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in the locker room after the game, it was safe to say that bombay was mad. arabella stayed in her corner, trying to make her as small as possible.
she wasn't really listening to bombay, instead, she was thinking about earlier. of all the days he came back or wanted to show himself, why'd he choose today?
the thing that brought arabella back was luis. "you spend your time driving around in convertibles talking to all those sponsor fools!"
then fulton decided to attack bombay. "or hanging with the iceland lady. we saw you two saturday night."
"eating ice cream with the enemy, huh, coach?"
arabella didn't really care who he hung out with, but it still hurt a little. what hurt more was her head. bombay he was yelling at the team for not doing well, but he was on a date with the iceland trainer?
the team didn't take the news so great, and turned to bombay. arabella saw charlie, who looked hurt. 'now he knows how it feels.'
bombay tried to defend himself. "what i do is none of your business. is that clear?"
most of the team just scoffed, then broke apart to take their gear off. bombay wasn't happy about this. "don't take those pads off. everyone stay in your gear. we have practice."
"tonight?" goldberg asked in disbelief.
arabella realized that if she didn't leave to go see him now, it might be her last chance. so while the team left to go skate, arabella put her skate covers on and left the locker room to head to the main part of the rink, but it took a while because she was extremely dizzy, and kept running into walls.
she looked around for a while then saw a lady at a desk, and she hoped she saw something. "hi, excuse me, ma'am?"
the lady, whose name tag said 'amanda', looked over at arabella and smiled. "hi, how may i help you?"
"this is a really dumb question considering there was a huge crowd, but was there a man waiting here for a moment? dark brown hair, tan skin, was wearing a team usa jersey? did he leave anything behind?"
the lady smiled and nodded, before hanging arabella flowers and a note. arabella took the flowers and the note before thanking her. she went back in the locker room to put the flowers and note down, then went to the ice, where she saw the team doing sprints. she took a deep breath before walking onto the ice, and bombay noticed this.
"where were you? just because you got knocked down doesn't mean you get to skip this."
when he said this, arabella became more aware of the pounding in her head, but ignored it. arabella took note of this new bombay, one that seemed more stern. since he wasn't going to be accepting about where she was, she didn't care to tell him. "none of your business."
the team had finished the sprints that bombay told them to do, so he told them to go get unready. arabella knew he was going to keep her there, but she couldn't have the team looking through the note.
before bombay could say anything, arabella skated off the ice and went to the locker room first, getting unready pretty fast.
luis was sitting closest to her, but not that close thankfully. he did, however, notice the flowers. he grinned before turning to her, gesturing to the flowers. "ditching sprints to go see your boyfriend?"
arabella shook her head, but stopped due to the pain. "no, not a boyfriend. sorry about ditching the sprints, i would've gone but-"
luis laughed. "i don't care if you ditched any sprints. you probably have a concussion, so you shouldn't be doing all that anyways."
she smiled, then zipped her bag up and grabbed the flowers to head to the bus that took them to the dorm rooms they were staying at. she gave the man her bag, like they were supposed to, then sat on the bus in a back row. she turned her back to the window and put her legs on the seat so no one would sit next to her, then looked at the flowers.
she had mentioned that her favorite flowers were tulips about four years ago, and she was surprised he remembered. he even gave her pink tulips, and arabella remembered her favorite color used to be pink.
the bus filled up with everyone else not too long later. they got the message that she wanted to sit alone, but kenny sat in a row near her. he hated how she wasn't talking to him, but knew that she was probably mad that he knew.
he couldn't help but wonder who gave her the flowers. she's never mentioned a boyfriend, and charlie basically said she didn't, so who could it be? her parents don't talk to her, and she's an only child, so kenny was lost.
they got to their dorms and arabella immediately went to her room, which meant kenny couldn't talk to her. she got into the shower before connie or julie could bring it up, and took a fast shower so she could read the note.
when she got out, she sat on her bed and opened the letter as gently as she could, not wanting to rip anything. she recognized the handwriting, and she smiled.
