Elliot sits down, buckles in, gets his headphones and goes right to sleep, because that’s really the only way of dealing with sitting behind Blake for several hours.
Chapter Seventeen
The Ravens clinch their playoff spot in their second to last game of the season, on the road, in Hartford, of all places. They haven’t won a game against the Cardinals all season and the boys are in good spirits in the locker room after. There’s a good chance that they’ll be playing against them during the first round, unless the Knights knock them out of the first seed. If the Knights win their game on Saturday and the Cardinals lose their last game of the season, the Ravens will be seeing the Knights early on.
Elliot keeps telling himself that he has no control over the outcome anyway, that it doesn’t matter who they end up playing against, because they’ll try to win either way. There’s no way of telling which opponent will be easier, there’s no guarantees during the playoffs. Teams that won the President’s Trophy sometimes don’t make it to the finals, teams that had to claw their way into a wildcard spot sometimes end up taking their opponents by surprise. Elliot daydreams about being one of those teams, season after season fighting for a playoff spot, barely making it, and then going far one year, giving the team some confidence.
He knows it’s really just that. A daydream.
They’re lucky they’re making the playoffs at all.
Elliot goes out for drinks with the guys after the game, but he doesn’t stay for long. He’s tired and he blocked a shot during the game, his thigh throbbing dully now, and he wants nothing more than to curl up in bed and stay there for a week, but he doesn’t get that kind of luxury.
They’re going to Boston tomorrow, to play their last game of the season on Saturday. They already had their last game at home, a 7-2 loss against Toronto. It wasn’t exactly a great way to close out the season at home, but at least they’ll be back for the first round of playoffs and they’ll have more than one chance to redeem themselves.
“Hey, Moo, wait for me.”
Elliot turns around and finds Adam speed-walking up to him. “Hey,” Elliot says. “Heading back, too?”
“Yeah, not gonna lie, I’m tired as fuck,” Adam mumbles.
Elliot nods and gives him a pat on the back.
They’re mostly silent as they walk, until Adam clears his throat and says, “Are you ever scared that we’re just… never gonna win the Cup? Like, what if it’s just us barely making it for the next ten years or something?”
It’s not like Elliot hasn’t thought about it. There are so many variables to this sort of thing. Of course, you can always sign with another team, or even ask to be traded when you think the team you’re on isn’t going anywhere, but then maybe the next year is your team’s year and you’re somewhere else, watching your former team win the Cup from afar.
It’s not like Elliot is unhappy in New York. He loves his team, he loves the city, their fans, and if someone asked him if he wanted to leave right now, Elliot would say no, absolutely not, he’ll stay as long as they’ll have him, but he knows where Adam’s coming from. And Adam only has about a year left on his contract.
“Are you thinking about leaving?” Elliot asks.
“No, not really,” Adam says. “Just… Don’t you think about it sometimes?”
“I do. Sometimes.”
“There are so many players that are so, so good, like… Blake MacDonald? Hasn’t won a Cup with the Sailors. Or Ian Grey with the Lions? No Cup. How is that fair?”
Elliot only shrugs, because he doesn’t have an explanation for it either.
“I’m not going to leave you, though, Moo, I swear,” Adam says. “You’ll never get rid of me. Unless the Ravens get rid of me.”
“They wouldn’t,” Elliot says. He can’t even imagine being on a line with someone other than Andreas and Adam. They’re his guys. They work together, they produce, they get along well off the ice, too. They’ve had a couple of coaching changes over the years, but every single coach they’ve had saw that they were better together.
That doesn’t change that guys come and go, though. Magnus was great on his line, too. He still got traded.
“Maybe this year is our year,” Adam says.
Elliot nods, says, “Yeah, maybe,” his stomach in knots when he realizes that he doesn’t actually mean it.
“Hey, Moo…”
“Yeah?”
Adam smirks. “Can you keep a secret?”
“Sure,” Elliot says.
“Don’t tell anyone, yeah?” Adam leans closer, like he does sometimes when he pretends that he has something important to say and then just flicks Elliot’s nose and cackles. This time, he doesn’t. He says, “I’m gonna be a dad, Moo.”
“For real?”
“Yeah, Lou’s pregnant.”
Elliot has never been told how to react when your best friend tells you that he’ll be a father, so he hugs Adam and says, “That’s great, Adam.” He’s pretty sure that Adam is excited about this. Adam sounded excited.
It’s such a grown-up thing to do. And it’s not that Elliot can’t see Adam as a dad, but the thought simply never occurred to him. That this is an imminent development in their lives.
Elliot’s parents have been asking him if he’s seeing anyone and Elliot has so far evaded those questions, changing the subject whenever anything relationship-related came up. His mom did ask him if he’s looking not too long ago and Elliot said something
