“We have to celebrate.” I run my fingers through the damp hair at the nape of his neck. Arms circled around his neck, heart in his back pocket.
“I was thinking about going to get milkshakes and fries with my girlfriend, then taking her back to her place because mine is going to have all of my teammates packed into it and no privacy. Undress her”—he leans forward, takes up most of my breathing space, but I don’t care—“with my teeth. Bury my head between her legs, probably twice, a time for each goal, before I show her exactly how good of a boy I can be.”
I bite my lip. Mentally buckle myself into the rollercoaster that Cooper just sent me on.
“This already feels like a dream and if it is, that’s how I’d like to spend it before waking up and realizing it’s not real.”
I kiss him. He might not believe it, think it’s true, but I do. He’s wanted to play for them since we were kids daydreaming about our futures.
There’s so much going on, I almost forget that he said I love you. That floats around in the back of my mind, slipping out of the butterfly net I’ve managed to capture and maintain it in. “I love that plan, but this is real…and your team and family is going to the bar. We should go at least for a little bit.”
The bar is packed.Our families come with us. Even Coach is here with his wife.
Everyone comes up to Cooper to congratulate him. He returns the high fives or fist bumps with one hand, the other never leaves the back pocket of my overalls.
He squeezes my butt. “I’m digging these,” he tells me.
My sister pushes her hand into the other pocket, swinging her upper body around the front of us. “Thank you. Only took me ten hours to make them, so please be careful when you are removing them from her.”
She pulls her hand away and winks before going to stand on the other side of the table. One of the seniors on the team drags her away to the makeshift dance floor. Tables were pushed to the outskirts of the place to make room for the influx of people. Meave shrugs, then Molly saunters off to join her with another player.
Our moms are crushing our dads in a game of darts.
Chase and Elliot are at the bar getting drinks with Dawson.
Beckett took off an hour ago to celebrate with his sister which coincidentally was when a brown-haired dancer showed up. A vague memory of us drunkenly dancing at a house party earlier this semester flashes. It makes me happy to see her around again.
Jordan is leaning against the table next to us, arms folded and scowling at Jaxon, who is recounting a story to her. “How do you not find that funny, little Carmichael?” We overhear him.
“That was pointless. Stupid.”
“You need to lighten up.”
“This is light.”
“Okay, then you need to learn to have fun.” Jaxon does a weird dance move, making a fool of himself. Jordan stares at him, but I think the corner of her mouth moves upward for a split second.
“Wanna get out of here?” Cooper asks, mouth on the shell of my ear.
We walk hand in hand back to my apartment complex after Irish goodbying—a mutual agreement that if we said bye to every person, we’d be stuck all night. I at least text everyone.
The late March sky clear except for stars speckling it.
“How do you feel?” I break the silence.
Cooper tips his head up to the sky. “Good. Happy. Gosh, Sutton, I can’t shake this feeling. Everything I’ve been chasing is mine or on the horizon.”
“I think we can both agree you were going to end up in the NHL, but Chicago. Cooper, they want you.”
“I know.” His shoulders relax. “But that’s not the only thing I’m talking about.”
There’s a squeeze on my hand, a move with precise dexterity, repositioning me in front of him on the sidewalk.
“I meant what I said on the ice. I love you, Sutton. I’m sorry that’s how and where it came out, but I’m not sorry that I do.”
“I don’t want you to be sorry.”
“Good because loving you is the best part of my day. I loved scoring that goal. I loved winning the conference. But I love having you by my side every day even more. Whatever this future is? I’m excited for it because I know no matter what I’ll get to love you more than I do now. To love you till there are no words to express it, that all I can do is let it bleed out of me—in my choices. In my actions. In everything that I am.”
