Eric skated down the ice, tonight was game one of the Stanley Cup Finals and as much as he tried to focus on the game ahead of him all he could think about was Elle. He skated with the puck down the ice, lined it up and took the shot but it didn’t go in, it was just wide of the mark. Groaning he skated back to the bench and grabbed his water bottle. Frustrated he took a sip of his water. He felt a gloved hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Cam Ward look at him through his goalie’s mask.

“Dude,” Cam said with a small smile. “What has you so worked up?”

“Elle’s here,” Eric said sighing. “We got into a little fight yesterday.”

Cam started laughing, “Eric, the girl probably hates you. Of course you are going to fight with her.”

“You don’t understand,” Eric started with a sigh. “She was only fighting with me because she doesn’t want to talk to me but she does.”

“Eric, you need to focus on the game, not Elle,” Cam said sighing. “You can’t keep making shots like that, cause even if she does forgive you, you aren’t making a good impression on her.”

Eric rolled his eyes and went back on the ice. He knew that Cam was right; he needed to focus on the game tonight, not Elle. But it was hard. Elle was the only girl that he ever loved. She was everything to him, and he mistakenly let her go. Sighing he went back to practicing and focusing on the game, it was his job after all. They had worked long and hard to get here, and he didn’t need to mess it up tonight because he couldn’t focus because of Elle. Taking a deep breath he cleared his mind of all thoughts of Elle, and skated down the ice with the puck, lined up the shot, and scored. Smiling, he skated back towards the bench, when he caught eye of a blond in the stand. It was supposed to be a closed practice. As he skated closer to the side of the arena where this person was, his heart started thumping harder, it was Elle. How did she get in here? When he got to where she was on the ice, he saw her start to descend the stairs, her blond hair bouncing off her shoulders as she walked down each stair. He shook his head, no, he wouldn’t think of her like that. He couldn’t, she wasn’t his anymore.

“What are you doing here, Elle,” Eric asked as she got to him.

She smiled, “Your mom got me in. I figured that maybe I should talk to you before your game tonight, or else you’d stink.”

He rolled his eyes, “I will not stink if you don’t talk to me, Elle. Contrary to what you and my family think, I’m focused on the game a head of me.”

“Oh Really?” Elle asked her smile growing. “That’s why the first shot I saw you take was about five feet to wide of the goal?”

“So I was having an off moment,” Eric said sighing. “Why are you here? I thought we had nothing to talk about.”

Elle bit her lip, “Right now we don’t. Until you win the cup, we don’t have anything to talk about but I’m going to be at every game, I’m going to be traveling with you. As much as I hate to admit it but if you are to win the cup, we have at least be civil to each other.”

“What made you change your mind?” He said smiling up at her.

She sighed, “Well, let’s just say your brothers love you very much.”

“So,” Eric started. “After this series is over we will talk about what happened?”

Elle nodded, “Yes, Eric we will talk as soon as you win the cup.”

“I have to win the cup for you to talk to me?” He asked making sure he heard her correctly.

She leaned over and kissed his cheek, “Yes. I know you will, Eric. You just have to focus and play like you have everything to lose.”

Eric smiled, “If it means having you or not having you, I do have everything to lose.”

Elle blushed and looked away before turning to head back up the stairs, “Eric, don’t let me being here make you lose focus. The games are what count now. I’m here, just as a spectator. Good luck.”

He watched her walk back up the stairs and saw her turn when she got to the top; with a smile he lifted his hand and gave her a wave. He saw her smile a small smile and waved back. Eric skated back to where his team was, no one asked him who it was, they all knew, and hoped that meant Eric would be able to focus on the task on hand. He silently went back to doing the drills, this time with a new vigor. He needed this team to win the cup, everything depended on it.