Either You Do...Or You Don't

Allison’s POV:

The next month went by fast, regular season was almost over and Geno had convinced me to come to a home game. I hadn’t been going to the games ever since things with James went bad.

“Why am I doing this?” I sighed, talking to myself. It was still hard going to games, seeing him with her…even though we all had “made up” it was still difficult to see him with someone else…I still loved him. I loved him enough that I was willing to let him go. He wanted to be with Melanie now and not me.

I pulled into a parking space a block or two from the arena and started walking. I headed inside and got to my seat. “Hey! Nice seeing you here!” a familiar voice called to me.

I looked up and Brian, a guy from my job, headed towards me. “Hey! How are you?”

“I’m good. We miss you.” he replied

I had taken a leave from work after the miscarriage and hadn’t returned yet, “I’ll be back next week.”

Brian smiled, “Good. So what brings you to a game? Did you and number 18 get back together or something?”

He knew I used to date James and he knew that we were split up, “No. Geno asked me to come.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Lucky for me though that he couldn’t get me into the VIP box. If he could’ve, I wouldn’t have seen you.”

Brian laughed, “True! And we’re sitting next to each other.”

I smiled back, “Very true.”

“Do you want anything? A beer? A soda? A water?”

“A bottle of water, thanks.” I smiled as Brian headed up to concessions. I turned down towards the ice and guess who was staring at me…James Neal.

James’ POV:

It was second intermission of the game, we were tied against the Caps 2-2 and third period was about to start. Allison was at the game…”Geno, who is that guy that’s sitting in the stands with Allison?” I asked

“What you mean guy? She not with guy.” Geno replied

“That guy that was sitting on her left, she keeps talking to him…”

“She probably meet him and just being nice.”

“Looked more than ‘nice’ to me…” I coughed

“Lazy, why you care? You with Mel, not her.”

“I…I don’t care.” I lied, “I was just making conversation.”

Lucky for me we had to head back down to the ice so Geno didn’t press the issue more. Problem was, I did care…Yes, I was with Melanie, but I still got jealous seeing Allison with another guy…

I sighed as I stepped out on the ice and skated around by where she was. She was only a few rows up from the glass, I could see every outline of her face. She noticed me looking and gave me a small wave. I gave her a quick nod and skated away, fuck, she had noticed…
The period began and my line started on the ice. We won the faceoff and skated down towards the zone, but we lost possesion of the puck. I skated towards the corner to get it, when all-of-a-sudden…BAM!

Allison’s POV:

I gasped as Alex Ovechkin checked James hard from behind, crashing him into the boards. James hit the ice and didn’t move. I felt my hands shake as Paul skated over to him, checking him before calling for a stretcher.

Alex Ovechkin argued with the ref about his checking from behind penalty as the crowed remained silent, watching the medical team take James off the ice.

I couldn’t breathe…my heart raced, “Allison? Are you okay?” Brian asked, snapping me out of my thoughts

“I…I have to go…” I stammered, getting up since play hadn’t resumed and ran down to the locker room…I had to see if he was okay, I just had to…

“Ma’am, only authorized personelle past this point.” a security guard said, stopping me.

“But, I…” I started

“No exceptions!” he practically yelled

“Hey, let her through. She’s good. She‘s a friend of the team.” Dan Potash said, seeing me standing there

“Okay. If you say so, Dan.” the guard replied, letting me pass.

“Thanks, Dan.” I said, walking briskly towards the locker rooms…hoping with everything I had that James was OK…

Notes