“My mom has the girls, so Harper and I are having a date night,” Marcus says.
“Yeah, yeah,” I whine. “You all are going home to the people you love.”
“You know, we could set you up,” Bode tells me. “I’m sure Stevie or Harper has friends.”
“Yeah, doesn’t Chloe have a friend that’s single?” Marcus asks.
Dax shakes his head. “Her friend Erica is dating someone.”
“Do we really not know anyone?” Marcus whispers to Bode out of the corner of his mouth.
“You know you suck at whispering,” I say.
“Well, there’s usually a lot more noise and I don’t have to worry about being heard.”
“I’ll be fine. You guys go home.”
“Need help getting to the showers, old man?”
I flip him off. “Get out of here.”
We all go through our postgame routines and I shuck off the rest of my gear, grab a towel, and hit the showers.
It’s hard to think that there are more playing days behind me than ahead of me. The good old days are behind me—or at least what I consider the good old days to be. Having played for Nashville my entire career, there haven’t been a lot of good days until recently. With shitty coach after shitty coach, we were always the laughingstock of the league until Coach Andrews came in.
He’s helped turn around this team more in the last few years than any coach before him. I’m still holding out to see if we might make another run for the Cup.
To see ifIhave it in me to make another playoff run. I don’t know how much longer I can put my body through this, but I’ll be trying my damndest.
Because I don’t have anything else going for me.
After the water starts to run cold, I head back toward my locker. Only a few people are left. Grabbing my phone, the notification that greets me pulls a rare smile from my face. One that only this person seems to be able to bring out in me now.
CatsRCool
I think you need a cat
Chapter Two
QUINN
TheFriendlyGhost
You think I need a cat?
Why is that?
CatsRCool
I feel like you’re lonely.
How can you tell I’m lonely by a text message?
I don’t know. Are you?
I mean, some days I think I am.
Is today one of those days?
