Page 116 of On His Team

There’s a longer pause.

Then she says, “You’re an idiot.”

“I’ll see you later.”

“Six-fifteen.”

“Six.”

“Bye, Rowan.” She hangs up.

I look at the phone for another second before setting it beside my laptop.

The case study is still open to the same paragraph.

By the time I get back to Hawthorne in the afternoon, I have finished the assignment, gone through lift, eaten lunch, and spent enough time at the rink hearing about Bowling Green that the Ohio State weekend finally feels like it happened more than twelve hours ago.

We don’t have time to keep carrying losses around.

Friday night in Columbus got away from us late, and Saturday gave us a tie that felt better only because Percy stopped forty-one fucking pucks and kept us alive long enough to earn the point. We need the next weekend. Everybody knows it. Nobody is saying it every five minutes because that would make the house unbearable, but it sits underneath everything anyway.

Benson is in the kitchen when I come in, eating cold pasta straight out of a container. Blue is standing at the blender, and Stanley and Aspen have taken over most of the living room with her laptop, his laptop, three notebooks, and enough loose paper to suggest neither of them has ever heard of a folder.

I drop my bag by the stairs and open the refrigerator.

Benson points his fork at me. “Lucy’s tutor session got canceled. I’m taking her to the movies.”

“Okay.”

Blue looks over from the blender. “That’s not a bad idea.”

Benson points the fork at him next. “Take Melly somewhere. We leave Friday.”

Blue stares at him. “You’re giving relationship advice now?”

“I’m captain.”

“That has nothing to do with your girlfriend.”

“It has everything to do with leadership.”

Stanley yells from the living room, “It’s good for morale!”

Blue looks toward him. “You’re all fucking annoying.”

I take chicken out of the fridge and put it on the counter.

Benson scrapes the last dried pieces of sauce from the side of his container with the spoon.

I watch him for a second. “That’s desperate.”

He glances up. “What?”

“That.”

“There’s still food in here.”

“There’s residue.”