Alana leaned back against the sofa. “Your mom sounds pretty cool,” she finally said, breaking the brief silence that had settled between us.
“Yeah, she doesn’t like anyone messing with her kids.” I got up and turned toward Alana. “Now, let’s get started. I still havea lotto learn.”
17
EDEN
“Are you at the arena every single day?” Alana asked as she watched me trying to pipe some of the frosting onto my slightly too-tanned cupcake. I forgot the last batch in the oven, okay? Alana wanted me to do them all by myself tonight, including watching the time.
Honestly, I should’ve been better at looking at the time because time was also crucial in cooking, but whatever. Alana distracted me.
“Kind of,” I answered, carefully and with a lack of skills, swirling the frosting onto the cupcakes. “I have on-ice practice five times a week. And then we’re also there to watch tapes and stuff. Or we’re at the gym, which is also inside the arena. Then, the games, obviously.”
“There’s a gyminsidethe arena?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” I said, topping off the last cupcake with a sprinkle of edible glitter. “I think it’s fairly new though. When my dad used to go here, they had to use a different facility on Campus. He was quite surprised to hear everything happens literally at the arena now. We do our off-ice workouts there to stay in shape and build strength, team meetings, watching tapes,and on-ice practice, obviously. Oh, we even go to the arena for physio and recovery sessions of any kind.”
“That’s convenient, I guess,” Alana said, and when I looked at her, I could tell she was holding back laughter—most likely because of my weirdly-shaped cupcakes. “I bet it makes your training schedule a lot easier to manage.” I nodded. “Do other students use the gym as well or just the hockey players?”
I looked at my cupcakes, a deep sigh drawing from my lungs. They looked absolutely hideous, but somehow still better than my attempts at Mille-feuille. “I’m not sure, actually. We all have key cards to enter the building, so I’m assuming it’s just for us. There’s never anyone but the team when we’re there.”
Alana jumped off her chair and made her way over to me just to snatch one of the white-frosted cupcakes. “Well, at least you’re not getting interrupted by just anybody, right?”
I chuckled as Alana took a bite of the cupcake, frosting smudging her lips.
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“Do you ever have a day off?” she asked, leaning against my kitchen counter.
My eyes lingered on her lips for a hot second, fingers itching to reach out and wipe away that tiny bit of white frosting on her lower lip. “I do. It’s just a lot less now that the playoffs are basically around the corner.”
Well, I mean, they wouldn’t start for another few weeks, but that was around the corner, right?
“So, when’s your next day off?”
My eyes rolled just at the thought of it. “Sunday next week.”
I loved hockey, really, I did. But I genuinely could’ve used more time to simply exist. Between classes and practice, I barely had any time to breathe.
“Nextweek?” Her eyes widened in shock.
“Yeah, unfortunately,” I replied, stepping a tiny bit closer to her. “But it’s just in time for Colin’s charity event, so that’s good.”
“The one you mentioned weeks ago?” Alana’s eyebrows drew together. “From that… who was he again? Your dad’s friend?”
I nodded. “One of his best friends, and my sister’s brother-in-law.”
My eyes fell back onto the white frosting on her lips. She didn’t seem to notice it was there, and I couldn’t explain why I was so mesmerized by it.
I could’ve told her it was there, and she would’ve wiped it away, but part of me refused to say anything simply becauseshewould’ve wiped it away.
Perhaps if we had a different kind of relationship, I would’ve leaned in and kissed her to get it off her, but Alana was more likely to decapitate me if I did than be thankful for it. Yet a part of me couldn’t help but fantasize about the taste of the sweet frosting on her lips, the softness of her mouth against mine.
Get it together, Eden.
“You said you wanted to take me there, right? Is that still happening? I mean, I’d happily stay away, so?—”
I finally reached a hand up to her face, my thumb brushing gently across her bottom lip to wipe away the frosting. Alana’s eyes widened ever so slightly in response to my touch, locking onto mine with a mix of surprise and something I couldn’t quite decipher.
