Page 103 of Line Change

Micah starts laughing. He grabs a napkin from the dispenser and wipes the beer from the table before it reaches his phone.

“Okay,” he says. “No pamphlets.”

“Thanks.”

“Does Nolan know you’re here?” he asks.

“No.” I look down at my beer. “I said some shit to him, and we’re not… doing stuff anymore.”

The pause isn’t for Micah. I can’t make myself give what happened a better name.

“That sucks,” he says.

“Yeah.”

He waits to see whether I’ll keep going. I don’t. I’ve already told Nolan’s friend more than I’ve told anyone except Grayson, and Grayson doesn’t know anything useful. Sacred foosball brotherhood or not, Micah belongs to Nolan first.

Micah lets the silence go. “So what are you doing here?”

“I’m not sure.” The honest answer is getting easier, which is inconvenient. “Trying to figure out the vibe, maybe. Find out if there are more words I don’t know.”

“Words aren’t the thing that really matters.”

“They are when you say the wrong ones.”

Micah watches me but doesn’t try to explain my own life to me. I finish my beer and stand.

“I think I’m going to head out. Thanks for talking.”

“Nolan’s a hothead,” Micah says. “He’ll listen once he calms down.”

“It’s been two weeks.”

Micah winces. “That explains why he was so pissed at trivia the other night. We lost the geography round. Nolan doesn’t lose geography rounds.”

I look at the scoreboard behind him.

Micah points at it. “Seriously, dude, fix this or we’re going to drop in the rankings. My honor depends on that.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

He keeps pointing at the scoreboard until I laugh again.

I leave him at the table and head outside with my phone still in my pocket.

30

BEN

Nolan cuts toward the net before the puck reaches my stick. Without calling for it or looking at me, he leaves the boards and takes one hard stride toward the middle, pulling the defenseman with him.

We’re tied late in the third, and both lines have been trapped in this end long enough that every player on the ice is running on whatever his legs have left. If the puck gets past me, we have to change. This chance is over.

I know what he wants.

Nolan could stay on the wall and help me keep the puck in. He commits to the opening instead, trusting me to see it before it closes.

The clearing attempt comes up the wall. I stop it with my skate and kick it forward, keeping the zone while the defense shifts toward me. Bobby is planted in front of the goalie with another defenseman trying to move him.