Page 26 of Game Changer

He sighed again.I can’t. I just can’t let her down like that, or kill off all those years of friendship. Our friendship would never recover and she just means too much to me. I can’t.

Chapter 9

“Gonna keep your head in the game tonight, Pim?”

Sitting on the benches in the locker room next to his friend AJ stared at Jeremy for a moment before answering. Sticks, piles of pads and jerseys were strewn around the room in organized chaos. Their teammates were rowdy and energized, gearing up for the game and AJ took a beat to remind himself that this was his Captain talking, not his best friend. He knew how dedicated Jeremy was and proud he was of the team and his position as Captain. He knew that right now Jeremy needed his support, and not a distracted liability hung-up on his wife and girlfriend.

AJ clenched his teeth and cracked his neck. “I’m fine.”

Jeremy nodded and finished lacing up his skates. “Good. Let’s crush them!”

***

“You done good tonight, Pim. Though, considering you only warmed the box for two minutes, I shouldn’t really call you that. It was a questionable high-stick, too. Unlucky. Nice apple though.”

“Thanks.”

“What’s the matter? You don’t seem happy. You should totally be happy. That was a great win!”

“I know. It was, and I am. I just wanna get changed, go home and talk to Lis.”

“But?”

“Ana’s here tonight. She wants me to meet her out front.” He saw the look on Jeremy’s face. “I know. I don’t know why she’d do that to me. All those puck-bunnies.” He pretended to shudder.

Ana was AJ’s younger, more sensible sister. She loved doing just about everything she could to grind AJ’s gears - including getting him to agree to meet her out front after the game. She’d often lean heavily on the guilt trip of ‘brotherly love’ and more often than not, AJ would crumble and oblige. Case in point.

“Always complaining it’s so cold, with those tiny shorts and skirts. Dude, if you wore real clothes you wouldn’t be so damn cold.”

“Ok, first of all, no. Let the women wear what they want, buzzkill. And B, we’re off on a tangent. Why is Ana here? And why is she making you get mobbed by bunnies?”

“I don’tknow. Punishment for everything I ever did wrong in our childhood? Either way, I stupidly agreed to meet her out front.”

“You forget her birthday?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then I got nothin’. Want back up?”

“You just wanna check out the bunnies.”

“What can I say? I’m a team player.”

***

Where the hell is she? Ana, I’m never agreeing to this again.

AJ glanced around in an attempt to seem too busy for the bunnies to annoy him. But he couldn’t see her.

Smile. These people are your fans. They’re excited to meet you. Stay calm.

He saw Jeremy surrounded by bunnies asking for his autograph.

Some wing-man you are, Jer. If only Lisa was here. She’d protect me from the shivering millennials.

Aren’t you a millennial too?

A millennial with restrictive friggin’ clothes on. If nothing else she’d at least help me out of this damn suit,he thought as he tugged on his tie to loosen it.

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