Chapter 3- I'll Stop By Eventually
Avery sighed finally finishing her part of the job her and the girls had split up. Avery had spent the morning ordering jerseys, and booking rooms for Norway while Claire booked their flights and transportation not to mention writing up a few play suggestions for Herb.
"Where's Allie she's been gone for like an hour, all she had to do was find out what spare equipment we had and decide if there was a need to order more" Avery said, Claire shrugged
"I'll go look for her you head down to the ice, Herb will probably be wanting to see us soon anyway" Claire said walking out of Herb's office. Avery sighed and stood up exiting the office as well, she hummed quietly to herself making it to the ice just in time to see one of the players check another player pretty hard. Avery furrowed her brows quickening her pace to get a closer look, she immediately recognized the player on the ground to be her best friend Rob McClanahan. She looked on concerned as she walked on the cool ice
"What'd you hit him like that for?" Verchota asked
"This isn't the bush league OC" Bah said
"Nice hit OC" Silk said making Avery scowl
"Nice hit my ass, how about I shove my foot-" Avery was cut off by her father's hand making it's way to her mouth, she silently pouted but shut her mouth up nonetheless
"Tell your boy to keep his head up and he won't have to worry about it" OC replied his Boston accent thick in his throat, part of Avery want to smack the smirk right off his face and the other half still wanted to kiss him. Avery shook her head at her wandering thoughts now was not the time he just checked the crap out of her best friend after all
"Let's go" Rob yelled getting up quickly all Avery could do was watch as the two threw punches at each other Avery watched as Bill tried to intervene but he was pulled away by Silk who told him to stay out of it, it ended quickly with OC landing a solid punch straight to Rob's nose resulting in a yelp. Herb looked unamused
"How bout it boys look like college hockey to you? Looks like a bunch of monkeys trying to hump a football if you ask me I don't know what do you think Craig?" Herb asked, Craig looked slightly confused but nodded an agreement
"You want to settle old scores you're on the wrong team. We move forward right now, We start becoming a team right now! Skating, passing, flow, creativity that is what this team is all about gentlemen not old rivalries. So, why don't we start with introductions for a little bit you know, who you are, where your from" Herb said looking between Jack and Rob who's nose was bleeding
"Rob McClanahan St. Paul Minnesota" he breathed
"Who do you play for?" Herb asked
"For you here at the U" Herb nodded looking at Jack expectantly
"Jack?" Jack sighed looking down before glancing at Rob
"Jack O'Callahan, Charlestown Mass, Boston University" he replied glancing back at Avery but her eyes were trained on Mac with concern as the blood dripped from his nose, Jack felt a sudden wave of guilt but pushed it aside
"Over here" Herb said referring to Ralph Cox, Ralph sighed
"Ralph Cox UNH, I'm from where ever is not going to me hit" he said with a side smile, Avery couldn't help but giggle as a few others laughed along with her. Jack glanced at her again with a slight smile but he stopped as soon as he felt Rob's harsh protective glare
"Very good, everybody on the line let's go" Herb called skating over to Avery, every ones attention was soon drawn to the entrance as a very noisy Allie and Claire walked in. Allie looked exasperated
"How was I supposed to know some janitor came around and locked you in the equipment closet? You had one job Claire and you couldn't even do that" Claire said flailing her hands in the air
"You guys waited an hour to come and look for me! An hour! I could've died" Allie said stomping her way onto the ice, Avery did her best to stifle her laughter
"You're such a drama queen, I'm this close to locking you back in there." Claire huffed "Don't think I won't do it" Allie narrowed her dark blue eyes
"Daddy! It took them an hour to come and find me" She whined with the classic "Daddy's girl" face. Craig sighed
"Claire, Allie you're both right. Agree to disagree and get over it okay?" Craig said giving them both a serious father look
