Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2001 23:13:50 -0700 (PDT)
From: NAU Representative <naupres@yahoo.com>
Subject: Music Shatters Ice - Part 3

Welcome to part three. Now the story begins to pick up a little. Enjoy.

Paws naupres@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Remember this story is fiction and is not intended to imply
anything about the true sexuality of the celebrities mentioned or any
personal knowledge about their private lives. And if you are underage go
somewhere else, this is not for you and you should wait a few years.

Music Shatters Ice

Music Shatters Ice - Part 3 - Arena/Concert Confrontation

I woke up drowsily not remembering what had happened the previous day, at
least for a short while.  It turned out that I was awakened by a soft
continous pounding on my door, not loud enough to be annoying, but yet just
so that it could be heard. Giving a slight groan, I pulled myself into a
sitting position and got my legs over the edge of the bed so I could put
some shorts on.  As soon as I did I stood up and stretched like a cat.
Heading to the door I soon opened it and there before me was Terry.  He was
sitting in the hallway, lightly hitting my door with the palm of his hand
looking bored.

"Yes?" I questioned him.

"Your guest needs to be fed breakfast." He said smiling.

I had forgotten that he did not eat his salad last night, especially since
he was so entralled with his conversation with Chris.

"You are in college.  You can feed yourself. Plus you aren't paying room
and board."

He stood from his place and started to drag me down the hallway and to the
kitchen.

"You are cooking something for me this morning." He said obviously wanting
hot food.

"It's not my fault that you are a hazard in the kitchen everytime you
cook." I said dryly.

In fact Terry's nightmares in the kitchen had become legendary in the
locker room for the past two years.  Until Terry, I never knew someone
could make a complete disaster out of breakfast cereal, especially rice
krispies.  I remember one time when he was spending the night he was too
hungry to wait for breakfast and he tried to make himself cereal.  Sure he
got the box open, but when turning to go get the milk his elbow hit the box
and all the cereal went into the dishwater that was soaking dishes.  So
there was an entire box of smacking and popping sounds viciously echoing
through out the house.  If you didn't pay attention to the sight, you would
have thought the house was on fire.

"I wouldn't be a hazard, if people didn't keep bugging me."

"Face it Terry you can be a clutz at times."

"No. I'm not a clutz." He countered.

The only times when I actually felt that this guy was safe was when he was
on the ice. But off the ice he is a walking disaster area.  He would need
an army of four leaf clovers to protect him.

Reaching the kitchen I looked into the fridge.

"So what does the hazard want this morning?"

"I'll take toast, sausages, and two eggs sunny side up." He said thinking
hard enough to bruise a brain cell on such a simple thought.

"Taking a light breakfast?"

"Yes especially with one of my coaches beating me into submission with
practice drills.  He can be harsh at times."

"And would you like that toast burnt, blackened sausages, and two mashed
eggs."

"And although he can be harsh, he has one of the highest intelligences in
NCAA ice hockey."

"Um hm." I simply said.

"Jace can I talk to you about something serious." Terry said softly,
returning to his Locker Room state of being.

Knowing that voice, I knew this was not a smiling matter.

"Ok, what is this about."

"Last night."

"About Chris?"

"Yes."

"Something happened last night I take it while you were talking."

"Yes.  I experienced a comfort level with someone that I never knew was
possible."

"So you felt comfortable talking with him for an extended period of time.
Why is that awkward?"

"Because it was beyond comfort.  I have," Terry paused for long amount of
time, causing me to think that this was something that was not easy for him
to say, "a crush on Chris."

Bingo, my earlier thought of Terry was in fact true.  This six foot,
shoulder length blond hair, blue eyes, and gentle faced hockey player was
gay.  Certainly a rare commodity in the hockey empire.  Now I had to handle
this carefully, I mean we were the same age so I could be seen as a good
friend instead of a constant coach.

"You have a crush on Chris, and what do you want me to do about it?"

"Well I had to tell someone and I know the rest of the guys wouldn't
understand."

"So why did you turn to me."

