Chapter 18

Part 1

There was a long silence as my hockey team just went through our biggest loss of the season, losing 7-1 to the worst team in the league. We all sat in the locker room in silence, not moving an inch or changing out of our equipment.

Being the leading scorer on the team, I knew I was the most responsible for the loss as I wasn’t able to notch a single point and turned the puck over so many times to the point where I lost count by the second period. My point is, I played like shit and all the other guys knew it too. The worst part of it all was that it meant we were eliminated from playoffs, meaning our season was done.

“Boys,” the team captain, Wilson began, breaking the long silence. “We fucked up.”

Although I was the leading scorer on the team, I lacked the locker room leadership which was crucial for every captain to have. Wilson, being the second highest scorer and having the leadership which I lacked, fit naturally into the captain role.

“No shit, Sherlock,” our goalie, Jonathan remarked.

“What now?” Jake, another one of our teammates asked.

“What now? We work our asses off in the off-season so we’ll crush everyone next seas-” Wilson began reciting what he said the previous 3 seasons when we were eliminated from the playoffs, until he realized over half of us were in our last year and aren’t going to have a next season.

“Let’s think about all the things we did wrong,” someone else suggested.

“Good idea!” Wilson exclaimed. “Okay, I’ll start. We had terrible transitions.”

“Lack of offensive presence from the defencemen,” someone else suggested.

“Slow shift changes.”

“Inability to block their passing lanes.”

“Inability to create any scoring opportunities..”

“Also doesn’t help that Johnny turned the puck over like a million times,” one of our defencemen, Rob, said. Rob was always brutally honest with everything he said and I knew he didn’t mean anything offensive by it.

“Oh, come on Whilton,” a few of the guys sighed, calling him by his last name.

“What? I’m just saying.”

“He’s not wrong,” I stepped in. “I played like shit today and let all of you down. Sorry, everyone.”

“We can’t blame Johnny for our loss today. He’s been carrying all of our asses the whole season and is probably the only reason we made it this far,” Wilson said.

“Yeah, we probably would’ve ended up dead last if it wasn’t for Johnny.”

“Everyone please give a round of applause to Johnny for bringing us this far,” Wilson said, causing everyone to stand up and start clapping for a few seconds before sitting back down.

“Seriously though, what’s up? You looked out of it today Johnny,” Nicholas asked me.

“Are you having relationship issues?” Chase, also known as Mr. Matthews’ son, asked jokingly.

“Are you kidding? It’s Johnny we’re talking about. Is he fighting with his nonexistent girlfriend?” Rob joked.

“There’s that one girl he got along with really well. That Xela chick! They’ve been avoiding each other a lot recently,” Wilson informed the whole team.

God fucking dammit Wilson. Xela is the last thing I need on my mind right now.

“Oh shit, I remember you talking about her before,” Nicholas said to Wilson. “It was that one night where your dad-”

“Got drunk at the book club. Ha Ha, can we please never bring that up again,” Wilson said, getting a good laugh out of everyone.

“Did you guys get into a fight or something?” Rob asked me.

“No, that’s not it! We weren’t even dating in the first place!”

“Why else is she on your mind then? Did someone steal her away from you?”

“She has nothing to do with how poorly I played today. Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.”

“Liar,” Jonathan said. “Don’t worry. I know what’ll get her out of your mind. Boys, we’re all partying tonight!”

“FUCK YES!” everyone else yelled.

“Wait, what you mean by ‘WE’RE ALL’ partying tonight?” I asked.

“As in, YOU’RE also coming with us and YOU’RE gonna talk to some girls and YOU’RE gonna get laid tonight and YOU’RE gonna have the best night of your life.”

“I think I’ll pass.”

The other guys would occasionally go to big parties every now and then, but I’d always pass the offer and stayed home instead.

“Come on, you never go. Why not come this one time?”

“I got better stuff to do,” I said.

“Bullshit,” Chase called out. “We all know all you do is sit home and do nothing all day.”

“Shut up Chase!”

“Just this once,” Jonathan continued trying to persuade me. “It’ll be fun. You can drink a little, meet some new people, and maybe even get a little lucky.”

“I’m going to not try to get myself arrested at age 17 because a bunch of idiots on my hockey team made me go to some stupid party.”

“It’s not like we’re doing anything illegal.”

“So underage drinking is legal now?”

“Besides that. It’ll only be a small sip anyway.”

“Where is this party anyway?” I asked.

“I know the guy who’s hosting it tonight. It’s at his house.”

