Page 34 of You Had Me at Hockey

I make myself another coffee and settle in for a session of video editing, but my mind keeps wandering.

To Josh.

Dammit.

He’s puzzling. Interesting. Like I said to Kaylee, he’s so different on and off the ice. He’s so somber but yet I can make him laugh, and I love that. He’s quiet, but when he talks, he has real things to say. He’s been through a terrible tragedy. He didn’t say much about it; clearly it was difficult for him to talk about. I’m sure he just wants to forget it ever happened, but I’m also sure you can never forget something like that.

He puts my puny struggles into perspective.

This makes me sit back and think. Did I seem like a whiny little bitch to him? Ugh. Why did that have to happen? How could I have been so stupid as to not pay attention to the ingredients?

It didn’t take long for him to figure out I’m a weirdo. A little longer than most guys, mind you. He actually accepted my invitation to have lunch after I asked him about spitting mucus.

As usual, I’m beating myself up about dumb things. I need to move on. I need to focus on what I’ve got planned for next week—I’m going to put together a wardrobe of athleisure clothing all from Walmart and I’m going to try to learn a TicTok dance. I’m interviewing Hazel Morales. I have work to do for the online psychology class I’m taking. And I have a meeting with the folks from Sephora that I need to prepare for. Work will save me.

And I do manage to focus. Until the hockey game starts. Of course I have to watch it.

Kaylee texts me halfway through the first period.Okay, what number is your man?

He’s not my man. # 25. Are you watching?

Yes!

I smile. Kaylee has never shown any interest in hockey before this. I love her.

I have a bowl of one of my favorite foods, popcorn, on my lap as I sit cross-legged on the couch and stare at the TV. I frown when Los Angeles scores a goal. I groan when one of the Bears shoots at the L.A. net and the goalie stops the puck. I get excited when L.A. gets a penalty, sitting forward to watch the Bears as they keep the puck in their own end almost the whole two minutes…but don’t score. Damn.

I feel like Josh hasn’t been playing that much. Or maybe he’s just not flashy. What do I know? Then he throws himself down onto the ice to stop a shot by an L.A. player, and my heart leaps into my throat. “What the hell are you doing?” I screech at the TV.

“Bigblock by Josh Heller!” the announcer cries.

He’s still lying on the ice as the play goes on. Jesus. Finally, he pushes to his knees, then stands and glides off the ice, clearly favoring one leg.

I breathe again, shaking my head. That’s insane!

“And Josh Heller has gone back to the dressing room,” the dude standing between the benches says. “Let’s hope it’s nothing serious.”

“Damn right!”

My phone chimes. Another text from Kaylee.Holy shit is he okay????

I don’t know.I send a series of emojis indicating shock, fear, and hands over the eyes.

They go to commercial, then the game resumes. The period is nearly over. I can’t tell if Josh is back, but then one announcer says, “And Josh Heller is back on the bench, good news for the Bears.”

“Must have been a stinger he managed to walk off,” the other chimes in.

Whew.

They show a close-up of Josh, sitting on the bench talking to the player next to him, nodding, then laughing.

Laughing. After he just took a puck…well, I don’t even know where it hit him.

Another message from Kaylee arrives.He looks sweaty.

I laugh. He definitely does. And the helmet and visor hide his nice eyes.

Kaylee and I keep texting back and forth through the rest of the game, which the Bears even up in the second period, and then with a goal in the third period they squeak out a win. “Go, Bears!” I holler in my apartment.

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