Page 56 of Playing it Safe

She lifts her stick. Just barely. A brief salute that nobody else would notice.

Deen waves, whoops, and I join in.

Pretty soon, my whole team is whooping as I watch my girlfriend bask in the height of professional hockey joy: the playoffs. And I feel completely changed because I know I want this, not just tonight but always. I know I need a house with two sinks because I want Briar in it with me.

The arena lights shift. The music changes. The announcer's voice booms through the speakers as twenty thousand people rise to their feet.

"Ladies, gentlemen, and all you other rebels… let’s hear it for your Pittsburgh Uprising!”

The roar builds. Deen’s eyes shine with happiness. I lean in so she can hear me through her headphones.

"This is the part where we chant," I tell her.

She nods. She's ready.

The crowd begins. Low at first, then building, then thundering, shaking the seats, the glass, and the bones of every person in this building.

Rise up. Rise up. Rise up.

Deen mouths the words through the first round. By the second, she's saying them out loud and joining the foot stomps. By the third, she's shouting, her small voice lost in the roar, her face absolutely alive with joy. I shout with her, and Spinner shouts beside me, and twenty thousand people are on their feet in the Furnace, chanting for a team of women who fought for every millisecond of this moment.

The Uprising lines up at center ice. Briar takes her position. The referee drops the puck.

Chapter 23

Briar

Just a few more seconds.

The clock ticks down, and I plant myself in front of our net, watching the puck cycle between Ducky and Tate along the boards. We're up 3-2. Boston pulled their goalie sixty seconds ago, and they've been throwing everything at us, bodies crashing the crease, sticks hacking, the desperation of a team that knows the math.

Ten seconds.

I block the passing lane with my stick and redirect the puck to the corner. Ducky collects it and holds it against the boards, eating clock, taking a hit from the Beantown winger that would buckle a lesser player. The crowd is on its feet. I can hear the chant through my helmet, through the noise, through the blood pounding in my ears.

Rise up. Rise up.

My sister is part of the chant. She’s here watching me.

Five seconds.

Tate clears the puck down the ice. It slides into the empty net. The horn sounds.

The Furnace explodes.

I don't remember who reaches me first. Bodies pile on. Ducky's helmet cracks against mine. Someone's glove grabs my jersey. I'm at the bottom of a pile of women who are screaming, crying, and laughing, and I am all of those things at once. Ashley slides in on her pads, and the entire team collapses into a heap at center ice.

We won. We won the first playoff game in franchise history, and we're going to Boston for the next round. The arena is shaking, and somewhere behind the glass, a man with face gems on his cheekbones is sitting next to my sister. I have never, in my entire life, felt this full.

Then I remember how full I felt with Cameron inside me, and heat floods my face. I don’t have time to dwell on it because someone yanks me to my feet.

The handshake line is a blur. The Boston captain says, "Hell of a game," and means it. I tap every glove and every helmet, then skate toward our bench, where the staff are already spilling onto the ice.

The stands erupt. Cameron is on his feet, clapping, the gems on his face catching the arena lights. DD stands on her seat beside him, both arms raised, screaming something I can’t hear. Spinner is losing his mind two seats over. The whole Fury section is a wall of noise.

Cameron sees me looking. He places his hand over his heart.

The locker room is a mix of chaos and joy. Ducky pours water over Coach Digano for the second time this season, and he takes it with a grin that suggests he will never get tired of it. Joey and Hannah do a victory dance that involves a lot of hip thrusting. Sara films everything. Ashley sits in her stall with her mask off and cries quietly, and nobody bothers her because she just stopped thirty-seven shots and has earned whatever she needs.