It was weird to walk into the place where he walked away from the girl he thought he was going to spend the rest of my life with ten months later. It was also weird to be home. As he drove down the winding roads of Hastings, Minnesota his hometown, well their hometown earlier today he got goose bumps knowing that she was here, somewhere here and knowing she wasn’t his anymore. He also couldn’t hide from it anymore.

Their story wasn’t one of those “well it just happened” stories. It also wasn’t a “fairytale” it was one of those stories that they would tell their children and grandkids one day, the story about how a girl liked a guy, and a guy liked a girl but it just took them a while to figure it out at the same time. She was well she was always in his life. Since they were kids she was on his hockey team, in his grade and sometimes if he was lucky in his class at Hastings Elementary. Then one day she walked into the locker room of their travel Bantam A team out of Hastings and announced she was attending the prestigious Shattuck St Mary’s High School, he made the same announcement ten seconds later. And the rest is history.

They became best friends, she was the first one to crush on him, and he was oblivious to it. Still going out with random girls at Shattuck until she started going out with David Toews, Jonathan’s younger brother, when they were juniors. It killed him, he didn’t know why but then he realized he was in love with her. And she was over him.

It took until their senior year when they both committed to the University of Wisconsin until he told her that he had been crushing on her pretty hard since the beginning of their Junior year and here they were fall of Senior year.

---

He sat in his car, the ignition off. In the parking lot of the Hastings Ice Pavilion and remembered that day like it was yesterday. It was in the Shattuck Athletic Center, they were in the hallway after signing their commitment letters to the University of Wisconsin. They were bickering like an old married couple about how they were wearing the same shirt, a stupid argument.

He closed his eyes and the memory played out in front of him. “We look ridiculous Derek, like twins our mother dressed in the same outfit on the same day of kindergarten.” Derek laughed at her. “Come on Kendall your acting a bit ridiculous. So we’re wearing the same shirt…and the same Hat…and the same pair of Shattuck athletic shorts no one cares.” She shook her head at him. “David will care. Once he sees the picture pasted on the college commitment wall in the locker room hallway I am going to hear it. He thinks we’re too close. We really are Derek. I get it we’ve never really been apart since like first grade but I like David, and he’s going to the University of North Dakota like his brother next year, and I am going with you no surprise there and he’s jealous.” Derek smirked at her. “Dave is jealous?” She nodded. “Why would he be jealous? We’re just best friends. Nothing more. Right?”

She looked at him, her face tightened. “Kendall we’re just best friends right?” He inched closer to her. “Yeah right. Ask anyone. Ask Ryan.” She whispered in reference to their mutual best friend Ryan McDonagh who they grew up playing against, and now play with next year at Wisconsin. “Mac thinks we act like a couple, he thinks we are one without realizing it.” Referring to the comments Ryan made to him all last summer about how they need to be together already.

Kendall let out a sarcastic laugh. “Ryan is ridiculous, he’s just saying that. We don’t even like each other in that way.” She was lying through her teeth. She was playing with her long light brunette hair, something she did when she was nervous. He stared at her, stared at the freckles scattering below her eyes, stared at her long legs beneath the Nike athletic shorts, everyone thought she looked like Mischa Barton during the OC days, and he saw it. “I like you in that way.” He blurted out before inching closer to her. “I have for a while.” She slapped him. “How dare you. You don’t get to come in here Derek Stepan and say those things when I have a boyfriend.” He was shocked by the slap and backed away from her. “I…I gotta go.”

The situation was fucked up. And they were stuck going to Wisconsin together that next fall. He walked away from her in the middle of the Shattuck Athletic Center his cheek red from the slap, his throat was tight, and his chest was filled with anxiety. He blew it. He did the twenty-minute walk back to his dorm room and raced up the stairwell to the fourth floor just wanted to crash the room he shared with Emerson Etem, his teammate and forget this ever happened. But he was caught off guard by who was sitting on the floor by his door. Kendall.

“What are you doing here Brooks.” He stated. “You kind of slapped me.” She stood up and walked over to him. “You caught me off guard, I had been waiting for you to say that to me since we were kids, and I just I thought about what it would do to David and freaked out.” Derek pulled her towards me and uttered a line he heard on the Greys Anatomy episode they had watched together in his bed the other day. “Brooks please Pick me, choose me, love me.” He knew it was sappy, but he couldn’t let David Toews get his girl. She was his since Mites. She looked at him and laughed in his face. “Who are you Meredith Grey? Grow some balls Stepan. I have to go break up with David. I’ll speak to you later.” She kissed him, and it felt like fireworks before he let go of her. He was the happiest guy on the planet. Kendall Brooks was his.

---

He didn’t know how he went from that day, to this day, scared to walk into the ice rink that started their relationship and friendship because he was probably going to run into her. How did their story get so fucked up? That was eight years ago. They was seven years ago, he thought this summer he was going to stand at the altar and marry Kendall, but even though she was so close to him, she felt so far.

He was in his own world of thoughts when a bang took him out of it. It was Ryan McDonagh his best friend and teammate on the New York Rangers, kicking the drivers seat door of his brand new truck. “Get out of the car Steps!” Mac shouted as Derek smirked. He rolled down the window. “You know you could of knocked right?” Ryan nodded. “But what would be the fun in that?” Derek laughed. “Have you seen her yet?” He didn’t even have to mutter Kendall’s name and he knew that was who he was talking about. “Not since I left for New York with you and Kaylee in August. It’s now June.” The Minnesota Rangers had just gotten back this morning from winning the Stanley Cup, and he still felt empty inside, because Kendall wasn’t there with him when they won. “Go talk to her dude. She’s in there.” Derek felt like he was going to throw up. “Okay.” He grabbed his keys, phone and his sticks and hockey bag walking into the Pavillion with Ryan. “There she is dude.” Ryan pointed Kendall out to him talking to some little kids. She was after all Silver Medalist Kendall Brooks of the USA Women’s Hockey team who won silver in Sochi.

“KENDALL BROOKS.” Ryan shouted. Sometimes he hated him so much. Kendall turned from the usa hockey hats she was signing and waved to Ryan and gave Derek a small smile. The last time they had seen each other was here, in this lobby, her giving him the ring back, him walking away from her to join Kaylee and Ryan at the airport to New York City. And now they were bound back to each other for a summer of training. The one line “Pick me, Choose me, Love me.” Flooded into his mind. That’s all he wanted her to do from the beginning of their relationship and now he hoped that this summer they could fix what they broke last summer. “You ready for this?” Ryan muttered. Derek breathed in. “I am ready to win her back.” He whispered. All he wanted her to do was pick him, and choose him, and love him again.

Notes

In the coming chapters you'll get to know more about Kendall and Derek and why they broke up in the first place!