Here's your next chapter I hope you enjoy it. Again I own nothing enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 10: Someone backs out
Later that afternoon around 1:30, I walked upstairs to see if Portman and Fulton were ready to go. As I got closer to the door I overheard them talking. I paused and didn't know whether or not to stay and listen. "You know one of these days you're gonna have to tell Lizzy the truth about why you hate Burton." I heard Fulton say.
"Yeah and how do expect me to say that? Just walk up to her and be like hey baby you know why I hate Jack? Because last time I had a girlfriend for three months she ended up two-timing me? Yeah that would be great." Portman answered.
"I didn't say that I just said that maybe you should tell her that you don't like him because he stole your last girlfriend." Fulton put carefully.
"And then I'll be sure to throw in that I kicked his ass and now he's scared of me." Portman replied sarcastically.
"You got to tell her something I know she's gonna ask." Fulton said.
I couldn't take it anymore so I pushed open the door. "I'm gonna ask what Fulton?" I said like I had just come up the stairs and had only caught Fulton's last sentence. Portman glared at Fulton but Fulton just shrugged it off.
"Nothing Lizzy." Fulton said. "Why did you come up here?"
"I was looking for my coat and I wanted to know if you guys were ready to go." I replied.
"It ain't in here but check the living room and yeah we're ready we just have to go back to your house to get his hockey stuff." Fulton answered jerking a thumb in Portman's direction.
So while we were walking back to my house a question popped into my head. I was walking between Fulton and Portman and Portman's arm was around my waist. I looked up at Fulton and smirked. He gave me a look that clearly said don't do it but I had too. "Hey Port?" I said.
"Yeah babe," He said looking down at me.
"Do you love me?" I asked. He made a sorta gagging noise and started stuttering.
"Well you see…um what I mean is…"
"Lizzy..." Fulton trailed off.
"I want an answer Fulton and I won't drop the subject until I get one." I said stubbornly.
"Well I wouldn't say I love you just yet I do like you a lot." Portman stammered.
"Ok. Do you like me enough to strip in front of me?" I asked.
"Well I wouldn't go that far..." He started.
"So it's ok when you're at the JV/Varsity showdown but not in front of your girlfriend I see how it is." I smirked.
"Fulton did you tell her?" Portman asked.
"No," Fulton said.
"I was there genius." I said irritated. We had reached my house by then. Once on the road to the duck pond Portman looked at me.
"What do you mean you were there?"
"I was there how hard is that to understand."
"How were you there?" Fulton asked.
"Dwayne called and told me that Fulton and Charlie quit for a reason Charlie forbid me to say and it was more than the fact that Orion broke up the ducks, and so I called Fulton and talked him into going back the day he went to play hooky at the Mall of America before he met Charlie. Then later that day I called Charlie and he was really upset so I asked him what was wrong and he broke the news that Hans died. My heart dropped into my stomach. I couldn't take it, so I talked my dad in to letting me come up. When I got here I went to Charlie's he was the only one who knew it was me. I hung around and finally talked to him but he stood firm on not going back. I told him that if he wouldn't play for me or the Ducks then he should at least play for Hans and Bombay. When that didn't work I gave up and called Bombay. I told him about the funeral and how Charlie was acting. The next day I went to the funeral with everyone but kept my head down."
"You were the one with Charlie?" Fulton asked.
"Yeah," I answered.
"I knew there was something familiar about you." Fulton said. "There was a girl with Charlie at the funeral, her brown hair hid most of her face and what it didn't it was buried in Charlie's chest. When Bombay told us to remember that Hans was the one who taught us to fly Charlie gently lead her away to a secluded spot and talked softly to her." He explained to Portman.
"So anyway after that I realized that Charlie was still really upset so I talked my dad into letting me stay and when the game rolled around I went with Aunt Casey to watch and got to see the pitiful defense, horrible teamwork, and some of the worst hockey playing I've ever seen. I also got to see Portman come back like I told him too,"
"Wait a minute you convinced him to come back I thought it was Bombay." Fulton said butting in again.
"Well Bombay helped a bit but I was right there talking to him everyday too."
