“With great seats,” I added.
“Skybox, actually.”
I nudged her. “Em, it’s okay that you’re stinking rich. Most of the kids here are.”
“And are happy to tell you so,” she said. She wasn’t wrong. “AndI’mnot rich. My parents are.” I rolled my eyes at the distinction, and she nudged me back. “So it says the other guy, Dex, is a center. They’re the ones who get most of the goals. The centers, and the forwards, they take the puck to the net, passing back and forth until one has a shot. Faster, better skaters, usually much smaller than the defensemen.”
Thinking of Dex standing next to Logan, and Veeti’s long legs dangling over their couch, I said, “That tracks.”
“And you do know what the goalie is, right?” There was as much question as teasing in her voice.
“Of course,” I said. “They have those in soccer too.”
“Very good. I don’t know about soccer, but oftentimes in hockey, the goalie is kind of an, hmm, ‘odd duck,’ might be how my mom would put it.”
“How would you put it?”
“A head case?”
I didn’t know Gabe well enough to know if that label fit, but stored it away.
Emily explained the finer points of the game to me (basically soccer on ice, it seemed to me?) and some of the vernacular as we watched the first period. (Periods, not halves or quarters—I got that one down.)
“He’s not one of the starting defensemen, but he and Veeti are the second pair out, so that’s good. Especially for sophomores.”
I felt a swell of pride, then chided myself. Logan wasn’tmine. I had no right to bask in his hockey prowess.
But I did admire it. Watching him skate explained the magnificent ass and thighs on him. Then he smashed an opposing player into the boards (“checked him,” apparently), and the ferociousness of it surprised me.
And, I admit, it turned me on a little bit.
Were we all just cave people at heart?
We were up 3-2 at the end of the second period when Chloe and Abby came into our room carrying two boxes of Bonetti’s pizza. “Look what we earned, roomies,” Chloe said in her signature “Blah, blah, bitches!” voice. “I stopped by there yesterday and showed them the numbers on the post with Logan and made a pitch for a collab. First payment in weekly pizza!”
“And what do you do on your end?” I asked. I knew she’d show the pizza, of course, but didn’t know that world at all. Was there more to it?
“Just tag them whenever we eat it, or go there. I’m sure they’ll keep their eyes on the numbers, and if it translates to more views to their pages, and sales in turn, but that’s done on their end. For me, it’s just post and try to hit numbers.”
“And eat pizza,” Abby said. “What are you guys watching? Do you want to pause it while we eat? Should we go to the common room?”
Emily looked to me to answer, allowing me to either confess I was watching a boy play hockey on a Friday night, or not.
Whatever. They’d met Logan. They knew how incredibly hot he was. They’d get it.
“We can’t pause. Well, we could, but it’s a live game. Bribury hockey’s first game of the season.”
“Why aren’t we there?” Chloe said. I didn’t think for one second she cared about the hockey team, but it would be a fun (or at least different) backdrop for her. And not as desperate as going to a scrimmage.
“It’s in Boston,” I said.
She made a pouty moue with her mouth that should have seemed bratty but was kind of adorable. I could see her wheels turning, the creative juices flowing, and then she said, “Let’s get it on the TV, in the main room. Pizza on the coffee table. Reaction shots of us all watching the game while we eat. Sound okay?”
“That’s it? Free pizza is worth that,” Abby said, turning out of our room and into the common room.
We ate and drank pop while we watched the third period. I could tell Chloe was filming, but knew it wasn’t a live post because she stopped a lot and didn’t narrate at all. Close-ups of the pizza, of course. Other than that, I didn’t pay much attention to her because the game was very exciting, with Boston U coming from behind to win 5-4. Sucked for Bribury, but it was a great game to get my hockey feet wet.
Later that night, Chloe came in with her phone in hand, her face lit up. “Looks like we’ll be having lots more free pizza, ladies.”
