Page 17 of Wrong Pucking Jersey

I never stopped. Tried so many times, but how do you erase the impact a girl has on you when she’s the reason you became a risk taker? The reason you would do the craziest things in public just to watch the overwhelming euphoria that would spread across her immaculate face and make her eyes shine like fucking stars.

Or “pucking stars,” as my fierce Mikayla would correct me.

She always used to say without me, the Heartbreaker Crew would fall apart, but she didn’t see what we saw.

She was that missing link.

The piece that kept us together until that ultimate conflict came and tore us all apart.

All because we pushed our Heartbreaker Queen away.

Coming back to this town brought so many old memories. It awakened the past that I’d worked diligently to suppress, so I could focus on my life.

The problem was, I never could see a life without my Mkaykay in it, no matter the distance or how long we’ve been apart from one another. The future that shone so brightly in the distance had her standing right in the middle.

She was my endgame.

Now, here I was, standing in the midst of all these wild dancers after asking the DJ to play the one song I knew would always connect to my girl. It was one of those rave songs, with barely any vocals, but the beat was hypnotic, captivating.

The few hymns of sounds that left the singer’s mouth emphasized the dramatics that built the song to its peak, which was why I stood right here. I listen to that build while my eyes are glued onto the prize possession at the bar.

I could see her a mile away, not because of the new shade of red that made her hair look as fierce as ever, but because no matter how small or big a crowd was, I could always find my Mkaykay.

It was a connection no one really understood. Something so unique and magnetizing everyone around us just knew we were destined for each other.

When we sensed one another, it was like a gravitational pull. Words became as unimportant as our surroundings until we could lock eyes with one another.

Tonight would be no different.

Just like that, she’s looking my way, despite the fact her best friend, who she loves to death, is talking up her ear with a shot glass in hand.

When my girl’s gorgeous eyes meet mine, I forget to breathe.

Heck, do I even exist right now?

All the years, dreaming of this moment like a fairytale begging to happen and deliver what I’d begged the stars above to accomplish.

Hockey brought me back to this small town. The same way it brought me to that very ice rink where I crashed into the girl who took my breath away at nineteen.

I’d assumed our connection was just a spark of the moment

It would fade.

I’d move on.

I’d find someone my age.

No excuse was good enough.

I had to let time convince me that my love-struck moment was nothing more.

Yet, two more years passed, and I only loved this girl even more.

She entered our crew.

Her rebellious phase was fierce. A way for her to ignore how famous her father was becoming in this big world. She was one of us. The only girl in our crew until she begged us to let her bestie join, too.

I’d do anything to keep her smiling, and that was why when the day came, I was willing to let her leave because she deserved to smile again.

---