Page 55

It takes Colby a full minute to respond, with the three dots appearing and disappearing over and over again.

Colby

That’s great! And if the date is boring, at least you’ll have a bunch of hot hockey players to distract you.

I roll my eyes, but I’m grinning. I can always count on Colby to make me laugh.

Noel

Oh, hey. Funny story. The hockey guys in my class didn’t believe you’re a friend of mine.

Colby

Oh, is that right?

CHAPTER 19

COLBY

“She’s going on a date with him!” I run my hands through my hair, probably ripping half of it out of my head, as I stomp into Remy’s gym. Remy, Bruce, West, and Mitch are staring at me, everyone appears concerned but Mitch. He looks annoyed, and like he’d rather be making out with Andie than working out with us during his off time before the season officially starts.

We had an early practice this morning and can easily fit in another workout. Plus, I need to work out some aggression after spending the weekend with my dad. And this is one of our last chances to work out together at Remy’s. Our training schedule during the season is intense, not to mention traveling about every other week. And promotional stuff for the team.

“I mean, wasn’t that a given?” Mitch asks. “You’ve been her dating coach this whole time. Which, I realize was a ploy to spend time with her. But she’s gotta go on at least one date with this pickleball schmuck to realize he’s not the one for her, right?”

Bruce nods enthusiastically. “Yeah! That’s true.”

“You have to kiss a few toads to find a prince, right?” West asks with a half-smile, half grimace.

I rest my fists on my hips. “Ideally, she’d only be kissing me.”

Remy grabs the dry erase marker off the ground and walks over to our list, which surprisingly, he never erased. He taps the end of the marker on our list. Right where it says I need to kiss Noel.

“Desperate times, call for desperate measures. Time to kiss the girl,” he says seriously.

“But he hasn’t won over her family yet!” West argues, pointing to the list.

Remy shakes his head. “He had her family over for dinner a few nights ago. This changes everything.”

Bruce gasps. “You what?”

“It’s not a big deal. I invited them over after the fantasy convention.” I shrug, taking a seat on one of the weight benches.

West emits a low whistle. “Dude. That for sure speeds the process up. Now you can move on to the kiss.”

I glance around the room at my friends and teammates, they all have a matching look of determination on their faces. “So, time to kiss her?” I’m definitely not mad about this change of pace.

“Agreed,” Mitch says.

“Anything else you can do to raise the stakes?” West asks.

“Actually, and I might need Mel’s assistance with this, but there are two hockey scholarship punks in her class. They’re always trying to get out of work… and they didn’t believe that she knows me.”

“You’re kidding,” Remy says, crossing his arms. “What if they go pro? Do they not realize how hard they’ll have to work?”

“That’s exactly what I said. And what better way to get the point across, than to tell them in person.” I lift my eyebrows once.

The boys grin.