Hey.How did it go with Callan?He wasn’t at skate this morning.
I head into the building, up to my loft, and get ready for my nap.By the time I’m crawling under the covers, she still hasn’t responded.And after I wake up, there’s still no response.I make a protein iced coffee, put on a suit, and head out because I like to get to the arena early.When I get to the locker room, I find Callan at his cubby beside mine.He looks up, blinks, and then goes back to taping one of his sticks.
“Hey!Missed you at skate earlier,” I say casually as I place my half-finished coffee on the shelf and shrug out of my suit jacket.He doesn’t answer, so I know he heard the police officer say my name.He knows Lola was at my house.“Callan, I think maybe we should talk.”
He looks up at me.“Oh, you think?What about?Why I wasn’t at the skate?Well, buddy, I will tell you why.It’s because I thought I might cross-check your face if I saw you, and I needed time to rein that in.”
“Okay.”I swallow and stop unbuttoning my shirt.If he’s going to assault me, it might be better if I were clothed.“So have you talked to Lola?”
“We had brunch with my parents, and she and I talked about her whereabouts after they left.I told her what a bad idea this was, and she told me to fuck off,” Callan replies and yanks on the tape roll in his hand much more aggressively than I bet he needs to be.His blue eyes are hard and angry.“And you know what?Normally, I stay the fuck out of her personal life, but her personal life usually stays the fuck away from my work life.”
“Look, I respect Lola a lot,” I say, and he snorts.“Callan, truly.I do.This thing between us is…”
Why can’t I bring myself to say nothing?Not a big deal.Unimportant.A ton of similar words cycle through my head, but none of them feel right.I swallow and can finally spit one out.“Casual.Mutually so.”
“And you think that makes it better?”he asks, and now I’m confused.“You think I want you using her?”
“I’m not… I mean, it’s mutual.We’re both… have you ever had a casual… like no strings…”
“A situationship?”Callan says and aggressively rips the tape.“Yeah.It’s all I do.But not with your sister.”
“So you’re telling me she’s off limits?”
He opens his mouth and then closes it instantly, frowning.After a deep breath, he stands up.He’s taller than me by almost two inches, but I’m thicker.That said, if he throws a punch, I’ll let him.“I don’t own my sister.She’s free to… situationship with whomever she wants.But I don’t think that’s what this is.”
“It is.Trust me, we both laid out our terms clearly,” I reply.“We’re friends now, too, I would say.But that’s it.”
“Sure,” he says in that way that lets me know he thinks I’m full of shit.I frown.Callan grabs the stick he was working on and continues.“Thing is, there’s only one thing that Lola steers more clear of than a relationship.And that’s a hockey player.So this isn’t normal for her, and that makes it more than casual.No matter what you say.”
He walks out of the locker room, carrying his stick with him.My eye catches Xavier’s on the bench, and he shoots me a smile.“Sounds like a messy situation.”
“Situationship,” I correct.“And it’s not, even if Callan doesn’t believe it.”
“I hope so, for all our sakes, because you two play great together and I would hate for that to change.”Xavier stands up and heads out of the room as well.
I ignore the weird feeling in my gut and check my phone one more time.Lola still hasn’t responded to my message.
We play a decent game, but can’t pull out the win.Sometimes it happens, and I used to be the first to shrug off those losses where everything goes right, but you still come up short.I feel this one, though, it’s heavy, like a bad omen, and I don’t have a beer to wash it down.Coach Larue walks in and claps his hands as we peel out of our gear.“Shake this one off, boys.We have a 14-day road trip, and I’m sure you don’t want to start on the wrong foot.Landon, Theo, Conner, media duty in the hall.”
He jerks his head toward the door.I sniffle and groan as I stand and grab my baseball cap from the stall behind me.I tug it over my damp hair and follow Conner and Landon out for the press.I get asked the usual “What can we improve?”“What do I think cost us out there?”“How do I feel about the upcoming road trip?”
“I feel good.I think we just gotta shake this one off and go in fresh, not hold onto this loss,” I say, and the reporter stares like he’s expecting more.
“This will be your first time back in Vegas, facing your old team.Any thoughts on that?”he prompts.
“Oh.Right.”Did I actually forget?No.But I’ve been doing a pretty good job at ignoring the fact that we’re playing Vegas.“I mean, I’m not fixating on it.I’m sure it will be nice to see some of my old teammates.”
“Any worries?Any concerns about falling back into the habits you developed there?”Usually, during interviews, I stare at the ground or off into space, but now I snap my gaze right to the reporter.He’s about thirty or so.Balding.Wide-set pale eyes behind glasses and a pseudo-smirk on his face as he waits for my response.
“I didn’t become an alcoholic because of Vegas if that’s what you’re saying,” I reply flatly.Conner looks over from where he’s standing a couple feet away.He must have heard my response.“I’m confident in where I am in my journey and don’t intend to revisit anything anywhere.Thanks.”
I turn to leave without asking if he’s done with his questions because I do not give two fucks.I head back into the dressing room and get ready to shower.Callan stares at me as he strips out of the last of his gear and reaches for his towel.“You good?You don’t look it.”
“I’m fine,” I grumble.
After my shower, I take my time dressing.The guys were mumbling about going out to shake off the loss, but I intend to just go home.I’m officially in a shit mood.When I step out of the locker room and make my way down the curving hallway to the players’ entrance, I check my phone to see that Lola still hasn’t responded to my message on the app.My mood somehow gets darker.
And then I smack right into Landon.“Dude.”
