A/N: I know the legal age of drinking is 21, I realized that later, don't come for me xD
A week later, the guys had a game against another team, which they won. "Good work, guys. I can say with a high degree of confidence you'll all make it to the pros!"
"Thanks, coach!" They all replied and headed towards the locker rooms.
"Man, Joey should've been here with us!" Nathan dropped his head, sad that his best friend wasn't with him on his journey to the pros.
"You say that every time, the guy made a choice, we better get used to it." McGill shrugged.
"Plans for tonight? How are we gonna celebrate?" Michael asked in an attempt to dispel the air of gloominess.
"It's happy hour at Hennessey's!" Stickler perked up.
"Yeah, you'd know that!" Adam teased him.
"Come on, Banks, you and Brown can get lucky!" Larson nudged him.
Michael sighed loudly in disappointment. "You idiots think only about one thing!"
"Oh shit, I wanted to call Winnie! I'll go do that while you guys shower, meet outside in 15!" Stickler declared and hurriedly shoved his equipment into the locker.
Meanwhile, back in Minneapolis
Winnie's house
"You know, I never thought one day you'd grow taller than me!" Gina shook her head as she watched her friend try on dresses in front of the mirror.
Winnie chuckled. "Do you think this one is better or the other one?"
"Hmm, the red one could work with those shoes."
Winnie through the dress on the bed and then herself.
"What's wrong?"
"I really miss Nate...God, Gina, sometimes I wish he'd never left. I know it's selfish but I'm scared I might lose him, we used to talk every day when he first left and now we talk once a week maybe. I miss Adam, too, but somehow I've always known he'd someday leave and become a star, I just wasn't prepared to miss two people close to me."
"I know, honey. But they had to do this. I wish we could support them from up close." Winnie smiled with a corner of her mouth.
"What's up?" Gina raised eyebrows in response.
"Remember when we first talked here, after my treatment. About Nate and then he came in, we both froze." She burst out laughing.
"Oh God, yeah, that was awkward as fuck." Gina laughed, too.
"Can I tell you something?" Winnie bit her lip.
"Of course."
"Nate and I never...you know, I just was never ready and now I kind of regret that...I know it's dumb but every night in bed I think he's in LA, surrounded by tanned and hot girls, they drink a lot, what if-"
"Shut up!" Gina cut her off. "I don't wanna hear you even imply that Stickler would be unfaithful! He would rather die than cheat on you, you know that!" Winnie sighed.
"Yeah, I guess…"
"Plus, now that you've been away from each other for so long, you can finally do it! And I bet it's gonna be insane!"
"Gina!' Winnie blushed profusely and slapped her arm.
"What? It's the truth!"
Just then, the phone rang, startling both the girls. "I wonder who it is at this time?" Winnie asked, rhetorically. "Hello?"
"Hey, princess." Winnie's heart started beating faster but then her face fell. "Nate...What are you doing, where are you?"
"We won a game today, the guys and I were gonna go celebrate at a beach club!"
"Oh...congrats." Winnie stated coldly, her voice trailing off. Gina gave her a confused look.
"Everything alright, Winnie?" Stickler asked.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm just tired, gonna go to bed now, you guys have fun. Bye." With that, she hung up.
Gina followed her with her eyes as Winnie paced around the room. "Mind telling me what the fuck that was?"
"They're going to a club! A club, Gina! Where they're gonna be drinking and there's gonna be girls…"
"Would you quit already? Do you have no faith in him? You need to get your shit together...I'm gonna go, you take a nice long bubble bath and think about that stuff!" Gina gathered her stuff and left.
"Ugh!" Winnie groaned as she jumped face down on her bed.
LA
Stickler put back the receiver, confused and slightly hurt. He had eagerly called Winnie to let her know of his team winning and check in on her but she had blown him off for no apparent reason. Admittedly, that had pissed him off a bit.
"Nate, what's wrong?" Adam asked as he saw his friend with a weird look on his face.
"Uhm...nothing, let's go!"
"Let's goooo!" Larson howled.
"We decided Brown will be the designated driver for tonight!" McGill threw him the keys.
"Why me?" Michael protested.
"Because the rest of us are getting shit faced!" Stickler declared, eliciting nods in agreement. As he buckled into his seat, Nathan decided that drinking himself into a stupor was the only way he would forget the out of character conversation he'd had with Winnie earlier.
"Damn, this place is crowded as hell!" Adam commented with disappointment. "Why couldn't we go to a whiskey bar or something…"
"Quit whining, Banks! This is where all the babes are! I suggest you loosen up and go score yourself one! Take Brown with you!" McGill pushed him forward.
"Oh hey, babe!" The guys turned around at the word "babe" to see Larson's boyfriend. "I invited Jake along, hope that's ok." Larson said as he kissed him.
"Yeah, all good, man, nice to meet you, bro." Stickler shook hands with the guy. The other guys greeted him, too. "Alright, let's go, the drinks won't down themselves!" Nathan shouted and rushed to the bar where he ordered shots for everyone.
"Not drinking?" Jake asked Brown as the latter sipped on a virgin cocktail.
"Designated driver." Michael replied, half laughing at McGill and Stickler's drinking contest.
"Easy, fools!" Larson intervened. "The night is young!"
