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Without fail, I spent most of the off season with my family in Colorado.
By now, I should’ve had my suitcases out and ready to be packed. I should’ve been booking my one-way flight to Colorado Springs and checking in with some of the guys I skated with back home to see if they wanted to nail down some ice time. I liked Pittsburgh just fine, but Colorado Springs was home, and it was a balm to the crushing disappointment of another postseason ended too soon.
But for the first time…
I wasn’t so sure I wanted to go.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see my friends, family, and familiar hometown. I just didn’t want to be away from Isaiah.
God. Even the thought made my chest tight. Maybe because I’d been aching to see him so much since the playoffs had started? Or maybe because… Because, fuck me, but I just hated being away from him?
Was that stupid? It felt stupid. But it also feltright. I’d barely seen Isaiah over the last few weeks, and the itch to be with him was a hell of a lot stronger than the one to get home.
The more I thought about it, the more I kept circling back to the simple fact that I wasn’t ready to spend a summer away from him. DMing, texting, and FaceTiming hadn’t been enough for the playoffs, and they wouldn’t be enough for months on end while I was a thousand miles away.
So… it was settled, then.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I called my mom. She gave me her usual condolences for the loss, and we chatted about the game a bit. This was when she’d usually start asking me when I was coming home, so I beat her to the punch.
“Listen, um… I’m not quite sure about my travel plans this year.”
“Oh? What’s going on?”
“Well…” I chewed my lip, not quite sure how to explain it. “Just… I, um…”
My mom’s laugh was quiet but knowing. “Staying with the boyfriend, hmm?”
I almost dropped my phone. “Staying—what?”
“Oh, please.” If she wasn’t rolling her eyes right then, I was the King of England. “The only other thing that could keep you from coming home was if you’d joined a summer league, and if that was the case, you’d just come out and say it. And anyway, your team posted about you and Isaiah when you got into the playoffs. So. Nice try.”
I had to be redder than the goal light right then, though I wasn’t entirely sure why. I coughed just to get some breath moving, and I laughed. “Okay, okay. You’ve got me.” I couldn’t help smiling. “Yes, I want to stay here with Isaiah for a while.”
“Mmhmm. And how longhasthis Isaiah been in the picture?” She sounded genuinely curious. Almost gleeful, both because she was right and because my dumb ass had finally landed a boyfriend. “I don’t imagine you met him the night the team posted about you.”
“Uh. Well. No, we didn’t.” I cleared my throat and drummed my fingers on the counter. “We’ve known each other for a while. Online. But we met in person a few months ago, and…” I must have looked like an absolute dork right then, I was smiling so big. “We’ve been dating.”
“Uh-huh. You know, you can bring him with you when you come visit. We’d love to meet him.”
My teeth snapped shut. “Oh. Um. I mean, it’s… It’s been a few months but it’s stillkindof new, you know? I’m not sure we’re quite ready to meet the families yet.”
“But you’ll come out publiclyandstay with him in Pittsburgh instead of coming home?”
She had me there. “For now? He also can’t get away from work. Not for a few weeks, anyway.” I paused. “He’s a teacher.”
My mom’s bark of laughter caught me by surprise.
I furrowed my brow. “What? Why is that funny?”
“Oh, honey.” She was still giggling. “It’s just, you were such an absolute hellion to your teachers. Now you’re dating one.”
I snorted. “Yeah, I guess it’s a switch, isn’t it?”
“It is. So he must’ve really turned your head if his job didn’t put you off.”
Oh, Mom, you don’t know the half of it.
“Something like that.”
