“You posted?” Emily asked while reaching for her phone.
Chloe nodded and brought her phone over to me to see, plopping down next to me. “Take a look at those numbers.”
They were impressive. I touched the arrow to start the video over again and heard Chloe’s influencer voice over a wide shot of us watching the game, her included. She was a master of the selfie angle—never needed a stick. I couldn’t even tell which of her posts were her filming with a reverse lens or straight ahead. The girl could work a camera.
“First Bribury hockey game of the season,” she narrated on screen. “Too bad it’s in Boston. But we’re enjoying Bonetti’s while we watch at home, cheering on our pal, Logan Fields, and the rest of the guys. Score, bitches!”
There was the shot of us watching as we ate, a close-up of the Bonetti’s box, a quick shot of the game on the TV, and she’d even put a screen grab of Logan’s player’s page in there. She’d done her usual branding hashtags, added #BriburyHockey, and tagged us all. And Logan.
“You don’t think he’ll mind, do you? He was cool with the tag the other night,” Chloe said.
“I have no idea. But probably not,” I said.
“I can’t believe the numbers I get when I tag him. Is he, like, really good or something? The team star?”
“No, I don’t think so. He’s not even a starter,” Emily said.
“I think it’s because of his brother,” I said. I explained to them about Logan’s brother also playing hockey and passing away over the summer.
“Oh, so he’s got that morbid curiosity following going on,” Chloe said.
“I guess.”
“Hmm. Interesting.” I could see the wheels turning again, while I made a mental note to tell Logan that he might want to guard his privacy around Chloe. I felt bad I’d said anything, but it was fairly common news on campus, I’d come to find out. It was just that we, being freshmen, weren’t aware.
* * *
I refusedto stay home Saturday night to watch the second game of the series, but found myself checking my phone quite a bit at the party I’d gone to with Abby and Chloe at one of the other dorms. Even put an early kibosh on conversations with guys who would have stood a chance typically.
Damn.I wished I’d just stayed in the room and watched the game with Emily. Especially when she told me it went into overtime and Bribury won.
On Sunday afternoon, I got a text from Logan.
How’d your weekend go?
Good. Yours?
I played it cool, not asking about the games.
Okay. Won one, lost one. Could have been worse.
Oh, that’s right. You were away. Well, 1-1 is better than 0-2.
What’d you do? Good parties? We got back too late last night to do anything.
One party. Wasn’t that exciting.
That’s the only excitement?
Yeah,I texted.
The bubbles rose for a bit, then I got a screen grab from Chloe’s post that was blown up to show my face rapt with attention while watching the Bribury hockey game.
Really? Not exciting? You look excited.
Don’t be an ass,I wrote back.
But you gave me a great setup.
