6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

I double check that I've grabbed everything before I leave for the night. Ten notebooks? Check. Different colored pens? Check. Okay, I should have everything. My phone buzzes and somehow, I juggle everything and manage to pull it out of my back pocket. Huffing out a sigh, I open the group chat. Surprisingly, it's from Lewi.

Lewi

Are you still coming over to the house tonight?

That's the plan. I just finished packing all my stuff up. I'm headed out now.

Oli

Need any help?

Should be good.

Vicy

Let us know when you get here.

Is there a reason I'm letting you know when I'm there instead of just knocking on the door?

Taz

So we can help you bring stuff in silly

I think I'm capable of carrying a bag of notebooks.

Lewi

Just let us know. Don't be stubborn.

Pot meet kettle ??

Oli

Just let us know please.

Fine. gtg.

Vicy

Why does she listen when Oli tells her to do something?

Oli

I'm her favorite duh.

I laugh, putting my phone away as I walk out to my car. A sharp pain shoots up my leg, and I wince. Leaning up against the car, I lift my leg to wiggle my ankle and groan. As I'm rolling it around, I look up at the sky. Appears the weather is about to change. Spending so much time in Florida made me forget how much my ankle hates the cold weather changes.

Once the pain dulls to a manageable ache, I slowly increase the weight on my foot while I get everything into the car before slipping in myself. Taking a few deep breaths, I start the car. I'm going to need to stock up on aspirin if the weather is going to bother my ankle this badly.

Pulling into the driveway, I debate if I want to let them know I'm here or not. My ankle still hurts a bit and, knowing my luck, I'll end up tripping with everything in my arms. I can already see the fight over who will come out to help me if I told them I was here in the group chat.

Pulling up Oli's name, I press the call button. It rings twice before he answers, "Hey, Roe Roe."

"Hey, I'm letting you know I'm here. I suppose I'll take you up on the offer to help me bring stuff in."

He snorts. "Be out in a moment."

"Thanks." I throw my phone into my bag as I try to gather everything together so I can hand it off. It's only a few minutes before I hear the front door open. Oli steps out first, followed by Lewi. Interesting.

Oli smiles as he opens the door for me, holding out a hand for my things. "Let me grab your stuff."

I smirk as I hand him my bag as well as the few notebooks that wouldn't fit. "I didn't realize I needed two of you to help me inside."

Lewi shrugs as he waits for me to step out of the car. "We made a rule to always have a buddy with us no matter what. Keeps everyone out of trouble."

With a nod, I stand, trying to suppress a wince as I sidestep to close the door. Lewi must have seen the wince though because he arches a brow. "You good?"

"I'm fine."

He crosses his arms over his chest, and his eyes narrow. "Lizzy?"

Exhaling a sigh, I begin shuffling toward the front door. I know I can't completely hide my limp from Oli or Lewi.

Oli rushes to jump in front of me, which forces me to jerk to a stop to avoid bumping into him. He looks down at me with an arched brow. "Did something happen today at work? You didn't have that limp earlier."

Rolling my lips between my teeth, I try to avoid his gaze but cave when he continues to stare at me, waiting for an answer. "It's the weather. Just an old ankle injury, nothing new or crazy," I say, groaning.

He hums. "Nothing crazy?"

I nod. "Nothing crazy. Can we go inside now?"

He backs away, turns, and heads to the front door. "Yep. Come on inside. You can sit on the couch, so you can put your feet up."

With an eye roll, I follow him. "I don't need to do that. I'm fine."

"Just put them up," Lewi says from behind me. "You can't argue against us. We've all had ankle injuries. What would you tell us to do if it were the other way around?"

Scrunching up my nose, I huff out, "Elevate and rest the ankle."

He laughs. "Exactly. So, take your own advice. You're planning to work on paperwork anyways."

"Fine," I growl out. He's right, but I don't want him to know that. And my ankle is starting to ache more with each step. Sighing, I make my way over to the couch and do as I'm told; I sit and prop my legs up on the arm of the couch.

Lewi lifts my legs and places a pillow underneath my feet before sitting beside me on the couch. Oli holds out my bag and my loose notebooks. "You may be our athletic therapist, but we are going to take care of you just as much as you take care of us."

