Page 36 of Always Been You

“Sounds good, score for me!” she says before turning around and rounding the corner toward where we came in.

The guys walk past me, and Luke bumps my shoulder. “Score a goal for her,” he says and chuckles as we head into the dressing room. I find my usual spot, dropping my bag and sitting down. Check my sticks, I decide to re-tape one of them. I remove the tape and begin wrapping it when Matt walks in, dropping his bag beside mine.

“Hey man,” he says, sitting down.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Nothing much, you?”

“Same,” I say, finishing with my stick and getting changed into my gear.

“So, Matt, I met your sister earlier,” Luke calls from the other side of the dressing room. Matt’s head shoots up from what he was doing and looks at me. “Liv’s here?”

“Yeah, I thought she would have said something to you,” I say.

“Nope, I talked to her earlier, and told her about the game,” he says, which surprises me because I know she knew about it because she had said this afternoon, that she thought I wouldn’t be home until after the game.

“She said the girls are coming.”

He looks at me incredulously. “Zoey is coming to a game, really?” he asks, his tone sounding like I just told him the world’s biggest joke.

“She said that the three of them were meeting her here.”

He throws his head back and laughs. “Zoey at a hockey game. Zoey at a hockey game without professional players. Yeah, I’ll believe that when I see it,” he says through his laugh.

“Your sister is bringing friends?” Luke calls out again.

“According to Josh here.”

“They as hot as your sister?” Luke asks.

I glare his way, and a resounding “Watch it,” is called from Matt and me. Luke’s eyes get large and look like they might pop out of his head as he puts his hands up in surrender.

“Okay, sister is a touchy subject. What about her friends?”

Nick and Sam look up at that. “How many friends is she bringing?” Nick asks.

“Three,” I say, and the three of them look at each other with Cheshire grins on their faces.

“Those girls will chew you three up and spit you out,” Grayson says, walking into the dressing room. “Especially Hannah, although that might be fun to watch,” he chuckles.

“Just cause she’s got your panties in a twist over there Gray,” I say through a laugh.

His head snaps to me, “One, I don’t wear panties, Joshua, and two, she did nothing of the sort. I work with the girl, and I’ve seen and heard my fair share of her carnage. Third, I’m not the one living with my buddy’s sister.”

Everyone’s eyes snap to me at that statement. “I had the space, and she needed a place, plus Hannah has had some interesting things to say.” I lean down and tie my skates. “The girls were over for breakfast on Sunday morning, and Hannah does not have anything nice to say about you.” He just shakes his head and continues to get ready.

“Really, but you’re going to score a goal for her?” Nick adds, and I glare at him.

Matt just laughs beside me. He’s used to Olivia and my antics when it comes to hockey. “Are you two going to revive your old pre-game ritual?”

Luke laughs. “Josh and your sister have a pre-game ritual?”

Matt shakes his head and chuckles. “Yeah, when we played in high school, Liv was at all our practices and games. Theyhad the same ritual our freshman year through to the last game of our senior year.”

“Do you have a pre-game ritual with your sister?” Nick asks. I know he is trying to stir the pot and start shit.

Matt stops tying his laces, thinks for a second, and looks at me. “No, come to think of it, I don’t. Seems you stole my sister, dude,” he says, humour filling his voice.

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