20. August

CHAPTER TWENTY

AUGUST

" G et ready to shoot! Aim right for the five-hole!" I shout at Ella as she slowly maneuvers the puck toward Bear who is standing with his legs spread in front of the net. The rest of us are standing along the wall giving her pointers as she uses her special light-up hockey stick to shoot her shot. The puck goes straight through Bear's still legs and slides into the net.

"YES!" Ella pumps her fist.

"That was great, Ella!" Oliver calls from the wall. "But let's try it with him moving a little. You have to be able to anticipate where he's going to move. Which way he's going to move, and then shoot the other direction."

"Oh God, that sounds super hard."

"Nah, don't worry about it. Remember these mascots aren't players either. They can skate but they're no better at this than you are."

"I mean they're a little better than me in that they've been doing this tournament for years."

"Yeah, but you trained me for hockey for years," I remind her. "Don't forget that. You learned the skills just as much as I did. And I venture a bet you could skate rings around them."

"I sure hope so," she says as she skates back to the center of the ice and prepares to go again. This time Bear skates a little sporadically back and forth in front of the net as she moves the puck down the ice. Trying to calculate which way he'll slide so she can shoot, she's too focused on what she's doing and not keeping her eye on the puck.

"Ella look up!"

Too late.

She ends up skating right into Bear, loses her balance, and falls right in front of him. He just laughs and lends her a hand to help her up.

"Might want to try sinking the puck next time, Montgomery," he says, smiling down at her.

Wiping her brow with the back of her furry Lumin glove she gives him a cheesy smile. "Sorry about that! This is harder than I thought! How the heck do you keep your eye on the puck and watch where you're going while skating at a fast rate of speed?"

"Practice," Ledger says with an understanding nod. "Lots of practice."

"Ah. That's fair. I'd say you all deserve a raise but you get paid an ass load so I think you're good."

The guys laugh as she gets herself back to the starting point and tries shooting a goal three more times. Twice, Bear doesn't let her in, but the third time, he takes pity on her and allows the puck to slide between his legs.

"Thanks for the pity goal, Bear." She laughs and gives him a high five. "I'll take it."

"You're alright, Montgomery," he says, putting an arm around her shoulders. "You don't look too bad out there."

"You'll be the cutest pussy on the ice that's for sure," Griffin announces with a smirk.

"Watch it, Ollenberg," I say to Griffin who's standing on the ice in his blue pajama pants with pink bunnies all over them, but he only laughs and shrugs a shoulder. "What? She'll be wearing a damn cat costume and she's literally the only female mascot in the league. I'm not wrong."

He's not.

And she'll be the cutest pussy on the ice in every sense of the word.

"Come on, El. Let's get some lunch."

Today's the day.

Ella's big Tournament of Mascots debut.

The entire team is seated in the stands to cheer on Ella as she shines among the western conference's mascots. Our friends, the Chicago Red Tails are also in attendance tonight to cheer on their mascot, Remi Red Tail.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Dex asks from behind us as Griffin plops down beside me with a beer and a box of popcorn.

He glances at the pajama pants he chose for today's event.

"You like them? I had them custom made." He grins and lifts his jersey enough for us all to see his bubble butt of an ass. He's sporting dark blue pajama pants with yellow stars on them along with our team logo up and down each leg. "This is the inaugural wearing of these pants," he adds. "Thought today would be the perfect day for them."

Dex leans over to Colby Nelson and asks, "Why don't we have cool pants like that?"

"Because clearly Anaheim is the superior team."

Griffin points to Colby with a mouthful of popcorn. "You heard it here first folks! Fuckin' right we're the superior team."

"That was sarcasm, dumbass."

"Doesn't matter. You said it out loud mother fuckaaaa!"

"I approve of the pants, Griff," Ledger says with a laugh. "Because team spirit and all."

He leans over to Ledger and asks, "Hey. Do you know who else thought these pants were amazing?

"Who?"

He smiles and tosses a piece of popcorn into his mouth. "Marlee Remington."

