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“I would have been home sooner, but I had to walk, remember?”
I knew I shouldn’t have said the words the moment they escaped my lips. My dad’s forehead wrinkled up like a Sphynx cat.
“This isn’t the time for jokes.” He said. “Get ready for bed. We will talk about this in the morning.”
“I look forward to it.”
I bolted up the stairs, skipping one at a time, before whistling down the hallway.
“I tried to cover for you, but Dad figured it out.”
Gracie’s brittle voice was like a pin to my heart. It’s as if she were afraid I was going to hate her for all of this. I sighed as she quivered under her doorway. I crouched down until we were at eye level.
“You did good, bug,” I said. “This was my mess, not yours.”
Duke, her miniature pinscher, whined from his place on her bed. I stood and nudged her into her room.
“Dad was furious.” She said, jumping onto her bed. “He even did that veiny thing with his neck.”
I chuckled. He always had a protruding vein on the right side of his neck whenever he got mad.
“He’ll get over it.” I said, patting Duke’s head. “You need to get ready for bed, though.”
She rolled her eyes and reached out her hand. Our secret handshake. It’s a series of fist bumps and interlocked pinkies, but it’s something we’d done since she was little. Our way of saying I’ve got you.
“Night, bug.”
I leaned down to place a kiss on her forehead.
“Goodnight.”
I switched off her bedroom light and stumbled to mine. The exhaustion had washed over me like a tsunami. I succumbed to the darkness.
??
6
“Your subtleties, they strangle me.”
It Ends Tonight, The All-American Rejects
Joshua
The practice was gruelling. Despite the season being two months away, our coach insisted on daily after-school training sessions.
My legs burned, so I skated to the edge of the rink and took off my helmet. My hair was getting in my eyes. I brushed the stray hairs away before pouring water into my mouth from my bottle.
Noah breezed past me as he stole the puck from Kellan. He didn’t seem fatigued in the slightest.
I’d convinced the coach to let him try out since he’d started the school year late. It took a lot of bargaining, but he got a shot and had our coach in awe of his skill. Me included.
I poured some water on my face to cool myself down. The cool air in the rink was doing nothing to minimize the hot flashes.
I paused, mid-drink, as Sawyer waltzed down the stairs. She had an unfamiliar book clutched against her chest. She gnawed on her lip as her eyes danced around the rink until they settled on me.
“Finally, a familiar face.” She said once she was in earshot.
“Happy to help.”