Meanwhile, Adam was busy drinking cognac at the bar and discussing hockey with an obvious fan. Jake and Larson had started making out and the other two were too engrossed in drinking so Michael put down his drink and made his way to Adam.
"Some party animals we are!" Brown put a hand on his back and chuckled.
"Oh, Mike, this guy used to play in the Minors, too…" Michael started dragging Adam away.
"Adam, we're here to loosen up a bit...I can't believe I'm saying that...but we have tough games ahead of us and we have to take our minds off hockey for a bit, come now. Get your drink and let's...mingle." The two boys walked around the club until a group of girls in a corner booth called out to them.
"Hey, cuties, you look lost!" A girl with long red hair waved her hand and motioned for them to join them. Adam and Michael exchanged looks and shrugged.
"Evening, ladies." Brown introduced himself and Adam.
"Hey, come, I got something to show you!" Jake grabbed Larson's hand and dragged him to the bathroom where they got in a stall.
"Look, I'm all for hookups outside your apartment but a public toilet?" Larson raised an eyebrow.
"Come on, buttercup, where's your sense of adventure?" Larson shrugged and kissed his boyfriend.
"Wait, wait...something to relax us, first." Jake took out a small bag out of his pocket, containing two pills.
"What's this?" Larson gulped.
"It's just a little something to make you feel better. Here, you'll feel the effects soon."
"I don't know about this, Jake, I'm an athlete, if they find out I'm taking drugs, I'll get kicked off the team!" Larson raised his voice.
Jake put a finger over his lips. "They won't, papi, this will be out of your system by tomorrow." Larson hesitantly put the pill in his mouth and swallowed. "Good boy." Jake smirked and followed. "Now about that kiss…"
In another bathroom stall, a seriously drunk Adam was making out with the red haired girl. He ran a hand up her leg and planted sloppy kisses down her neck and collarbone. Finding it hard to keep his balance, he stumbled and slammed her against the wall. "You gonna fuck me or what?" She mumbled as she took a condom out of her bra. Adam wasted no time tearing her stockings and flipping her around so she faced the wall.
"Hm, I hope you don't play hockey like you screw…" The girl pulled her dress down. Adam didn't hear her, all he wanted was another drink. He stumbled out of the bathroom into the main area where his eyes wandered a bit before settling on an equally drunk Stickler in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by girls who did not hesitate to touch him and grind themselves against him.
"What the fuck…" Adam grunted and angrily made his way to the group in the middle. He pushed through people and grabbed Stickler by the shoulder, spinning him around and punched him. The hit made both boys lose their balance.
Everyone else stopped and gasped.
Nathan got up and started laughing. "Fuck, Banks, didn't know you could throw a punch!"
"What the fuck!" Adam growled.
"I'm just dancing, Banks, calm your tits!"
"What about my sister?!" Adam yelled.
"Your sister doesn't want me anymore, she doesn't even wanna talk to me!" Stickler yelled back. "Me! The guy who loves her to death and who saved her life!" Nathan pointed to himself.
Adam looked angry like never before. He looked down at his hands, confused. Never before had he felt this kind of rage. He wanted to kill Nathan. It was not the alcohol, he'd had different combinations of it before, it never had this effect on him. He felt as if he wasn't in control of his body.
Just then, a visibly worried Larson pushed through the crowd and tried getting the attention of his two friends. "Guys, guys, come, Brown's not responding!" He yelled, pointing to the back of the room.
Adam and Stickler rushed to their friend. "Brown! Brown! Wake up!" They slapped him but Michael was non-responsive.
"What did he have?!" Stickler yelled.
"He didn't drink!" Adam clenched his hair in panic.
The girls who had occupied the booth were gone. "Banks what the fuck happened here?!" Larson shouted.
"I don't know...I was in the bathroom with one of them…" He admitted in shame.
Stickler opened Michael's mouth. "Doesn't smell of alcohol. Fuck, he's been roofied!"
"We should go…" Larson said, having taken notice of the other patrons staring at them and whispering.
"Help me get him up!" Stickler said as him and Larson got Michael up from the couch. "Banks, go find McGill!"
Adam nodded and went in search of his friend. He sighed in relief when he saw Patrick sitting by himself in a corner chair. "What's going on here?"
"I miss Gina, Banks. Maybe coming out here was a mistake…"
"Oh god…" Adam shook his head and motioned for McGill to follow him outside. "Come on, man, Brown's been drugged, we need to get him home!"
"What?!" Patrick jumped up from his chair, sobering up immediately. The pair rushed outside where the rest were deciding what to do.
"We obviously can't drive!" Larson ran his hands through his hair.
"Fuck it, we are!" Stickler, who was now also alert, took out the keys from Michael's pocket and got in.
The others exchanged concerned looks but in the end, got in. Halfway through their drive, Nathan hesitantly spoke. "Banks, look, about earlier…"
"Let's just pretend like nothing ever happened, okay?" Adam replied, looking through the window.
When they got home, the boys got Michael into bed and then themselves. Larson decided to walk out and get some air. On his way back into the building, he noticed something sticking out of their mailbox. He went to grab it and his heart stopped. The note read: "MANDATORY DRUG TESTING FOR ALL PARTICIPANTS IN THE MINOR LEAGUE"