Page 11 of Our Bender

“You have any Fleetwood Mac?” I asked him.

He arched an eyebrow at me.

I chewed the inside of my cheek. “Makes me think of my her,” I said with a smirk.

He sat back in his chair and took another swig of beer. “Fleetwood Mac… Good taste.”

I just nodded.

“So, I guess I’ll tell you now. I was hoping you’d go to Pittsburgh. Ya know my assistant Coach? Coach Petersen? He’s finally getting a head coaching gig.”

My eyebrows raised. “Where?”

“Detroit. I kinda wanna follow him. I wasn’t gonna go if you wanted to stay here in Minnesota, because that’s too far. But… Pittsburgh is only four hours from Detroit. That’s nothing. It’s your choice though.”

He’d already tailored too much of his life to my schedule. It was time for him to be free. And it’d probably be good for both of us to get away from here. There were too many memories.

“Okay,” I said, nodding. “If you can get me a shot in Pittsburgh, I’ll take it.”

“It won’t be a problem. They really wanted you. You forget that I trained ya, kid,” he said, pulling me into a headlock with scary quickness. “Besides, Coach Pete will help get you there if I ask. He already wants to draft you as soon as he can.” I struggled to get out of the headlock, and finally tapped out.

“So, we doin’ this?” Casey asked, raising his hand to fist bump me.

I returned his fist bump. “Yeah. We are.”

Hockey would become my number one focus again. Fi wanted it that way, and I’d honor her wishes.

2. Tyler - present day

“Wooo!” I released a celebratory yell as I ran off the ice last after our crazy win over Winnipeg.

Our home crowd fans were hanging over the sides of the hallway, screaming for me. I quickly lifted my stick and handed it to a little girl holding a cute homemade sign that read, “Number 17 on the ice, Number 1 in my heart.”

The staff in the hallway all clapped for me. I just had one of my best games of my career. We won 3-0 and I had all three goals, pulling me up to the second highest goal scorer on the team, only behind my buddy, Duke Callahan.

My teammates all let out a loud roar of applause as soon as I entered the locker room.

“Jetts gets to pick the song!” my teammate TJ Vonnie yelled over everyone.

“‘Go Your Own Way’, now!” I said, pointing to our stereo system.

TJ arched a curious eyebrow, but he listened to me. He was probably hoping for some rap song and was clueless about the greatness of Fleetwood Mac.

Everyone was looking at each other questioningly when the first few chords floated through the locker room, but I immediately started singing along and drumming on any available surface.

I pulled off my helmet and shook out my sweaty hair, then stripped my jersey in time for the chorus.

As soon as the hype guitar part started, I took my stick and started air-guitaring, then screamed the rest of the lyrics into my stick like it was a microphone. My teammates were joining in, pounding along, belting it out as well.

It would’ve been a great private moment… but someone always has their damn phone going these days…

________

“Buddy,” my brother laughed into the phone the next morning, “Turn on SportsCenter.”

I fumbled with the clicker to quickly do as he said, hoping they were reporting on my sick hattrick… But dread washed over me as soon as I turned it on.

I dropped my phone through my fingers.

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