We all know Ledger has had a thing for Marlee Remington for some time now but he's never done anything about it. At this point, it's just plain fun to razz him.

Ledger looks around the general area of where we're seated but Griffin chuckles. "She's not here, asshat. I saw her earlier when I came in this morning. She said I had nice pants and thinks we should have them made for the team shop. Pretty sure she tossed me an air kiss too."

Ledger smacks Griffin's arm, causing him to drop some of his popcorn. "Shut up, turd. She didn't blow you anything."

"Nah, you're right. She didn't. But maybe one day she'll blow me riiiiight up."

Ledger's cheeks heat and he flips Griffin the bird. "I hate you right now."

"No, you don't. You love me. Also why don't you just ask her out already?"

"Oooh who are we asking out?" Milo Landric asks. "Spill the tea back here, buddy."

Ledger's about to answer when the music fades and Jim Stabler, our team announcer, introduces today's players.

"Gooooooooood evening hockey fans! Welcome to the thirty-second annual Mascot Tournament! Tonight, we welcome our beloved mascots from the hockey league's Western Conference and celebrate our love of hockey with them as we raise funds for an incredible charity. Let's put our hands together for St. Jude's Research Hospital!"

The crowd goes wild as a video is played on the jumbotron advertising St. Jude's and the many families they have helped over the years. And then Jim continues, "Let us cheer on our favorite team mascots as I bring them to the ice starting with our very first ever female mascot, LUUUUUUUMIN!"

I pop up from my seat to cheer on my girl and the guys follow suit, each of them clapping their hands and shouting for her as she skates into the arena. As she twirls onto the ice chasing her tail and then showing off her light-up hockey stick, I notice they not only put her in our team jersey but added a sparkly blue tutu as well.

She's so damn cute out there.

I'm so proud of her.

Lumin remains on the ice giving high fives, fist bumps, and hugs to the rest of the mascots as each of them is called to center ice. In attendance tonight is Chicago's Remi Red Tail, Vancouver's Wally Wolf, Minnesota's Grizzy, Seattle's Bracken Brawler, Boulder's Yensen Yetti, Milwaukee's Pete the Parrot, L.A.'s Flip the Dolphin, Kansas City's Growler, Wyoming's Bucko Bronco, Alberta's Icer, and Portland's Ozzie Osprey.

"We'll start our Tournament tonight with the Mascot Skills test," Jim announces. "Where each of our mascots will dribble the puck from center ice to the net and take one shot. Each mascot to get their puck into the net will score one point. ARE WE READY MASCOTS?"

The crowd cheers around us as we watch on.

"Who do you think has the best skill out of all of them?" Hawken Malone asks from behind us.

The entire row of Stars players seated with me answers in tandem, "Lumin."

The Red Tails laugh, Milo clapping my shoulders. "Nothing like true love, eh, Blackstone? You've trained your team well."

True love…

I haven't really given much thought to being in love with Ella. I mean sure, I've always loved her. I've always had feelings for her whether I wanted to acknowledge them or not, but true love? Like the fairy tale stuff?

I think Milo could be on to something.

I love Ella.

But I also think I'm in love with Ella.

No. I don't think. I know.

I'm in love with Ella.

"Dude, I'd marry her right fucking now if she wanted to."

Our row goes silent and I can feel every eye on me from the guys seated around me. I get it. They've never heard me talk like this before. They know I've had the hots for Ella but it's so much more than that. This isn't one of those situations where we have to figure out if we can do life together because we've been doing life together since we could walk and talk. Really, we just had to get to the point where we could let our real feelings be known and then of course…the sex.

Had the sex been bad, it may have been bad for the stability of our relationship, but sex with Ella is any fucking thing but bad.

It's mind blowing.

Earth shattering.

Adventurous.

Satiating.

Damn. Fucking Ella is straight up fun.

She's all I've ever needed in my life.

She's all I'll ever want.

