TWENTY-FOUR
Enzo
We lost against Seattle. It’s fine. They’re a great team. We’ll probably still go to the playoffs.
If we can beat San Jose andLos Angeles.
Dread settles low in my gut.
I don’t want to see my former teammates. I don’t want to be in the arena where I used to work and feel that everything is backwards, changing in a room I never used to. I don’t want to see the team colors I used to skate in and realize they now belong to the enemy.
I walk to Axel’s room. The first time I visited his hotel room, we were in New York. Then I was walking with Luca.
This time, I’m walking by myself. Luca is spending the week with strangers. And I get that it’s the best solution, but I hate it.
I hate everything about this. My muscles ache. The massage I got after the game from the new massage therapist helped, but my body is still sore—shoulders tight, calves burning.
I knock on the door, and Axel swings the door open at once.
He smiles when he sees me, and his eyes soften.
I remember what it was like when he didn’t do that. I remember when he frowned when he saw me, when he looked at Luca with confusion and disbelief.
Some of our teammates are in the room.
“I-I can come back if you’re busy. It’s okay.”
“Nonsense. We were just hanging out.”
“Strategizing wedding gifts.” Noah hops from the bed. “Well, we should get going.”
“We should?” Luke asks.
“Uh-huh. All of us.”
They file out, and Axel and I are alone.
“I didn’t mean for your friends to leave,” I say.
He smiles. “They’re your friends too.”
I shake my head. No, that’s definitely not right. “I don’t know them.”
“But you will,” Axel says confidently.
He flips open his laptop, then types some things into his computer. “Come, Enzo! FaceTime.”
I hurry toward the laptop.
Axel is on the only chair, I realize, and I hesitate.
Patricia and Luca’s faces appear on the screen. Luca is clearly on Patricia’s lap. Luca looks a bit confused, which makes sense, but then he spots us on the screen. He beams, and everything in my heart melts.
“Hi Luca!” Axel waves to the camera.
Luca and Patricia wave.
“Hello,” Patricia says.
