Page 42 of Daydream

Rolling onto my side at a speed I didn’t know I was capable of, I press my palm to Henry’s mouth. “Stop talking. I’m adding this to our rule book under things we’re not allowed to talk about.”

His hand closes around my wrist, lifting my hand from his mouth. He kisses my palm gently and puts it on the air mattress between our chests. “Good luck getting it signed off by the board.”

“The board for our rule book?” He nods. “And who’s on the board?”

“Me and you. And I’m not putting it on the list.”

“You’re unbelievable, do you know that?”

“So I’ve heard.”

Chapter ThirteenHENRY

NATEHAWKINS IS SITTING ONthe living room couch. I blink once, twice. Desperately try to remember if I’ve hit my head today.

“At least pretend to be happy to see me, bud,” he says when the surprise of him being there stops me in my tracks in the doorway.

“Do you saybudnow because you’re a fake Canadian?” Robbie asks him. They’re both sipping from their favorite mugs, and a nostalgic wave drags me under when I realize how familiar the sight of Robbie and Nate gossiping in the living room drinking coffee feels.

“How about I stick my foot up your ass and you can tell me how fake that feels,” he snaps back. “Hen asked me the same thing a few weeks ago.”

“Are you going into the house?” Russ asks from behind me. I drop my bag at the end of the couch and sit beside Nate, resisting the urge to poke him to check that he’s real.

“So,” he says, turning in his seat to face me. “How’s it going, Captain? How’s Faulkner?”

Robbie and Russ both loudly groan, but before I can respond Russ holds up his cell phone. “JJ is video calling me. Did you tell him you were coming?”

Nate shakes his head as Russ accepts the call. “I sensed something was happening,” JJ says immediately. “Having a reunion without me, are you? Selfish bastards.”

“Aren’t you playing in Florida tonight?” Nate asks him. “Sensed something was happening, my ass. You saw it on my close friends.”

“Why do you have a Canadian accent?” JJ says, screwing up his nose.

“Thank you!” Robbie shouts, making me jump, and Nate mutters something under his breath. “I said that when he got here and he said I was making it up.”

JJ’s smile is huge. I suspect it’s the success of annoying Nate from the other side of the country. “There is definitely something distinctly moosey about you these days, Nathan. Very off-putting. So what are we gossiping about? What’s the 411? Orthe teaas the youth say.”

“When you say ‘as the youth say,’ are you talking about when you said that, like, two months ago?” Robbie asks. “Nate was asking Hen how being captain is when you called.”

JJ makes the same groan Russ and Robbie did a few minutes ago, and I feel like my friends have conveyed my feelings without me even needing to say a word. “Why the fuck does everyone keep groaning at me?” Nate says, looking confused.

I should step in and explain how I feel, but in all honesty, I’m too tired. Me talking about my feelings leads to my friends offering mountains of advice to make me feel different, but it doesn’t work. I can’t escape the constant worry that everything is going to go wrong and it’s going to be my fault.

“I’m just tired of Faulkner’s incessant need to talk to me about hockey,” I say, opting to go with my easiest annoyance. “I don’t want to see him as much as I do.”

“Henry takes everything too personally,” Robbie says to Nate. “He’s internalizing every mistake and holding himself responsible for them, even though we’ve all told him it doesn’t work like that.”

This starts a conversation I can largely sit back from while everyone, as predicted, weighs in. Robbie explains how he’s trying to mediate between me and Faulkner, Russ talks positively about how the season is going, and Nate gives a speech about teamwork.

JJ clears his throat. “Is no one going to point out how our faithful leader fucked off to play in tights for several months last year? Hen, as long as you actually play in games you’re gonna be better than Nate. Don’t even sweat it.”

I can hardly tell what anyone else is saying over the sound of JJ laughing at his own joke, while Nate lists every single thing he covered JJ’s ass for in the four years they lived and played together. By the time they’re done, I feel like my head might explode from all the advice they’ve given me. I successfully zone out, only mentally rejoining them when Nate starts giving Russ’s phone the finger. “Friends are allowed to have different opinions on how to handle things, Jaiden. I don’t have to agree with you because I know you’re wrong.”

JJ immediately fires back, but I’ve already stopped listening again.

“Are you coming to the gig tonight?” Russ asks Nate when it quiets down again.

Russ’s brother’s band, Take Back December, is in town tonight, and Russ got everyone tickets. I said I didn’t want to go because I don’t like their music, and more relevantly, I think Russ’s brother is a jackass.

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