A young man, about in his 20's looks out the window of the minivan, he then looks behind him to see a dirty blonde girl resting her head on the shoulder of his twin brother, and another dirty blonde headed boy on the other side of her.
"No worries Jake, CJ will make sure Alexa and your brother don't start any funny business." He looks over to a smaller blonde girl who is driving as they pull into a parking lot.
"I just like to look around, you know that Monika." Jake responds as the van pulls into a parking spot.
"And those eyes never fall on me?" Monika says with a sly grin as she leans on the center console.
"Because that would be weird. Josh, Lexy, wake up." Jake opens his door and steps to the back where about six large bags sit, he grabs one and hands it to Monika.
"Why don't you carry this for me? I did drive after all."
"Cause I gotta carry both my bags." Jake answers as he grabs two bags and places a goalie mask on his head. The other three grab there bags and head into the building where a shorter, somewhat rotund man, is standing.
"Ladies on the right, gentlemen on the left, head to the locker rooms and change Jake you'll be in pads for today."
"Got it." Jake nods to him as the group splits up and the boys find themselves entering the men's locker room.
"Look who got to wear pads today." A man about the twins build says as he laces up his skates.
"You get to wear them tomorrow, Bray." A skinny man next to him says as he tapes up his stick.
"I'm messing with him, You and I will be battling for one of the two goalie spots. Winner gets the job, the other is on the blue line."
"Yeah, that's what Mitchell's dad Matt told me the other day." Jake says as he gets his black and yellow, with navy blue trim leg pads on and grabs his blocker and slides it on. Everyone finishes getting ready and heads out. Jake takes one last look at his black and gold mask before putting it on and heads out. Jake skates out to one of the nets and takes a few laps around it before setting himself into the crease. As he gets set, about nine or so other players make their way over to his side of the ice, the other half heading to the other side where Jordan Lettermen awaits in net. Nathan Spade, number 46, comes over and takes a shot going high stick side, but Jake gets the blocker up to block the shot. Next, Ryan Stafford, number 37 aims between the pad and glove, but Jake moves the glove down just in time to snatch it up and he tosses it aisde. CJ Wilson, Alexa's little brother, in the number 77 sends a slapper from the blue line but that hits Jake in the chest. Jacob McFoul, number 37, and Adrian Pearce, number 47 both take a shot, Adrian's shot just misses the net and Jacob's goes bar up and behind the net, getting a sigh from Jake. He sees a pass from CJ up to Alexa, who is in the number 61, and she tries to deek, just to lose the puck. Jake shakes his head as Austin Faust, number 36, comes flying in and tries for low stick side. But Jake shuts that down with a blocker save, and sees Logan Raymond, number 26, pick up the rebound, but by pure luck, Jake gets the knob of his stick out to send it out of danger. Jake turns to see Monika, with the number 34, coming over and doing some impressive puck handling before trying to go five hole, but Jake is able to close the gap just in time to stop a goal.
"Oh come on, you won't let me get one?" Monika asks with a frown on her face.
"If I want the job, yeah. Besides, I stop shots from all my friends." Jake says as a whistle is blown and everyone stops and gathers near one of the benches.
"Firstly, I want to thank all of you for being here, now as you all know, the team is the St.Louis Hockey Cardinals, and you might be wondering why it's named as such. We chose that name to combine the two great teams of the city." The rotund man from before says as practice begins. Everything goes smoothly, nothing out of the ordinary happens. Both goalies gave up a few goals, but other than that, practice was good. As Jake returned to the van all he saw was Monika in the driver seat.
"Where is Josh and the Wilsons at?"
"Oh, Luchious invited us to lunch somewhere and they excepted."
"What about you?"
"Wasn't interested, Bray, Mitchell, Shawn and Owen were going to be there, as well as Melissa and Steven Campbell."
"Not a fan of crowds."
"Same thing here big man. Hop in, we can get something to eat and hang out, just the two of us." Jake sits in the passenger seat and they head to the nearest IMO'S Pizza. They order a large sausage pizza as Monika wishes to split it. Jake taps on the lid as they make their way home. "So, what you wanna talk about?" Monika says with a slight chuckle at the end.
"You think I'll be the net minder out of Bray and I?"
"Can we not talk about hockey for once. I know we are hockey players but good God."
"You asked be to start a conversation."
"Yeah but, we just got out of practice just about an hour ago."
"Okay jez." Jake looks the girl up and down trying to think of what she would want to talk about. That was when he remembered something he found odd about her, she always wore a jacket, even in the dog days of summer. He remembers going to a Baseball Cards game a few years back in August and he told her to wear Cardinals gear, and while she did wear something that wasn't her usual dark gray jacket, she wore a Cardinals hoodie. "Why are you always wearing a jacket?"
"What the hell was that?"
"It's not about hockey, is it."
"I just like wearing it. D-do you not like it?" Monika blushes a bitas they come to a red light.
"I could care less, so long as you don't overheat in it." Jake takes a quick look and sees a small grin on her face.
"You know, I can tell you care about my well being."
"We're friends, aren't we?"
"Well, yeah. But most people might look at you and see someone who is cold hearted. Maybe that's why I feel the way I feel for you."