"Yeah I didn't know it was her at the time all I knew was that I had told Maverick that I didn't want to go to Eden Hall because Bombay dumped us and that I really didn't want to play for anyone else. She had me almost convinced when I met with Coach Bombay and finally I looked at him and said that I would think about it and when she told me she had found a flight to Minneapolis that left that night I told her I would go and then I called Bombay and told him. That was the Thursday before the hockey game." Portman added.
"Looks like Charlie and I were wrong we just thought that it was all Bombay's doing."
"No I had a helping hand. Any way I also got to see Charlie's return to captain, and your wonderful penalty box strip show." I said that conversation had carried us all the way to the pond so when I had finished we were standing on the edge of the ice.
"Strip show? Who and where? This pretty little lady?" Averman asked hopefully as him and part of the team stopped at the edge of the ice.
"You're asking for it Averman, keep those thoughts about my cousin out of your head." Charlie said stopping next to Averman.
"Back off my girlfriend." Portman growled.
"You're late." Charlie said. "It's 2:45."
"Au contraire mi amigo you are early. It's only 2:25 therefore you are the early one." I answered.
"Leo's." Charlie muttered.
"You're one too." I replied.
"French, Spanish, and English all in the same sentence." Connie said.
"Impressive I know. We were actually talking about the JV/Varsity showdown last year and Portman's impressive penalty box strip show." I said smirking.
"How'd you know?" Goldberg asked.
"She was there. Had been since Hans's funeral." Fulton replied.
"You were the girl with Charlie." Adam said.
"Yeah it happens. Anyway are you gonna get to the game or are we gonna stand here all day?" I asked.
"Since we're all here now we'll get started." Charlie said, "And since the teams are uneven the team with fewer players will start with a 1 point handicap."
"There are ten people here how are the teams uneven?" Goldie asked.
"I ain't playing." I said sitting on the near by bench.
"Come on, why not? I thought since..."
"I ain't skating." I said firmly.
"Come on please." Goldie begged.
"No, now drop it." Fulton barked. Goldberg dropped it and went back to the net.
"Alright how do you want to split up?" I asked.
"Charlie gets one team." Connie said automatically.
"Ok..." Charlie trailed off.
"Versus who's team?" Fulton asked.
"Versus..." I trailed looking over the players, "Oh I know versus Adams team."
"Everyone in favor?" Charlie asked. Everyone nodded. So they split up into teams of Charlie, Jesse, Connie, Averman, and Fulton vs Adam, Portman, Goldberg, and Guy. Not only did the team one player down get a one point advantage they also got the good goalie. Connie was good but not nearly as Goldberg normally is. I got bored watching the match so instead I watched Portman. He was a good skater and a good enforcer but I bet I could beat him. Whoa don't know where that came from. Finally the game was over final score was 5-3 Charlie's team.
"Alright losing team has to by winning team dinner." Charlie said as they sat down to change into their street shoes.
"Aw Charlie that wasn't part of the original deal," Adam complained.
"No, but we did agree that they would have to do one thing for the winning team and this is what we settled on." Charlie pointed out.
"Alright hold on." Adam's team gathered around and had a discussion in low voices. Then he turned back to Charlie and said "All we got between the four of us is twenty bucks."
"Charlie you know you can't feed 9 people on 20 dollars not the way Portman, Fulton, and Goldberg eat; besides that's a little more than two dollars a piece." I pointed out.
"Hey." Goldberg said when he figured out what I meant.
"Alright fine if you want to help the whiners go right ahead." Charlie said.
"No Skater you don't have to." Adam protested.
"You're right but I want to, you guys are my team, and I haven't seen you in five years. Besides as Connie said 3 days ago and as Jesse loves to point out I am the spoiled rich bitch, ain't I? Now if your hungry throw your stuff in the back seat so I can drive it down to Mickey's."
"Alright let's go." Charlie said when the stuff was loaded.
"Wait." I said lifting my finger and scanning the group with it. "You get in the car." I said pointing at Adam.
"Me," Adam questioned.
"No, the chicken beside you, of course you unless you wanted to walk." I said.