I smirk as I take my things from him. "So, you're only taking care of me because I'm your athletic therapist?"

He boops me on the nose before walking away. "You know I'll take care of you for other reasons."

My gaze meets Lewi's, and he gives me a wink, then mouths ‘told you'.

Rolling my eyes, I focus back on my notebooks. I still need to make a few more notes about some of the players. It's not until I hear my name being called that I realize I've zoned out. Looking up from my paper, I see everyone around the room staring at me. "What?"

Taz laughs. "What has you focused on your work?"

I look down at the pages in front of me before looking at him. "I'm writing things down about you guys. Each book is dedicated to one of you."

Taz arches a brow as he asks, "Which player are you working on right now?"

I flip the page around to show him. "You."

"Me?" He shuffles closer to me. "What kind of stuff do you have in there?"

I shrug and return to writing. "I have stuff about all past injuries. What injuries I need to keep an eye on for this season. What allergies you have. Stuff like that."

He hums. "You got any personal notes in there?"

"Like what?" I ask absentmindedly.

"Like my favorite color or my favorite candy."

Without thinking, I say, "Your favorite color is green if I had to guess, and I've seen you sneak M&M's when you think no one is watching." I realize then that it's silent, which is odd considering their conversations had been my white noise for the last hour or so. I flick my gaze up again to find the guys all looking at me with deer-in-the-headlight eyes.

"What?"

Taz shakes himself before answering. "How do you know all that?"

Shrugging, I say, "I watch you guys practice on a daily basis, and I've picked up on things while I've spent hours a day observing you guys." I point over to Ozzy with my pen. "He favors his left side when he hasn't done enough stretching. Which is something we will be working on this week, by the way."

He gives me a sheepish smile. "I wasn't favoring my left side that much."

I arch a brow. "If I noticed it, you were."

"Well, you seem to know so much about us, but we know next to nothing about you," Vicy points out.

Closing the notebook, I say, "Well, ask me whatever you want."

Vicy taps his chin. "We should ask her something hard to answer. None of those easy questions."

Surprisingly, It's Lewi who speaks up. "How do you see yourself in life?"

Stunned by his question, it takes me a moment to form a reply. "How… how do I see myself?"

He nods like it's a totally normal question. "Yeah. Are you where you want to be? Doing what you want to be doing? Do you still have dreams you want to strive for? That sort of thing."

It takes me a moment to really think about my answer. Tapping the pen to my cheek, I say, "You guys know how waiting rooms work?"

They all nod as Lewi says, "Yeah."

"So, it was like I'd been stuck in a waiting room. I was waiting and waiting for something to happen. You're not sure if it's going to be big or small, but you know something is going to happen. You're just stuck waiting until it does."

"You say, it was not is. Do you not feel that way now?" Oli asks from his seat on the loveseat behind me.

Looking down at the notebook on my lap, but not really seeing it, my brows furrow. "I feel like I'm no longer in the waiting room, instead I'm stuck behind a glass wall. I can see all these amazing things happening. One by one everyone's dreams are coming true."

"But your dream hasn't come true, Roe Roe?" Taz asks.

I shrug. "I'm here as an athletic therapist for the NHL. It's been a big dream of mine, and here I am. But…"

"But what?" Lewi pushes.

My eyes meet his as I say, "I'm still stuck behind the glass wall. I'm too afraid to let go of my past dream. As if it was never a dream at all. A forgotten dream, part of a forgotten past." My eyes drop back down to my lap. "I don't mind forgetting the past, it's the dream I'm not ready to let go of."

"Then don't," Oli says from behind me, as if it were that simple.

I meet his eyes and say, "But I'll be stuck behind the glass wall. I'll never be able to move forward."

He shrugs. "Who says you have to let go of past dreams to move forward? And even if you're stuck behind the glass wall, you won't be stuck forever."

"How are you so sure of that?"

He gives me a crooked grin as he says, "Because I believe in you. You'll make all your dreams come true."

I feel my cheeks heat. "I'm not so sure about that."

He laughs. "You're not alone anymore. If you need some help along the way, you have us." His eyes soften as he says, "You've got me."