

"True; I wonder if Sully still has the sticks."

He hums his laugh, nodding his head and my face lights up with a smile.

"Does he really have them?"

"Yeah; We tend to still fuck off here and there."

"Oh, fuck yes, I’m playing this time."

"Go get him." Jax suggests as he nods towards the door and I jump from the counter. My hurried steps are for the door.

Sully and Koda are across the hall from us, so I bang on their door before Sully opens it and I smile.

"Let’s play some hallway hockey." I say playfully with my smile.

He chuckles, "Read my mind."

He opens the door wider and on the table the sticks lay, and I bark a laugh.

Koda rounds the corner asking, "What’s wrong?"

"Nothing, come on, let’s have some fun." I grab the sticks from the table and toss one to Koda, one to Sully, before I take two with me.

They are just plastic hockey sticks and we use a ping pong ball, because well, when the tennis ball was used, the lights were broke out; Jax and Sully.

Jax emerges from our room, and I toss him the other stick from my hand.

It’s just for fun, slap a little ping pong ball up and down the narrow hallway, so it’s not like you have a lot of room.

The laughs are had between us. More of the team emerge from their rooms joining our fun.

I have the ball and I shoot it between Jax’s legs before I duck between them, laughing, finding it funny I can just zip right under these guys.

"You little short shit." I giggle to Jax’s laughing words, before I slap the ball towards Koda, and it bounces from his forehead.

"Oops." I laugh curling over with my laugh as I hold my stomach. The ball bounces from my shoulder from Koda playfully throwing it back at me.

"And that is why you don’t play hockey." Koda laughs.

And I laugh with him, "Hey, I’m not that bad."

"Right."

And this is how we spend the rest of our evening. Hanging with the guys on the team, playing some dumb hallway hockey game, that just relaxes these guys.

You can see it in them all, some have been here, some like the guys, have not. But they all hold the same focus in their eyes, but their demeanors chill. And one thing I’ve learned, being the little sister, the coach’s daughter, is seeing the strength in a team.

I see it with them all, their energy balances each other’s. A good mix of adrenaline and chill, respect and authority, friendship and teammates. Seeing how well they all played the other day, I think I can confidently say my dad would be proud of Koda, Jax, and Sully; he would tell them they are ready.

Because they are, they just have to believe it now.

Away Game

Macie

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