“Worse,” she says. “I walk into the bodega across from my apartment two weeks later to grab oat milk, and there he is behind the register.”
Jesse gasps. Carter slams a hand on the table. “No.”
“Oh yes,” Naomi says. “Flat Earth Dan. Just scanning bananas and looking sus as hell.”
“Did he say anything?” Jesse asks.
Naomi sighs. “He nodded like we were in on some secret together. Then told me that oat milk was compromised by Big Almond.”
Carter is practically crying. “You dated Whole Foods Alex Jones.”
“I went for one drink with him!” Naomi says, hands raised. “And now I have to walk an extra six blocks for hummus because I’m afraid to make eye contact with a man who thinks weather patterns are created by the government.”
She pops another cauliflower wing into her mouth and grins around it.
Jesse nudges Carter, eyes gleaming. “Tell her about Scrapbook Girl.”
Carter groans. “Oh my god. I took this girl out who called herself a puck bunny, and I thought she was joking.” He pauses for dramatic effect. “She was not joking.”
Naomi leans forward, interested. “Define ‘not joking.’”
“She brought a scrapbook.” Carter’s expression is dead serious. “Of hockey players she’s met. She’d circled my picture from the team media day and wrote, ‘Manifested this one!’ in glitter pen.”
Naomi actually chokes on her beer. “Oh my god.”
“She was a sweet girl!” Carter insists, laughing with them. “Just…intense. I faked a phone call halfway through dinner and told her my dog had anxiety.”
Jesse wipes at his mouth, still laughing. “You don’t even have a dog.”
“I panicked! What was I supposed to say—‘Sorry, you scare me a little?’”
Naomi can barely breathe. “You have to admire her hustle.”
“Hey, I’m not above a little puck bunny attention,” Carter says, sipping his beer with a grin. “But at least make me work for it.”
Naomi cackles. “Okay, okay—who’s the biggest flirt on the team?”
“Flea,” they both chorus.
“Followed by the kid over here,” Carter says, nodding at Jesse. “All charm, no brakes.”
Jesse’s face flames. “Bro.”
Naomi raises an eyebrow. “You? Captain Eye Contact?”
Jesse grins sheepishly. “I swear, I’m just trying to be friendly and remember their names half the time. Girls think I’m flirting when I’m literally fighting for my life.”
Carter leans back with a grin. “That’s because you’ve got slutty hair. The flow does all the work.”
Naomi snorts into her glass.
“Okay, so who’s the complete opposite?” she asks. “Like, zero rizz. Negative game.”
“Oh, easy,” Jesse says.
“Tall,” Carter agrees, without missing a beat.
They both go quiet for a second. Naomi catches the shift, and it lands like a chill under her skin.
