“Glad to hear I’m so important you put offfinishingto catch me.”
Her blades scrape against the ice when she takes off, and I snort, picking up my pace. “That’s not what I meant,” I call after her.
“Just stop before you dig yourself a deeper hole,” Al suggests, laughing, and she’s not wrong. At this point I should just hit myself over the head with the shovel to finish the job.
I recognize the concentration on her face as Alondra turns, holding my breath to see her jump. She pivots, picking up speed with a backward crossover only to propel herself upward into the air, rotating before landing on one skate, and I’m in fucking awe of her. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing her skate.
I’m great at hockey, having spent more than half of my life on skates, but I don’t have the grace it takes to figure skate like Al does.
The smile on her face glows, and my chest feels warm and fuzzy at the sight of Alondra’s quiet joy. She’s getting stronger, and it’s helping her confidence grow.
“Al?” I call out, running a hand through the shorter strands of my hair.
“How’d your games go last weekend?” she asks, changing the conversation, and it’s tempting to take the distraction. Maybe it’s a sign to follow, considering I don’t even know what’s left to be said. I’m doing an awesome job of saying the wrong thing, so Alondra’s probably doing me a favor.
“Shitty—didn’t have my new good luck charm there,” I say, but logically, I know Al won’t be attending any away series. I can only hope she continues coming to the home games.
For the first time in my life, I was more focused on a girl than the game I was playing Friday night, and I didn’t get a single shot past their goalie. I played better Saturday afternoon, but I was off my game. Thankfully, my team had my back, and helped pick up my slack. I’m normally an expert at checking my personal shit at the door, always able to give hockey a thousand percent of my focus, but nothing could have prepared me for how much my shit was rocked by Alondra asking me to leave her alone.
I tried sitting in my old seat on Monday, and I spent the entire class trying not to turn around to stare at Al. It was fucking awful, and I couldn’t have escaped the room fast enough, trying to give her the space she asked for.
“You’re lucky I’m free for the next one,” she says, and superstitious or not, it’s a relief to hear.
“You better be.”
Al’s lips curve into a full-blown smile, and I don’t hesitate to return it. “Catch me if you can,” she says, surprising me.
I have no intention of pretending to let her get away, going after Alondra without a second’s hesitation. I’m doing enoughpretending these days, and for the moment, I’m sick of it. I want to hold her and feel the weight of her head against my chest.
Alondra slows just before I reach her, and I come to a sharp stop, folding the curves of her body into mine. We’re a perfect fit, and I try not to focus on how right it feels to rest my head on top of hers.
“I missed you,” I whisper, my voice wobbling, but I don’t even care because her arms hold me tightly in return. There’s a lot I don’t seem to care about anymore when it comes to Al.
“I missed you too.”
“Don’t shut me out like that again, okay?”
Her head nods against my chest, but I don’t let go, losing track of how long we stand on the ice holding each other.
The only thing I know is that it wasn’t long enough.
CHAPTER 24
Alondra
Why didI think it would be okay to break my rule about the hockey team for the fucking captain? I should have sent Jack and his stupid dimples packing the second he asked for a kiss.
Instead, I took pity on him, and now I’m the moron falling for the guy who’s quickly become one of my best friends.
I never should have made an exception for him.
This is only going to end badly with someone getting hurt, and I would rather it be me because I hate the idea of being the one to cause Jack pain.
I shove my gloves into the pockets of my parka as I move to unzip the front now that I’ve made it into the tunnels. I didn’t like the cold before Bradley left me at the bottom of his stairs, but now I hate it, and unfortunately for me, winter’s shown its face early this year with a record-breaking snowstorm in November. I’m so over it already. Not only do I like to torture myself by spending more time with Jack than without him, I also like to look at the weather in Fort Worth where it’s sunny and in the sixties.
My fur-lined hood helped to block out some of the swirling snow, but classes should have been cancelled today. The underground tunnels only reach a few parking garages oncampus, and the worst part of having an eleven a.m. class is that the garages fill up by eight, making it impossible to snag a spot.
The sour mood I’m in only worsens when I walk into class, hoping Jack brought coffee, only to learn he isn’t even here yet. I record a quick voice memo asking where he is because if I can be in class with a blizzard outside, then he can show up too.
