Under even more confetti, I find a pair of black Ray-Bans, my name etched on the arm in silver, a watch with a silver face and a black leather band, a pair of silver cufflinks with my initials on them, and a silver flask with a leather band, my name embossed on the edge of the leather in silver again.
“No way you did all this,” I say, picking up the glasses and trying them on.
“I could have.”
I lower the glasses and peer at him over the top.
“But did you?”
“Okay, no. My mom and sister did it. They made similar boxes for the groomsmen and groomsmaids.”
“Is that a thing?”
“Groomsmaids?”
“Yeah.”
He shrugs. “Eli says it is. It made my sister happy to be included, except she was helping to make the boxes, so it wasn’t really a surprise for her.”
“This is really cool.”
“So, will you be my best man?”
“Of course I will. Do I get to wear all of this at the wedding?”
“You’d better. So try not to break or lose anything between now and then.”
“No promises,” I laugh, placing the glasses back and closing the lid.
“Okay, so tell me, how is Philly really?”
“It’s great. I mean, it’s hard, way harder than what it was like in college, but I can’t complain when this is exactly the life I wanted to be living—well, what both of us wanted to be living. Can you believe we’re actually doing it?”
He shakes his head.
“I pinch myself every day. It would have been cool to be on the same team, but the guys on your team seem pretty cool. Except Raines, he’s a bit of a tool. What was with him at the game? Like you can’t talk to the other team now?”
“He’s rough, but he’s okay. He helped me a lot at camp, and we’ve been sort of doing some extra sessions together and—“
“Oh my god, you totally have a thing for your captain,” Cosmo blurts.
“I do not,” I reply, my face already growing warmer.
“You do. You should see your face right now, it’s totally giving you away.”
Fuck.
“He’s nice, I guess. I mean, if he even talks to me again after that play.”
“That was a play when he messed up his turn?”
“Yeah, I convinced him to do it after we’d practiced a few times this week. He said no, but I pushed him to, and then you got the puck and scored, so . . .”
“So, what? We all mess up plays sometimes. I’m sure he’s over it already.”
“I doubt it. He’s old school. He doesn’t like it when I try to do something . . . tricky.”
“Did he not watch any of our games before you joined? We were constantly trying shit out. Got us to the finals too, more than once.”
