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The entire way back to the house, I mull her words over and over in my head. I try to forget that I kissed her forehead, something I used to do all the time. We can't go back there. Nothing has changed. Dave is still clueless, and I'm still not willing to tell him. I just need to stay away from her.
I change and fall into bed, resting my arm behind my head while staring up at my ceiling. Everything she said repeats on a loop in my head. The only reason I'm thinking about this as much as I am is because I'm attracted to her, even more so than before. How Maddie does or doesn't feel or how I feel is irrelevant now. All that matters is keeping my focus on school and hockey. I don't need to hurt her all over again.
WE SKATE ONTO the ice for warm ups, and I find a spot to stretch before taking my place in front of the net. I notice a girl with shoulder length, black hair taking pictures of us. Even from a distance, I can tell that her camera isn’t just a digital camera. It’s bigger and covers most of her face. She stands out amongst the crowd that has gathered for our game.
“Hey, Neil.” I catch the attention of our captain. “Why is a girl taking pictures of us?”
He looks over to the girl. “I don’t know. Go ask and then get your ass in the net.” He chuckles before leaving me to continue warming up.
I'm glad he's in a good mood again today. My curiosity is piqued, so I skate over. I go behind the net as she snaps away at the players in the opposite direction.
“Hey,” I say. She lowers the camera, and I’m face-to-face with the most beautiful bright, blue eyes. “What are you doing?”
Her pale cheeks flush, as if I caught her doing something she wasn’t supposed to do. “Oh, I’m a, uh, sports photographer for the school paper, and they want more hockey coverage this season, so here I am.” She looks uncomfortable and holds up a badge that confirms what she says, along with her name.
Lucy Kennedy.
“Grant!” I turn my head at the sound of Bo’s voice. “We don’t have all fucking day!”
I face the girl, smile, and say, “Nice to meet you, Lucy.”
Finally, I take my spot as the team practices shooting, and then warm ups are over. Our coach gives us his speech, and it’s game time. Being the goalie, a lot weighs on my shoulders. I take my spot seriously. Focus is required to ensure that very few, if any, goals are allowed past me. If I’m having a bad day, my team has to work extra hard, and I do my best to not have any bad days.
This team is aggressive and pucks fly at me throughout the game. However, today is a one where I’m having a really good day. I get my first shutout of the season. The guys come up and congratulate me, bumping their helmet with mine. We head to the locker room for Coach to talk to us. Afterwards, I see Lucy the photographer standing just outside the door with her camera hanging from her neck, looking nervous. What is she doing now?
I’m naked above the waist, having already taken my pads off, but I go to her. When I open the door, she looks startled.
“Can I h
elp you with something?”
“Our usual reporter left early tonight, and he sent some questions for me to ask some of the players.” She rocks on her heels, and I wonder if she’s a nervous person in general, or if I’m making her nervous.
“Who do you need to talk to? I can go ahead and get them out here, so you can get done quicker.”
She pulls out a folded piece of paper from her pocket, reading the names off to me. “I’m supposed to talk to Neil, Bo, Vincent, and you.”
“Okay, I’ll get them.” I’m about to open the door, but she stops me.
“Wait! Here are all the questions.” She shoves the paper at me. Her voice is shaky. “Could you take this and ask them for me?” Must be nervous in general. “I only take pictures.” Lucy holds up her camera for evidence.
“I’m only a goalie,” I tell her before I can stop myself. Her eyes beg me. “Fine. Do you have a pen?” I want to tell her that next time the school reporter should show up, so I don’t have to do this shit, but I don’t. She looks uncomfortable as it is. After I get a pen from her, I return to the locker room and call out for the guys.
“We’re getting famous, boys. The school newspaper is expanding their coverage on hockey, and it starts with you answering some questions.”
“You’re a reporter now, Grant?” Neil asks, getting laughs from the other two.
“Shut the hell up.” I go through the questions, scribbling down everyone’s answers, and then answer the questions for myself. When I go back into the hallway, Lucy is leaning against the wall, looking down at her camera. “Here you go.”
She jumps, but takes the paper from my hand. “Thanks so much.”
And then she walks away, disappearing around the corner. She’s pretty, but way too jumpy.
“LOOK AT THIS shit. You made the front page, Grant.” Neil throws the school paper on the table. It slides across, nearly crashing into my bowl of cereal, and I pick it up.
On the front is a damn good close-up of me from the shoulders up from our game, but it was from Thursday night. I must have missed her before. Somehow, that girl snapped a picture like that and managed to get a decent shot of my face. I must have been facing her direction when she took it. I scan the article, my eyes zooming in on another picture of me making a save. There are a couple more, smaller images from the game as well as a link to where you can see all the photos taken on the school website.
“Damn. She’s good,” I say with a bite.
