Speaking of that woman, she’s hilarious.
She’s got a drier sense of humour that I wasn’t expecting and when we’re texting—which admittedly, has been a bit more frequent than before but still not a lot—she has some great one-liners that have me laughing into my pillow to make sure I don’t wake up Brynn.
Brynn always gives me a side eye when she sees the two of us talking at practice, as if it’s soshocking that we’re connecting.
Which we are. Of course we are. Eloise is persistent, and we’re working together every chance the coaches can get us together.
But are we playing as well as we should be able to? No.
Absolutely not.
It’s why I’m currently sitting on the sidelines of the rink with her, being scolded by Lawson for dropping yet another pass. He’s getting angrier, and unfortunately the angrier he gets, the thicker his accent and the louder he shouts at us. There’s something about an angry Eastern Canadian accent that leads to the hilarity of knowing you should be upset but not being able to keep it together.
I’m enjoying the way she’s trying to look solemn as he continues his pacing and venting but, despite her efforts, her lips threaten to curl up in a smile she’s desperately trying to hide.
“Do you understand me? Why we can’t keep doing this?” Lawson suddenly asks, and we both bolt upright.
“Yes, Coach, of course. We’re working on it,” Eloise says. I’m glad she did because my voice would be wavering at the thought of trying to be respectful right now.
“Are you?” he snaps, and I nod quickly, looking at him.
“Of course, Coach. We’re hanging out and gettingto know each other,” I say. It’s not something that settles into my stomach this time around either, which is fantastic because before it definitely was, but Marguerite has really been more helpful in getting me to open up than I thought.
I mean, so was Brynn, but I’m not telling her that. Her head is going to get way too big if she knows she was helpful.
“Are you practicing together?” he asks, raising one bushy eyebrow up. I think this is the first time I’ve seen his eyeballs.
“We were going to start working out together after practice this week,” Eloise says. I can see the way her cheeks are a deep pink now, and I have to stop myself from staring at how rosy they are.
My throat’s tight at the sight of her.
I clear it, trying to ignore the fluttering in my stomach.
I don’t know why she makes me nervous.
I shake my hands at my side for a minute, trying to release whatever energy is still in my body after the gruelling practice, and sit up a bit straighter. Coach Lawson stares at the two of us for a moment more before Fallon clears xyr throat, smiling at us. “Coach, I’m so glad you were able to gather these two troublemakers up!” Xe say, and my heart sinks.
What did we do?
Eloise shifts in her spot on the bench. The small smile that was gracing her lips is replaced with a thinline, her usually pink lips white with pressure.
Lawson sighs. “What did they do, Mx. Bailey?”
Xe laugh, xyr features twisting into a version not unlike Brynn, but the pixie cut blue hair distorts the similarities. “Nothing! We’re actually sending them to Toronto,” Xe say flippantly. “HQ wants them to do a bunch of press junkets, and everyone else is doing them in the big T-O, so they wanted us to send them in as well.”
He grunts, and I can feel the tension rush out of my system, unclenching my hands and ignoring the half moon indents in my palms. “Goodie,” Eloise says calmly. “Thanks.“
Fallon holds xyr hand out for her. “Fallon. I’m Bailey’s sibling.”
“Right. I was wondering,” she says, trying to give xem a smile, but I can see the way it wavers on her lips. Did she think she was going to get kicked off the team as well?
“When do we have to head out? I know that Coach was gonna give us a few things to work on before our first game.”
He grunts. “This is cutting into our time to turn these two into a fighting machine.”
Fallon shakes xyr head. “Oh, it’s only three days. The flight over is tonight, and they’ll be back by Monday, ready for whatever torture you and Brynn are going to run them through. You won’t even notice they’re gone!”
He rolls his eyes. “That’s three days of time they could be working on passes and practicing–”
