Zane is watching me with that same slow grin, clearly pleased with himself.
Then he says-
“We met at a party before. Not sure if you remember?”
The tension drains out of me so quickly my knees almost follow it.
Right.
That party.
The night outside. When I’d slipped away before he could ask my name.
“Yes,” I say, letting the smile come a little easier now. “I remember.”
His grin widens, satisfied. “I knew it.”
He looks exactly the way he does on the ice - dark hair, shoulders broad under a Giants hoodie, the easy confidence of someone who knows he belongs wherever he happens to be standing.
Except now he’s looking at me with open curiosity.
“Well,” he says, glancing toward the building behind us, “since you’re not disappearing immediately this time…” He jerks his head toward the door. “Can I get you a drink?”
I consider refusing.
Less risk of saying something that connects the wrong pieces in his head.
But outside suddenly feels too still and too exposed.
Inside there’s music and chaos and a hundred different conversations happening at once. I won’t have to think so hard about every word.
“Alright.”
He pushes open the door and holds it for me.
Music crashes over us. Lights flash across the ceiling. The room feels even more crowded than before, bodies packed together under the lights, costumes blending into a moving blur.
And instantly it’s easier.
The noise fills the spaces where awkward silence might have lived.
Zane leads us toward the bar, weaving through the crowdwith the same instinctive awareness he has on the ice. People recognize him as we pass - someone claps him on the shoulder, another guy shouts something about the game earlier.
“Nice win tonight!” a girl yells over the music.
Zane waves a thanks but doesn’t slow.
“Busy evening,” I say.
“Campus loves a good old-fashioned winning streak.”
At the bar he leans across the counter. “What are you drinking?”
“Whatever you’re getting.”
He orders two drinks - some kind of Halloween special cocktail - and hands one to me.
I take it, the cold plastic cup pressing into my palm.