"I don't know. I guess it was your treatment of me.  You treat me as a
brother would."

"Well I never had one of my own so to speak."

"I'd be proud to be your brother."

He just looked at me and smiled. I continued.

"So would you like to tell your brother anything else about Chris?"

"Yes before tonight. I have always listened to Nsync's music and always
thought Chris was cute.  But tonight, it was odd to get to know the flesh
and blood and not the paper cut out that is photocopied for everyone's
use."

"And was he better than the cut out?"

"Yes much.  He was so much more handsome and...wait a minute, while we were
talking what were you and Lance doing?"

"Huh oh, us.  Um, we were just talking. And uh, noticing how cute the both
of you looked." I said trying to cover up why we were secluded in the
kitchen and not in the living room with them yesterday.

He merely raised an eyebrow at that.  I wanted him to think what he wanted,
but I couldn't hide anything from him, now that he had confessed to me.

"You want to know the truth?"

"Yes."

"Alright so I thought he did look good."

"Especially for someone who you have had problems already with."

"True.  But really what do you want me to do about Chris and you?"

"I want to know about the next time you will be seeing Lance so I can come
along."

"Ah so that's what its about. Tagging along to see him."

"Well yeah."

"Next time, I see James I will bring you along."

"Oh I see we have already gone beyond stage names, eh?"

I just turned away to make breakfast.

*	*	*

Today's classes were over, yes I had Sunday classes, and practice time had
come fast, I grabbed my clipboard which contained all my newly developed
plays and old practice routines.  I put on my skates.  A new week of me
being on the ice and these days were important first games the team has to
look good and heavy practices will do that while light practices will make
a team look weak and pitiful.

"Everyone's on the ice Jace." Davis called out from the Locker Room.

That was my cue.  I'd have the guys to myself for about a little under two
hours.  Before time is up, Coach Roberts will come in to see how everything
is going.  Rumor had it a few years ago that Roberts was near to
retirement, but with his skill on game day coaching, I wouldn't be
surprised to see him here for twenty more years.

As I took the ice, I saw the team lined up and ready.  Entering the arena
on the other side, I saw two figures come in and sit down on at seat at the
top part of the box seats so that they were able to see the entire rink.

"Ok, I thought maybe that we'd start with a few sprints.  Blue line to blue
line, three round trips. Go."

As they started to go back and forth, I adverted my eyes to take a look at
the pair. I saw their heads go back and forth with the movement of the
guys.  Like two penguins watching a spot on a wall, their necks stretched.

The guys finished and again stood their ground.

"Rolling Thunder." I called out. Most of them immediately started to
move. But the new guys had no idea what I was talking about.  I guess in
yesterday's practice free skate they were not told everything. I called
Davis over. "Davis, over here. Tell these guys what Rolling Thunder is."

"Rolling Thunder is a term used to describe the drill pattern of skating
around both nets in an oval.  And depending on the whistle blows is how
fast you go.  One for slow, two for fast, and three for top speed.  And if
you are wondering about the name, you'll understand once you slow down
after a top notch skate around."

"Thanks Davis I called out."  I put the whistle to my lips and blew once.

They started gliding around the nets.  Once they had already gone past one,
I put them to the top. I blew three times.  They quickly readjusted and
like racehorses tore apart the ground, or in this case ice. As they went by
me, I could feel the wind against me. I blew the whistle once and they
started gliding.  But the sound of their top skate was still being heard as
it was still echoing through the arena.  I noticed the two on the other
side of the ice look around them as if it was bearing down on them.  I gave
them enough time to catch their breath and then blew twice.

After five more minutes of this, I blew the whistle an extra long time.
They all came near.

"We are going to work on the five on four power play.  I want to get this
perfect so that we can take every advantage we can get. First power play
unit, you're up."

I watched the way they were setting up the puck for a while.

"No, this will not work.  Let's try to pass to center, then pass to either
the left or right wing then pass back out once the center gets to one of
the face off zones.  That should set up a screen enough to get the puck
in."

