“Just checking the time,” I lie, focusing on the soft crunch of snow beneath my boots. Seattle doesn’t get snow like this, which is why we have to drive to the mountain. I’ve used that fact to try and lure Avery out for a visit, but he insists he won’t leave town unless it’s for somewhere perpetually warm. Which is his personal motivation behind me being recruited to the Sabertooths. He’d thrive in San Diego.
I don’t see it, but I swear I can feel Bailey and Harlowe exchange a glance behind my back. My brows knit as I glance over my shoulder at them.
“What?” I ask, already sighing.
Harlowe hitches a shoulder. “Nothing.”
Bailey mutters something under her breath. The snow kicks up under my boots as I spin around, arms crossed.
“Okay, you’re both being weird. What’s going on?”
Bailey just looks at Harlowe with a shit-eating grin, hand outstretched, palm facing the sky. “Pay up, Yersie.”
Harlowe shoots her an icy glare. “Not a chance. Nothing’s been confirmed or denied.”
Bailey scoffs. “Oh, come on. We both know that’s BS.”
“Is not.”
“Is too. And Mister chewed through my earbuds, so I need that hundred.”
“Okay!”I raise both hands, my head whipping back and forth between them like a ping-pong ball. Snowflakes settle on my lashes, but I blink them away. “Can someone tell me what the hell you’re talking about?”
Harlowe finally stops, tugging at the stuck zipper on her plum downy coat with her free hand. “Will youpleasetell Bailey you and Darcy aren’t a thing so she’ll let it go?”
I open my mouth to shut it down, to roll my eyes and say how ridiculous that is, because just a few months ago, I could barely stop myself from strangling Darcy.
But nothing comes out. The words catch in my throat, the only thing to escape a pathetic, “eh?”
“Ha!”Bailey crows, pointing an accusing finger at me. “You are!”
Instinctively, I toss my hands up in defense. “What? I didn’t even say anything!”
“Exactly.” Harlowe sighs defeatedly, crossing her arms.
“You always have something to say,” Bailey adds.
I shake my head and pat my thigh, beckoning Mr. Bubbles to my side. He lumbers through the snow, lifting his feet like a baby giraffe in his new boots.
“We arenota thing,” I say, rolling my eyes as I start walking ahead of them.
But the words taste weird in my mouth. My chest tightens.
Because as true as it might be, part of me wishes it wasn’t.
Part of me wishes I had a reason to anticipate her texts. A reason to have her constantly on my mind. A reason that isn’t one-sided.
I hear the shuffle of boots and the soft drag of their sleds catching up.
“Then why have you been spending so much time with her?” Bailey asks breathlessly, vapor clouding in the cold.
I hitch a shoulder. “She’s been helping me prep. Giving me tips on leading the team.”
What I don’t say is that for the past few weeks since Darcy has started physical therapy, I’ve been squeezing her into my never-ending schedule. Every Monday, I’ve been taking her to and from the PT on campus so she doesn’t have to take the bus. More often than not, we’ve ended up spending time together after.
“Is that why you stayed behind with her after the Warhogs game?”
“She was drunk.”
