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“Yeah. Nothing insane. The team goes to a club near campus. I’ll keep everyone away from you. We’ll have fun.”
He’s quiet long enough that I’m pretty sure I’ve pushed our friendship too far.
“I don’t like clubs,” he says, still not looking at me, and it’s starting to get under my skin. “They’re loud. And people bump you.”
“Then we can do something else. Just us. Win or lose.” I lean against the frame of my bed and stare at the back of his head.
“I don’t want to take you away from your friends.”
“You’re my friend. I want to hang out with you.”
His ears go a deeper pink. “I’ll think about it.”
“That’s all I need, brain.”
I mean it. Mostly. But I also want him to turn around so I can look in his eyes and see if asking him out made him uncomfortable. Not that it’s a date. We’ve eaten lunch and breakfast together a couple times, this isn’t any different. Except I do want to know what he’s like when he lets go a little. Maybe even see him a little tipsy. I’d even stay sober to make him comfortable.
He doesn’t turn around. So I go brush my teeth like a man who is going to sleep and not like someone who is probably going to lay in bed and stare at the ceiling thinking about his mouth some more.
TWENTY-SIX
QUINN
“I can not believe I let you drag me here,” Lincoln grumbles from my right.
The stands are filling up. But thankfully my whole little friend group agreed to come to the game with me. I have the cheat card out that Daniel made for me, and I am reading over it, trying to memorize the stuff he thinks is important.
Christine is on my left and Sarah and Vee are on her other side. She hasn’t said it out loud, but I know she knows who my crush is now. Because why else would I put myself through this torture?
“You love me,” I tell Lincoln, because that’s true. I keep my eyes on the card, because I know if I look up and really look at the growing crowd, I’ll start counting exits.
“I love you. I don’t love hockey or anything about the players.” He hunches into his jacket. “It smells like a meat locker in here.”
Vee leans forward down the row. “It’s hockey, Linc. It’s legally required to smell like that.”
“Well it makes me feel physically sick,” he grumbles.
Sarah reaches past Christine and me and pats his leg. “You’re here for Q. Suffer beautifully.”
Christine bumps my shoulder. “How’s the tutoring going?”
I know she doesn’t mean the tutoring…the one that takes up all of my thoughts when I’m not doing actual homework because she doesn’t know about it. But that doesn’t stop my body from going hot, even in the cool temperature of the rink.
“Uh, good.”
She laughs. “And how’s that homework going?” She nods to the cheat card in my hands.
“Icing is when the puck goes over the red line in the middle of the ice, and it’s bad unless it isn’t.” I frown at Daniel’s handwriting. “He drew a face next to hat trick. I think that’s supposed to be him.”
“It’s definitely him,” Christine says. “He dotted the i in icing with a heart. That’s not subtle.”
I look. There’s no heart. There is a messy circle, however. “That’s an O.”
“Uh-huh.”
Lincoln snorts. “Your boyfriend made you a study guide for hitting people with sticks.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.” It comes out automatic. Christine’s mouth does a small knowing thing, and I go back to the card. “He’s my roommate. He asked me to come. Friends do that.”
