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Jemma has been sick for the last week or so. Her bedroom is next to mine in the chapter house. Lately, I’ve heard her running to the bathroom. She was surprised when she found out she was pregnant. Apparently, Trent wore a condom but something happened with it, and now they’re having a baby. He hasn’t been around much since she told him, which hasn’t made it any easier on her. But she’s convinced he’ll come to terms with it.
Jordan and Jenna move past us in a hurry and head down the stairs toward the bathroom.
Bex slides along the bench until our thighs are almost touching. “So, what’s the deal with Killian?”
My cheeks flush for a second, and I have no idea why. Just the mention of his name does this to me every time. “What do you mean?”
“He’s so quiet,” Bex hedges. “I rarely see him when I’m over at Preston’s house. He’s either out or hiding in his bedroom. You’re the first girl I’ve ever seen him with. So, what’s up with him?”
I shrug, unsure of how to respond. Killian is private for reasons only Jamie knows. “I don’t know. He keeps to himself. It wasn’t easy for me to get to know him either.”
She bites the inside of her cheek and then smiles. “How did you two get together?”
Why does she want to know more about Killian and me all of a sudden? We never talked much about my relationship before. So, why is she so curious? Did Killian say something to Preston about me?
“We were in the same class last semester,” I admit. “I had to work with him on a paper, and things just sort of happened between us.”
I hate that Killian has turned me into a liar, but his lifestyle forces me to conceal the truth from everyone. Bex can’t know the truth. No one can.
“Oh my God,” I say pointing at the players on the ice. “They almost got the puck in the basket.”
Bex lets out a deep chuckle, blush creeping up to her cheeks as she tilts her head back and laughs. “Did you just say basket?”
Now, I’m the one who’s blushing. “Is that wrong?”
“You shoot a ball into a basket. A puck goes into a net.”
“Oh,” I say, now feeling stupid. “I don’t really follow sports. Killian tells me about hockey sometimes, but I don’t understand most of the stuff he talks about. It sounds like gibberish to me.”
Bex laughs again. “It’s okay. I can teach you.”
“It must’ve come easy to you with your dad being a hockey coach. Did he teach you basketball, too?”
She nods. “Yep. My dad taught me everything. I’m an only child, and since he wanted a boy and got me, he pretty much always treated me like a boy. But I never minded. I loved sports as a kid, and as I got older, I wanted to learn more.”
“You think you’ll try to play professionally? They have women’s basketball teams, right?”
“Yeah, they do. But I’m not interested in playing after college. I want to be a sports agent. Preston’s mom said she’d help me. She runs one of the largest sports agencies in the world.”
“Oh, that’s awesome.” I smile at Bex. “Sounds like you have everything planned out for after you graduate. I still have no clue what I’m doing.”
“What’s your major?”
“Journalism with a minor in business.”
“You write for the Strickland Gazette, right?”
“For the last two years. But my boss never gives me anything good to write about. I wish he would let me write about something other than social activities on campus. It doesn’t give me much to show my future employers.”
“Isn’t your grandfather a congressman or something? Couldn’t he hook you up with a job?”
I shrug off her assumption. “I guess so, but I’m sick of my family getting involved in my life. Whatever I do, I want it to be on my own terms.”
“So, what do you want to do, then?”
I bite my lip, mulling over her question. “I think I want to be a journalist, but no one ever gives me enough responsibility for me to figure out if that’s what I want to do.”
“You can’t wait around for someone to hand you what you want,” Bex counters. “If you have a dream, you need to make it happen. You have to go for it and don’t let anyone stop you until you reach your goal.”
Bex slides closer, her gaze more intense. “When I first met Preston, I knew who he was because of his mom. I had no interest in him, even though I thought he was the hottest guy on campus. And then, when he asked me to come with him to meet his mom, I saw it as an opportunity to make a connection with someone who I’d idolized for years. It was a way for me to get closer to someone who could help me with my career. Don’t get me wrong, my motives weren’t completely selfish. I did like Preston, but I really wanted to meet his mom. I thought if I could make a connection with her since she’s a former basketball player and now agent, that I could have a shot at working with her in the future. That’s what you need to do. Go after the person who can help you move the needle. If I hadn’t taken a risk on Preston, I wouldn’t have an internship lined up at DMG for the summer. I also wouldn’t have him in my life. It was the best risk I ever took.” She smiles as she says the last part, with her eyes now traveling back to the ice.