“Where is the party?” I asked again, not getting a clear answer the last time.

“Um, his house is on the… south side of the town,” he said slowly.

Jonathan and the rest of the team knew just how much I hated the south side of the town after I told them the story of that crazy lady who chased me for a whole hour straight. No way in hell was I ever going back there.

“Oh fuck no!”

“Come on, it’s not that bad Johnny.”

“May I remind you what happened last time I went over there.”

“That was one time Johnny. It’s not always like that over there.”

“How do you know that same fucking lady isn’t going to be chasing me around town again?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you can probably outrun her again anyways.”

“Do not underestimate that fucking lady. She could really move her legs.”

“ALSO HER HEAD,” Chase yelled out jokingly, making the rest of the guys laugh. Once they settled down, their focus was set on me again, waiting for my final decision on whether I’d come or not.

“Oh, I also heard there was free Wifi there,” Jonathan said.

“Okay, I’m coming,” I said almost instantly.

Jonathan knew that my wifi had been down for almost a whole week now, and the technician has still yet to come after calling him every single day since the crash of my Wifi. Not only do I had to deal with Hailee’s annoying whining about there being no Wifi every single day, but I also haven’t been able to use the Wifi myself.

“FUCK YES!” everyone jumped out their seats and yelled as I made my final decision.

“That was easy,” Jonathan said. “I’ll pick you up at 9, okay?”

“P.M?” I asked, wondering why it was so late.

“No, A.M dumbass.”

Part 2

Jonathan and the rest of the guys pulled up at around 9 o’clock like they said, and I got in their huge truck after telling Hailee to behave herself while I was gone. The whole car ride there was definitely a scary one, as I could only think of past experience with that area of town.

After 20 or so minutes, we finally arrived at the party. It was held at an average sized house (still bigger than mine), and already there were drunk people doing stupid shit in the front yard. Most of us split away from each other, but I still stayed with Jonathan, Wilson, and Chase.

“What is the fucking Wifi password?” I asked them, getting my phone out of my pocket.

“It’s a party, Johnny. You didn’t come here to use their internet all night. Stop being so antisocial and have a little fun,” Jonathan said, dancing to the music.

“Is this your attempt at trying to forget the 50 something shots on goal you had to face against earlier today?” Wilson asked jokingly, starting to dance to the loud music too.

“No, that game will give me PTSD for the rest of my life. I’m just trying to have a little fun before I have to deal with the trauma. But today isn’t about me, now is it, Johnny?”

“I just want the fucking Wifi password,” I said.

“You’ll get it eventually. Come on, let’s get you a drink,” Chase said.

“I already said I wasn’t drinking tonight.”

“One sip won’t hurt.”

“Ugh, fine,” I gave in.

Jonathan and Wilson continued dancing in the living room with everyone else while Chase and I headed to the kitchen.

“You’ve drunk a lot before?” I asked Chase.

“Nah, I only got completely wasted that one time I found out my girlfriend was cheating on me. Other than that, I don’t think I’ve drunk in my life.”

“Good to know that I’m taking advice from someone just as inexperienced as me,” I said.

“That one time was enough for me to everything there is to alcohol, trust me.”

“Just how fucked up did you get?”

“The next morning I think I woke up at some random girl’s house who I’ve never seen before..”

“Oh. Oh! OH!” I said, giving him a wink.

“It’s not like that, Johnny,” he said, giving me a nudge. “Apparently she just saw me passed out in the middle of the street and I asked her for help so she brought me home so I could rest.”

“So she kidnapped you?”

“Apparently I was the one that asked her for help so…”

“You still talk to her?” I asked.

“Yeah, we kept in touch after the incident and occasionally meet up every now and then. She’s a really nice girl. Enough about me now, let’s focus on getting you a drink.”

“Does it really matter what I get?”

“Yes! There are like a million different types of alcohol you can choose from. What do you want? Maybe some Vodka or Jack Daniel’s?” he said, pulling out two bottles.

“What about those big cans that old, fat people drink when they watch hockey?” I asked.

“Canned beer?” he said with a disappointed look.

“Yeah!”

“They’re over there,” he said, pointing to a stack of a million 6 packs stacked on top of each other.

I walked over to the pile and grabbed the last one left of that pack. I took a small sip out of it and my first instinct was to spit it out.

“This is fucking disgusting,” I said while coughing.

“Wanna try something else then? I’ll make you a real good drink.”

“I’m sure those will taste just as bad.”

“Fine.”

