“And you didn’t think to say anything to me? I am the captain, you know?”
“Maybe I wasn’t sure you’d be happy about it, and I figured why stir the pot. The last time you two disagreed, the whole team felt it. We can’t play as a team if two of our players are at each other’s throats every other day.”
“Then you’ll be happy to know that’s not what happened just now.”
“Then what was it?”
“I apologized, okay?” I sigh.
His eyes go wide.
“Say what now?”
“I told him I was sorry about giving him a hard time about his plays.”
“Wait . . . you told the rook you were sorry?”
“Do I really have to repeat myself?” I ask, leaning against the wall and cracking open my juice, the sweet scent of apples filling my nose as I take a big sip.
White moves to rest against the wall beside me, and I lean my head back, focusing on the tiles that run along the ceiling.
“Well, I’ve known you for over a decade and not once have I seen you apologize to anyone.”
I snort. “I’ve said sorry plenty of times, just never to you.”
“Sure you have. So, you said you were sorry. So you two are good, then?”
“Yeah, we’re good,” I say, pushing off the wall, and he slings an arm over my shoulders.
“Great. You know you can trust me, right? We’re friends, not just teammates, remember?”
“I remember. It’s just . . .” I pause, not really sure what I want to say. I can’t exactly tell him that over the past few weeks I’ve fallen head over heels for our rookie and I have no idea what to do aboutit. The reason we agreed to keep things separate was that with me as his captain I’m in a position of power, though I’m pretty sure he’s the one influencing me, not the other way around.
Colt calls out, “Hey, Cap, White, let’s go warm up.”
“One minute,” I say, and I turn my head toward White. “Are we good here?”
“Unless you want to share something else . . . You know, unburden your mind before getting out there in front of tens of thousands of people.”
“You know I don’t care about how many people are watching, right?”
“Oh shit, that’s me. Okay, panic is setting in. Pulse racing.”
He steps away and folds over, breathing faster as he leans on his thighs.
“You’ll be okay. Hold your breath and count to ten,” I say, and White straightens, hands on his hips as he tilts his chin up and holds a deep breath. His head nods slightly as he counts down, and when he blows out on ten, he’s no longer freaking out and is breathing normally.
“Thanks, man.”
“No worries. Let’s get out there before the coach benches us both.”
“He wouldn’t dare,” White laughs, and as I follow him up the hallway as Istart to wonder how right he could have been. The coach could have chosen to bench me when he found out about Luka and me. He could have stripped me of my captain spot anyway, or bootedme back to the AHL. There was a guy on the New Jersey team a while back who messed around with a teammate’s wife, and when the player found out and went off on him, they both got sent down. Luka only just got here; he would have been crushed if he got sent to the AHL, and I would never have forgiven myself if I was the reason that had happened. I guess we were lucky it went the way it did. Still, even with the coach knowing, we’ll keep things mostly under wraps. It’s not like I’m super keen to put my love life out there anyway, except, since falling for Luka, I suddenly want all sorts of things I never knew I did.
***
We’re one down against Washington going into the second. Luka nearly scored twice, but their goalie’s on fire, and Colt got caught off guard by their winger who sent one in on his left a minute before the break.
The coach calls the line change, and we’re off the bench in perfect timing and set up for the face-off.
