I threw my hands in the air, frustrated. “What? I’ve never dated before and I don’t want to fuck it up.”
She got up to make another coffee. “I’m not the best person to ask. Coop and I weren’t exactly dating, but you know Jas and Wolf didn’t have sex for three and half months. Actually, they didn’t even kiss.”
I’d forgotten that, forgotten what a grumpy fuck Jasper had been.
“Fuck that, I’m not waiting that long. That’s insane. My balls will fall off.”
After Saturday, I wasn’t sure I’d make it to the end of the week.
“Yeah, but it worked for them. They got to know each other properly and fell in love. If they’d had sex sooner, they’d have both freaked out.” She tilted her head, her expression softening. “Just do what feels right. There’s no rule, but I will say something. I know people think sex is easy, and it is, but off the charts, amazing hot sex with someone you love, that shit only comes along once.”
“Yeah.” I nodded in agreement.
“And you’ve already had that. You know you have the chemistry, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And she feels the same?”
A flashback of her shaking in my arms two nights ago as I sucked on her bottom lip was branded on my brain for life.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure she feels the same.”
“Then you have nothing to lose.” Her little hand covered mine. “Drew, you’re the sweetest guy I know. Don’t worry about fucking up. You’ve got this.”
There was something to be said for girl talk.
“Thanks, Fredster. I hope so. Thank you for helping me so much, and for listening to me.”
“I just want to see you happy again.” She handed me a fresh cup of coffee. “Come on, let me show you the trees before you head to practice.”
I placed the empty plates into the sink and followed her outside.
Itightened my laces, stood up and grabbed my pads, sliding them over my head, and walked out of the locker room, pulling on my jersey. The corridor was as empty as the lockers had been. As I’d woken up way earlier than I generally liked to during the off season, I’d arrived at the rink way earlier than I generally needed to, and the usual noise levels of the team, coaching, and management staff milling around were eerily low.
The door to the Strength and Conditioning suites opened and out walked Felix.
“Hey, man, what’re you doing here so early?”
“PT. My hamstring has been tight and I don’t want to fuck it up before the season starts.” He scanned me up and down. “What are you doing here?”
“Freddie woke me up with a delivery.”
His t-shirt lifted up as he scratched his stomach. “Have you eaten?”
“Yeah.”
“Give me ten, and I’ll meet you on the ice.”
“Cool.”
He jogged off to the locker room and I headed to the arena, the smell of ice getting stronger with every step. I grabbed a bag of pucks, stepping out onto the rink. I loved being here, especially when I was the first out, the first one to experience the virgin ice of the day after it had been cleaned the night before, first one to take solace in the calm before the storm.
I skated a couple of laps to warm up and then opened up the bag, dumping the pucks out and kicking them like soccer balls so they spread about. I chased them, sprinting around each one before knocking them into the goal. By the time Felix turned up, I’d scored with nearly all of them.
He didn’t say anything as he skated down to gather some pucks from where they’d landed in the crease. He flicked one up,catching it with the end of his stick and started bouncing it on the blade. I began skating slowly down one side, waiting for what I knew was about to happen. It was a game we liked to play - we’d see how far we could throw the puck and catch it, all while speeding up. First one to drop had to do a hundred push-ups on the ice.
He tossed the puck into the air, hurtling across the rink. It was going way wide and I sped forward, just catching it with the end of my stick. I heard Felix chuckle from his side of the rink.