They set up the play again, and I watched the puck passed out to the left
wing then back to center and smiled as the puck sailed into the net.

"How'd you know it would work?" Our first string goalie said as he came
over to me.

"Sometimes I think I've seen one too many games." I said casually.

I watched as the second string goalie went in to work with the second power
play unit.  After they finished, I decided it was time for the goalie
workout.

"Jane Fonda's Workout." I cried out loud. Once again the new recruits
looked at me like I had lost my mind.  The second string goalie skated past
me and groaned.  He hated the practice name.

Our three goalies got in front of me in ready stance, ready for me to tell
them which direction the puck was coming from in rapid succession and how
to block it.

"Five hole, right slide, left slide, top left, left slide, top right, left
slide, right slide, five hole, glove save, sprawl save, five hole, left
slide, right slide."

The goalie workouts were usually short, but that's because they practiced
with the rest of the team as well.  This was more of a cardio workout than
anything else.  The guys started to wander around aimlessly as I spoke up.

"Time to work on four on five power play killing. I want this to be strong
and make up for any mistakes that we will cause during the game.  Now, the
best way to work is in a diamond pattern for mid-ice, but once in our own
zone I want to see a rotating diamond.  Remember they still have an extra
man, and if you rotate just at the right time, it will be like its five on
five.  Let's try that and see how it works."

For several minutes they worked trying to get a good rhythm of rotation
down.  But once they did, nothing was breaking through the defense.
Although a puck did bounce off a stick and into the plexi-glass where the
two guys were sitting.  I laughed a little as I saw it shook them up a bit.
I watched again as group after group tried the rotating diamond to much
success. I could only think of how well it would hopefully work against
North Dakota.  It was almost time for coach to come, so I let the guys just
skate around and wait for a few seconds. I pulled Terry off to the side and
turned around to the skate lobby to where the rest of the team could not
see or hear us talking.

"So you see who's sitting in the upper box seats?"

"No who?

"Take a look."

He looked quick and turned around with a small smile on his face.

"Did you know they were coming?"

"Just one of them, but he didn't tell me he was bringing Chris along."

"Oh, I thought you were possibly hiding something from me."

"No. I just thought you'd like to know.  Time to get back."

When we got back to the center area of ice, Coach had gathered up the rest
of the team and began talking.

"Alright guys, I hope you had a good practice for we need everyone prepared
for this weekend when North Dakota comes into town.  I know last year we
were only a few wins from getting into the NCAA tournament.  But this year
I see us getting in.  With Jace now the permanent assistant coach, I see
nothing short of a winning season."

He looked over at me.

What could I do?  I just gave a small smile. He continued with his speech.

"When North Dakota comes here they are going to have some left over anger
from last season especially after their tournament final loss last year
against Boston College.  And you know what, they are going to try and take
it out on us in our own arena.  I don't want us to be embarrassed.  I don't
want us lost out there.  I want us to be focused.  I want us to be
determined for the task ahead of us.  And I want us to be ready for us to
capitalize on any mistakes that they happen to make.  For North Dakota will
not be penalized that often, but when they do.  I want to see a goal for us
every single time.  Now I want to talk about a different subject, fighting.
If someone keeps pissing you off on the ice.  I don't want you to get in
their face and start throwing punches for you better believe that these
refs would just love to give a five minute major with a five minute for
unsportsmanlike conduct.  This year they are strict.  If you didn't notice
last year they weren't putting up with crap.  Less and less they called two
minute penalties.  That's why Jace has been putting you through these
penalty plays."

Looking at his watch coach sighed then looked back up at the guys.

"Tomorrow will be a heavy practice for you guys.  I will be conducting it,
while Jace tries to get us new plays for five on five and four on four
situations.  Get a good night's sleep."

Some of the team began to leave, others skated around, while still others
stayed to talk with coach for a bit.

I went to the back to take off my skates and grab some paperwork.  With my
paperwork in hand I headed out of my office and into the Locker Room where
I bumped into Terry while he was going into the shower area.  As I went by
I made a quick statement.

"I'm going to tell him not to wait for you."