"Fine, but this is why Avery is my favorite sister" Claire said nonchalantly throwing her arm on her older sister's shoulder. Claire quickly scanned the line of boys in the distance she gave Jack a hard stare before looking at Mac
"What happened to your face Mac?" she asked
"Yeah, it's harder to look at than usual" Allie said with a quick smile making all the other males in the room laugh even Herb cracked a smile
"The tough Boston boy landed him deck to the face" Avery said looking at her best friend
"Oh here" Claire said handing her a pack of wet nips
"Where'd you get these?" Avery asked cocking her eyebrow
"I had them in my bag..." Claire trailed knowing what inside joke was coming next
"You're a freak" Allie said her tone now playful
"What's wrong with being prepared" The older blonde shrugged Claire said jutting out her hip in a sassy manner
"Nothing, it's just you're bag is practically a pharmacy" Avery shook her head taking the wet nips and heading over to Mac. Rob knew what she was doing as soon as she pulled the wet cloths out of their bag. He stopped her slightly embarrassed as his newest team mates watched them amused
"I can do it Avery you aren't my mother" He said incredulously trying to take the cloth from her small hands. Avery quickly retracted with a scowl
"Robert" She hissed narrowing her blue eyes at her best friend
"Av-" She cut him off quickly a little bit of venom slipping through her voice due to her quick temper that was only reserved for the boy who'd practically been her brother since birth
"Shut up, you pansy" She snapped making Mac flush a deep shade of red the rest of the boys laughed as he huffed exasperated but let her clean the blood off his face anyway
"There you go all handsome and stupid again" Avery smirked
"Oh you're so very funny" Mac replied with heavy sarcasm
The girls sat a while as Herb worked the boys to the end of practice. The boys were clearly exhausted most were barely able to remotely drag themselves to the locker room. The girls stood out the locker room door
"Do you think they're decent?" Claire giggled
"Define decent" Allie laughed
"I'd say at least pants or boxers" Avery said she was almost positive at least one of the good looking college boys could hear their school girl giggles
"I'd say they're somewhat decent right now. Hey you've got 30 seconds to get decent before we're coming in" Avery said pounding on the door. She could faintly hear the hustle behind the door making her giggle
"It's not like they don't having anything we haven't seen before" Allie said pushing the door open to come face to face with her father. Rammer narrowed his eyes at his best friends statement the name Tim Harrer flashed in bright red, making him slam his shoes angrily. Everyone but Jim, Jack, Craig, and Rammer looked slightly amused
"Hey Dad" Allie said innocently looking up at her father's authoritative stare
"Girls, I think we need to talk. Now I know you've had relationships in the past and being around lots of young men are making you feel-" Avery cut him of her cheeks tinting a bright red
"Dad. I hate to break it to you but Aunt Gwen beat you to this talk a long time ago" She said awkwardly
"Yeah dad, Allie found four Playboys and a VHS called 'Hot Steamy College Girls' under your mattress when she was 9. It was only fit for her to tell us" Claire said shifting the dynamic of the conversation slightly. The boys howled and whistled at their assistant coach
"OOHHH coach Patrick!" chorused through out a locker room of half dressed college males
"Do you remember what Allie said when she explained it to us" Avery laughed
"Oh yeah, and she wouldn't go near Rammer for two weeks because she was afraid all her hormones were going to sneak up on her at once" Claire giggled making Allie blush harder
"Shut up" she muttered embarrassed. Rammer looked at her with a slight smile but didn't say anything letting the conversation progress further
"Look girls all I'm saying is I understand how being young feels especially when surrounded by the opposite sex. You're more likely to want to be sex-" Allie cut him off again still a deep shade of red
"Oh my god dad I'm a virgin" She blurted extremely embarrassed now as she turned to walk out of the locker room uncomfortable by all the watching eyes
"Me too" Avery admitted walking to where Doc had said he would be checking out any possible injuries.
