“You act like I fight all the goddamn time.”
“Once is enough to know you can’t be doing that anymore.”
“It’s part of the game, Penny,” I bemoan.
“It was a personal attack, and you know it. The puck hadn’t even dropped. You were just waiting for him to say something to justify your reaction.”
“Are you really defending him?” I ask.
“You’re impossible,” she says while attempting to walk past me, but I snag her by the waist, keeping her close. Her hair brushes over my bare shoulder, like silky strands enticing me. I push her hair behind her ear slowly, and I lower my head so I’m speaking close to her ear.
“I wasn’t putting up with shit that came out of his mouth about you, and I’m going to tell you right now, I won’t be putting up with it in the future. No one speaks about you like that, even if you’re just my friend. Got it?”
Her breath catches as her eyes travel up to mine. Intense, locked. They stay on mine for a second, then two, then three. I watch as she swallows carefully, her breath vibrating against my hand just as she looks away. Without a word, she slips into the bathroom and shuts the door behind her.
Looks like I’ll be waiting to brush my teeth.
ChapterFifteen
PENNY
“Pizza is here,” Winnie calls out as she barges through my door. “And some side salads of course because fiber is something we all need.”
“You can just bring it over here and set it on the coffee table,” I say. The game is on. They haven’t started yet, but the announcers are talking about Pacey and how he’s been holding down the team lately despite the lack of defense from Eli.
They’ve compared his play from earlier in the season to recently, and it’s obvious that he’s having trouble, and it’s probably because of me.
“They talking about Hornsby again?” Winnie asks while taking a seat next to me and flipping open the pizza box.
“Yeah, basically about how he’s sucking. They think he should go down to the second line.”
“Ooof, really? That would be an absolute blow. Not to just him but the team morale.” She stares at the TV and smiles as they show Pacey warming up his legs. “He’s so bendy. Look at him go.”
I chuckle. “He is quite bendy. He’s been doing special stretches for as long as I can remember.”
“What was it like growing up with him? Was he a total douche?”
That makes me laugh out loud. “He had his douchey moments for sure. But he was actually a good big brother. He always included me, and when we weren’t playing hockey together, he’d ask me what I wanted to do, which was usually to see a movie in the theater. Those were some of my favorite memories because he made a day of it. We’d purchase two giant buckets of popcorn, Raisinets, and drinks, and then we’d spend the day movie-hopping.”
“What’s that?” Winnie asks while handing me a salad.
“It’s when you go see a different movie without paying. You just slip into another movie theater after the one you paid for is over. There was one day when we saw three movies in a row. And of course, we had unlimited popcorn and drinks. It’s one of my favorite memories with him.”
“That’s so sweet and illegal.”
I laugh and move my fork around the salad. “Yeah, probably not the best choice, but it was fun then. I’d probably never do that now because the feeling of being fearless, like we’d never get caught, doesn’t sit well with me.”
“For some reason, when I was ten, I didn’t think gravity existed, so I’d test it and fall off rocks to see if I was pulled down or not. After a dozen tries to float, I realized maybe gravity was real.”
“I really wish I knew you when you were little.”
“Trust me, you don’t.” She bites into her salad and asks, “So are things better with Hornsby?”
“Define better?”
“Have you spoken since the fight?”
“Barely,” I say.
