We score late in the second. Jack feeds Rodriguez on the rush and Rodriguez buries it short side and the building detonates. Third period we lock it down. Luca stops seventeen shots. 2-0. Barrett comes in the locker room and says, “Good. Three more,” then leaves.
Mackie’s birthdayfalls on the day between Games 1 and 2, which means the best I can do is a cupcake from the bakery near Pucks & Pucks—the chocolate one with the gold flakes on top that she pointed at in December and said “I want that one” and the memory has stuck with me ever since.
“Happy birthday.” I push the cupcake across the counter with its single candle. She leans forward on both hands, closes her eyes and blows out the candle then grins at me.
“Well. At least you’re not dating a teenager anymore.”
“Mackie, nineteen is still teenage.”
“But it’s not barely past legal. That’s progress.” She pulls the candle out and licks the frosting off the bottom. “You should feel better about yourself.”
“I feel approximately the same amount of bad about myself.”
“Nineteen is a real adult age. Nineteen is respectable. Nineteen says ‘I make my own dental appointments.’”
“Do you make your own dental appointments?”
“I have never made a dental appointment in my life, but that’s not the point.”
“What did you wish for?”
“I’m not supposed to tell.” She’s already smiling in a way that means she’s absolutely going to tell me. “But if you have to know. I want to have sex with you in the video room at the practice facility.”
I feel my mouth drop open and she grins wider.
“Specifically,” she continues, like she’s placing an order, “I want to sneak in after hours and I want you to tie me up with skate laces. I’ve been thinking about it for weeks.”
“Mackie, there are cameras.”
“The video room doesn’t have cameras. I checked.”
“You CHECKED?”
“I did recon.” She takes a bite of the cupcake. “I also know the security guard’s shift change is at ten-thirty and the cleaning crew finishes by nine.”
She conducted a security assessment of a professional hockey facility. For sex. With skate laces. And I’m going to do it. I know I’m going to do it because she said skate laces and my brain stopped working and hasn’t started again.
“When?” I can hear myself surrendering in real time.
“Probably after the season. When things calm down.” She takes another bite. “Something to look forward to.”
She finishes the cupcake and I reach over and wipe frosting off her lip with my thumb but before I can pull away she catches my wrist and sucks my thumb in her mouth, holding my gaze. I have never been outmatched by another human being the way I am outmatched by this girl.
“Happy birthday,” I say again, because I don’t know what else to say.
“Best one yet.” She stands on her toes and kisses me, tasting like chocolate and sugar and the rest of the night is just us. I lie there with her asleep next to me, thinking about eventually sitting in that room watching game tape with Barrett six feet away, Barrett standing there with the clicker walking through defensive zone coverage, and me trying not to think about she wants to do in that room. What we’re going to do in that room. Because with Mackie it’s not even a question of ‘if’ anymore, but a question of ‘when’. The scenario I envision is so catastrophically bad that I almost laugh out loud in the dark with her hair spread across my chest.
Game 2 is on a Wednesday.I walk into the building with Rodriguez at 3:30. Some families are already here because thesuite opens early for playoff home games and I can see them milling around the concourse level. I find Mackie immediately. Standing by the railing with Juliette, and she’s mid-conversation but her eyes flick to me as I walk down the hallway and the look on her face is not subtle. She’s looking at me the way she looks at me in my bed at two in the morning and she’s doing it right next to my best friend and his girlfriend.
Rodriguez stops to kiss Juliette, to hug Mackie, to say something to her that makes her laugh, then he walks off toward the locker room entrance and she turns and looks at me again raising her eyebrows as if she’s daring me to do something about it. I walk into the locker room and sit in my stall and pull out my phone.
Me
Don’t look at me like that
Mackie
Like what?
