“Are we going to talk about what today was?”
I nod. Her smile is soft and warm, and her eyes somehow look bigger as she opens the door wider for me to walk in. “Thanks,” I whisper, stepping into what feels like another universe. Her place is small, and there’s still boxes everywhere, which I bet feels awful considering she’s been with us now for at least three weeks.
“No problem, ignore the boxes.” She waves a hand at them dismissively. “I just got the keys a few days ago and my things finally got shipped from Calgary.”
“You’ve been on the team for a few weeks now.”
She shrugs. “I wasn’t sure I was going to get a contract. Didn’t want to move things over and waste themoney if the stars didn’t align.”
“Oh.”
She nods, walking into the small kitchen and pouring herself a cup of hot water. “Tea? It’s not caffeinated.”
I nod, standing close to her. I’m enamoured with her smell. It’s so Eloise. It’s light and happy and complex. Like there’s sea-salt and flowers. Her smile curves her lips as she pours another cup for me. “Do you want to sit on the couch?” she asks. “It’s the only thing that’s been unpacked properly.”
“I-uh, yeah, that’d be great.”
“You’ll want to take a step back so I don’t spill my tea on you,” she says, and I automatically do so. She smiles, passing me my cup before walking around to sit on her couch. She carefully tucks a leg under her body as she sits and looks at me expectantly.
“Right, so,” I take in a shallow breath, “I wanted to apologize for kissing you today without asking. I should never have done that, and I’m worried that you hate me for it.”
She takes another sip of her tea, eyeing me with a raised eyebrow. “It’s just…” I sigh. “Winnie got in my head about liking women, and it was a thought that never crossed my mind until we um, until I kissed your cheek in Toronto. So, she told me to watch some porn, which I did, and I think that… and kissing you… really made me realize something about me.”
“Winnie told you to watch porn?” Eloise echoes.My stomach curdles. Did I just word vomit that?
I let out an awkward chuckle because at this point I think I’d rather die than have any more of this conversation. “She said to focus on the woman, and I did, and it was so much better than what I usually do.”Ohmygod just stop talking, Taylor.
“So, you watched porn to focus on the woman, and then you kissed me in the locker room because you were so...”
“I wanted to know what it was like to kiss a woman, and you were… I—” I bite my lip at the memory and every positive experience with her. “I thought you were the best choice, and I should have let you know what I was thinking beforehand, but I was so stuck on that train of thought that I couldn’t shake it.”
“Is that why you couldn’t look at me all of today?”
I nod.
Her cheeks have slowly darkened in colour from a light pink to a deep shade of red. I watch her fingers shake as she repositions them around her tea, as if to soothe herself. “So how was it? I didn’t get to ask because you bolted,” she teases.
“It was,” I lick my lips at the thought. “It was everything I expected it to be, and somehow, more?”
She nods. “So, the best thing you’ve ever done?”
“Yeah. Definitely.” My words sound breathy, as though she’s punched it out of me. “I think it could be topped, though.”
She laughs. “Yeah? With what?”
“Another one?”
Twenty Four
Taylor
Stepping onto the ice before a game warm-up is gratifying in a way that I somehow forget at the end of every season. It’s probably because I’m so exhausted that I just need to stop thinking about hockey for a few days, which is near impossible, and the excitement of it just blanks from my mind. But it’s back now, the jitters and the thrill, even with this being a preseason game with a select few fans watching. The feeling is brilliant.
The Ottawa Otters look vicious, young and power hungry, and we look mean. We’re an older team by a year or two, and they had a bunch of turnovers this year. This game could go to anyone, but there are a few vicious players we have to watch out for. I roll out my shoulders as I do a few warm up circles in our half of the rink, Eloise settling in beside me as we skate in tandem.
Everything feels perfect.
Winnie looks like she’s locking in, and Brynn has her game face on. One of the rookies is trying to say hi to an Otter, but Rory is pulling her away before she can make a fool of us.