Dear Belle,
I know it might've been strange to show up at your game, but I saw that you were on Team U.S.A's hockey team, and I came to support you. I know you might be mad at me, seeing as you've never answered any of my other letters. But I wanted to hang out with you and see how you've grown. I don't know if you'll get this letter, but if you do, is there any chance you could meet me at 7 tonight at the diner across the street from the rink you play at? I can explain everything there. I'm sorry I've been gone for so long, but I promise, I'll make it up to you, my monkey.
Love, Dad
she laughed at her old nickname, which sounded a little weird now. but the nickname also proved that this was her dad. her mom chose the name for her, thinking bella was too basic. her dad agreed with it, but he became fond of the name after arctic monkeys released am, where the song 'arabella' was released. as a result, he started calling her monkey all the time, which also came from the fact that she was energetic and liked to climb things when she was younger.
"bella? are you okay?"
arabella tore her gaze from the note to look at julie, who looked concered. it dawned on arabela that she had a few tears on her face, so she quickly wiped them and smiled. "yeah, i'm okay."
she got up and ran to the door, leaving her room and headed to fulton's with the note still in hand. she knocked, and dean opened it. "hey bella. what can i do for you?"
"hey dean, is fulton here?"
dean opened the door to reveal fulton on the bed, and she walked in and gave him the note, sitting on his bed. "i saw him today, at the game."
it took fulton a while to read the short letter, but she didn't care. he looked at her and saw that she was smiling. "he's back?"
arabella nodded, and dean sat on his bed, confused. he didn't know what was happening, but he knew it was probably a private conversation, so he put headphones on to listen to music.
"i think i'm going to go to the diner. i'll be able to find out what happened, and get an explanation."
fulton looked a bit worried, but was happy for her. "how're you gonna get there?"
"uber."
fulton shook his head. "no way. you aren't going in an uber alone to meet some guy that you haven't seen in a while."
"fulton, it's my dad, not just some guy." arabella groaned, not liking the switch up. she realized he wouldn't let her go, so she rolled her eyes. "then come with me."
his eyes widened. "i don't want to intrude."
"c'mon, you already know what happened, and i can't bring charlie! i don't want to talk to him right now."
fulton realized there was no way around it, so he agreed. arabella gave him a hug then went to the uber app, scheduling an uber for 6:45.
she thanked him, then left to go back to her room. as she closed the door behind her to fulton and dean's room, the door to charlie's dorm opened. arabella left fulton's door and tried to go to her own, but she was stopped.
"hey bella, where you going?"
she turned when she realized it wasn't kenny's voice, but adam's. guy was standing right next to him too, and he waved. she sighed in relief, then smiled. "back to my room, i just had to tell fulton something."
adam nodded, then the two of them walked to the other boys room, the one kenny slept in. this confused arabella. "why aren't you in your dorm?"
"kenny and charlie are talking, guy and i figured i should probably let them have some privacy." he shrugged, then knocked on the door to the other room. arabella froze. last time they were together, charlie told him about arabella's dad.
she nodded, then went back to her room to change. she was wearing pajamas, but she changed into one of the shirts she brought and some of her baggy jeans. connie and julie shared a confused look, wondering why she was changing out of pajamas. "where are you going?"
arabella turned around to the two other girls, then smiled. "fulton and i are going out."
connie's eyes widened in shock. "on a date?!"
arabella shook her head frantically. "no! ew! just out to dinner, we don't want the food that this place gives for dinner."
connie and julie sighed in relief, then continued to just lay in bed on their phones.
a couple hours later, the two girls watched as arabella curled her eyelashes and put lipgloss on. it was 6:40, and they heard a knock on their door. arabella said bye to the girls and saw fulton, and she smiled. "let's go, weedy reedy."
he groaned at the nickname, which made arabella laugh. the two went to the lobby, where some of their teammates were, and then went outside to find the uber.
they saw a black toyota, which was the car that was supposed to pick them up, then checked in and made sure it was the right car. luckily, it was a girl driver that had a picture next to her mirror of her and what looked like her kids.
she took them to the diner and told them to have a good night, and arabella and fulton thanked her. they walked into the diner, and arabella saw her dad sitting in a booth not too far away.
"dad?" arabella called out while walking closer, waiting for the familiar face to show up.
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