Chapter 11

I woke up much later then normal, to find myself sleeping on Mattie's chest. I smiled to myself as I allowed my mind to wander back over everything that had happened the night before. After soaking in the warmth of the sun, that was now streaming through the opened window, I pushed myself gently off the bed. I made my way over to the bathroom, stopping to look at Constis' bed; it was made, and it looked like no one had slept in it recently... that was probably a good thing. I laughed to myself as I pushed open the bathroom door and turned on the shower.
I stepped into the hot water quickly, having nothing on to strip off. As I continued to think about Mattie and everything that had happened between us, I started to get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I closed my eyes and let the water pour down over me, praying last night hadn't been a mistake.
I knew for sure that I was in love with him. Everything about last night had confirmed to me, without a doubt, that he was perfect for me in every way. But I couldn't shake this horrible feeling that was now beginning to dawn on me. What if Mattie didn't actually feel the same way? What if he had just slept with me because I was naked in his bed? All the warmth and perfection I had felt, as I slept in his arms, was all but gone now. Would he still want me now that it was morning?
Caught up in my own thoughts, I hadn't heard the door open behind me. "Carlie?" I poked my head out of the curtain to see Mattie standing in the bathroom, wearing a pair of sweatpants. "Are you alright?" He looked afraid.

I smiled at him, "Yes... are you?"

He started chuckling, "Really? Is that a real question?" He shook his head still smiling, "I don't think I've ever been better." He looked up at me, a serious look pushing the smile off his face. "I'm not really good at this kind of stuff, but I need to say something and I need to say it now, before I let you leave this room..."

The feeling of terror returned, as I nodded at him, "alright..."

"Carlie, I love you." He said simply. "You're the most important thing to me. I'm sorry that I was too much of a coward to tell you that sooner... I need you in my life always, but I can't just be your friend anymore. I need to know if you want to be with me too?"

I smiled, as I felt tears leaking from my eyes, "I love you Mattie, I wanna be with you too."

His smile returned and he stared at me for a minute. "So... you got room for one more in there?" he asked nonchalantly. I laughed as I reached out and pulled and him into the shower, sweatpants and all.



It felt strange but nice walking hand in hand with Mattie down to the ampitheater. Although I had always walked places with him like this, over the course of 24 hours it had taken on a completely different meaning; one I enjoyed.
Carrol, Consti and Marty were waiting for us outside the ampitheater doors, all three were smirking at us as we made our way over. I felt my face get hot as I thought about why they were smiling, I knew I had nothing to be ashamed of, but this was untraveled territory for me.
I looked over to see that Mattie was blushing too, this made me laugh. He looked over at me and started laughing too, we walked, still smiling past the guys; they followed us silently in.

We filed into the back, grabbing seats that were separate from the majority of people. As we all sat down Mattie kept me close to him, refusing to let go of my hand. "So... I'm gonna go out on a limb, and assume your date with Jake didn't go so good?" Consti said in a carring whisper. Shock hit me hard and I looked over at him to see that he had fallen into silent laughter with Carrol, before I knew it I was laughing too.

"Not so much, no..." I shook my head, smiling and giving Mattie's hand a squeeze.

"That's no good, sorry you had a bad night..." Marty added, forcing Consti and Carrol into renewed laughter.

"Hey now!" Mattie called out, "It wasn't all bad... right?" He asked suddenly, turning to look at me, terror evident on his face.
All I could do was laugh out loud, unable to deny his fear. After looking back and forth at all of us, he sighed and shook his head, unable to keep this smile off his face. "I hate you guys..." He muttered under his breath as Dean took the stage.

"Alright, alright... calm down everyone!" Dean yelled into the mic, holding his hands up. "This week we're going to be playing 2 hockey games a day. The teams will change each day, and they will be selected at random. These games are to give us an idea of what you'll each be like as part of a group, and the fact that they'll be changing all week will show us your ability to constantly adapt and be a flexable player. Keep in mind that on saturday, half of you will be going home. So play smart, and play hard."
Dean took a step back from the microphone to allow his words to sink in. The atmosphere of the room had changed rapidly, all accept for Consti, who was still sitting in his chair with a stupid grin on his face; his eyes every now and then looking over in Matties' direction.
"So, head to the cafeteria for breakfast, and the assistant trainers will hand out your team lists for the week."

We all got up slowly, and silently followed the crowd out the doors. We were all somber, caught up in the fear of going home. "So... you think they'll have pancakes?" Consti asked, snapping us all into reality.

"You're thinking about food?" Carrol asked outraged.

"I'm hungry!" Consti shot back defensively.

"You're incredible you know that?" I said, my voice full of disdain.

"Oh, thanks Carlie... don't let Mattie hear you say that though... he'll get self-concious about his performance!" Consti laughed over his shoulder as he sprinted off to the dinning hall, leaving all in disbelief.