“Cass has been crushing on a guy that plays for the team you’re up against. They want me to come with them to drool in person.”
He laughed. “Really? For the Dolphins? Who?”
“Owen something.”
“I know Owen. Wicked hook.”
“He said you had a nice slapshot.”
Daniel grinned proudly as he cut a block of butter into small cubes.
“Is he a good guy?” I asked.
“I don’t know him as a person. I’ve only ever played against him. He’s never hurled racist insults my way, so there’s that. I think that is the bare minimum for standard of behavior, though, not a selling point.”
I cringed. “That doesn’t really happen to you, does it?”
He nodded as he covered the bowl of cubed butter with plastic wrap. He put it in the fridge. “It doesn’t happen often in Toronto with my current league. When I was in a more competitive league, I used to face off against teams outside the city. I was regularly called every slur for Asians you can imagine. And I was told to open my eyes on the ice.”
I recoiled. “That’s horrendous.”
He shrugged. “It’s life. It was a long time ago. And like I said, doesn’t happen much here, and it’s never happened with the Dolphins. There are other Asians on that team. I do have one question about you coming to my game, though.”
I had anticipated this question—he wanted to make sure we wouldn’t be pretending to date in front of his teammates. It was one thing to fake date for my friends, and Muniba and Andre, too, but I was sure he didn’t want his hockey buddies to think we were dating. “Yeah, we need to talk about what we’ll tell people.”
“Um, no. That’s not what I was going to ask. I wanted to know for sure ... when you come to my hockey game, you are aware that I’ll be playinghockeythere, right?”
He said it with such a straight face that it took me a minute to realize that he was mocking me. I slapped his arm.
“Hey!” he said, rubbing his arm. “What happened to no physical contact without asking first!”
“Don’t be a smart-ass then.” I frowned. He had a point, though. Consent was parameter seven. “I will ask before I touch you next time, though.”
“No need. Hit me whenever.”
I laughed. “Okay, but seriously. I don’t know what Cass told Owen, but if you want to tell your teammates that we’re just friends—”
“I already told my teammates I’m dating you.”
I raised a brow. “You did? Why?”
“You know, just in case someone from your school finds out. I haven’t told anyone at all this is fake.”
“Really?”
He nodded again. “Really.”
“What about your family?”
“There is only my mother, who, by the way, also volunteers at the shelter sometimes. Yeah,Ididn’t tell her you’re my girlfriend.Munibadid.”
I cringed. Daniel rarely talked about his mother. I’d had no idea she also worked here, or I would never have let him tell Muniba we were really dating. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I’ve imposed way too much on you. Seriously, if you want to break up, I totally understand. I don’t think we need to keep this going anymore.”
He laughed. “We’re not breaking up until after that dance, remember? I told you when we met that you’re the perfect girlfriend to introduce to Mom. By the way, she’ll be at the game. She comes to all my games.”
I cringed. Meeting the mom. This fake relationship just got a lot more ... real. What happened to his parameter? I bit my lip. “You sure you’re okay with me meeting her?”
He shrugged as he started weighing flour into a big metal bowl. “Don’t worry, I told her we’re not that serious, so don’t think she’ll be like, I don’t know, inviting you for family dinners or anything. Mom’s cool. She gives me space. She hasn’t told my uncle about you.”