He spun around quick at that.

"Wait, don't you dare tell him that. I'll be out in a second."

"Sure you will."

I cruised out there and went around the arena.  Normally after practice is
over, I go up to the very top of the mezzanine to sit and relax for a bit.
Going up the smaller stairs I saw that they were still there across the
way, watching what was left of the players on the ice. I decided to make my
way over.

Eventually I did make it, after crossing over half of the seven thousand
seat arena.

"So I didn't know you were dragging Chris along."

"We met outside the arena.  He had an idea similar to mine." James said.

"How did you find out when practice was?" I asked Chris.

"A certain hockey player told me." He responded.

"Oh really." I decided to change the subject. "So what did you think of the
practice?" I asked the both of them.

"You certainly drill them and give them a good workout." James said. "But
you really look like you know what you are doing."

"I should.  I love what I do. It would be hard to give it up." I said
looking at the ice.

"I do think you were pushing a couple players a little hard." Chris said
taking his eyes off the left over players.

"You think so?  I don't know they seemed fine on the ice to me." I said
watching Chris' reaction.

"They looked fine." James said. "Chris is just concerned about Terry
because of the crush he has on him."

"Scoop!"

"What? He already knows. I told him yesterday.  I could tell by your
conversation with him and your response to me."

"Other than that, Terry told me this morning that he thought you were
handsome Chris."

Chris seemed a little uncomfortable that I knew, but didn't mind for the
most part.

"So James, what did you think of my performance on the ice, personally
speaking."

He grinned at that, "Personally speaking, I thought you looked real good."

"And its nice to know we had a good looking audience member." I said
looking at James.

Giving a quick glance over to Chris, I could tell his mind was working
trying to understand the situation.  I could see the light bulb finally
brighten above his head.

"No. Don't tell me. You two are together?" Chris said.

I was the first to speak up, "Well let's just say we're getting closer but
not quite there yet."

"I'd agree to that.  Just see what happens. I mean, come on Chris we are
still getting to know each other.  Just like you and Terry."

"But you and Scoop have run into each other multiple times, literally.
Face it, its fate."

I'm a firm believer in fate and that's one thing I couldn't disagree with.

"I cannot deny that, it does seem like fate." I said.

"Yeah, it does." James said.

I saw Terry coming from a few feet away.  The ice had finally been cleared
of players.

"And here's one of our star players now." I said.

It was obvious that Terry had heard what I said when I saw him blush.

"Hi guys sorry I'm late.  I had to get showered and dressed." Terry said
trying to fix his jogging pants he was wearing.

"You don't have to go through all that trouble on my account." Chris said
smiling, causing Terry to blush once again.

I groaned.

"After all that work, I'm pretty hungry, what about you guys?" I asked.

"How can you be hungry?  All you did was bark out orders." Terry snapped
back, which was completely out of character.

"Whoa, easy there tiger? What's with the anger attack." I questioned.

"You skate around as hard as we did and then you come back to me and ask
about work." He said in a harsh voice I have never heard before.

"As hard as you did? I could stick janitor Bob out there on the ice during
game time and he would work harder than you." I said raising my voice to a
new gruffness.

"Yeah but janitor Bob doesn't have soft hands like I do." He quipped.

"And by soft hands, you are referring to you and not your puck handling
skills." I spat out.  That last verbal slice hit him pretty hard.  He was
always proud of his puck skills, and I had just ripped him up.

He quickly came at me with a fist towards my head.  I leaned backwards to
avoid him and ended up tripping backwards into the lower row of seats.  He
tried to come at me again, but Chris jumped on top of him to paralyze his
advance. Afterwards he helped Terry to his feet and put him a considerable
distance from me.  Chris then went over to James and spoke with him for a
second.  The only information I could get out of their conversation was a
nod out of James.  Chris went back to Terry and James came in my direction.
Leaning over the seat he helped me out of the row and back to a standing
position.

"Oh, it looks like you have a large cut on your face." James said pointing
to my face.

"How bad is it? I don't remember being cut anytime."  I asked.

