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"Fuck I'm going to come," Luke groans, but the sound is interrupted by the door opening.
I jolt back, under the table. Luke freezes too, and the only sound in the room is breathing for a second.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Billy says with a little laugh and the door instantly shuts.
"I'm going to kill him," Luke mutters, and while I don't think Billy deserves to die, the sentiment echoes through me, too.
26
LUKE
Tension radiatesthrough the auditorium as the spectators watch the mother of all stalemates.
The game has been like this for the past thirty minutes already, with one team eeking out a point, and the other team tying, almost instantly. This is the qualifying game against the Panthers and Chase is currently on the ice. I can see him trying his best, his face slicked with sweat. His feet are new district-approved skates I bought him, and he slides through two of the opposing team members, aiming for the net. But he doesn’t make it before the other team manages to sweep the puck from his stick.
I watch the frustration enter his face, and he skates as fast as he can, to them. He nudges one of his teammates, Archer, who's supposed to be playing defense. The boy was formerly on my team and while he's a good player, he gets distracted easily. I only use him for games that aren't tense, otherwise he benches.
Archer shakes his head at whatever Chase says and I can see the two are arguing. I resist the urge to tell them to call it off. I can’t do anything for them now. They both need to learn to work together or they’re going to lose this game.
Mia is a ball of tension, beside me. I can feel her radiating with it, and I wrap my hand around her shoulder squeezing it. She gives me a grateful smile back, leaning against me. I know she’s tense because of how much this means to Chase. It means a lot to me too. But we can’t do anything but watch and be there for him in case this all goes left.
“Oh my God, they’re going to score.” This is from James who is also biting his lips, his hair sticking up at all the ends, from running his hands through it the entire game. True to his word the other team closed the gap and spiked the puck into the net.
It enters.
The crowd on the other side of the auditorium cheers and James groans.
“They’re good,” I comment mildly and James nods.
"Yeah. Rumor has it they have a former pro player coaching the kids.”
“I thought that wasn’t allowed.”
“It's not but it’s a well-kept secret.” He smirks at me. “Not everyone is as open about their cheating as you were.”
I shrug, not taking offense. Now that I’ve gotten to know him, James is a pretty cool guy and if I had a sister, I’d want to introduce them to him. He doesn’t have feelings for Mia as far as I can tell. Although he does seem to really like her, I only detect friendship between them.
Despite trying to date, the man is still madly in love with his dead wife, which is the saddest, sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.
I glance at Mia. I can understand his sentiment. If I lost Mia too...I don't finish the sentence. Just thinking about it makes my chest tighten.
"Call a time-out," I say, and James nods.
The referee blows the whistle a few seconds later and Chase skates straight for his mother. His face is frustrated, and he says, before anyone else can talk, “I keep messing up my defense."
“That’s because you’re not using your instinct, or paying attention to your surroundings,” I tell him. “You’re distracted.” He’s been that way for the whole game, and I can pretty much figure out why, even though I don’t mention it.
Chase mentions it anyway, glancing around, “Where’s Billy?”
“He’s coming,” Mia says. "He had something to take care of, but he should be here soon.”
“Chase.” I draw his attention, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Remember what you told me the last time you lost to me?”
He frowns. “Not sure which time you’re talking about. Also, I say a lot of things when I lose."
I smile a little. “Yeah, but the last time. You said you were getting close to beating me. And you're right. Youwereclose."
"I was?” His eyes widen.