I put the can aside and promised myself not to touch it again until later in the night when I got really thirsty. After talking a bit more to Chase, I think he started to notice too.

“Are you not going to touch that for the rest of the night?” he asked.

“No, I will,” I replied.

“Okay. I’m not going to force you to drink anything if you don’t want to.”

Suddenly, the corner of my eye spotted the last person I wanted to see right now. My eyes instantly followed her to see if it actually was her, and our eyes briefly met for a second before we both turned away.

What the fuck was Xela doing at this party? Is she here with Chad? Fuck, she’s the last person I wanted to think about tonight. I found myself out of options as the only way to get myself to stop thinking about her was to drink.

“On second thought, I think I’ll have a bit more,” I said, drinking more out of the can.

“You sure?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” I said, practically chugging it now.

It tasted really fucking gross, but I somehow managed to keep it in and swallow all of it. I was not going to let her ruin my night.

Part 3

It didn’t take long for the alcohol to kick in. I only drank 1 can, but that was enough for me to feel the most fucked up I’ve ever felt in my life. My sight was blurry, I was so dizzy to the point I could barely walk properly, I couldn’t think straight at all, my whole body felt heavy, and most of all I needed to puke.

“WHERE’S THE FUCKING WASHROOM?” I yelled at Chase.

“Calm down, stop yelling.”

“I need to use the fucking washroom.”

“You okay? You only drank one beer and you’re this fucked up?” he said, noticing the way I was walking and slurring my words.

“I’m fine, just get me to the fucking washroom.”

“Alright, alright,” he said.

He wrapped my arm around his shoulder for support and somehow I managed to walk on the other foot as we were heading to the closest washroom.

He didn’t know where any of the washrooms were either since it wasn’t his house, so we had to explore together. When we got to the first washroom I tried turning the knob, but it was locked. We walked for a bit longer until we found the other washroom on the lower level. I tried turning the knob again, and of course, it was locked. Finally, we went upstairs together, and thankfully, the only washroom there was open.

We walked in and Chase threw me down in front of the toilet.

“You need me to do anything else?” he asked.

“I’ll be fine. Leave,” I responded.

“Okay, text me or Jonathan when you wanna leave. He’ll drive you back,” he said, walking out and closing the door behind him. I didn’t bother locking the door as I could barely even stand up on my own two feet.

I tried vomiting into the toilet, but I just couldn’t. My stomach still felt like shit, but I couldn’t do anything about it. I tried using the finger technique, but I’d always either miss or couldn’t lift my arm up as it felt way too heavy.

After a few more minutes of attempting to vomit, I heard the door open behind me. I turned around, and to my surprise, it was Xela.

“Oh, sorry I didn’t know you were in here,” she said politely before trying to walk out.

I was going to let her go out until I realized she was my only option if I wanted to make any progress. Fuck, I don’t have any other choice, do I?

“Wait!” I called out. “Finger. Drunk. Please.”

“What?”

“I need you to shove my finger down my throat so I can vomit,” I was barely able to get out from my mouth.

“Oh, okay. Sure.”

She kneeled down next to me, and she knew exactly what to do. I threw up the first chunk before she began speaking.

“This brings back old memories, doesn’t it?

“Yeah, except this time you’re the one helping me.”

“Yeah,” she said before continuing to help me.

We kept doing the same process over and over again, saying a few things in between.

“Just how much alcohol did you have?” she asked.

“1 can,” I said, still trying to catch my breath.

“And you say my alcohol tolerance is bad.”

“You got drunk off of fucking chocolates,” I said before starting to throw up more in the toilet. “Why did you come here tonight? You don’t usually go to parties.”

“I don’t know. I guess I thought it would help me clear my mind a bit.”

“Is it working?”

“No.”

“Oh, ok,” I said before throwing up again. “Hey, Xela?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m really sorry. For everything I said to you before. I didn’t spill coffee on you on purpose though,” I absentmindedly said. Wait, what the fuck was I saying? Fuck, I wasn’t supposed to say that out loud.

“It’s okay, I know you didn’t,” she said, giving me a smile.

“Are you still mad at me?” I asked.

“No, of course not.”

“Then why you look so depressed?” I asked, again not thinking of what I was saying before actually saying it. It was, however, true that she did look pretty sad. I could tell from when I first saw her.

“Tonight Chad and I brok-” she said, before banging her head on the wall realizing her mistake in telling me.

“WHAT?” I yelled as I could.

“Fuck, you heard nothing okay?”