"It must have been when you fell.  You might have scraped it against
something.  But I think you better clean it up." He said.

I noticed that Chris and Terry were leaving in the other direction.

"Where are they going?"

"They are going to eat alone and give some cooling off distance between you
two."

"Alright come on, let's go to the Locker Room and see if the trainer is
still there."

I led James down into the dark dungeons of the arena where the Locker Room
was located.

"Here we are. Come on in."

There were two or three players left in the Locker Room that I could hear
from the trainer's room, but they were on their way out.

"I'm guessing no trainer, right?"

"Yeah he left already." I responded.

I looked in the mirror to see the cut.  It was not a cut it was somewhat of
a gash.  It ran from my right eye down to my chin.  I immediately started
digging around the room for chemicals. I found what I was looking for. Pure
water and Iodine.  I quickly washed my face with the water and then really
cleaned the cut out with the Iodine.  Burn is not the word for the sting.
I then took some paper towels and wiped the excess from my face and threw
the garbage in the biohazard waste can, where all the blood goes.

"Are you ready to go?" James asked me.

"Go where?"

"Go out and eat. If Chris and Terry are going out, why shouldn't we?"

"Good point." I grabbed my stuff and slung it over my shoulder and left the
Locker Room.  "Alright, where to now?"

"I don't know.  You know the place better than I do."

On such quick notice it was hard trying to think of a place, so I spat out
the first thing that popped into my head.

"How about Phil's Diner?" I asked.

"What's Phil's?"

"Phil's is an Italian restaurant that looks like a bar except has a calm
and comfortable atmosphere."

"Sounds good, let's go."

We got into my car and hightailed it to Phil's Diner.  I knew Phil
personally and he was a huge hockey fan.  He has never treated me bad, and
he has always listened to my problems when I need to talk to someone
outside of my family.  Getting to Phil's took thirty minutes, but the light
conversation getting there made the time fly by.  Entering the diner, Phil
greeted us.

"Hello Jace.  What are you doing here so early?  You usually don't come in
until later in the evening."

"Yes I know but I brought a friend with me."

"Ah a new recruit?" Phil looked at James sizing him up.

"This guy?" I pointed towards James. "This guy, as far as I know, cannot
even stand on skates."

"I can too, but it's staying up that's hard." James answered.

"Well since you have no loyalty to hockey: college, minor, or pros, you get
second class service.  I'll be back soon." Phil said and then left to the
kitchen.

James just gave me an odd look.

"What?" I replied, "Your singing celebrity career won't get you anywhere
here."

One way or another he was going to have to be taught that not everything
can be given to him on a silver platter.

"Come on let's get ourselves a table." I said and dragged him to one of my
favorite corner spots in a booth.

Phil came back out of the kitchen and noticed that we were already seated.
He immediately came over.

"You eat spaghetti James?" I asked quickly.

"Yeah, but its a rarity on the road."

"Alright then that's what we'll have."

"You decided what to order Jace." Phil asked.

"Yes, Phil, we'll have the B.O.S." I said.

"And to drink?" He asked again.

"I'll have water. James?"

"Coke."

"I'll be back in a minute." Phil said leaving us alone to talk.

"So what did you just order us?"

"I ordered us a bowl of spaghetti."

"And how big would this bowl be?"

"About three feet long and two feet wide."

"That's a large bowl.  Hope it's not expensive."

"No not at all. It's one of their specialties."

Upon having a lull in the conversation I decided to ask a few of my own
questions.

"So what brings you here to Michigan anyway?"

"Something about doing a survey on college campus on what we could
incorporate into our music to make it more appealing.  And in turn make
more of a profit."

"Sounds fun."

"It has been extremely boring.  We have been here for the past four days
and have nothing to show for it."

"Maybe you'll find something soon enough."

"Probably."

"Normally I am a good judge of character.  But you seem out of place.
Something tells me that you are reserved, but yet you are so open and
willing to talk." I had to ask.

