Page 49 of What if I Told You

Standing tall, I pretend to fix a part of my uniform when I finally confess, “I’m nervous as fuck for her guys, but she’s great at this. She was made for this and I know she’s going to be just fine so what the hell is my problem?”

“Meh, you’re crushing on her. No big deal,” Ledger says. “But don’t let Coach catch you being a dumbass out here or he’ll put your ass on the bench.”

“Man crush?”

He rolls his eyes. “Yeah. Man crush.”

“He’s right,” Harrison says, gesturing to the pucks being slung around the ice in our warmup circle. “You like her. You care about her. You want her to succeed. We all know it. We get it. But we’ll celebrate with her later. For now, she has a job to do and so do we. Shake it off, Blackstone.”

With the physical shake of my head, I try my best to calm my nerves or at least push them to the back of my mind and continue our warm-up. Before both teams are formally introduced and the national anthem is played, the team forms a wide circle at center ice as we were instructed to do and the spotlight shines between us all inside the center circle. The announcer, Jim Stabler, states that our long-time mascot, or rather the man behind the mask, Kingston Stockler, is retiring. A video plays on the jumbotron above our heads of several of Astro’s greatest moments and then Marlee Remington brings Kingston to the ice to wave his final goodbyes. The crowd goes wild cheering for him and then our head coach, Chris Hicks, gifts him with the hockey stick he used as part of his costume. We all clap and cheer for him as he walks around and gives each of us a hearty handshake and a hug and then Marlee hands Kingston another stick-shaped package wrapped in sparkly paper that he doesn’t open, but instead, holds in his hands in front of him.

From his post among the suites, Jim Stabler announces that with the retirement of Kingston comes the introduction of a brand-new team mascot. A song is blasted through the arena that I’ve heard before, but only because it’s one Ella has listened to in the apartment several times. It’s Chappell Roan’s “Hot To Go” and the crowd is on their feet as the spotlights move across the ice as if they’re searching for our newest mascot. Finally, Stabler’s voice rings out over the music.

“Introducing the newest member of the Anaheim Stars hockey franchise, let’s all put our hands together and give a starry Anaheim welcome toooooo LUUUUUUUMIN!”

I don’t know how the hell she does it without skates, but dressed in her full furry costume, Ella slides her way onto the ice like Tom Cruise inRisky Businessand comes to a stop smack dab in the middle of our circle just as Chappell’s song reaches the chorus. Clearly the fans are already familiar with the song because many of them are doing the dance moves right along with our most adorable new mascot. They all slap and clap and touch their toes and chant H-O-T-T-O-G-O and I am all smiles watching my best friend perform in front of us all.

She’s fucking amazing and the feeling of pride that hits my chest is almost overwhelming.

She’s really doing it.

When the music stops, Ella doesn’t. She practically floats around the circle giving a high five to each of us as we all smile and welcome her to the team, but she doesn’t stop there. Once all the way around the circle, she gives Coach Hicks a huge hug and as she turns, she catches sight of her tail. With a sparkly star tipping her tail, she pretends to chase it around and around as she turns in circles entertaining the crowd and when she finally catches it, she jumps for joy as everyone claps for her. Stabler declares today as Lumin’s birthday and tells Lumin that the team has a special gift just for her as the retiring mascot, Kingston, approaches her on the ice and hands her the stick shaped gift.

Ella, I mean Lumin, pretends to be surprised and then excitedly tears off the wrapping paper of her new gift. She jumps up and down and spins in a circle when she sees her gift is her very own specialized hockey stick complete with sparkly tassels at the top and light up stars that appear at the bottom when she moves it. She takes a few seconds to spin around, moving her stick to show off how much it glows and sparkles, and then does a final wave to the audience blowing kisses to the crowd before she heads off the ice with Kingston and Marlee.

Fuck, I’m so proud of her. And I can’t wait to celebrate with her after the game, but until then, we’ve got a job to do.

“That flipyou did on the ice during first period break was amazing, Ella!” Ledger tells her. “I think my back hurts just thinking about it.”

Griffin laughs. “Right? And how the hell did you do that in costume?”

I pull out the chair next to me so Ella has a place to sit and hand her a beer which she quickly tosses back.

“About an hour of practice earlier today,” she says, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand while she giggles. “I had to figure out how to flip fast enough that my head would stay on. Thankfully, it didn’t take long to perfect but I don’t think I’ll be doing that all the time. And probably never on skates unless I have a death wish.”

Ledger offers her a fist bump. “Well for what it’s worth, you were great today.”

“Thank you so much. It was a rush of a lifetime,” she says. “I’m not sure I’ll ever be used to that feeling.”

“Welcome to our lives,” Oliver adds as he and Scarlett take the seats across from us. “Ella I’d like to introduce you to my fiancée, Scarlett Dayne. Scarlett, this is Ella Montgomery, our new mascot.”

Scarlett beams back at her and offers her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ella. And I have to agree with the guys. You were amazing out there today.”

Ella’s jaw drops and she looks to me and then back to Scarlett and then back to me before giving me a solid whack to my upper arm.

“Dude! You did NOT tell me Oliver’s fiancée was Scarlett Dayne!”

“I didn’t?”

She shakes her head. “No! You didn’t. But oh, my gosh, it’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Scarlett. Small confession obviously, but I feel like I’ve known you for so long because I started following you on social media a year or so ago when you went to that boutique with the really cute jumpers that were super colorful. I totally bought three of them after seeing you there.”

Scarlett’s eyes grow large as she slides into her seat and leans over the table to get closer to Ella. “Oh, my gosh! You just made my day! And weren’t those jumpers the cutest things ever? I think I could wear those things every single day of my life!”

“Right?” Ella nods emphatically. “And that nail salon that does the funky nail art. What was that girl’s name?”

“Alexis!”

“Yes! Alexis! Love her!”

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