"That's right, I said it," I tell them without looking at my teammates. I only have eyes for Ella right now. "I'm that in love with her. I don't need or want anyone else. She's it for me. So yeah, if she came up here right fucking now and asked me to marry her I'd say hell yes and fly her to Vegas right now."

"That's a big step, bro." Griffin pats my shoulder. "I'm really proud of you."

"Thanks."

"But also, don't make her ask you. Give her the big grand gesture and the girly proposal." He looks out onto the ice. "Ella's a cool girl. She comes across as the type who would like that sort of thing."

I huff out a laugh. "You're not wrong. She's definitely the hearts and flowers and romance kind of girl."

"Hey speaking of Ella," Zeke Miller asks. "Do you guys know what this mysterious plan is for Remi and Lumin today?"

The guys turn to look at Zeke and then glance back at me like I'm the keeper of secrets but I shrug my shoulders in response. "What do you mean mysterious plan?"

"I don't know," he says. "But Jonah mentioned this morning that he had this plan for today's showdown and he was going to ask Ella to be a part of it."

I shake my head. "She didn't say a word about it, so whatever it is, it's also a mystery to me."

Hawken chuckles and reaches over Griffin's shoulders to grab some popcorn from his box. "I have no doubt whatever shenanigans Jonah is up to, Ella will fit in perfectly with his plan and it'll be amazing."

With mascot Grizzy acting as goalie, each of the mascots take their turn dribbling the puck and taking their shot. The first four don't make it in, but Yenson Yetti does and so does Remi Red Tail. Pete the Parrot tries to dribble down the ice but loses control of it when he hits it with his stick too hard and ends up flying after it only to fall flat on his face.

Griffin laughs. "That guy's nuts."

"I want to be him when I grow up," Harrison adds with a chuckle.

Flip, Growler, and Bucko Bronco all miss their shots when their pucks are blocked by Grizzy. The only mascots left to go are Icer and Lumin. Icer decides on a last minute slapshot that hits Grizzy in the stomach. The puck falls to the ice as does Grizzy after he grabs his stomach and bends at the waist pretending to be hurt.

"Bad form!" Dex shouts to the amusement of all of us. "Lower your weight and bend your knees next time!"

"Alright, Ella's up," I tell everyone as if they don't already know.

Come on, Babe.

You can do this.

There's a flutter in my stomach that wasn't there ten minutes ago and a tense feeling in my chest. Hell, I think I'm nervous for her.

Kind of wish I had a cinnamon roll to stuff in my face.

Ledger claps me on the shoulder. "Relax Buddy, she's got this. She's Ella."

"Yeah." I nod. "I know."

Griffin stands up and starts a slow clap as he shouts, "LU-MIN! LU-MIN! LU-MIN!"

I immediately stand up and join him as do all of us on the team. And before she even begins to dribble the puck, there's a solid chant around the arena. We watch excitedly as she pushes the button on her stick that makes it sparkle and then she kicks off with her skate down the ice. Keeping the puck in good control, she works her way closer to the net. Grizzy widens his stance and lowers his center of balance so he can move in either direction. The crowd continues to chant for Ella as she picks up speed. She's thirty feet from the net, twenty, ten…and then suddenly she spins in place, twirling with her stick in hand.

"What is she doing?" I laugh, a goofy smile on my face. She twirls once, twice, three times which confounds Grizzy. He stands up tall not understanding what's going on and that's when my girl takes her shot.

Fucking genius.

"AND IT'S IN! SCOOOOORE FOR LUMIN!" Jim announces to a crowd gone wild.

"HELL YEAH!" I shout with my fist in the air and a wide smile on my face. "THAT'A GIRL LUMIN!"

"Damn, that girl's got skill," Quinton says behind us.

Colby nods. "Carissa did something kind of like that when I taught her how to play the game." He shakes his head with a smirk. "Women and their creative ideas."

"She's a goddamn genius," I tell them.

And I love her for it.

"Alright mascots, you know what it's time for!" Stabler announces to the crowd. "It's time for round two of this Mascot Tournament of Champions as we test our dancing skills in this year's MASCOT DANCE OOOOOOOFF!"

