Becoming Antonia Part 23.

Printer-friendly version

Author: 

Audience Rating: 

Publication: 

Genre: 

Character Age: 

TG Themes: 

Other Keywords: 

Permission: 

th1.jpg           
“As some of you know, and one of you didn’t, today was the tryouts for the Columbia* Hot Flash. I’m pleased to announce that we now have a full roster, with the addition of Beth Stickle, and Toni Trepasso.”

Becoming Antonia Part 23.

By; Toni, Edited By; Holly Logan, with my many thanks to her.

 

The move date came quickly as the three of us thrashed to get everything ready to move to New Mexico. Lucky for us, the realtor I’d spoken with out there when I purchased the land, had a house we could rent until our new one was built. Phantom called me a couple of days after the first call and I reluctantly told him that I’d try out for his sister’s team. I still wasn’t sure about being able to play at that level, but I’d at least give it a shot. I knew from going on the team’s website, that most of the women in that league had played college hockey, and there was one who’d been selected as an alternate on the Olympic team. I had my work cut out for me, but I’d just go out there, and play my normal game.

It only took a couple of days to make the trip out to the new house, and another day to get everything, well for the most part anyway, settled. A quick chat with Cindy, (Phantom’s sister) had me agreeing to meet the team for a little summer pickup game that they did as a way to not get “rink rust” as it’s called when you take the summer off from playing. I had watched some women’s hockey before, but I really had no idea what I was getting myself into when I first stepped out on the ice.

Now, I want to remind you that I hadn’t played on a regular basis in over ten years, and that was only an intramural games at college for kids who weren’t good enough to make the school team. Yet, here I was, on the same ice with a handful of women who’d earned their college varsity letters in this game. Cindy was the only one out there who hadn’t been given a full scholarship to play, since she’d made her college team as a walk on.

Once the warm up skate was over, I started to wonder just what I’d gotten myself into. Cindy and I were on a team with Stacy, who’d made the Olympic team as an alternate goal tender, the team Captain named Stephanie Svetlana, whom they’d got from the Russian national team, and a girl who was fresh out of Harvard, and their NCAA Championship team, named Beth. The other team was made up of the starting lineup from last season. (We’ll get to their names later.)

At the drop of the puck, we won the face off, and I somehow ended up with it. That lasted all of a full second as I passed to Cindy and then picked myself up off the ice. I’d been hit harder than I thought possible by Tracy. She had been the team enforcer last season, and I now knew why. She could probably have held her own with any member of the Philadelphia Flyers ‘Legion of Doom’ line. I tried to keep my cool, but every time I’d get near the puck, I’d quickly find myself having to get back up off the ice, since Tracy just kept leveling me. However, my chance came near the end of the first period. Tracy had Cindy tied up in the corner with the puck between her skates. I hoped that, being Phantom’s sister, she’d have the same idea of verbal signals that her brother had, as I skated toward the two of them at full tilt. Just before I got there, I yelled to Cindy, to get her to duck.

“SEX WITH BANSHEES!” I hollered to her, to give her just enough time to know what was coming, and like her brother, she fell to the ice in the fetal position. Tracy just turned to look at me, and all she saw was my shoulder coming right for her. She bounced off the glass, and crumpled to the ice in a heap as I helped Cindy back to her skates.

We all just stood around as they used smelling salts on Tracy to get her to come back around. Once she did, the others just looked at me with puzzled looks on their faces.

Cindy was the first to speak as one of the others helped Tracy back to her skates. “You know, it’s a good thing Eric warned me about you,” she said with a slight grin.

“I was hoping that you two had played enough together to be able to understand my signal,” I said sheepishly.

“Oh, I know it, and I think the rest of the team does now, too,” she told me, as I felt someone grab my shoulder and pull on me, to spin me around.

Out of instinct, I dropped my gloves, and got in my ready to fight stance as I turned to see Tracy standing there with her one hand held out as a sign of peace.

“Truce,” she said with a grin.

“Hey, I’m sorry about that. I don’t know what came over me,” I told her as I started to shake her hand.

“Don’t worry about it. Cindy told me that you used to be an enforcer yourself, so I was giving you those cheap shots to get you going,” she said holding her shoulder. “I guess I bit off more than I bargained for.”

“I was able to keep my cool until I saw you going after Cindy,” I said with a smile, then turned my face stone cold serious. “No one messes with my teammates.”

You could see some of the color drain from her face, as she knew I wasn’t playing around. I’ve always been the person who would make anyone who did something cheap to one of my teammates, pay. We broke for the day, and Stephanie came over to me, as I was changing back into my street clothes.

“You know, Toni,” she said sitting down on the same bench I was sitting on. “Tracy went all last season, and no one was able to get her off her skates, let alone knock her goofy.”

“I’m sorry, I just couldn’t watch her do to Cindy, what she’d been doing to me.”

