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I heard no words come from the other person who I knew was back there. I’d never forget the sound ofhergiggles. I knew she had to be the one behind this…
“Nice one, Kessel! Real funny!” I held my soaked shirt away from my body and shook my head. Guess I deserved that from her…
While I was annoyed at being soaking wet– because I was about to freeze my ass off in the rink if I didn’t dry up before the end of lunch– I was kind of relieved she targeted me. That meant she was paying attention to me at least…
Any attention was better than no attention… right?
Jeez. I looked to the sky and shook my head.
I’d regressed back to my teenage self.
______
By the time I made it back up the ramp with his wallet– I had to hold it in my teeth because I needed my hands for crutching– I was sweating bullets and kinda wishing they’d hit me with another water balloon to cool me off, but it looked like they were back inside, probably eating their own lunches by now…
When I finally made it to Benny’s, I took in a deep breath and smiled up at the old sign. I always loved Benny’s. It was your typical hole-in-the-wall rink diner. The booths were busy with old-timers sipping their coffees in the mornings, then switched to coaches, parents, and players drinking beer and catching games on the TV’s later in the day. Christmas lights were strung up in disarray all year round, and patrons’ signatures covered the bar. There were probably a million NHL players’ youth signatures scrawled out all over it because so many guys passed through here over the years for tournaments or showcases or clinics. I knew mine was somewhere near the dart board.
“Ya made it, finally!” Grey took a swig of his coke and moved a barstool back for me so I could maneuver myself onto it. “What happened to ya, bud?” He laughed looking down at my soaked shirt.
“Claire Kessel happened,” I grunted. “And your son… and the other one.”
“Yeah, I let them off the ice early at her request. I think she was quite annoyed with you staring at her in the weight room, bud.”
Fuck. She noticed? That was pretty embarrassing… I felt my face starting to burn red, which was a joke because I rarely ever got embarrassed. I once farted during a post-game interview in front of a room full of reporters and my face never even turned red. Only she could do this to me. I dropped my head in my hands and massaged my temples.
“Oh boy.” Paige’s voice came from behind the bar. “I’ve seen way too many of you boys lookin’ like that,” she said more to Grey than me.
He dropped his head back and let out a bark of laughter. “Sorry, you chose the job.”
“What job?” She arched an eyebrow at him and tossed her long blonde hair behind her shoulder.
“Resident Ice League lost boy mom slash psychologist,” he smiled.
She shook her head, but you could tell she was fighting the corners of her lips from curving up.
“Hi, Duke.” She regarded me with her warm smile. She looked almost the exact same as she did when I left this place seven years ago. She had to now be in her early thirties and the only difference was maybe just a few more wrinkles around her eyes from smiling so much over the years. She’d been waitressing at Benny’s since she was a teenager. Now, she and her husband, Max, owned Benny’s. “How's it goin? I saw–”
Grey held his hand up to stop her. “Don’t say it. Everyone’s been saying it and the kid’s gonna blow up on someone here real soon. Say he had some pretty goals this year instead,” he smirked.
“You had very pretty goals this year,” Paige repeated, looking pretty amused.
I sighed. “Thank you, Paige. I appreciate it. Can I get a beer to drown my sorrows… Ooh, and some of those cheese sticks. I’ve missed those.”
“Eh, nah, he won't.” Grey squinted at the fridge behind her, seemingly avoiding eye contact with me. “He’ll have one of those chocolate milks, a nice side salad, and a grilled chicken sandwich. But I’ll take some cheese sticks.”
I shot him a ‘what the fuck’ look as Paige quickly tore the menu from my grip.
Grey took his hat off and ran a hand through his short dark hair. “Coach Peterson may have called me… Told me to look out for ya.” A corner of his mouth twitched up, like he wanted to laugh, but knew it’d set me off if he did. He knew Coach Petersen, hell, he was Coach’s team captain for a couple years.
“Everyone’s treating me like I’m a fucking child,” I muttered.
His heavy hand slapped me on the back. “Coach just wants you healed up. You should be proud. He thinks you’re a big asset to his team, bud.”
His cheese sticks came out a minute later. I tried to snatch one, but he quickly slapped my hand away.
“Fuck this,” I grumbled. I waited ‘til he took a sip of his drink, then added, “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
That got him. He laughed so hard he almost spit out his coke… which just showed the prick really was enjoying it.