"Oh Hell, this ought to be good." Griffin laughs and flags down a drink carrier for another beer.

"Up first to show us his boot scootin' moves, give it up for BUCKOOO brONCO!"

With the red carpets laid out on the ice now, Bucko Bronco enters the arena as the sounds of "Cotton Eyed Joe" fill the room. He hops and jumps around like a wild stallion and then performs his line dance flawlessly as the crowd claps to the beat of the music. When his part is done he waves to the crowd and takes a bow as everyone cheers for his efforts.

"Our next performance is a group of three of our mascot favorites who just want toooo PUSH IT! Let's hear it for Pete the Parrot, Wally Wolf, aaaand Yensin Yetti!" The three crazy mascots strut into the arena wearing their sunglasses causing laughter to sound through the crowd but nothing is better than watching these three dance to Salt-N-Pepa's "Push It"! They try to perform some type of choreographed dance but no way in hell are they getting it right.

"Oh shit!" Dex laughs. "I think even I could teach them a thing or two about dancing."

Griffin snorts. "Right? I mean it's all in the pelvis, but damn, they make it look painful."

We sit through a few more dances that include a twerking dolphin, Grizzy leaping like a ballerina, Bracken Brawler moonwalking to some Michael Jackson, Ozzie Osprey dancing to "I'm a Little Tea Pot", and Icer doing the "Electric Slide". When Growler takes his turn on the ice, "I Want to Dance With Somebody" is played across the arena and the whole crowd is on their feet joining him as the rest of the mascots dance along as well. When the song ends, the stage managers come out to the ice and pull up the red carpet making us all wonder?—

"Where the hell are Remi and Lumin?"

Ledger asks what we're all wondering but then the mascots scatter to the outer walls of the ice as the lights go down and the spotlight shines in the center. I can't hold back my grin knowing that whatever is going on, it's going to be epic. As soon as the tune starts to play in the arena the crowd goes absolutely wild knowing exactly what's about to happen.

"Now I've…had…the time of my life…"

"Oh shit!" Bear straight up belly laughs. "Are they for real?"

Just as the song begins, Remi steps on the ice in his skates and floats to the center of the arena followed by an unusually sparkly Lumin.

"Yep," I say with a nod. "I think they're for real." I look on in wonderment and awe as my girl dances to the ever-famous Dirty Dancing song with Remi, only mildly jealous that it's not me down there dancing with her.

Holy shit, she's going to skate this.

They skate their hearts out and when it comes time for the couple's famous lift, my eyes grow huge as Ella skates to the opposite end of the ice from Remi and he motions for her to skate to him. She lets herself go and flies to the other end as fast as she can and just as the two of them meet, Remi drops to his knees and lifts Ella up over his fluffy bird head to the amazement of the crowd.

"Fuck me!" I shout above the sound of the music. "She's amazing! They're amazing!"

Milo and Colby laugh behind me, clapping me on the shoulder as Milo nods. "She is definitely made for this job. It's cool that she and Remi get along so well. They can have a lot of fun together. Jonah's a good guy. He'll never disappoint."

"Ella and I were just watching his video not too long ago. Of that day when he asked out the Zamboni driver. Sorry, I forget her name."

"Giana!" Colby answers. "Oh, my God, that was a fucking fun day. When Jonah asked our wives about helping him they wouldn't stop squealing for hours. They loved being a part of it."

"Yeah." Milo nods. "And now Jonah and Giana are married! Talk about hockey love, huh?"

"Yeah." I smile. "That's really awesome."

Turning back to watch Lumin and Remi take their bows I consider the fact Ella and I aren't too much unlike Jonah and Giana. If someone would have told me I would find the love of my life in a hockey arena, I would have laughed in their face. But here she is, the mascot of our team.

Telling her about that job might very well be the best thing I have ever done. Better than any goal I've ever made or game I've ever won.

I got the girl of my dreams and I couldn't be happier.