I’ve only known them for a short time, but it surprises me that Rory and Lawson are together. They’re so different from each other. I guess that just seems to work out sometimes. The phrase opposites attract doesn’t exist for no reason.
“Locke it is, then,” Lilah announces, slapping the counter like this is happening.
“Uh, do I get a say in this?” I chime in.
“No,” Rory says, then turns back to the other girls, who are all now plotting ways to get me and Gavin together.
Oh, if they only knew we’ve already beentogether. Many, many times. Ugh, just thinking of it makes me miss him all the more.
Just three more days, Vanessa, I tell myself, even though I shouldn’t be counting down to anything at all. That’s girlfriend behavior, and it’s not like Gavin and I are actually dating one another.
“Oh! Puck drop is in five minutes,” Lilah announces.
We grab our glasses, Quinn carries the fancy meat-and-cheese smorgasbord, and Rory gets the bowls of chips. Lilah snags an extra bottle of wine, and Auden takes Alana, who is now fast asleep in my arms.
“Looks like someone is a baby whisperer. Kind of wish you hadn’t moved out now,” she jokes. “I’m just going to put her down in her crib. I’ll be right back.”
She hurries off toward the bedrooms, and I awkwardly stand at the edge of the room as the girls get comfortable. With the way they snuggle onto the couch, Rory even tucking her feet under her and a blanket around her, it’s clear they’ve done it a time or two. I feel like an imposter. I don’t belong here. This is for fiancées and girlfriends. This isn’t the place for me.
“We’re only teasing, you know?” Auden says, coming up next to me and bumping her shoulder against mine. “We aren’t going to set you up. Unless you want us to, of course. You have to admit Locke is pretty good-looking, though.”
My cheeks heat because he’s good-looking, all right.Morethan good-looking, actually. He’s downright hot.
She tips her head to the side, and alarm bells go off in my mind.
“What?” I ask.
Her lips pull upward. “Nothing.”
“Nothing what?”
She shakes her head. “It’s really nothing. I just thought maybe I saw interest in your eyes.”
I force a laugh. “What? No. That’s… No.”
The words sound weak to my ears, and I hope like hell Auden doesn’t notice that too.
It takes her a moment, but eventually she nods. “All right. But if you change your mind…I have his number.”
I have his number too.
“Thanks,” I say with a laugh.
We each find a spot on the couches and settle in for the next two or so hours.
“Is anyone else horny?” Lilah asks as they flash to Fox on the ice, who is dropped down on his knees, stretching.
“Over yourgood boy, not a chance,” Rory tosses back.
She’s then smacked by a pillow, and we all laugh. That’s how it goes for the first two periods as the Serpents score twice ineach one, now up 5–3. We joke around, and they have far too much to say about the game. They go from cheering for their partners to bitching about the refs in two seconds flat. It’s cute how passionate they are about it.
Meanwhile, I sit quietly by, too afraid to make any commentary for fear they might read too much into it. Auden looked at me a little too closely earlier. I don’t need to give her any more reason to become suspicious.
When the third period starts and it’s 5–4 Serpents, the mood in the room changes. We all get quiet, watching as the team tries to hang on to their lead.
“Come on, Fox,” Lilah says, her nails between her teeth as she sits on the edge of the couch. A puck just got dangerously close to going over the line, and while they’re still reviewing it in the arena, we can see at home that it didn’t completely cross.
“He’s doing good. It’s our defense breaking down. No offense, Auden,” Quinn says.
