“Ooh, Trivoli’s sounds like a fun place,” Mer said excitedly.
“Yeah?” Colt’s neck snapped down to her. “Yeah, let’s go to Trivoli’s.”
Ali giggled at their interaction, making me smile as well.
“All right, I’m on liability duty,” I announced, grabbing Ali around the waist before heading down the stairs. She giggled into the crook of my neck the rest of the way down, making me feel about ten feet tall. As soon as I set her down on the concrete ground, I stepped back to look her up and down. “Damn, I missed you, Al.”
Her eyes turned a little teary as she gripped the lapels of my peacoat. “I missedyou,” she squeezed out, making me genuinely smile for the first time in what felt like months. “Great game. That was fun to watch. I’m soproudof you, JP.”
And for the first time since I started playing in juniors, I felt proud of myself too.
________
After dinner and hopping around the city to a couple different dive bars, we ended up in a dark club with low ceilings, a dance floor, and strobe lights.
After dancing around to a few songs, Ali and Piper went to the bathroom, leaving Kappy and I with the lovebirds. Mer and Colt couldn’t take their eyes off each other. They were practically joined at the hip on the dance floor. No matter what song the DJ played, they just slowly swayed together, their faces animated while they took turns whispering to each other.
Without the girls to dance with, Kappy and I ended up backing up to the wall.
“How’s Al Pal doing?” Kappy asked, taking a sip of his beer.
I studied him for a beat. “She’s good. Why?”
Kappy shrugged. “She just seems a little on edge. I tried to fish for some info, but I didn’t want to push too hard. Could be nothing.”
I rubbed my jaw. All night, I kept telling myself I was studying her too closely, reading into her actions a little too much. But deep down, I noticed it too. She seemed skittish, unsure of herself. A troubling thought twisted my stomach: MaybeIwas making her nervous?
Kappy nudged my shoulder. “She’s probably just nervous about being in a bar. She's the youngest, this is all new for her.”
When the girls exited the bathroom, Ali made a beeline toward us while Piper moved to the bar.
Kappy’s eyes followed her, a confused look on his face.
“Piper said she needed to rest her legs,” Ali yelled over the loud music. Piper was still recovering from an injury she had a few months ago. “She doesn’t want to stop us from dancing though, she said she’d wait at the bar for a bit.”
Kappy looked caught in indecision. We resumed dancing, but Kappy’s eyes were constantly drawn back to Piper at the bar.
During the next song, a commotion erupted by the bar. Kappy was moving in a flash, storming through the crowd to get to Piper.
Colt and I made eye contact. He gently pushed Mer toward me while he took off after Kappy.
“Wait, Colt,” Mer yelled. She moved to chase after him, but the whole place seemed to be stampeding toward the bar. I quickly tugged her back from the fray. Her wild eyes went to my face, giving me a look of betrayal.
“It’s okay, they’ll handle it,” I whispered.
I watched as multiple bouncers dressed in black tugged the fight apart. Kappy,Colt, and two other older guys were all led in different directions out of the bar. That meant everyone was accounted for except…
“Did you guys see Piper?” I asked Mer and Ali, but it was stupid to ask considering they were both way shorter than me. I swore under my breath as I craned my neck to look for her blonde hair. Panic erupted in my chest. “Piper?” I called out, searching in every direction.
“That’s her!” Ali yelled.
My neck whipped around to see Piper bolting to the back door to exit the club. My heart immediately settled back into a more normal rhythm, but we had to get outside to make sure everyone was okay.
“Stay close,” I told the girls. Ali grabbed hold of my belt loop and grabbed Mer’s hand, and I led the way through the packed, sticky club to the exit.
As soon as we exited the bar, the frigid air felt like relief. I sucked in a deep breath feeling like I could fully breathe for the first time in hours. Snow was lightly falling around us, but I didn’t even miss my jacket—probably because of all the alcohol we consumed.
Mer ran in a very un-straight line toward Colt. He caught her before she fell off the sidewalk and immediately hoisted her up over his shoulder to carry her toward our billet house.