"What was that?"
N-nothing, we're back, I'll grab the drinks if you got the pizza." Monika again changes the topic of the conversation as they hop out of the vehicle. She holds the door for Jake as he steps in and sets the pizza down on the coffee table.
"Is this good?"
"It's where I was wanting to eat, great minds think alike I guess."
"I think you're the brains here Monika."
"I guess it's all a part of my Superior German Ingenuity." Monika says with a smile, flexing her arm a bit.
"You're a hockey player, not a car." Jake responds, putting her arm down, causing her to frown.
"Well I can surely honk like one, if you want a test drive." Monika says, in a suggestive tone, only for it to fly over his head.
"I'm good, besides, foods getting cold." Jake opens the box and takes one of the squares. Monika sits on the couch next to him and joins him in eating.
"I wonder if the others will be pissed once they see the box sitting there?" Monika asks as they finish the food.
"Maybe, but if they wanted some they shouldn't have gone with the others."
"True, do you need to use the bathroom? I'ma take a shower."
"Nah go ahead. I'm gonna see what is on tv." Jake grabs the remote as Monika heads up the steps to grab a change of clothes and steps into the bathroom. He flips through the channels but finds nothing, so he steps out and grabs his bags and sets them down and opens one. He pulls out one of the leg pads and checks it, makes sure none of the straps is broken, and does the same for the other before setting them to the side. He checks the webbing of the glove and the seams of the blocker and all checks out. He grabs his mask. He remembers using a bog standard black mask back in high school. But with the advice of Monika's and his and Josh's fathers, he was able to save back for the pads, but the mask was out of the picture as it would have put him over the amount he had saved up. But around Christmas senior year, Monika had gotten him the mask he uses to this day. She said the gang all chipped in to help pay for it, but he finds that hard to believe, because no one recollects helping her pay for a custom goalie mask, even his own twin brother doesn't remember doing it. He shakes his head and grabs a small puck sized jar of polish and a rag. He doesn't remember when and why he started doing this, but he likes to polish his mask after every use. Once he is finished with that project, he puts everything back into the bag and sets both bags off to the side in his room. He sits down and looks at his phone, nothing from those three yet, so he decides to lay down and get some shut eye. After a short time, he hears the bathroom door opening.
"Did you happen to bring in my gear from the van?"
"No, do you want me to?"
"That would be appreciated, thanks Jake."
"Yep." Jake gets off his ass and heads out to grab Monika's equipment when a white sedan pulls up and Josh, CJ, and Alexa step out.
"Thanks for the ride, Luscious." Josh says to the light brown haired driver.
"Not a problem, need help with the stuff?"
"No, we can have Jake here carry it all." Alexa answers in a sarcastic tone.
"Lexy, I think he's grabbing his and Monika's stuff." CJ says as he hands his sister her gear before grabbing his own.
"Just Monika's, I already took mine in." Jake says as he opens the door and lets the others in as he waves to Luscious as he drives off. He himself heads in and walks to a door just across from his room and knocks.
"She's still in the bathroom." Alexa can be heard from the small kitchen. He opens the door and walks over to a bed and sets the bag on it. He notices a picture on the bedside table and takes a closer look. It was a few years back when the group went to a Cardinals game, the one he recalled earlier. He did remember her wanting to take a selfie, but he thought everyone else was in it.
"What do you think you're doing?" Jake turns to see Monika in a tank top and spandex shorts.
"I see you found something other than a jacket."
"Haha, very funny. Still didn't answer my question." She crosses her arms and he points to the bag.
"I set your gear on your bed."
"I can see that, but why are you still here?"
"I was about to leave." Jake says with a tad blush.
"What's wrong, you like the view from up there?" She bends over just a little, trying to get him to look down the tank top, but he shakes his head and walks out. "You're no fun sometimes ya know." She teases as he closes the door. Jake shakes his head before laying on his bed. He sighs before closing his eyes and drifting to sleep. The next few weeks flew by, Jake and Bray would switch every other day being in net or on the blue line. Next thing they know, the first of five pre-season games has arrived. A game against the other teams in the CanAmarican Conference. Two games at home and then they go on the road the last three. Jake and Bray would split the first two and Jordan would get the last game, and whoever is on the bench will be the other goalie. Jake finishes his stretches and grabs his glove and blocker.
"Nervous?" He looks to see Monika, dressed and ready for the game, who sits next to him.
"Do I look nervous?" Jake responds, getting a smile from her.
"Whatever you say, Binnington. Need help getting up?"
"It'll help, thanks." Monika reaches out and he grabs her hand and stands up before putting the rest of his gear on.
"Aww, how cute." The two turn to see a girl with black hair, with a streak of purple looking at them.
"Shut it Millisa." Monika points at her because the man, with the same hair color as Millisa, steps between them.
"Sis, don't get her riled up okay."
"All I was saying was that they would make a cute couple." Monika gives her a glare and Millisa's eyes widen. "Shit, I forgot, sorry Monika." Jake gives both girls a confused look before a man with very short black hair and a tiny bit of hair on the chin walks in.
"Go time guys, first line and first pair is starting off with Jake in the net." He says as everyone lines up and marches out to the ice.