"Me three" Claire said placing a reassuring hand on her father's shoulder
"That's all I wanted to know" Craig admitted a satisfied smile on his face as he exited the locker room leaving Claire under the watching eyes
"What!" She snapped making the boys scurry back to what they were previously
doing before all of them had entered.
"Well that was…." Avery trailed coming to Claire's side
"Yeah" Claire said agreeing with her unfinished sentence
"Awkward as hell" Allie called reentering the locker room a little less red then she had been when she exited
Jimmy smiled to himself as he watched them quietly bicker among themselves, he smiled at the thought of no one ever having Claire before. He'd gotten to know her a lot on their walk last night and he could honestly say he'd never felt like that with any of his previous girlfriends especially since the death of his mother two years ago.
Rammer sighed to himself relieved as he watched his best friend play with her long blonde locks. He was thankful Allie had never given herself to Tim Harrer, he liked to think she deserved a level of respect Tim could never give her. The other part of him felt slightly guilty he hadn't saved himself for a girl like Allie and he couldn't quiet pin point why.
Jack sat staring at Avery in complete awe, this girl did nothing but surprise him and he found it not only attractive but incredibly intriguing. He would've never thought the Patrick sisters hadn't been intimate with anyone especially with their model looks. His heart pounded at the mere thought of being with Avery not just sexually but emotionally, this was a very rare feeling for Jack O'Callahan and it scared him. No one the defense men had ever been with would let alone could compare to Avery Patrick.
Jack pulled on his best smirk as he approached the brown haired beauty for the first time. Claire looked at him before looking at Avery and just knew this prick from Boston and her older sister were made for each other. Avery looked at the boy expectantly
"We haven't officially met, I'm Jack O'Callahan" he said sticking out his hand but Avery refused to take it
"So Boston boy suddenly has no problem with hick girls from Minnesota now" Claire said sticking up an eyebrow. Jack looked guilty
"I'm really sorry about that, sometimes I let my anger get the better of me" He said
"Oh really we didn't notice" Avery said dryly, Jack looked slightly wounded which immediately made her feel bad he shifted awkwardly
"I really am sorry" he said sincerely glancing back at Mac who wore an unreadable expression. Avery didn't say anything further as she wandered toward the locker room door
"Wait" Jack called grabbing her by the hand gently, Allie and Claire smirked watching the scene unfolding in front of them. Avery felt a small rush through her body at the contact, it felt so right but so wrong all at the same time. She reluctantly pulled her arm from his
"What?" She asked avoiding direct eye contact with the handsome defense men
"About what you said to your dad how about I be the one to change that. Go out with me?" He questioned immediately regretting the first part of the statement. Avery let her eyes wander to her best friend who's eyes were narrowed at his rival. Avert chose to only focus on the first half of his proclamation all though the thought of a boy like Jack O'Callahan taking her innocence was very appealing.
"Go to hell" Avery settled with her retort but it only made the Boston boy smirk he had to admit her insults were very appealing
"I'll stop by there eventually, but I promise I'll look for you when I get out" He winked making Avery flush a bright shade of pink as her breathe hitched in her throat. It was then she realized Jack O'Callahan of Boston university was a good boy who knew exactly when and how to be bad, he was the perfect amount of trouble in a nutshell.
"You're an idiot" Avery huffed pretending to be indifferent as she turned with a slight strut exiting the locker room she couldn't decide whether to side with her growing feelings for the Boston boy or her loyalty to her best friend. Because she knew exactly how hard it was to resist a bad boy who's a good man. Jack sat back and watched the girl of his dreams exit the room, she was complicated in a non conventional sort of way and he loved that.
"You know what they say about girls who call men idiots" Rizzo called
"It just means you're and idiot, Allie calls me an idiot all the time bud don't let it get to you" Rammer said tying his shoe
"No you're idiot, it's a subtle hint that they're totally into you" Rizzo said shaking his head
"Allie isn't into me" Rammer said simply
"Keep telling yourself that buddy" Mac said walking out of the locker room