Steven could be pushy sometimes.
“Push?” He blinked like he was genuinely surprised.
I rolled my eyes. “Kai’s here with their aunties, so if they already have plans tomorrow, it’s fine.”
“And we’ll ask Kai about the game–if she’s still even here Saturday?” Steven added.
“Yes.” We’d gotten the game and practice schedule this morning. We'd won the coin toss, so we had a home game first, followed by one in Portland. If we needed a third, we’d return to Nashville. It was a tighter schedule than we’d had for the semis, but not completely out-of-the-ordinary.
Something about Kai coming to the game made me very happy and I hoped they could attend.
Kai rejoined us and took a sip of their iced coffee. “Talking about me?”
“Are you here Saturday? My offer last night was serious. Want to be iconic and come to our game?” Steven offered.
Kai beamed. “You know what? That does sound fun. I don’t think I've ever been to a hockey game. We’re leaving really early Sunday morning.”
“We could probably get enough tickets for the aunties, too, if they want to come,” I added.
“You’d want all of us to come to your game? That’s so sweet. The aunties have a lot planned, but I can ask them. I’d like to come at least. That wouldn’t be too much trouble for you, right? I don’t want to take any tickets away from your families,” Kai stated.
I shook my head. “We’re playing the Puck Panthers. My family will come to the game in Portland.”
“My family doesn’t go to my games. They’re not even in the country right now. It’s fine. It’s complicated, but…fine,” Steven said.
“Thank you so much then. Put me down, I’ll let you know about the aunties later.” Kai sent a text.
“Do you like animals? We could go to the zoo tomorrow. But if you have plans with your aunties, that’s fine too,” Steven added.
“Aren’t you supposed to be resting?” Kai asked.
“It's fine. We have a team meeting in the morning anyway,” I replied, wanting to spend more time with them and not liking the anxiousness in their voice, because it seemed like they wanted to spend more time with us too.
“Tomorrow sounds fantastic. I do like animals. When’s your next practice? What do you do at practice?” Kai finished their fries.
“Thursday. We’ll go over a strategy, and watch videos of our competitors so we can get an idea of how they play. We’ll have on and off the ice practices too, but I don’t think we’ll do anything too strenuous. You don’t want anyone injured, but at the same time it is the final so we can’t slack off,” Steven explained.
“A lot of it’s mental. It’s studying our opponents, knowing the strategy, and not psyching ourselves out,” I added.
Kai nodded. “Makes sense to me. I was on the swim team in high school.”
We cleaned off our table and went back through the gardens.
“Tag.” Kai tapped Steven and took off running.
“I’m gonna get you,” Steven shouted, running after them.
I chuckled as did a few people. Steven caught Kai, picked them up, and spun around.
The two of them were cute together. A little bit of jealousy shot through me. I wanted to swing Kai around, too.
What was stopping me?
Kai laughed and pulled him down onto the ground. In a quick movement I swept Kai up off the grass and spun them around.
“My turn.” I grinned.
Kai laughed. Not sure if I was crossing a boundary by wanting a moment to get closer, to touch them and make them smile. The scent of lemons, sweet like lemon candy, tickled my nose.