He climbed in and I drove him down. Once there he waved to Charlie's mom. She waved back and pointed to the big booth. The rest of the team came in a little while later while Adam and I were discussing what it would be like to play pro hockey. A different waitress came and took our order then brought us food. "Hey Lizzy, when were you going to tell me about you and Portman?" Charlie asked breaking the awkward silence.
"Well I wasn't at least not until you found out and freaked out on me." I said elbowing him in the gut. He sat on my left at the edge of the table and Portman was on my right. Next to him was Fulton followed by Connie, Goldberg, Averman, Guy, Jesse, and finally Adam on the other end. "Hi Aunt Casey." I said as she came over.
"Afternoon kids, Lizzy where are you staying Fulton's I assume."
"They always say when you assume you make an ass out of you and me." I said smirking. She gave me a stern look. "Chris and Ben showed up at my dorm 3 days ago and brought Matt who told us about my mom's plan to keep us from talking to him and when I told her she blew up so Matt invited me to stay for the 2 week break and said the rest of the team could stay for the last week if they wanted to. Oh and there's Dean Portman, my boyfriend, here who didn't really want to go home so I told him I would convince Matt to let him stay." I explained.
"Do your parents know that you're spending an entire week alone in a house with your boyfriend unsupervised?" She asked.
"We are supervised."
"Mom her 3 way over protective brothers are in the same house and you know Matt isn't about to let her sleep in Portman's room. You know how he can get." Charlie said backing my story.
"Wait didn't you say that you would make him yours when you saw him strip at the JV/ Varsity showdown last year." I nodded. "Alright here's the bill kids enjoy your day." She said putting it down and walking away. My hand beat Adam's to it. He cringed and looked at me.
"What's the damage?" He asked.
"I got this one." I said turning the bill away from Portman.
"No seriously." He demanded.
"Hey I feel like being nice for once." I argued.
"Banksie just drop it she always gets what she wants and now you ain't taking advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity. You know how often these times come around." Fulton put in.
While Adam was contemplating Portman looked at me and asked "Is that really true? You're never nice?"
"Well he might have exaggerated that a little bit. I can be nice if I want to I just don't feel the need that often." I replied.
"Oh ok." He said with a mischievous look in his eyes.
"I don't like that look Portman." I said.
"Alright I'll give in this time." Adam said. I pushed Charlie out of the way and went to pay the bill. When I came back they were all talking about some of the things that had happened at the goodwill games. During which I learned to stay away from Luis if things ever went bad between me and Portman, that the varsity hockey team does nothing but terrorize the JV team and not to trust a guy named Rick Riley as far as I could throw him. Then Dwayne called.
"Hello?" I asked picking up my phone.
"Hey Kitten it's me." Dwayne said and I knew something was wrong. He rarely ever called me Kitten anymore.
"Hey Tex." I answered.
"I got some bad news."
"What is it?"
"I can't come up there at all."
"Damn it Tex you promised."
"I know but my aunt is coming down and I have to stay here."
"Don't give me that shit."
"Look I'm really sorry but you know how she is. She doesn't want me out of her sight."
"Whatever."
"Come on Kitten there's no way around this you know if there was I would have done whatever I could to come see you."
"Sure be that way you ass." I said hanging up on him and beating my head repeatedly into the table.
"Portman stop her." Connie said. Portman grabbed me and pulled me into his arms.
"Baby, what did Cowboy say?" Portman asked gently.
"Let her cool off a bit it's impossible to get her to talk if she's not calm." Guy put in.
"Especially if she just called Cowboy an ass." Fulton added. Ten minutes later I had calmed down enough to want to talk.
"Ok Skater you ready to talk?" Charlie asked.
"He...he has to stay in Texas for the entire break. His...his aunt is coming down and...and he can't come up. She...she likes to have him with in arms reach at all times." I said still sniffling.
"You'll see Cowboy after break though right? I mean when we go back to school?" Averman said.
"That ain't the point Averman show some sensitivity would you." Connie said as they got up to leave.
"Hey Portman, Lizzy, Fulton, you guys coming?" Charlie asked.
"Not right now. We'll get her calmed down and then we'll go home." Fulton answered.
Thank you for reading and tune in next time.