| Brielle was asleep, right in the middle of a good dream when a pillow suddenly whacked her in the face. She blinked open her eyes, looking around to see who had hit her. �What the hell� Who hit me?� she asked groggily, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. All hands pointed to Toby. He was sitting quietly in his seat reading a magazine; headphones attached to his portable CD player, head bobbing slightly to the music playing in his ears. Within moments, he realized that everyone was pointing at him. He looked around, took the headphones off his ears and asked, �Why is everyone pointing at me?� He looked at Brielle. �Weren�t you sleeping a minute ago?� �I was, actually,� she said, eyeing up the rest of the team, who was trying to fight off laughing fits. �I was having the best dream, too.� �What kinda dream?� Eric asked, raising his eyebrows. �Well, Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck were� Eh, never mind, you wouldn�t be interested.� Eric frowned while the rest of the team laughed. �I�m glad I woke you up, then,� he said, gently elbowing her in the side, a pout crossing his face. �You woke me up?� Brielle asked, raising her brows in amusement. �I thought it was Toby.� �Okay, so it was me. But we�re almost in Norfolk.� �Couldn�t you have woken me up any other way? Did you have to smack me with a pillow?� �Yep.� Brielle sighed. �Damned rough hockey players� Always have to do things the hard way.� �Do I do anything the easy way?� Eric asked, giving a small laugh. �You sure as hell didn�t go about getting Ellie the easy way,� Toby said, laughing. He dropped his voice when he realized that Colby was in earshot, sitting at the back of the bus. Luckily, he was too busy playing a license plate game with Shane and Darcy to notice. �You could�ve just told her the truth from the beginning, but no� You had to be all stupid and stubborn and-� �And it doesn�t matter now, because I�m with her now,� Eric interrupted, putting an arm protectively around Brielle�s shoulders. ~*~*~ "The only position I haven't played on the ice has been goal," Brielle commented. She was practicing with the team before the game, and they had gotten to talking about how Matt Murley switches between Left Wing and Defense practically every other play. "You've never been a goalie?" Eric asked. Brielle shook her head no. "Never," she said, watching as Robbie Tallas made a routine glove save of a slap shot by Toby. "I'm not too fond of having pucks shot at me." "You should try it," Robbie yelled from his spot in the crease. "You'd be good at it." "Bullshit, Tally," Brielle yelled back. "Didn't Jacques Plante say that being in goal was like being shot at?" "He did," Robbie replied, "but that's in the NHL. We're in the AHL. These guys don't shoot nearly as hard as say, the Flyers do." Before the team could give their replies, Brielle stepped in. "Maybe I would play goalie... But no one has pads that would fit me." "Mine would fit you," Mike Valley, the backup goaltender, pointed out. "You're not that much shorter than I am. Some of the pads might be a bit big, but they'll fit." Brielle made a face. "Umm, I didn't really mean... I mean, if..." "Why don't we see what our coach has in front of the net?" Toby asked, grinning. "Come on Ellie, let's go get you suited up." "I didn't mean NOW, Tob, let go of my arm-" "Come on COACH, let's go..." "No, guys, I really don't think that this is such a good idea..." ~*~*~ Brielle emerged from the locker room with Eric, Toby and Robbie following closely, making sure she didn't fall over. The pads that were strapped to her body added an extra 25 pounds to her small frame, and the added weight wasn't easy on her in the balance department. She almost fell over three times in the locker room, and had to be caught by Toby and Eric. Otherwise, she would've ended up on the floor, resembling a turtle on it's back, unable to move. She got to the ice, and once there, skated rather steadily to the goal with the guys' help. Once there, she proceeded not to move, for fear that she would fall over and become helpless. She looked around and asked, "So now what do I do?" Robbie laughed. "You stop shots, that's what you do. And you take a swipe at anyone who goes anywhere near your crease." "That's why you get penalties, Tally," Brielle pointed out. "It's called slashing." Robbie shrugged his shoulders as the team lined up to take some penalty shots. "Okay, Ellie, we'll go easy on you..." Toby began. "Just like we do with the rookies." Brielle's eyes widened, although it was unclear how much due to the bulky mask she was wearing. "I saw what you guys did to the rookies, I don't think this is such a good idea-" "Ready!" Toby shouted. The team slammed their sticks on the ice. Brielle began to panic. "Guys, this is not a good idea at all-" "Aim!" Toby shouted. The team lifted their sticks, in anticipation of a slap shot. "You are all gonna be in so much shit if you do this to me-" "FIRE!" Brielle screamed as the first few shots flew past her head and into the goal. She immediately dropped the big goalie's stick and crouched down, completely forgetting to try and defend the goal. She curled up in as small a ball as the bulky equipment would allow, and proceeded to sit in the corner of the goal, watching as the pucks flew past her, some hitting her. The shots weren't that hard, she suspected that they were being easy on her. And they were lucky that they were, otherwise they would've been dealing with three hour long practices for the next month. As the shots kept coming, she caught Calista, Chrissy and Lisa walking down the stairs to ice level out of the corner of her eye. They had confused looks on their faces, and were apparently wondering why the coach was sitting in the goal. Brielle screamed for the team to stop, and they did, all but Toby, who wasn't paying much attention. He was winding up for a slap shot when she stood up, and let go as soon as she gained her balance. She saw the shot come flying at her, and out of instinct alone, she put up her glove and closed her eyes. The shot landed in the glove, but the force of the shot knocked her off balance and into the goal. "GOAL!" Toby shouted, laughing. Brielle was too busy lying on the ice to even care. "I am not a goalie," she muttered, not bothering to move. |
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