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“Uh…” I glance at Lovey, but she and Lacey are busy exchanging looks.
“Props, girl, for jumping on that early.”
They giggle and stare at me, like they’re waiting for something.
When I don’t respond, the chattier of the two pipes up again. “Are you like, for sure, for sure hooking up tonight?”
“I need to go to the bathroom. Winter, come with me.” Lovey hops out of her chair and pulls me out of mine. She pauses to address the girls. “And the answer is yes. BJ is out of bounds.”
“Out of bounds?” The girls wear matching confused expressions.
“Off-limits. Unavailable.”
“Right. Okay. That’s what we thought, but we figured we’d check, just in case.”
Lovey rolls her eyes and drags me along with her, skirting around the side of the house because the sliding door is locked to keep randoms out.
“What the hell was that about?” I glance over my shoulder at the girls, now talking to Lacey and Rose, who look unimpressed about being left with them. “And why did they sound like Valley girl cutouts? They’re like stock characters out of a bad nineties’ movie.”
Lovey stops at a side door I didn’t know existed and punches in a code. When we enter, to the right is a small bathroom. She flicks on the light and pulls me in.
“Why didn’t I know this was here?”
“It’s the emergency bathroom.”
“What are we doing?”
“Escaping the bunnies for a few minutes.”
“I know there are hockey groupies, but there are figure-skater groupies too?”
“Sort of?” Lovey tugs at the end of her ponytail. “For four years, this house was where all Maverick, Quinn, and Kody’s hockey buddies hung out. The girls who chase the players are still going to show up for a while, and River’s football friends are a whole different story. But I don’t know if we need to worry about them since River is on the fence about playing this year.” She waves a hand in the air. “BJ is like, honorary hockey, I guess? I don’t know, but he’s friendly and flirty, and you’ve seen him.”
“He’s hot and looks like a bad boy with all the tattoos.” And he has a peen piercing.
“Yeah. He’s a bit of an anomaly. He’s this tattooed, bearded—unless he has a competition—figure skater. It all sort of contradicts itself, you know? And these girls, some of them are nice, but others are status chasers. Sleeping with these guys is some weird rite of passage. It’s fucked up. But that’s how it is. They come around at the beginning of the year a lot. We ignore them, for the most part.”
“So I should ignore the fact that these girls are all over BJ?” We don’t have a label, but we also don’t fit in the fuck-buddy category.
“Not exactly. Sometimes you need to fight fire with fire.”
“What does that mean?”
“Those girls curate themselves for parties like these. They’re peacocks. You’re stunning, and you have this rockin’ body. I’m so jealous of your ass, it’s not even funny.” She holds up a hand when I start to interrupt her. “My ass is nice, but yours is like…” She does jazz hands and sings, “Ahhhhhh.”
“What are you suggesting? Do I need to put on makeup? There’s no way I’m getting those fake eyelash things. They don’t mix with hockey.” At least I don’t think they do. And I have no interest in finding out. I’m a mascara and eyeliner girl. That isn’t going to change.
Lovey shakes her head. “You don’t need makeup, but your bathing suit is a little…understated.”
It’s a boy-shorts-and-black-top combo. It was the first bathing suit I found, hence the one I threw on. “You mean it’s not sexy enough.”
“Don’t get me wrong; you look hot. But we can up your game a little.”
“Do I want to play this game?” I genuinely have no idea.
“I love BJ. He’s my best friend. But he can be a bit clueless when it comes to managing relationships.”
I don’t know that I have any more experience than he does. “So that’s a yes? I do want to play this game?”
