“So you forgive me for changing my flight?” I beamed.
“Clever. I hope the game and your evening with Leo is everything you want it to be,” she said. “Just text me your new arrival time and your dad and I will come get you tomorrow.”
We talked for a few more minutes about the holidays and things she wanted to do while I was home for winter break, including a girls’ trip to Kauai for a few days with me and Elena, before I hung up to get ready for the boys’ charity event this afternoon.
I changed into jeans and the Boston University replica jersey I’d had special ordered with the name Harrison and the number twelve on the back and stepped into the living room.
Alyssa took one look at me and her jaw dropped. Jia looked me over and walked into the kitchen shaking her head.
“What?” I asked, confused.
“You’re going to gut that boy, Soph,” Jia said.
“Seriously. He’s been pining over you for months, Sophia, which you’ve refused to acknowledge and now you’re going to show up in that? I’m guessing this is a surprise.” Alyssa gestured up and down my body.
“Yes, I thought he’d like it,” I said.
“Yeah, that’s your problem,” Jia muttered.
“Come on. You’re being a little dramatic. It’s just a jersey. He’s not pining over me and I’m not oblivious to his feelings. I do think he wants more, I just don’t think he knows how to ask,” I said.
Alyssa glared at me. “Youthink he wants more. Is that what you think is happening here? Sophia, that boy is desperately in love with you.”
“Okay, now you’re really being dramatic,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“No, I don’t believe I am.” Alyssa folded her arms and tilted her head in frustration. “You didn’t see him after you got drugged. You didn’t hear the fear and anguish in his voice. I did. You need to listen to me right now. If you don’t want something serious with him then you need to go change. Because Leo Harrison is not your fuck buddy, and he is definitely not your friend.”
I swallowed and pushed past the mild panic I felt at being confronted with this so suddenly. The way Alyssa made it sound, I’d been ignoring this for a long time, when really, I hadn’t, and I wasn’t trying to toy with him.
“Do you think I’ve hurt him?” I asked, feeling a little bit like she’d just slapped me.
“You will if you show up in that and aren’t willing to give him what he wants from you, Sophia. He sure as hell doesn’t just want sex.”
I grabbed my notebook and my purse and made my way to the door before looking back at them. “I don’t want just sex either,” I confessedquietly before opening the door and leaving before I could get sucked into spilling my guts.
I got to the rink just in time to watch the hockey team pair off with little kids, each of them holding the hand of a child under the age of ten. The brawny guys who threw themselves around the rink on the regular and could practically bench press each other all looked gentle, like a bunch of big brothers as they each slowly talked their kid into stepping on the ice and helped them glide around.
The event had been arranged through Leo’s cousin, Jace, who I’d yet to meet but who Leo often talked about and hung out with frequently when we weren’t together. Jace ran a segment of the real estate company that Leo’s mom had inherited from her father last year. This was Jace’s first holiday season running the portion of the company that built housing for foster families, and he’d set up this event for foster kids to get a chance to learn to skate with the hockey team.
The kids were smiling and laughing as some of them got braver, taking off quickly from their buddies, while others held on tight to the hands of their player. Leo was the epitome of patience with a little girl who was maybe five or six years old and who seemed to be near tears when she stepped onto the ice but who was now tentatively moving her feet as Leo pulled her along. He bent down to her and said something, and my heart swelled as she nodded slowly and lifted her arms in the air. He stood back up and lifted her in the air, spinning in a circle just like he had with me several weeks ago. Her wide eyes quickly shifted from fearful to excited as I heard a loud giggle escape her from my seat on the bench. It only took a second for my mind to shift to what Leo might look like as a father one day, and my eyes stung knowing that I’d never get to see that. A part of me wanted to jump five years into the future and bethe one standing next to him on the ice as he twirled a dark-haired little girl with blue eyes on the ice for the first time.
Shit.I’m really falling in love with him.When the hell did that happen?
I was going to have to tell him the truth. I quietly hoped he would bring it up first so I could be sure I wasn’t about to ruin the best thing that had happened to me in a long time by grossly misinterpreting our situation.
I waited for Leooutside the arena, bouncing on my toes to warm myself up. It was chilly but after the game, I’d recognized his dad and his aunt standing outside the locker room. This time, they were both with other women who I assumed were his mom and his dad’s sister since she looked so much like him. Leo hadn’t wanted to introduce me last time they came to his game and I doubted that had changed, so I texted him and told him I’d wait out here. He’d broken the record and when I’d walked by the locker room, I’d heard lots of yelling and what I was pretty sure were champagne bottles popping.
People were spilling out of the arena. The excitement of the evening seemed to be felt by everyone, and I was dying to tell Leo how amazing he was. I still didn’t know a lot about hockey, but I’d watched enough games now to be certain that he was exceptional compared to his peers.
Leo:It’s going to take me a few to get out of here. But you’re the one I want to celebrate with so I’m going to hurry.
Me:Okay. Take your time.
I waited as patiently as one possibly could in the freezing cold and looked up when I saw his parents and his aunts walking in my direction. They had no idea who I was, but Leo’s dad glanced at me as they passed, his eyes lingering on my jersey for a moment with a small smile, before turning back to their conversation.
“Even I enjoyed that game,” the woman I assumed was Leo’s mom said. Leo had told me his mom hated hockey and only watched it to support him.
His dad tossed an arm around her and I couldn’t help but notice the obvious affection for his wife in his eyes as he kissed her head. It was just like seeing the love between my parents and their partners; it was palpable. Maybe that’s why Leo hadn’t doubted me when I described it. He grew up around love like that too.
