Alana
Oh, God
Eden
I can’t win if you’re not watching
Alana
How does that even make sense?
Eden
Because scoring for you if you won’t even see it is pointless
Alana
Fine, whatever. I’ll tune in
Where can I watch it?
15
ALANA
“You’re Eden’s girlfriend, right?” some girl with light brown hair asked as she stood in front of Asiya and me, blocking our view of the ice.
I didn’t mind it. Ice hockey really wasn’t my thing, and frankly, it was boring. I was only here because Eden said I had to come if our relationship was supposed to look real. I had much better things to do on a Friday evening, but whatever.
Eden still insisted that they won their first whatever game it was last Friday only because I watched. Ibarelywatched. The TV was on for some background noise while I was cleaning my apartment.
I forced a smile and nodded. “Yeah, that’s me.”
While I hated the fact that all day long, random students came up to me to make conversation, and people who’d never even looked at me before suddenly smiled at me in the halls, I was glad about it. Constantly getting interrupted meant there was less time for Asiya to yell at me for not telling her about—apparently—having a thing for Eden. It had been a couple of days since the news was out.
I couldn’t tell her that I was still very much interested in Austin and that Eden was only helping me get his attention. If she knew, it was one more person who could’ve ruined our plans, even if it wasn’t on purpose.
“I’m Louisa,” the girl introduced, holding out her hand. “Lucky’s girlfriend.”
“Lucky?” My eyebrows drew together with confusion. I had no idea who was on the team. Guess I still had a lot to learn. Though, why would I have bothered learninganything? Eden was going to graduate in May, so it didn’t matter anymore.
“Oh, Lakshman Sharma. He’s the alternate captain of the team?” Her eyes narrowed at me slightly, but not for long. It kind of felt like she was surprised and suspicious of the fact that I didn’t know her boyfriend.
I nodded slowly. “Right.”
“He’s yourboyfriend’sbest friend,” Asyia muttered under her breath as she nudged me in the side. “Something a girlfriend should know.” She spoke a lot louder in the second half, so Louis definitely heard her this time.
The fake smile on my face wanted to disappear, yet I tried my best to keep my composure. “Yeah, no, I knew that. Eden just calls him Sharma all the time, and I simply didn’t realize his name was Lakshman.”
Did my explanation sound convincing enough? I wasn’t sure.
While Louisa seemed to accept my sorry excuse for an explanation, my very own best friend gave me a harder time. She shot me a doubtful look, but thankfully, she didn’t press any further. Not yet.
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Lousia said, sounding surprisingly friendly for someone who was supposedly very protective of the St. Trewery hockey team. “I just thought we should get to know each other a little better. I figured you’d bearound a lot more often now, so might as well try to get along, right?”
I nodded. “Definitely. It’d be nice to have someone to talk to during the games and just in general.”
Louisa’s smile widened instantly. “Exactly! I’m usually at all the games, cheering Lucky on. It’s nice to have company for all those hours. Also, lunch breaks at St. Trewery withjustthe guys are insane. We’ll need each other to survive.”