“I know, and that’s what being a team is all about.” she told me with a tender smile. “We look out for one another out there. And you proved that you have what it takes to skate with the ‘Hot Flash.”

“You mean if I can pass the tryouts. Right?” I asked her, confused slightly.

“You did pass your tryout. That is what today was. We wanted to see how you handled yourself in a game situation.” she told me grinning from ear to ear. “You kept your cool, and stayed calm until you needed to act. And you gave your teammate a chance to get out of the way of your hit.”

“All I did, was do what we did when I used to play with her brother, in college.” I told her sheepishly.

“And she understood what was going to happen next. But the other team was clueless. That’s what good teammates do.” She placed a hand on my shoulder and leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Look, I’ve been told you used to be a guy, but you don’t look like any TS I’ve ever seen. So we’ll just chalk those rumors up to jealous bitches. You’re welcome on this team. Alright?”

“I’ll have to talk it over with my fiancée, but I don’t see a problem.” I told her holding out my hand, but she pulled me into a hug.

“Ladies!” Stephanie shouted to get the attention of the others. “As some of you know, and one of you didn’t, today was the tryouts for the Columbia* Hot Flash. I’m pleased to announce that we now have a full roster, with the addition of Beth Stickle, and Toni Trepasso.” Her speech was met with cheers from the other women. “And I’m sure with Tracy and Toni on the same line, our new ‘Twin Towers’ will strike fear in the hearts of the other teams.”

I looked over and saw Tracy give me a thumbs up, as if to say, “... lets kick some butt.” On the way out the door, Tracy, and Cindy stopped me to invite me over to their house for a little party they were having. It was going to be one last fling before the season got going.

“I don’t know, I’ll have to ask my fiancée.” I told them.

“Bring her along.” Cindy told me. “Tracy and I won’t mind. Just as long as she doesn’t try to steal my Tracy from me,” she said. Her words were met by my jaw hanging open. “Hello Toni!” she asked, shaking me. “What? Eric didn’t tell you that Tracy and I are married?”

“No.” I said sheepishly. “He never brought that up,” I said, looking at the two of them trying to hold back the giggles. “So you guys set me up, didn’t you?”

“Come on, don’t be that way.” Tracy told me, putting her arm around my shoulders. “Think of it more like a test, to see if you had it in you to be a ‘Hot Flash.”

“So you weren’t really mugging her in the corner?” I asked Tracy.

“All the actresses aren’t in Hollywood, dear.” she told me and looked at Cindy with a smile.

I just shook my head as I climbed into my truck and headed back to the love of my life, Who, by the way, was looking as beautiful as ever. She was showing a bit, as she was about five months along by this point. And she just radiated beauty to me. She was having another pinochle game with dad as I came up behind her, without her noticing me. I gently put my hands on her shoulders, and started massaging her neck and upper back while she sat there trying to concentrate on the game.

“What are you doing?” she asked, then let out a soft moan. “You’re helping him cheat, aren’t you?”

“Nope, you just looked a bit tense.” I told her as I stopped.

“I didn’t say you had to stop. I was just saying that you doing that is making it harder for me to beat this old fart,” she said, starting to giggle.

“I’ll show you, ‘old fart’.” dad told her, and went out in the hand, taking the win.

“Ok, that’s enough for now,” Sarah announced, then turned to face me. “So how did your skate go?”

“I made the team,” I told them both beaming with pride.

“I though tryouts were in a couple of weeks?” dad asked.

“So did I, but apparently, they were today,” I told them with a shrug. “I leveled the enforcer from last years team when I thought she was trying to mug Phantom’s sister in the corner. I ended up knocking her out for a couple of moments, and they called an end to the skate. They told me I’d made the team in the locker room.”

“So they weren’t pissed?” Sarah asked me.

“Nope, they’d set me up,” I said, trying to hold back a smile. “Tracy and Cindy are married, so they used that little show in the corner to see how I’d react.”

“I take it they have a new enforcer?” dad asked.

“Well, actually they are calling Tracy and me the ‘twin towers’ now. They want us to be on the same line, and do what we do best.”

“That’s my girl,” dad chuckled. “Just like I taught you. If they screw with your team, you hit them ‘till they stop.”

“Oh, and before I forget, we’ve been invited to a party at Cindy and Tracy’s.”

“Is this going to turn into something like a fraternity party?” Sarah asked me, a little leery of a rowdy bunch at this point in her pregnancy.

“It’ll be alright. It’s just a way to meet the girls off the ice,” I reassured her as I started to rub her back again.

“Alright, hun, I trust you.”

To be continued.

*The team is sponsored by Columbia Sportswear(R).

up
78 users have voted.
If you liked this post, you can leave a comment and/or a kudos! Click the "Thumbs Up!" button above to leave a Kudos