Denny, not seeming to appreciate my bout of humility, tsks. “What’s with you recently? You’ve been acting weird since invite-only night.”
Addison coughs. “You mean the night the Pies?—”
“Addison,” Denny grinds out, not letting her finish the sentence.
“What? You haven’t told them?”
My eyes narrow at the sneer. I can hear the mockery lacing the words and wonder how Addison doesn’t know she’s dancing with death if she attacks D.
She sniffs. “It’s none of their beeswax. Nor is the fact that Mary Gillespie fell down the?—”
Addison’s the one to butt in this time. “What happens in the house, stays in the house. How don’t you know that, moron?”
The conversational temperature drops at her words, and Denny, instead of getting in Addison’s face at the insult, bows her head and stares at her fries.
I take a moment to make sure that I’m not losing my mind—because since when does Denny not maintain a fight until she’s blue in the face? And then I look at Pecan, who’s also gaping at the uncharacteristic silence from our mutual bestie.
When Addison looks smugger than ever, I bite off, “Did you just call Denver a moron?”
Her mouth pops open. “It’s not my fault she broke a rule, Zach.”
“I don’t give a fuck about your dumb Greek rules. You better apologize right now or you can get out of this booth.”
“You can’t be serious.”
Her fake baby face might have worked on someone who didn’t have my mom as a role model, but it does shit for me.
“You meant to be a bitch. Don’t lie, Addison.”
“Yeah,” Hailey scolds, earning my eternal gratitude. “If you’re going to be a bitch, then at least own it.”
“Guys, it’s fine,” Denny says weakly.
“No, it isn’t. It’s not fine at all,” I snap, glaring at the woman whodaredto talk shit about D IN FRONT OF ME, my Denny, who’s worth a thousand of her.
“Look, I’m sorry, Zach. I didn’t mean to offend anyone.”
“Well, you did. You offended me and you offended Denny and everyone else at this table. And I don’t need your apology. Apologize to the person you insulted.”
Addison, mouth tight and cheeks hot with embarrassment, mumbles, “I’m sorry, Denver.”
Thankfully, Denny doesn’t accept the apology. “How was practice today?”
Alec, who’s not that close to any of us, takes up the mantle and talks about our chances for tomorrow’s game.
It’s our first nonconference in the Hockey East Association against Connecticut so there’s plenty to discuss.
Mostly, I’m just relieved he had the sense not to talk about his BS plan to drum up interest in the team via social media.
Oakwood hasn’t won the Frozen Four in a long ass time, so he wants to get fans invested in the players themselves, rather than the team.
As he throws strategy around, bouncing it between us, he and Pecan take up most of my attention, but then, from the corner of my eye, I notice Addison mutter something to Denny.
Then she does the unthinkable.
She takes one of her fries.
And Denny doesn’t stop her.
