ANASTASIA
Friday evening arrived much faster, and after practice concluded for the day, almost the whole team headed over to a bowling alley located a few blocks away from the main arena.
The bowling alley was crowded and loud with music playing, and it felt very strange seeing everyone outside the hockey rink enjoying themselves because they acted nothing like they did during our official practice sessions.
The players had completely forgotten about the pressure of the championship, and they were running around in their colorful bowling shoes.
Miller was the first person to grab a ball from the rack, and he walked up to the line with a huge grin on his face, but he somehow managed to send his very first ball directly into the wrong lane next to ours.
The ball crashed into the pins of a completely different lane, making several people from another group stop what they were doing and stare at him in total confusion while Cassian laughed so hard he almost dropped his own bowling ball right on his toes.
"What are you doing, Miller?" Cassian shouted out, and he held his stomach while leaning against a table. "The pins are straight ahead of you, not over there on the right side."
Miller immediately blamed the lane for being crooked, and he rubbed his hands together while trying to look serious.
Cassian refused to let him live it down, and he spent the next ten minutes announcing to everyone in the building that Miller had invented a brand new way to bowl without looking at the target.
Even the coach laughed at the ridiculous explanation.
"We need to keep a low profile tonight, boys," Coach said with a chuckle, and he took a sip of his soda from a paper cup. "I do not want to see any videos of our starting roster throwing balls into other people’s games on the evening news tomorrow."
The teasing only got worse after Miller finally scored a proper strike on his third attempt because Cassian claimed it had been pure luck and nothing more.
Miller demanded an immediate rematch to prove his skills, and Cassian accepted the challenge immediately, and before long almost the whole team gathered around their lane to watch the competition unfold.
The players were cheering every single terrible throw louder than the actual good ones, and they kept making bets on who would hit the gutter next.
Even Kier joined in the fun once in a while, and he stood near the back row while laughing at Miller whenever he celebrated too early before completely missing the next easy shot.
It was nice not seeing the cold, over controlling brother I had.
"You need to stop dancing before the ball actually hits the pins, Miller," Kier called out, and he shook his head with a big smile on his face. "You look ridiculous out there."
Watching everyone joke around and act like kids made me realize this team wasn’t nearly as serious or strict as I had first believed when I joined them.
They were just regular guys who liked to have fun together when they weren’t wearing their ice skates, and the realization made me feel much more comfortable as I sat on one of the benches with my small camera bag by my feet.
Later in the evening, Cassian walked over to my bench and insisted that I should play a game against him because he wanted to prove he could still beat somebody after Miller had spent the last twenty minutes insulting his bowling skills in front of the trainers.
"Come on, Anastasia," Cassian said, and he handed me a small pink bowling ball from the rack. "You need to help me save my reputation over here. I am the rookie sensation, and I cannot let Miller think he is the best athlete here."
He confidently announced to the rest of the table that beginners never won against him because he had been playing this game since he was a kid, but somehow I managed to roll three clean shots down the center, and I beat him by a few points anyway.
The entire team burst into loud laughter when the final scores appeared on the screen above our heads. Miller nearly fell onto the floor celebrating my victory, and he pointed his finger at Cassian while shouting so the whole room could hear him.
"She beat you, Brooks!" Miller yelled, and he clapped his hands together over his head. "The new photographer just completely ruined your record, and you officially owe her a nice dinner because you talk too much."
Cassian argued that I had only won the match because everyone kept distracting him during his final turn, but nobody believed a single word he said.
"I was completely focused until Miller started screaming in my ear," Cassian grumbled with a smirk, and he sat down next to me and shook his head, but he was still smiling about it. "You are a secret professional, Anastasia. You totally tricked me."
While everyone was still laughing and arguing about the scores, I volunteered to grab a round of drinks for the group to give myself a small break.
I walked over to the long snack bar at the back of the alley, and I ordered several large cups of soda and water for the players.
I carefully balanced the tray with both of my hands, and I started walking slowly back toward our section of the lanes, making sure not to spill any of the drink on the floor.
I was doing perfectly fine until another customer suddenly stepped backward into my direct path without looking behind him first.
The sudden movement caught me off guard, and the tray slipped right from my fingers as I tried to avoid bumping into his shoulder.
Before the tray could hit the ground or spray the drinks everywhere, another pair of large hands reached out and caught the tray.
I looked up in complete surprise, and I realized Thiago was standing right in front of me.
He had come up from behind the crowd, and he was standing so close to me that our shoulders almost touched.
Neither of us spoke a word for a long second, and the loud sound of bowling pins crashing across the room seemed to fade away as I looked into his grey eyes.
He gripped the edges of the tray firmly to keep it steady between us, and then he quietly asked, "Were you planning on carrying all of this by yourself?"