“Holy shit. Small world.”
“Yeah, except she still doesn’t know it’s me.”
Henrik’s eyes widened. “Wait, please don’t tell me you’ve still been messaging her.”
When I was quiet, Henrik let out a disbelieving laugh.
“Well, damn. That’s a misuse of trust,” he said.
“Be a little more honest, why don’t you?” I joked.
“Look, you came to me because you wanted no bullshit. Finn, you’ve been sitting on this for way too long. It’s ridiculous.”
I ran my hands through my hair. “I’ve been working on it. Working through everything. It's all been so overwhelming.”
“Time to stop working and start doing, man. I understand you’ve gone through a lot, but at a certain point, your accident isn’t an excuse.”
“I know. It’s… happening tonight. I’m pulling her aside tonight and telling her everything.”
He seemed to approve of my decision. “Perfect. Let’s hear it. What do you have to say to the girl of your dreams who you’ve been lying to for months now?”
I frowned. “Laying it on isn’t necessary, Hen. I do that enough on my own.”
“I think you need a hardass on the outside, too,” he informed. “You like this girl, so fucking tell her. Let the chips fall where they may and move on.”
I blew out a breath and tilted my head to the sky. God, he was right. It hurt to hear my inner monologue spoken out loud through someone else’s words. Was this why we didn’t get on in the past? We thought the same things, but he didn’t hesitate to say them out loud.
“Come on. I’ll pretend to be her.” Henrik gestured for me to talk. “You should probably practice groveling. You do know how to grovel, right?”
I gave him a look. “I think I can figure it out.”
He grinned at my dark mood. “We’ll figure it out together. Good thing Lincoln likes long parties because I think we’re going to be here for a while.”
“Yougotthis.”Henrikgave my shoulder a quick squeeze as we re-entered the house.
I scratched the back of my head, anxious to find Naomi. This was as close to ready as I’d ever get.
The house was more packed than earlier. Almost everyone was gathered around the coffee table in the living room. Guys were on one end, girls on the other. There seemed to be a competition going on. Aderyn, a girl with an impressive set of muscles, challenged the guys to arm wrestling. And from the looks of it, she was winning.
Naomi was close by, eyes dancing with amusement as she watched one of the freshmen from my team get his ass handed to him. The girls cheered for their champion while the guys grumbled in defeat.
“Hey,” I said once I made my way to her side.
Naomi turned to me with a wide smile. “Oh, my god. Have you met Aderyn? I didn’t even know we had a women’s hockey team until now.”
I glanced back at Aderyn, who was gearing up for her next challenger. She and the other girls on the hockey team would occasionally scrimmage with us. I’d only spoken to her a handful of times in the weight room. She was tough as nails and easy to talk to. Even though she could crush egos, most of the guys enjoyed it when she came around.
“I have. She’s cool,” I said.
Naomi nodded. “I’ll say. She almost convinced me to join the team.”
When I gave her a questioning look, she held up her hand and added, “Keyword being almost.”
“I could have you ready for tryouts.”
She snorted. “I’m sure you could.”
We looked up when another guy groaned in defeat. Aderyn accepted high fives from both sides of the room.
