Figuring it Out

T W E N T Y - T H R E E | S N I P E R

Sniper: A player with a powerful, accurate shot skilled at finishing plays.

For the next week, Rosaura kept a distance and Xavier knew something was wrong. Whenever he called her, it mostly went to voicemail. She would later text saying that she was busy in a meeting or practice. They were missing each other calls too much for it to considered normal.

Xavier was getting frustrated by the minute. He didn't know what he had done wrong but clearly, something changed ever since their conversation on the day after Ronald's party. They were having a nice conversation until they weren't. It was weird.

He shook the feelings off and skated up his laces. Adrenaline filled his veins. After the terrible loss in their first game, the team rebounded and finished in the top of their division. They had swiftly eliminated Finland, and Russia to make their way to the finals against the United States.

He knew a lot of the guys on their team and based on the expressions of his coaches and teammates, this game was personal. Last year, Canada had faced a terrible upset by the United States in the final in Toronto. It left a bitter pill for many to swallow seeing the silver medals around their necks in their home country when it should have been a gold medal.

Now was the time for revenge. They were in Buffalo, and they could give the American team a taste of their own medicine.

"It's as if fate wrote out this scenario years ago." Ronald said from beside him.

He was one of the players who had played on last years team. Based on his tense posture, Xavier knew this game meant much more then he was letting on. Their coach entered and gave a small pep talk and before Xavier knew it, he was heading down the tunnel to play one of the most important games of his life.

As Xavier stood for the national anthem, a small part of him wished that Rosaura was at the game. He knew it would be something that she would enjoy. Although the game was in American, since the border was only about two hours away, many Canadian fans filled the arena. When the puck dropped, he could hear chanting for both teams.

Thriving on the energy, Xavier got into the game early. On a long stretch pass from Ronald, he sniped the puck pass the goalie. His team was leading 1-0. For the next two periods, it felt that the Americans were on their heels.

It was tied 2-2, but it was clear that the Americans were playing a better game. They had strong net presence and the only reason the Canadians weren't trailing was due to the specular play of their goalie.

"Pick up the pace boys," the coach yelled from bench.

Xavier winced as he watched a breakaway in their own zone. Thankfully, Max stopped the puck before it could go any further. Holding on by the tip of their teeth, they made it pass the third period. It seemed like the game was going into overtime.

Coach tapped Xavier, "Your line is up boys."

Xavier stepped up in the faceoff circle ready to take the draw. He had spent a couple of minutes analyzing the American goalie's weakness with the assistant coach and he had a vague idea of where to shoot the puck. 

"If we win the draw, pass the puck to me for a one-timer and screen the goalie," Xavier said to his line mates.

They nodded. Xavier focused on linesmen as he dropped the puck and blue his whistle. Getting his skate under the other players, Xavier maneuvered the puck behind him and moved towards the net. With his stick flat on the ice, he waited for the puck which he knew would be coming seconds later.

And it did. Xavier sniped it between the crossbar and the right shoulder of the goalie and watched light turn red behind him. His teammates jumped on him screaming in excitement. They had won the World Juniors Championships.

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Much later, Xavier settled down into his hotel room bed and checked his phone for the first time. It had been a crazy game. Since most of the players were underaged, the management hadn't allowed any champagne in the locker room. Instead, they had drenched each other with Gatorade. What the coaching staff didn't know was that someone has snuck in a bottle of Vodka from one of the fans and half the drinks had been laced before being given out to players. What management didn't know, didn't hurt them.

Xavier felt elated. He didn't know such a feeling existed prior to today. The gold medal was by his night stand and he couldn't stop himself from glancing at it every few seconds. His phone buzzed, and he looked to see a text from Rosaura.

Congrats on the win, happy for you! :)

Xavier frowned at the generic text sent by his girlfriend. He wanted to call her but something in him told him that if he did so, she wouldn't reply. So, doing the next best thing, Xavier dialed the phone to Val.

"Hey," Val said from the other side. "Congratulations on medal."

"Thanks," Xavier replied glumly. He had been happy minutes earlier, but the bland text upset his mood.

He cut right to the chase. "Why is Rosaura ignoring me?"

Val was silent on the other line for a long time. Xavier thought he was going to hang up on him and that's when he spoke, "She told me not to tell you, but man you really fucked up."

"What are you talking about?"

Val snorted. "Don't tell me you haven't see the pictures of the party."

Now it was Xavier's turn to be silent. He was drunk that night and did not recall much of the events that happened. His phone pinged, and he looked at the images Val sent him. He was seated on a couch with lipstick marks over his chest.

He swore.

"Not only that but you lied to her you bastard!" Val yelled at him. "You told her you were 'hanging out' with you buds."

"I didn't mean to lie! I just didn't want her to feel bad or worry about me and I was hungover, so it just slipped out."

"Well you need to fix this." Val concluded.

Xavier nodded. He has messed up and he needed to make the situation right. A plan formed into his head, "Hey Val, you mind helping a man out?" he asked.

Val replied with a yes and the two of them began scheming.

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Here's the next chapter. What do you think, will Rosaura forgive him? I don't know if I'll be updating on time because I am going to vacation for the next two months but I'll try my best.