"Do you know him?" Damon asked Melanie curiously. So, he must have noticed that Noah was talking to her.
"He's one of my students," Melanie explained. She just hoped he didn't think it was strange that Noah was shooting a puck for her. Melanie knew it was strictly platonic because she didn't have a relationship with Noah like that, but someone could easily misunderstand it. Noah liked to wink because he thought he was handsome. He wasn't doing it in a flirtatious way. Luckily, she didn't have to explain herself further because Damon didn't ask.
"You're a professor," he said. "That's cool."
"And what do you do?" Melanie asked, remembering that he had never got the chance to say it before, and she wanted to know.
"I'm a car salesman. I own my own dealership down in Heaton County."
He was a business owner. That could either be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how well he was with business. Melanie wanted someone who would be able to match her in her career, and she definitely did not want to be with someone who would drain money out of her because they made poor business decisions.
"What's the name of it?"
"Damon Dash."
Both of them looked at each other before they laughed. For the rest of the game, they periodically talked throughout it while keeping up with the score. Before Melanie knew it, the Falcons won the game with Noah hitting the slamming puck. Everyone from Weston’s team skated on the floor, cheering, hyping the crowd up with their victory, and Melanie was happy for everyone.
Noah skated over to their section again, but instead of saying anything this time, he pointed to the side where he had come in from.
"Huh?" Melanie mouthed her confusion. Why was he pointing there?
Noah rolled his eyes and made movements she could not understand, making Melanie feel like she was older than what she was.
"Girl, he's telling you to meet him at the locker room. Let's go," Abigail said as she threw a thumbs-up sign to Noah. Noah nodded, looking at Melanie one more time before he skated off. Melanie had to tamp down her sigh. Why did she have to go all the way to the locker rooms? Would she even be allowed back there?
Melanie grabbed her purse with Abigail tugging on her arm, obviously excited to meet Noah. But before she could leave, she felt a tug on her other arm. She looked back at Damon.
"Uh, I know this might be sudden, but I didn't want you to leave without getting your number."
"Opp." Abigail sounded in the back, and Melanie tamped down her annoyance before thinking of what she should do. After talking to him during the game, she knew they had chemistry. Damon was a nice guy, and he was checking off most of her boxes, but, still, she didn't know enough about him yet to know if he could check off the rest of those boxes. And what if he didn't. Wouldn't she just be wasting his time? Maybe she should just ask him now...
"Just go with it, andstopthe check-off list shit," Abigail aggressively whispered in her ear, pinching her side. Maybe Abigail was right this time. Melanie sighed, letting the list disappear from her mind.
"Okay," Melanie said, and a bright smile appeared on Damon's face. She rattled off her number to him, and he quickly saved it, before Melanie was whisked away to the back.
CHAPTER
19
MELANIE
W
HEN ABIGAIL DRAGGED MELANIE INTO THE BACK WHERE THE LOCKER ROOMS WERE, she mistakenly thought they would be standing there like idiots with security telling them that the place was off-limits to them, but to her surprise, quite a few people were standing outside of the locker room after the game. So many people that she and Abigail were practically pushed off to the side.
"Look at all these girls trying to snag themselves a hockey player," Abigail said. Melanie didn't know about the snagging part, but there were hordes of scantily dressed girls who didn't necessarily look like they were fans of the game, but fans of the players.
"I can't blame them. I would do the same thing," Abi said, shrugging. "But everyone can't be a Savannah or Amy, can they?"
"You're so crazy, Abi," Melanie said, shaking her head. She glanced at the watch on her wrist, wondering when Noah would come out. She wasn't exactly sure why he wanted her to come here in the first place, other than to possibly gloat about how good he had been. But he could do that when they saw each other next week or text her over the weekend. It wasn't like he hadn't done it before.
"Melanie, you came to the game?"
Coach Benson walked over to her with a big smile on his face. The last time she had spoken to him had been a week ago. He wanted to thank her for helping Noah with tutoring, and so he tried to take her out to dinner. But Melanie made up some excuse about grading papers to get out of it. She knew Coach Benson was attracted to her, but there would be no point in pursuing a relationship with him when he didn't check off all of her boxes. It was best not to waste her time or his.
"Yeah, I did. Congratulations, by the way," she said, genuinely happy for them. She came to the game, thinking she would be super bored by it. And in the beginning, she was, but the energy in the air was infectious, and by the end of it, she had been clapping and yelling and cheering too. She wasn't sure if another game was in her future, but it definitely wasn't out of the question like it had been before.
"Thank you," Coach Benson said. "I'm so glad that you came out tonight. You wanted to see your favorite student play?"
