“You should smile more,” I say to him. “You could maybe grab a dental endorsement.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice,” Clemmers says. “But at this point, why bother? I’ll get this grill fixed when I retire.”
“Which will be when?” Danton asks.
“Long after you, old man,” Clemmers says, then repeats as we all laugh, “Long after you.”
I take my gaze to Brandon, and I’m pleased to see he’s laughing along, already fitting in, even if he does look like he’s terrified of saying or laughing at the wrong thing.
“Alright, that’s enough making fun of the old man,” Danton says as he sits down with a groan on the bench in front of his stall. He pulls his jersey off, then begins to remove his elbow pads. He looks around the locker room. “We have other business at hand.”
“Such as?” I ask from across the room.
“Who’s taking Baby home with them?” Danton asks. “You all know the rules: No one on this team lives in a hotel.”
Fuck. I was counting on Danton being an automatic on this one.
When I pull my jersey off, I catch Brandon’s hopeful gaze as he makes his way to his stall beside Danton. I look away from him and begin removing the rest of my gear so I can hop in the showers.
Brandon
A pang of rejection shoots through me as I watch Ryan turn around. I don’t know why. He hasn’t actually said no. And to befair, Danton’s question went out to everybody in the room. So I don’t even know why I’m taking it so personally.
Besides, when I spoke to the team coordinator on my way to St. Louis, he assured me they would have a hotel room for me for as long as I needed. But even with that knowledge, I stare across the room at Ryan with hope that he’ll turn around and offer for me to stay with him.
Sure, everyone here seems nice. But I already know Ryan and we lived together once before. It would make sense.
I watch him turn around and toss his practice jersey into the laundry bin in the center of the locker room. He avoids looking in my direction and takes his attention straight to Danton. “Why are you even asking?”
My heart rate picks up in excitement. Maybe I got disappointed too soon.
“We all know Vicky’s already got your spare room set up at your house, Cap,” Ryan continues without even looking at me.
“Yeah!” Clemmers says. “At this point you should just have a placard on the door that reads ROOKIE’S BEDROOM since we’ve all lived in it at one point or another.”
“Jesus, Cap,” Roysy says. “How long have you been here?”
“Fifteen years,” Danton says proudly.
“Baby was not even born yet,” Ivanov says as he walks past me to get to his stall.
“I’m not that young,” I exclaim, feeling crestfallen. No wonder Ryan didn’t ask me to stay with him if everyone on this team, including him, sees me as just a kid. My lips turn down.
“Watch out for Danton’s youngest,” Gauthier, who is in the stall next to me, says. “Danny has sticky fingers.”
“He’s four,” Danton says, laughing. “Everything about him is sticky.” He claps me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. You’ll feel right at home at my house.”
“Yeah,” Roysy agrees. “Plus Vicky makes the best chicken parm.”
Ryan finally turns to look at me. Smirking, he says, “She’s gonna help you bulk up real quick.”
“Like she did for you, pretty boy,” Clemmers says, flashing his toothless grin.
Ryan throws a wad of balled-up hockey tape at him. “You’re just jealous you can’t eat chicken parm anymore.”
Clemmers scoffs. “I can still eat it,” he says. “I’m only missing my front teeth.” He turns to look at me and points. “Promise me you’ll always wear your mouth guard.”
“You have my word,” I say, and laugh. For as downhearted as I am about Ryan right now, at least for as long as I’m here, the rest of my teammates are fun to be around.
