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“Which you are,” Caro interrupts.
“It doesn’t matter. We’re just friends, and he’s with Megan, and she seems really sweet.”
“Sweet?” Caro harrumphs. “Sweet girls don’t look sexy in puffer vests.”
I look across her to Aly, hoping for the voice of reason. But Aly just nods and stuffs a fistful of popcorn into her mouth.
The game gets underway and Zeke starts. He’s fast and physical, and every time he knocks someone into the boards my heart stops. Of course, each time he does that, Megan and her friend cheer loudly. I text him at the end of the first period.
ME: Are you okay?
I stay in our seats for him to respond while Caro and Aly wander out in search of beer.
As I wait for them to return, Megan squeals and I see both her and her friend hovering over her cell phone. They giggle and Megan types back, just as my phone pings with a text notification.
ZEKE: Ha!
That’s it.
It’s so stupid. And I feel even stupider.
My god, what is wrong with me? I’m sitting here, watching myfriend, who I’m trying not to crush on, text the girl he’s actually dating, in the middle of him playing a game. I chew on my bottom lip as Megan squeals again and her friend makes a face I can imagine Caro making if I were describing a sexual act. My heart squeezes in my chest, and I breathe low and slow, trying to channel all thefriendvibes I can.
* * *
At the end of the game, I make my way down the concourse to a set of double doors with security guards. I questioned whether I should go or not. Zeke invited Megan after all. He probably just wants to see her, and I’m not sure I want to see him wanting to see her instead of me. But Caro told me not to be an obtuse idiot and threatened to stick me with drunk Aly. So here I am.
“Faye?” I turn around and see Freddy moving really well on his crutch.
“What are you doing out here?”
“I couldn’t take the WAGs anymore. I was watching at the bar in the concourse.” He nods behind him and I see a sad trio of high-top tables next to a bar on wheels that’s been shuttered for the night.
“If I’d known, I would’ve kept you company,” I say.
He shrugs and grins as if it’s nothing.
“You going back to say hi?”
I nod, and he moves toward where the security guard greets him by name.
“Come on, I’ll go with you.”
We wind around the corner and down the tunnel that cuts beneath the stands behind the players’ box. Cheers and jeers funnel in from the stadium, and when we’re close enough to see into it clearly, Freddy and I lean against the wall.
“Not a bad view,” he says with a grin as the final horn blows, but his eyes darken.
I can feel how much it hurts him to be back here with me instead of out there with his team. I squeeze his shoulder as the horn blows, signaling the end of the game.
“You’ll be back out there before you know it,” I say with a gentle nudge. He shrugs and tucks me under his arm, his gaze still dark.
“Maybe…” He looks like he wants to say something more, like it’s right on the tip of his tongue. “What about you?”
“What about me?” I ask.
“What’s your next move?”
I stare up at him, feeling the weight of the question. The two of us understand each other better than perhaps anyone right now, even though I chose my path and his was unfairly taken from him. But there’s a heaviness in his expression, as if he’s not just talking about life after med school.
