"Laila saw some texts from my dad."
Yikes.
"Hishelpfulones." My hands are busy so I can’t add air quotes but Crocs knows what I’m getting at.
"Yeah."
Where my parents knew nothing about the game, Crosby’s dad is an NHL legend. But with that comes a shit ton of unsolicited "advice" from Andrew Loughty and I have watched it erode Crosby’s confidence for years.
I slide my frames back on. I know how I handle it when those texts come in, but I’m curious. "What did she have to say about it?"
"That I had to pick between her and him. More or less."
"Huh." Holy shit. This is a make or break moment. A tied game and the other team gets a breakaway. I bungle this and we could never recover. It could go very badly. He could never be the same.
I need assistance.
I slide my phone out of my pocket and open a voice text. "CAW! CAW! CAW! CAW!"
Stella starts barking and Crosby’s eyes fly wide open.
I start typing to Rhys that I’ll keep him posted but this is going to take all my attention tonight.
Crosby sits up straight. "What the fuck was that?"
"The Big Guns."
"No." He says but I’m already ignoring him for his own good. I can get an express delivery of snacks but I want to take an inventory before I do. "I do not want to watch some romantic movie where it all works out. I’m notsure that it’s going to work out with Laila. And we have to consider Little G here too. I can't get all tripped up over my feelings."
Crosby is talking as I am adding snacks to my cart.
"You think this is about Laila?" I ask as I double the sour cream and onion chip count.
"Yes, The Big Guns movie nights are all about the guy getting the girl. It’s why we watched10 Things I Hate About Youwith Austin Thorne in Puerto Rico, andOcean’s 11with Aiden at Felix’s–"
"No, that one was for him to realize he had us he could count on too."
"Fine, but with Bryson we all crammed into one hotel room and watched all those Heartmark moves in a row." Crosby reminds me.
"Ha! That’s right. I was thinking The Big Guns was when we watchedThree NinjasandThe Parent Trapfor prank ideas."
But that was just Crosby and I so we could give Bryson some ideas for how to annoy Jo so much she would leave him alone.
Alotta good that did us.
Anyway, I need to set Crosby straight. "But no, tonight is not about Laila. It’s about Leia."
"What?"
"See you will." I say in my best Yoda impression as I rip the top open on a family sized bag of air popped popcorn a little too enthusiastically sending kernels flying.
Stella’s nails scrape along the floor as she scrambles to take advantage of the spill.
Good girl.
***
"Is this a booty call?" Rhys says as he answers the phone with a yawn. It’s late. We watched in release date order and got through four, five, and six before we called it a night.
