Page 5 of Halftime

“Faith?”

I froze. This could not be happening, not today. Did I torture some orphans in a past life, or kill kittens? I knew that voice. It belonged to the one person I didn’t want to see ever again.

“Faith?” He said it again, so staring at the ground was apparently not going to make either of us disappear.

I drew in a long breath and slowly raised my head.

It was him. Seb, the cheater. He looked shocked, like I was the last person he’d expected to see.

2

Sebastien

I couldn’t believe it.

Yes, I’d seen her on the ice. So, yeah, I knew she was here. But not likehere.Not standing in front of me. I had no idea what to do, so I stood looking like an idiot for long enough that a custodian brushed by, upsetting my balance. I tilted in, almost falling against her, and raised my arms to catch my weight on my hands, effectively caging her against the wall.

She was right here.

I’d forgotten how nice it was to have a girl’s face so close to mine. Faith wasn’t much shorter than I was, so I’d never had to hunch over to kiss her. My eyes went straight to her lips.

Déjà vu.

How many times had I stood in front of her like this, watching those lips so often chapped from time in the arena? Her tongue slipped out, dragged over her bottom lip. My signal to…

I looked up at her eyes, wanting to see what she was feeling. She’d been surprised. I’d seen that, but now her eyes were wide with something else. Something so familiar. It was like this past year had never happened. Like I’d just left Canada a few days ago. That same damn look that told me if I didn’t kiss her soon, she’d pull my head down to kiss me instead.

I was moving, leaning toward her, looking at her lips again, when a loud sound broke the spell.

My phone.

I jerked back, and Faith ducked under my arm. I reached into my pocket, muscle memory moving my hand as my brain scrambled the thoughts of Faith and her kiss. She wasn’t looking at me anymore. I could see the flush on her cheeks, but her head was down, and she was walking away. I must have swiped the phone without thinking. I heard a voice, tinny and small since the phone was down near my hip, not at my ear.

“Sebastien? Seb? Are you there?”

Holly.

Shit. What did I think I was doing? I had a girlfriend.

I quickly lifted the phone to my ear. “Yeah, Holly, I’m here.”

I didn’t catch the first couple of sentences she said. I was watching the back of Faith as she pushed out the nearest doors.

“Sorry, Holly. What was that again?”

She wanted to go out to dinner with her friend and her friend’s boyfriend tonight. I agreed. I felt guilty because of whatever had just happened with Faith. We were over, as over as you could get, so I had no idea what to do with that moment. But also, there was a party tonight at the hockey house, where I lived with some of the team. I was pretty sure the guys had said they’d invited the women’s team to come.

I was not ready to see Faith again. Not until I got my head wrapped around her being here at Burlington. Not until I figured out why she was here, and how I felt about it. Because despite what had happened just now, she’d cut me off twelve months ago and not reached out again. It was safe to say that she’d broken up with me, and that hadn’t changed.

I loved living at the hockey house. It wasn’t the most luxurious place, and honestly, it needed a good clean a lot of the time, but we were all teammates, and while I was in school, this was my home. I visited my parents, but I didn’t have a home with them. I didn’t even have my own room.

I understood that they’d married because they’d gotten pregnant with me, and it hadn’t worked out. Then they’d remarried and started new families. Families that did work out. I was…the prototype that didn’t take.

It was different with the team. I fit here. I had my own room. Last year, I’d been up on the third floor where it was freezing in winter, hot when summer hit, and small with crooked ceilings all the time. This year, I’d managed dibs on a room on the second floor, so I no longer bumped my head on the ceiling.

I told Holly I’d pick her up early for our double date. She liked that. Things had been a little hectic so far, settling in and catching up with people, so she was happy we could have some time together. I still felt a little guilty. Because not only had I almost kissed Faith this afternoon, I’d suggested we meet up early because I wanted out of the house to make sure I wouldn’t run into Faith again.

I debated whether I should tell Holly about Faith. She knew a little of the story. We’d broken up before the summer because of what had happened between Faith and me last year, so she knew that I’d tried long distance with an ex, the ex thought I’d cheated and cut off all contact. I’d told her I didn’t think long distance was good for us over the summer, especially since we hadn’t been dating very long. I wasn’t sure if I should tell her that my ex was now at school here. I didn’t want her to worry. I did know I shouldn’t tell her I’d almost kissed Faith. I’d thought that over, and it wasn’t going to happen again.

---