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I was wrong. I leaned over her sink and lost my dinner.
“Oh my God!” she complained.
“I’m sorry!” I coughed. “I feel really bad.” Things had been going too well here, I guess. My throat and eyes fucking burned as I stared down at the mess I made in her nice white sink.
________
She wordlessly followed me down to the dark, concrete parking garage. I beeped my truck to warm it up as we walked.
I went to the shotgun side of the truck to open the door for her. She kinda stood there looking dazed and confused.
“What?” I asked her.
She snapped her mouth shut. “Nothing. Thank you,” she squeaked out before scurrying to get in.
Had no one opened the car door for her? That had me irritated as hell. Who the hell had she been dating? It was the least someone could do for her.
While buckling up, I made the mistake of looking over at her in the passenger seat. A Bandaid was covering the cut on the corner of her forehead by her hairline, but the dark blood was starting to seep through it.
She side-eyed me. “What’s wrong?”
I cringed and reached over to pull my hoodie up over her head to cover her forehead a bit. “I’m sorry. I can’t see that right now. I had my fill of blood and barf today and my stomach’s a little weak.”
“Wow.” She shook her head incredulously, but I could detect a smirk pulling at her lips. “You really are somethin’, Tyler.”
“A good something, I hope.” I gave her my best flirty grin, to which she just laughed dryly.
As soon as we were out of the parking garage, I cued up my phone and relaxed a bit as soon as I heard the first few notes of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams.’
“Interesting choice,” Josie said.
“Calms me down.” My eyes flitted to her profile before focusing back at the road. “You like it?”
“I do, Stevie Nicks walked so Taylor Swift could run,” she said. “But…”
I felt my eyebrows pinch together. “Watch what you say here, Miss Josie,” I ordered.
“Taylor Swift is the queen.” She giggled at my shocked reaction.
“Absolutely not. She’s good. She can be a princess. Stevie is my queen,” I said firmly, but I switched the song to a Taylor Swift one to make her happy.
“Oh. You didn’t have to change it,” she said, staring at my dash in surprise. “Wait, that reminds me… You haven’t by chance been on Tiktok lately, have you?”
“Nope, I don’t do social media.”
“Really?” Now she sounded shocked. “I tried to get rid of it but only lasted a week. That’s surprising for you though.”
“Me? Why?”
“I don’t know… all hockey players love themselves so much. Figured you’d need it to feed your huge ego.”
“Uh, ow.” I held my chest with one hand like I’d taken a hit. “That hurt, Josie. But no, I’ll never download any of it ever again. I catch what I need to on SportsCenter.”
“Why?”
I shrugged. “With fantasy leagues and sports betting, it’s all become way too personal. It’s like a wave of hate after a shitty game. Couldn’t handle that during my rookie year.” It was true. Social media messed with my head way too much and it altered the way I played my game.
She cocked her head to the side. “I never thought about it that way.”
