Summary: A tale of our favorite Ducks and where their lives take them, beginning Senior Year at Eden Hall. Focuses on Adam, Charlie, Julie, Dean, Connie, Guy…and more to come!
Disclaimer: The Mighty Ducks and all its characters belong to Disney. I do not own any of it!
Flying Together
By Rebecca
Chapter 8: Flying Apart
Friday nights at Eden Hall were usually hectic around that time of the year. It was the last weekend everybody got to hang out with their friends before winter break. For the seniors especially, coming back from break would mean only 6 more months of school and their lives would change forever.
But for Adam Banks, Julie Gaffney, Dean Portman and Connie Moreau, it seemed as if the transformation was starting early. The next morning and the week that would follow was pregnant with anxiety, numbness, surprise and withdrawal.
Gordon Bombay, the original coach for the district 5 peewee Ducks during a time when puberty had not hit and all that mattered was hockey, had coined the phrase, "Ducks fly together." But during that week, staying together grew…complicated.
Adam never did get a hold of Julie that night. He had called twice and left messages with Connie, but she never called him back. And still reeling with confusion from his encounter with Erica, he didn't much feel like talking to anyone anyway. It wasn't until Sunday morning that Charlie finally pulled it out of him, making him swear not to tell a soul. Charlie had complied, but grew nervous.
Charlie Conway was the Captain of the Ducks and had been ever since the Goodwill Games and team USA…a time when Julie and Adam had just met, and Dean Portman was just a bash brother. He had always had a sixth sense about the ducks and usually knew when tensions were running high. Adam had never been this down before, and Connie never this depressed. Something had been up with Guy for quite some time but he never could figure out what. And until Monday afternoon, Portman had been gunning for Gaffney more than ever. In four years he'd never looked forward to winter break as much as he did this year…if only to give his ducks time to deflate.
"Where ya been guys?" Coach Orion yelled at Charlie and Adam as they walked into the rink for practice.
"Sorry coach," Charlie said surveying the players who were already out on the ice warming up. Greg Goldberg was in the goal, with two teams scrimmaging. Connie was the center for one, Guy for the other. Talk about irony.
"Go suit up, we're still waiting on a few."
"Sure thing," he saluted and headed for the lockers with Adam. "Have you talked to her since?" he turned back to his roommate.
Adam shook his head, "She ran off right after it happened. I don't blame her," he sighed, "I treated her like crap."
Charlie slapped him on the back, "Will you stop that? You were honest. Would you rather be leading her on?"
"No. I just wish I felt differently. There's nothin' wrong with her Charlie. She's a nice girl. But-" he stopped expecting Charlie to jump in.
"But what?"
Adam stopped at the locker room door and gave him a skeptical look, "Come on, no jabs about the Cat today?"
Charlie shrugged, still not wanting to be right about what he'd been guessing all along. He'd been praying he was wrong. After all, the chances of her seeing Adam at the exact moment he was…impossible. "Fresh out of retorts my friend." They walked in to change.
Adam was the first out on the ice of the two of them. He joined in the game, taking Connie's place as center. In relieving her, he shot her a look of concern. Julie wasn't there yet. Connie shrugged and Adam got the same sick feeling in his stomach he'd had all weekend. Why hadn't she called him back? What was wrong?
Orion blew the whistle and they lined up for drills, laughing as Averman cracked some stupid comment about practicing when they weren't even playing that week. (For the rest of the practice, Averman was on the bench.) The whistle sounded again and they took off. Adam was skating faster than he had in a while. It was one of the few things about him that he liked right now. Charlie was right. He was anything but laid back on the ice, particularly on days when his stomach was coiled so tightly he was sure to burst before the end of practice. He was flying and for the first time all weekend, he felt good. He'd cleared all distractions. Nothing was there but him and the ice…and-
"Hey Julie! Portman!" Goldberg shouted.
"Glad you could join us," Coach added sardonically. Adam's head shot up and he stopped in the dead center of the rink. Portman and Julie? Walking together? If Adam wasn't already stunned in just seeing such a sight, he nearly had a heart attack when he saw Dean's arm go over her shoulder. What in the-
"Banks!" Coach shouted. He snapped back to reality and checked again. He wasn't dreaming. They disappeared into the locker-room as Charlie came out.
He skated over to the side and joined some fellow ducks. "Hey Banks, you feeling ok?"
Adam ignored the question, "Averman, what's Julie doing with Portman?"
Averman turned his head around and then back and shrugged. "Um, that's a new development for me."
"Guys where ya been?" Luis whispered, "Scooter dumped her on Friday. Connie told me that she was really upset about it. Left their room and didn't come back 'till Saturday morning. Apparently she ran into Dean…you know, one of those shoulder-to-cry-on deals. Spent the night talking in the rink I guess. You know her and Portman. Always been something brewing between them…"
Adam wasn't listening anymore. He grew nauseous and he whipped around, his head starting to spin. He skated over to Charlie, who seemed all too prepared for what came next. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Charlie shook his head and held up his hands, "I didn't know."
"Aw come on Conway, you know everything that goes on with these damn ducks. Why didn't you tell me?"
"I swear Banks I didn't know until I saw them walking in together."
"Why didn't she come to me? I came back like, 10 minutes after you. Why didn't she call me back, what happened?"
Charlie looked down and sighed.
"What?" no answer, "Come on Conway answer me! You know something."
He looked back up slowly and whispered, "I think she saw you with Erica."
Adam staggered back and slumped onto the bench. My God, he thought as his head fell into his hands.
"I'm sorry man."
A million and one thoughts flew through his mind in that instant. He hated Erica. He wanted to pound Dean. The one chance he could've had with Julie had come and gone and he didn't even realize it.
"Adam?" he heard behind him. It was Julie. Charlie took a deep breath as Adam stood up and turned around. Portman had come out behind her and rubbed shoulder before he took to the ice. I'm gonna rip off that arm he thought.
"Hey Jules."
Charlie skated away as she kept talking, "I'm sorry I didn't call you back the other night…" she muttered, "A lot has been happening."
Adam nodded. Talking to her was almost unbearable, "I've noticed. I uh, just heard about Scooter. I'm sorry."
"Connie didn't tell you?" He shook his head. "Oh I'm sorry. I came to find you when it happened but you…Charlie…said you were…busy with Erica. Are you two-"
"No," he cut in.
Her eyes grew wide in mild shock, "Oh." She looked down at her gloves and started drumming her fingers on her helmet. "Oh I'm sorry. I thought you were you know…getting back together." For a brief instant Adam imagined himself telling her all about what really happened with Erica. It was all a mistake, one of those random coincidences you only see in the movies. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I should've been. I'm in love with you… please…not Portman.
"Nope," he said instead, "Didn't work out." She nodded. "I see you're doing better though," he added a little more cynically than he'd intended as he motioned toward Portman who was at the moment bashing Luis up against the boards.
"Well," she fumbled for words, "I'm not really sure what happened. I mean you know Portman."
Yeah I know Portman.
"Just one more of those unexplainable things about him. He uh…he just kinda helped me out Friday. Talked to me…and stuff you know?"
Talked to you like I should've been talking to you.
"I really don't know where it's going. But you know…it's something different. He's been…surprisingly sweet."
Adam sighed, "That's great Julie. You should tell me about it sometime, but uh, Coach is gonna murder us if we don't get out there."
Julie, a little taken aback by the retort simply nodded and they joined their teammates in silence.
From across the rink, Charlie looked on. Damn, he thought, It's gonna be a long week.
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End of part one…what do you think? Read and respond please. The reviews have been really helpful. J…(should I keep going?)