"Yeah, normally I don't speak that often.  But you it seems like you don't
really care about my profession or have respect not to ask.  Everyone else
asks and its always the same questions over and over.  I mean the only
thing you have asked me relating in a long distance way is what I am doing
here which is a logical question."

"What can I say I'm curious?  Especially about a person that is so out of
their area."

"Out of my area, what do you mean?"

"I mean coming up to the North, here.  This is not even southern Michigan."

"Very true.  All I can say is that we are expanding out areas of reach."

Phil brought our steaming spaghetti out and wished us a good meal.

"May I ask you a few questions?" James asked.

"Sure fire away."

"Does your work and college give you any free time for a social life?"

"It depends on what kind of social life you are referring to.  If you are
talking about drinking: No.  But if you are talking about just hanging out
with friends or dating, sure I make time."

"Ok, next question.  Name three pet peeves of yours."

"Let me think. One, speeders that think they are driving the autobahn.
Two, people that don't think in advance when what they say has the ability
to hurt someone.  And the third and most important.  People that are not
honest.  That is the one that really burns me up inside."

James face was a multitude of emotions when I was talking the first was the
look of guilt, the second was of confusion, the third, happiness.  When
people are eating you can tell a lot about someone.  If someone eats fast
it usually means that they conserve time, those that eat like a pig don't
have a neat gene to keep everything organized, ect.  James had an
interesting way of eating, it was an organized mess.  At least as organized
as spaghetti can be.  He made it so that he would not have to use a napkin
to wipe his lips.  I on the other hand ate like a neat freak on speed.

"Slow down or you are going to end up choking on that." James said before
he stuffed his mouth full again.

I was about to ask a question, but all the food in my mouth kept my words
in.  So James swallowed his and asked another question.

"Do you ever think you had found real love in the past?"

"Truthfully, no.  In the past I never met anyone that would cause me to
change my plans about anything."

"What about me?  Would you change your plans for me?"

"You?  I'd say I'd definitely give you a try and change it for you."

"Would you like to prove it?"

"How?"

"There's a show on TV that I want you to watch with me tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow?"

"Please say yes."

"Alright.  What is this show?"

James didn't say anything at first.

"Come on James I have to know what I'm watching." I stated.

"The Miss United States Pageant." He said softly.

"Oh is that on tomorrow? I had no clue, I've been looking forward to that.
It's the only time of the year that all fifty states get to battle it out
for bragging rights of who is the best state in the Union."

"I have never met anyone who thought the same as I did on the Miss United
States Pageant."

"So where are we going to watch it at?"

"I want to drag you back to the hotel with me.  The rest of the guys watch
it as well.  I got them involved into it, and now every year it becomes a
game where we pick the states we want to win, based on anything.  Usually
from where we were born, but some of us have been known to go beyond those
boundaries."

"Since there is only one hotel in the area I can pretty much guess where
you are staying.  But will the other guys be bothered by you bringing
someone along?"

"No they won't care at all.  Do you think you will have a problem with
security outside the hotel? Getting in, I mean."

"No problem there." I stated simply.

James just gave me a glance that told me he didn't believe me.  We would
see who would win this little skirmish.

By the time we finished eating and talking it was five thirty.  I drove
James back to his hotel and found my way home.  When I got there it looked
empty and uninviting.  Going in, I went to the couch and sat down.  I
thought that maybe I should go to my parent's house and stay in my bedroom
over there, but thought against it.  I didn't feel like face to face
confrontations with Zelda and Chance.  Instead I picked up my literature
book and began reading the selection I was required to read for that day.

*	*	*

The reading as it turned out did not last long, ten minutes to read a few
pages.  Getting up, I went into the kitchen and grabbed a bottled water out
of the fridge.  I wondered if I should call Terry to see how he was, but I
didn't want to disturb the rest of the players who he was staying with.
That's me almost totally selfless.  I went back into the living room and
turned on the TV.  I quickly found a movie and watched it for a while.  I
really must have been tired for that's the last thing I remembered before I
fell asleep.  The flickering of the television light and the VCR clock
reading 7:23.