Fletcher winked at him.
Taylor froze completely as if the world stopped around him. Time stood still, and for a moment, he and Fletcher were the only people to exist.
…HAPPY NEW YEAR’S!
And suddenly he was kissing Emogen again. There were other people dancing around them. The Earth was spinning.
She playfully tugged at his lip as she pulled back. “Wooo!” She shouted.
“Happy New Year’s, Emmy Em. Still a lesbian?” he asked her with a knowing smile.
“You, Taylor Piers, are my only exception!” And just because she could, she pressed another sloppy kiss to his lips. She tasted like beer and grenadine.
They continued dancing for nearly another hour. EoO by Bad Bunny started playing. The bass from the speakers was so strong that he could feel the beat in his chest. Taylor felt good. Loose. Happy. He was here with his closest friends celebrating his favorite holiday. He still hadn’t had too much to drink on account of Emogen stealing half of his drinks. He figured it was for the best, probably. Someone there needed to make sure they wouldn’t end up all over the internet in the morning.
“Happy New Year,” someone called from behind Taylor. A voice belonging to the one person he expected not to hear that night on account of having his tongue down a girl’s throat every time Taylor looked over at him.
“Happy New Year,” Taylor told him, sounding a little nervous. Guarded. Fletcher reached over and grabbed the beer Taylor was already raising to his mouth to take a sip out of and brought it to his lips, not bothering to waterfall it. Taylor still held it as Fletcher took a sip out of it but let go of it as Douglas walked up to them and patted the both of them on their backs.
“This is gonna be our year, boys. I already know it,” he slurred. “I fucking love you guys. Fucking brothers, okay?”
“I fucking love you too, man,” Fletcher told him with a chuckle, sounding surprisingly lucid and languid. Taylor didn’t know if that was a good thing or bad. Fletcher wrapped an arm around Douglas’ waist to help him stand straight after he began swaying back and forth like a sailor.
Reality slowly crept back into Taylor as he thought about how the hell he was going to get everyone home. Sánchez and Katherine could probably manage to get into an Uber without dying.
He looked over to Corinna and Emogen, who were dancing with each other a littletoosensually. But it was definitely the alcohol.
“How many drinks have you had?” Fletcher asked, seemingly being able to read Taylor’s thoughts.
“Me? Not many. Four-ish. I’m straight,” he answered. “Doug will probably need an escort back to his place. I can handle Emmy and Corinna. Em would love a sleepover.”
Fletcher nodded. “I’ve only had three. I’ll bring Doug home with me to mine. I doubt he even knows where his keys are.”
“And what about… what was her name? Ava?” Taylor still couldn’t remember.
“No clue. She ditched me after the countdown. She thought I played basketball, not hockey.”
Taylor snorted. “Sorry to hear that. It looked like you were having a good time over there, bud. I haven’t seen you all night.” Acknowledging the fact that he saw Fletcher made it less weird, right? Like he was just playing it off as casually seeing his friend kiss a girl. Well, Fletcher was doing a lot more than just kissing her, but still.
Fletcher shrugged innocently. “Your girlfriend’s here. Figured you’d want alone time with her.” His gaze sharpened ever so slightly.
Lie. That was a lie. Taylor clocked it immediately. He sounded just like he did in interviews. He used his Armstrong voice.
“Ex-girlfriend,” he corrected. “If I wanted alone time with her then we would’ve stayed in.”
“Okay,” Fletcher said indifferently. He gave Taylor a weird look before quickly looking off into the distance. “Look, I should get Douglas home before he does something to embarrass the entire team. See you at practice?”
Taylor nodded, giving him a guarded smile. “Get home safely, Armstrong.”
8
The Pep Talk
The team boarded the plane early that morning. They had two games in a row against Florida and Fletcher’s stomach was in twists. He hadn’t seen any of his family since the trade.
Needless to say, he was fucking terrified.
His dad would definitely be there. Without a doubt. He wasn’t too sure about his grandfather yet, but he had a queasy feeling knowing the entire Armstrong family would probably be there repping their orange and blue.
