Sophia:Okay.
Me:Night, Hawaii.
I rolled over onto my stomach, tossed my phone to the side, and passed out with a smile on my face.
Chapter Seventeen
Sophia
“Shit, Sophia. You’ve gotto tap that,” Jia said as Leo zoomed by us on the ice. We were seated behind the away goalie, which meant Leo was in front of us a lot, shooting on goal. He’d already made two goals and there was still most of the third period left.
“Leave her alone, Jia,” Alyssa said from my right. “Soph is more of a relationship girl than a casual sex girl. Don’t pressure her.”
“Actually,” I said, swallowing the lump in my throat, deciding to come clean. “I already did.”
“What?” they exclaimed, their heads whipping in my direction.
“Calm down.” I chuckled. “I slept with him last week. We have a casual arrangement, so it probably won’t be the last time.” I’d already gotten an earful from my sister on the scheduled one-night stand that turned into a research operation. If a fifteen-year-old could see how ridiculous I was, I wasn’t about to give these two that information just yet.
Leo came rushing toward our end of the rink again, dribbling the puck with a precision and speed that seemed unmatched by anyone else in the game. It was hard for me to know if that was true or just my biased interpretation since I’d only learned that passing the puck back and forth between your stick was called dribbling an hour ago. I’d forced Jia to look it up becausedribblingdidn’t really seem like the right word, but apparently it was.
I looked between Jia and Alyssa who were both staring at me with their mouths wide open.
“Oh, knock it off,” I said waving a hand at them and rubbing my arms. Even with my peacoat on it was cold in here, and yet my friends stood in light sweaters and looked perfectly comfortable.
“I am beyond impressed, Sophia,” Jia said.
“I’m not surprised you feel that way,” I said with a chuckle, watching the game. “It was amazing. I’m not saying anything else about it.”
They looked at each other and turned back to the game. They knew me well enough to know I didn’t like talking about my hookups and I wasn’t about to start now—even if it was with someone they very much wanted details about.
It was a good thing they’d agreed to come to this game with me because it was both exciting and boring. The way the guys glided around the ice like they were literally floating through the air was beyond impressive, and the stickhandling was clearly a very technical skill, with some players—namely Leo—being far more impressive than others.
Seriously, what the hell is number fifty-six doing? No wonder I don’t know his name.
Other than that, they did an awful lot of passing the puck around without a lot of scoring. I’d have to ask Leo why that was. The crowd seemed far too invested for a sport that had such low scores.
By the time the game ended in a shutout with BU winning 2–0, I was really looking forward to meeting up with Leo. Watching him play for the last couple hours had made me realize just how much I wanted to spend more time with him—sexually, of course.
“I’m going to hang out by the locker room,” I said earnings a pair of “oohs” from the girls. “Oh, shut up, it’s for the paper. Are you going to an after-party?”
Jia held up her phone. “Yep, Devon’s hosting one at his townhouse.” Most of the hockey parties happened at Devon’s. Not that I’d been to many. But Jia went to enough of them that I’d learned this information over the years.
“Are you coming tonight?” Alyssa asked with a delighted grin. “Now that you’re apparently banging the team captain?”
“I doubt it,” I said. Based on my conversations with Leo thus far, it seemed clear that he rarely went to those parties, and if he did, it was usually a short-lived experience to show his face. I was pretty sure if the two of us were hanging out, it would be somewhere more private.
The girls and I said our goodbyes and parted ways as I made my way down to the locker room. I could hear the guys cheering and laughing inside, clearly excited about their win.
Leo was the first one out of the locker room and I felt a thrill wash over me at the sight of him. His hair was wet, and he wore gray sweatpants and a tight, black T-shirt. I had no control over my eyes as they roamed over his visible abs and took in the view of his sweatpants sitting low on his hips. He approached me with a grin and his duffel tossed over his shoulder. He definitely didn’t look like he was going anywhere but home.
Maybe he forgot about ourplans.
“Hey,” he said, his eyes locked on me as he leaned in to kiss my cheek. My heart pounded at the proximity and casual familiarity in his greeting. “How’d you like the game?”
“Honestly?” I asked, scrunching up my nose. “It’s kind of boring. Why isn’t there more scoring?”
He chuckled, a slow eyebrow raise transforming his entire face into a smirk. “I’m sorry, were my two goals not enough to impress you?”
